The ADA Amendments Act of 2008

The goal of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was to create a civil rights law protecting people with disabilities from discrimination on the basis of their disabilities. Disability rights advocates in 1990 were victorious in their efforts to open doors for people with disabilities and to change the country\u27s outlook and acceptance of people with disabilities. These advocates believed that the terms of the ADA, based as they were on Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, combined with the legislative history of the ADA, would provide clear instructions to the courts that the ADA was intended to provide broad coverage prohibiting discrimination against people with a wide range of physical and mental impairments. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court--with lower courts following in its lead, barricaded the door that the ADA had opened by interpreting the definition of disability in the ADA to create an overly demanding standard for coverage under the law. This article provides an overview of the advocacy effort that has resulted in restoring the original intent of the ADA and destroying the barriers of discrimination that prevent people with disabilities from fully participating in society

There\u27s No Place like Home: Reshaping Community Interventions and Policies to Eliminate Environmental Hazards and Improve Population Health for Low-Income and Minority Communities

Substandard housing and environmental conditions threaten the health and wellbeing of individuals residing throughout the United States Empirical evidence on the relationship between housing and health has increased exponentially However despite the growth in research residents continue to be exposed to environmental health hazards Minorities and people in poverty are exposed to environmental health hazards at a disproportionately high rate Hazards such as lead mold pest infestation radon and carbon monoxide among others threaten individual safety and health and limit one\u27s ability to access opportunity in society Moreover the effects of exposure can be farreaching Common approaches to healthy communities and homes fail to protect residents from exposure to environmental health hazards Federal state and local jurisdictions often rely on education and research regulation of real estate transactions heightened standards for special populations enactment of minimum habitability standards hazard mitigation and communitylevel interventions Taken together these approaches are fragmented reactive rather than preventive and underresourced As a result they are inadequate to prevent negative health consequences that accrue to residents This article analyzes the relationship between policies governing healthy communities and housing and health outcomes for residents Part I discusses how environmental and housing conditions affect community and individual health with a particular focus on conditions that cause lead poisoning asthma and respiratory distress and cancer Part II examines current federal state and local approaches to healthy housing policy including interventions directed at individual housing units as well as the community atlarge This part also analyzes the limitations of these policies that prevent residents from attaining good health Part III offers recommendations to improve health outcomes for individuals and communitie

Health Justice Strategies to Combat the Pandemic: Eliminating Discrimination, Poverty, and Health Disparities During and After COVID-19

Experience with past epidemics made it predictable that people living in poverty, people of color, and other marginalized groups would bear the brunt of the coronavirus pandemic due to the social determinants of health (SDOH). The SDOH are subdivided into structural and intermediary determinants. Structural determinants include forms of subordination (discrimination and poverty) that influence intermediary determinants (health care, housing, and employment). The COVID-19 pandemic has magnified and accelerated the harms caused by these determinants, limiting health equity among historically marginalized groups and low-income populations. Black, Latino, and Indigenous populations have higher COVID-19 infection and mortality rates, higher rates of unemployment, less access to health care, and greater risk of eviction during the pandemic, among other significant inequities. Without robust and swift government interventions, the impacts of the pandemic will be wide and deep. This Article analyzes mechanisms of these determinants in the pandemic setting and provides solutions using the health justice framework. The health justice framework offers three principles: structural, supportive, and empowering. First, legal and policy responses must address the structural determinants of health. Second, interventions mandating healthy behaviors must be accompanied by material support and legal protections to enable compliance while minimizing harms. Third, historically marginalized communities must be engaged and empowered as leaders in the development and implementation of interventions and the attainment of health justice. To demonstrate the application of these principles, this Article focuses on two structural determinants of health (discrimination and poverty) and three intermediary determinants (health care, housing, and employment)

Duty to Protect: Enhancing the Federal Framework to Prevent Childhood Lead Poisoning and Exposure to Environmental Harm

Scientific evidence indisputably demonstrates that lead poisoning causes permanent neurological damage and numerous co-morbidities for children and adults. Exposure to lead hazards irreversibly harms individuals and, left unchecked, can devastate communities into the future. In recognition of these threats, the President\u27s Task Force on Environmental Health Risks and Safety Risks to Children (Task Force) was established by Executive Order in 1997. The original Task Force created the first coordinated federal response to eliminate childhood lead poisoning in the United States and set an ambitious ten-year timeline to achieve its goals of prevention, treatment, research, and progress management

Duty to Protect: Enhancing the Federal Framework to Prevent Childhood Lead Poisoning and Exposure to Environmental Harm

Scientific evidence indisputably demonstrates that lead poisoning causes permanent neurological damage and numerous co-morbidities for children and adults. Exposure to lead hazards irreversibly harms individuals and, left unchecked, can devastate communities into the future. In recognition of these threats, the President\u27s Task Force on Environmental Health Risks and Safety Risks to Children (Task Force) was established by Executive Order in 1997. The original Task Force created the first coordinated federal response to eliminate childhood lead poisoning in the United States and set an ambitious ten-year timeline to achieve its goals of prevention, treatment, research, and progress management. However, the most recent Task Force retreated from these bold goals. Rather than eliminating lead poisoning, in 2018 the Task Force sought merely to reduce it. This Article provides a comprehensive overview of the dangers of lead exposure, details the federal government\u27s evolving response to lead poisoning, and, for the first time, disseminates previously unpublished comments on Drafting a New Federal Strategy to Reduce Childhood Lead Exposures and Impacts, submitted to the Task Force in 2017, ahead of its most recent report. By providing these comments publicly, this Article creates a record of critical recommendations to the Task Force, provides best practices for the federal government\u27s response to lead poisoning, and encourages federal policymakers to take the necessary steps to meet the original goal of eradicating lead hazards and protecting children from lead poisoning

Health Justice Strategies to Eradicate Lead Poisoning: An Urgent Call to Safeguard Future Generations

Despite over a century of evidence that lead is a neurotoxin that causes irreparable harm, today, lead continues to pervade children\u27s environments and remains a constant threat to health and wellbeing. One in three homes across the United States housing children under the age of six has significant lead-based paint hazards that place occupants at risk of permanent neurological harm and lifelong poor health risks. Federal, state, and local governments must use a range of primary prevention strategies in order to fully eradicate the risks and protect children from lead poisoning. This Article provides a comprehensive examination of best practices for addressing lead poisoning and proposes urgent reform measures at the local and state levels. Successful interventions ultimately prioritize health justice strategies and rely on community ownership and cross-sector participation; dedicate significant resources and funding to completely eliminate lead in the environment; and prioritize primary prevention practices that identify lead-based paint hazards before children are exposed