**(a) Findings** The Congress finds that—
(1) physical or mental disabilities in no way diminish a person’s right to fully participate in all aspects of society, yet many people with physical or mental disabilities have been precluded from doing so because of discrimination; others who have a record of a disability or are regarded as having a disability also have been subjected to discrimination;
(2) historically, society has tended to isolate and segregate individuals with disabilities, and, despite some improvements, such forms of discrimination against individuals with disabilities continue to be a serious and pervasive social problem;
(3) discrimination against individuals with disabilities persists in such critical areas as employment, housing, public accommodations, education, transportation, communication, recreation, institutionalization, health services, voting, and access to public services;
(4) unlike individuals who have experienced discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, national origin, religion, or age, individuals who have experienced discrimination on the basis of disability have often had no legal recourse to redress such discrimination;
(5) individuals with disabilities continually encounter various forms of discrimination, including outright intentional exclusion, the discriminatory effects of architectural, transportation, and communication barriers, overprotective rules and policies, failure to make modifications to existing facilities and practices, exclusionary qualification standards and criteria, segregation, and relegation to lesser services, programs, activities, benefits, jobs, or other opportunities;
(6) census data, national polls, and other studies have documented that people with disabilities, as a group, occupy an inferio
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Source location: Title 42, Chapter 126, § 12111; chapter-126-equal-opportunity-for-individuals-with-disabilities.md
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**(a) Findings** The Congress finds that—
(1) physical or mental disabilities in no way diminish a person’s right to fully participate in all aspects of society, yet many people with physical or mental disabilities have been precluded from doing so because of discrimination; others who have a record of a disability or are regarded as having a disability also have been subjected to discrimination;
(2) historically, society has tended to isolate and segregate individuals with disabilities, and, despite some improvements, such forms of discrimination against individuals with disabilities continue to be a serious and pervasive social problem;
(3) discrimination against individuals with disabilities persists in such critical areas as employment, housing, public accommodations, education, transportation, communication, recreation, institutionalization, health services, voting, and access to public services;
(4) unlike individuals who have experienced discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, national origin, religion, or age, individuals who have experienced discrimination on the basis of disability have often had no legal recourse to redress such discrimination;
(5) individuals with disabilities continually encounter various forms of discrimination, including outright intentional exclusion, the discriminatory effects of architectural, transportation, and communication barriers, overprotective rules and policies, failure to make modifications to existing facilities and practices, exclusionary qualification standards and criteria, segregation, and relegation to lesser services, programs, activities, benefits, jobs, or other opportunities;
(6) census data, national polls, and other studies have documented that people with disabilities, as a group, occupy an inferior status in our society, and are severely disadvantaged socially, vocationally, economically, and educationally;
(7) the Nation’s proper goals regarding individuals with disabilities are to assure equality of opportunity, full participation, independent living, and economic self-sufficiency for such individuals; and
(8) the continuing existence of unfair and unnecessary discrimination and prejudice denies people with disabilities the opportunity to compete on an equal basis and to pursue those opportunities for which our free society is justifiably famous, and costs the United States billions of dollars in unnecessary expenses resulting from dependency and nonproductivity.
**(b) Purpose** It is the purpose of this chapter—
(1) to provide a clear and comprehensive national mandate for the elimination of discrimination against individuals with disabilities;
(2) to provide clear, strong, consistent, enforceable standards addressing discrimination against individuals with disabilities;
(3) to ensure that the Federal Government plays a central role in enforcing the standards established in this chapter on behalf of individuals with disabilities; and
(4) to invoke the sweep of congressional authority, including the power to enforce the fourteenth amendment and to regulate commerce, in order to address the major areas of discrimination faced day-to-day by people with disabilities.
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Federal law — U.S. Code and appendices · legal_authorities
§ 12111. Definitions
As used in this subchapter:
(1) Commission
The term ‘‘Commission’’ means the Equal
Employment Opportunity Commission estab-
lished by section 2000e–4 of this title.
(2) Covered entity
The term ‘‘covered entity’’ means an em-
ployer, employment agency, labor organiza-
tion, or joint labor-management committee.
(3) Direct threat
The term ‘‘direct threat’’ means a signifi-
cant risk to the health or safety of others that
cannot be eliminated by reasonable accommo-
dation.
(4) Employee
The term ‘‘employee’’ means an individual
employed by an employer. With respect to em-
ployment in a foreign country, such term in-
cludes an individual who is a citizen of the
United States.
Page 8241
TITLE 42—THE PUBLIC HEALTH AND WELFARE
§ 12111
(5) Employer
(A) In general
The term ‘‘employer’’ means a person en-
gaged in an industry affecting commerce
who has 15 or more employees for each work-
ing day in each of 20 or more calendar weeks
in the current or preceding calendar year,
and any agent of such person, except that,
for two years following the effective date of
this subchapter, an employer means a person
engaged in an industry affecting commerce
who has 25 or more employees for each work-
ing day in each of 20 or more calendar weeks
in the current or preceding year, and any
agent of such person.
(B) Exceptions
The term ‘‘employer’’ does not include—
(i) the United States, a corporation
wholly owned by the government of the
United States, or an Indian tribe; or
(ii) a bona fide private membership club
(other than a labor organization) that is
exempt from taxation under section 501(c)
of title 26.
(6) Illegal use of drugs
(A) In general
The term ‘‘illegal use of drugs’’ means the
use of drugs, the possession or distribution