THE AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT OF 1990

The Americans with Disabilities Act Of 1990 and It's Impact on Stuttering

THE AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT OF 1990 AND IT'S IMPACT ON STUTTERING

Stuttering meets the ADA's delineations of "disability"

Stuttering is a communication disorder in which the flow of speech is broken by repetitions (t-t-t-t-today), prolongations (rrrrrrestaurant), blocks (silent or audible pauses in speech), or circumlocutions (word substitutions to avoiding stuttering on certain words). Everyone is disfluent at times and may have repetitions and prolongations at times. However, normal disfluencies tend to be a repetition of whole words or the interjection of syllables like uh and er, while stuttering tends to be repetitions or prolongations of sounds and syllables, not whole words. People who stutter often experience a feeling of loss of control regarding their speech, and for some people who stutter, talking is accompanied by excessive tension in the facial muscles and/or body.

Title I of the Americans with Disabilities proceed of 1990 (42 U.S.C. sections 12101 et seq.) ("ADA"), which took effect July 26, 1992, prohibits personal employers, state and localizedizedizedized governments, employment agencies, and work unions from discriminating against trained individuals with disabilities in job submission methods, chartering, firing, advancement, reimbursement, job training, and other periods, situation, and privileges of employment. (Bloodstein, 1995)

Stuttering Has Been Recognized As a Possible Disability under the ADA

"Andreson has proffered sufficient evidence to conceive a genuine issue of detail as to if her stuttering constitutes a 'disability' under the ADA. First, there is no dispute that speaking is a major life undertaking under the ADA. Second, Andreson has asserted that her stuttering has initiated her important problems with communication throughout her life and she has submitted clues showing that her stuttering has significantly impacted her life activities. Third, Kathleen Dauer, a talk pathologist who assessed Andresen, stated that ...