Valley leaders see progress since Americans with Disabilities Act took effect 25 years ago

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

In the 25 years since it took effect, the employment portion of the Americans with Disabilities Act has promoted and facilitated the employment of disabled people, local experts say.

Title I of the ADA, the section governing employment, took effect July 26, 1992.

The act is a civil-rights law that bars discrimination based on physical or mental disabilities and requires employers with 15 or more employees to provide reasonable accommodations to disabled workers.

Others parts of the ADA require accessibility of public entities, public transportation, public accommodations and commercial facilities to disabled people.

“I think it’s better than it was,” Michael McBride, the recently retired Youngstown Area Goodwill Industries executive director, said of the accommodation of disabled workers by private sector employers under the ADA.

Goodwill offers vocational rehabilitation to disabled and homeless people and those with obstacles to employment.

“We’re seeing employers who are willing to sit down and talk to our employees – to talk to people that have been in our programs, and we’ve seen them get hired,” said McBride, who headed the local Goodwill for 35 years until his retirement this spring.

Read the full story Monday in The Vindicator and on Vindy.com.