If the goal of the Americans with Disabilities Act was to, uh, disable much of America, it’s an unmatched success.
Indeed, there seems no end to the realms of American life in which this 1990 law inflicts pain, particularly in New York.
This week, The New York Times highlighted one such area: small businesses that are harassed — essentially, shaken down — by lawyers fishing for violations.
It’s a goldmine, of course, for the lawyers who “flood” businesses with lawsuits, ostensibly on behalf of disabled clients they recruit from advocacy groups.
Under the ADA, the lawyers collect thousands per case; “plaintiffs” get $500 a pop. One lawyer filed some 200 ADA lawsuits in 2 1/2 years, taking in an estimated $600,000.
Businesses (and customers) pay the tab.
There’s more: Municipalities nationwide are racing to meet a May 21 deadline for ensuring that public swimming pools have lifts to raise and lower the disabled into the water. The city itself runs 66 such pools.
Never mind the price tag — as much as $6,500 per lift, plus $5,000 to $10,000 to install. Combined new costs could top $1 billion — further straining local budgets.
And the city’s already suffering from ADA overreach: Last year, US District Court Judge George Daniels halted city plans to issue 2,000 more taxi medallions (which could raise as much as $1 billion in new revenue) and 18,000 livery-cab permits for outer-borough street hails.
Daniels ruled that all medallions and permits must go to wheelchair-accessible cabs — until the city develops a “comprehensive plan to provide meaningful access.”
The city is appealing his ruling, noting the added $20,000-per-car cost and the lack of evidence that outfitted cabs would be used sufficiently.
Meanwhile, the city has spent a fortune on making subway stations handicapped-accessible, as the law requires.
As a caring nation, America does its best to mitigate the unfair that hand life occasionally deals. But proportion is needed.
Because the misery the law inflicts on everyone else seems far more than that of those it helps.