Americans with Disabilities Act

Yesterday, I heard a story on NPR's "This American Life" about the enforcement of the American's with Disabilities Act (ADA) in California. At least in California (I don't know about other states) there is no agency that monitors ADA laws that require buildings to be handicap accessible. The law is set up in such a way that individuals (normally handicap people) are given monetary incentives to sue businesses that do not comply with ADA laws. The rational behind this system can be explained by Schneider and Ingram's article about the social construct of target populations. According to Schneider and Ingram, the handicap fall under the category of dependents (positively constructed but with little political power). It is rational for those in power to not want to spend money on powerless dependent groups so they often use other tools besides direct resources when allocating benefits to these groups. In the example above, instead of allocating monetary resources to provide for building inspectors to make sure ADA laws are complied with, the system is set up whereby it is up to individuals to enforce the laws.

Creating a system in which handicap people must enforce ADA regulations has actually increased negative perceptions of this group by increasing discrimination. The handicap man who was interviewed in the NPR podcast said that he oftentimes has trouble booking accessible hotel rooms because hotel owners are afraid that their rooms won't be up to code and they will be sued. It is possible that this increased negative perception of a dependent group is beneficial for those in power because it means that they have to spend less money and time on benefits for the handicap. In the article Schneider and Ingram briefly mention that women are moving more toward a position of power and are being less positively viewed. I think it is plausible that the policy tools used for dependents not only makes some groups of dependents (women, handicap, and potentially others) less politically involved but might also push them towards being more negatively viewed. This might happen because policy tools for dependents oftentimes force them to seek out benefits which makes them seem pushy, greedy, and whiny by other groups.