Paper Critique of ADA and Affirmative Action Essay

Paper Critique of ADA and Affirmative Action - Essay Example e physical accessibility to people with disabilities in buildings and also ensures the removal of obstacles that deny individuals with disabilities equal employment opportunities. The main parts of the act are divided into five sections, with the first section insuring against discrimination against qualified individuals with disabilities with regards to employment (Accessiblesociety, 2012). The second title prohibits discrimination against the disabled at all public levels, including the state, municipal and school district level. The third part is targeted at public accommodation, where individuals may not be discriminated from enjoying facilities at any public place of accommodation due to their disability. In the fourth part, ADA ensures that people with disabilities enjoy equivalent services with non-disabled people, while the last title includes miscellaneous provisions. Ever since the introduction of the act in 1990, there has been a lot of success in reducing discrimination against the disabled. One of the first advantages of the act is that the accessibility of people with disabilities has significantly improved (Accessiblesociety, 2012). For example, people with disabilities can mount legal objections to practices which they feel are discriminatory. This has helped in increasing job opportunities for people with disabilities. The act has also help medically incompetent but qualified individuals who used to be discriminated based on their medical conditions. According to ADA, an employee is not mandated to ask for medical certificates before hiring. Despite the successes that ADA has had in the past decade or so, the main disadvantage of the act is the apparent contradiction with the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (OSHA) ( Skoning and Condon, 1994). According to ADA, an employee cannot move an employee from a workplace that is deemed dangerous, since this would seem discriminatory. However, OSHA dictates that dangerous workplaces are illegal.