This report is based on the public hearing on the Americans with Disabilities Act which the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights held on November 12-13, 1998 to "investigate how the ADA was accomplishing its objectives of ensuring equality, independence, and freedom for people with disabilities"--P iii

A barrage of "handbooks" and "resource manuals" aimed at employers and legal practitioners on the employment rights of people with disabilities has begun to appear. Until now, however, there has been no serious book-length scholarly treatment of how mental disorder can affect work, how work can affect mental disorder, and the role of law in addressing employment discrimination based on mental rather than physical disability. In Mental Disorder, Work Disability and the Law, the editors bring together original work by leading scholars who have studied mental disorder and work disability from the fields of sociology, psychology, psychiatry, law, and economics. The authors' contributions build upon one another to create the first integrated account of the important policy issues at stake when law deals with the rights of mentally disordered citizens to work when they are able to, and to receive benefits when they are not. This book will be of great value to scholars in law and the mental health professions and to policy makers and the administrators of disability programs.

Annotation Stefan (an attorney with the Center for Public Representation) demonstrates the failure of the Americans with Disabilities Act in regard to the employment rights of people with mental disabilities, and examines the reasons for this failure. She then considers future possibilities, highlighting the roles of the courts, the government, and employers. Case studies are used to support the legal analysis. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com).

An evaluation of the current efforts under the ADA in the area of psychiatric disabilities & employment, & a review of the data that may assist future implementation. Conclusion is that the current level of guidance, technical assistance, & research activities are unlikely to optimally assist employers & people with psychiatric disabilities in exercising their rights & responsibilities under the law. Describes a variety of workplace accommodations that may be useful to people with psychiatric disabilities. Glossary. Illustrated.

The Americans with Disabilities Act was heralded by its congressional sponsors as an emancipation proclamation for people with disabilities and as the most important civil rights legislation passed in a generation. This book offers an assessment of what has actually occurred since the ADA's enactment in 1990. In empirically based articles, contributors from the fields of law, health policy, government, and business reveal the unsoundness of charges from the right that the ADA will bankrupt industry, and assumptions on the left that the ADA will prove ineffective in helping people with disabilities enter and remain in the workforce.