terest advocates for the ADA were the Disability
Rights Defense and Education Fund and the Ameri-
can Civil Liberties Union.
Controversy Amid Criticisms Many people who at-
tended the signing ceremony played crucial roles in
bringing the ADA to fruition, including Justin Dart
(chair of the President’s Committee on Employ-
ment of People with Disabilities) and Sandra Swift
Parrino (chair of the National Council on Disabil-
ity). However, as these people were celebrating the
first major piece of civil rights legislation for the dis-
abled, others were continuing to voice their criti-
cisms. Critics have argued that the ADA has brought
about a number of claims by people who do not have
serious disabilities, creating frivolous legal disputes
and possibly hurting the very people the law was in-
tending to help. Others feel that the legislation is in-
herently flawed because the burden of recognizing
discrimination and the enforcement of the princi-
ples of ADA rests almost solely on the disabled indi-
vidual. The federal government cannot investigate
all the cases that are filed, so, for prompt action, a
disabled individual frequently has to hire an attor-
ney. Further criticisms are based upon the fact that
this particular law extends to a very broad spectrum,
including transportation, employment, public ac-
commodation, and telecommunications, perhaps
too broad for just one bill.
Impact Although many with disabilities were justi-
fiably upset with the slow pace of barrier removal,
the Americans with Disabilities Act has done more to
help the disabled than any other single piece of leg-
islation.
Further Reading
Goren, William D.Understanding the Americans with
Disabilities Act. 2d ed. Chicago: American Bar As-
sociation, 2007. This book has a predominantly
legal focus and discusses the ADA from the per-
spective of a disabled lawyer.
Hamilton Krieger, Linda, ed.Backlash Against the
ADA: Reinterpreting Disability Rights.Ann Arbor:
University of Michigan Press, 2003. An explora-
tion of the difficulties faced in enforcing the ADA
and the societal backlash once the ADA was cre-
ated.
Jones, Nancy Lee.The Americans with Disabilities Act
(ADA): Overview, Regulations, and Interpretations.
New York: Novinka Books, 2003. A comprehen-
sive look at the ADA and how it has been inter-
preted in various contexts by legal institutions.
Kathr yn A. Cochran
See also Bush, George H. W.; Civil Rights Act of
1991; Dole, Bob. AmeriCorps
Identification U.S. government-funded
community-service network
Date Created in 1993
A federally funded network of nonprofits, AmeriCorps con-
nects tens of thousands of Americans each year with service
projects in education, public safety, health, and the envi-
ronment.
AmeriCorps, which operates by connecting non-
profits, public agencies, and faith-based organiza-
tions with volunteers, came out of a climate of con-
cern about education and community service. The
organization was officially launched when President
Bill Clinton signed the National and Community
Service Trust Act of 1993, building on the first Na-
tional Service Act, signed by President George H. W.
Bush in 1990.
Volunteering for America AmeriCorps consists of
three branches, AmeriCorps State and National,
AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps
(NCCC), and AmeriCorps Volunteers in Service to
America (VISTA). The State and National branch
provides grants directly to national service programs
and consortia based across two or more states, in-
cluding public agencies, higher education institu-
tions, and community- and faith-based organiza-
tions. These grants are used to recruit, train, and
place AmeriCorps volunteers in programs designed
to fill community needs in education, conservation,
public safety, and health. The program works with
governor-appointed state service commissions to
provide grants to single-state and local organizations.
AmeriCorps NCCC is a full-time, team-based resi-
dential program for men and women based on re-
gional campuses. The number of campuses has var-
ied during AmeriCorps’ history. NCCC members
participate in similar projects to other AmeriCorps
members, as well as disaster relief, home building
for low-income families, wildland firefighting, and
environmental conservation.The Nineties in America AmeriCorps 37