The ADA Is Turning 35—And It’s in Trump’s Crosshairs

Since the bill was signed into law, disabled Americans have benefited from a much wider array of protections in the workforce, in education, and in the ability to access public places and private spaces open to the public, such as stores and restaurants. But in a world where disability rights victories, and disabled people themselves, are being attacked by anti-DEI activists who have President Donald Trump’s ear, disability civil rights feel a little more fragile. Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, another essential and wide-ranging item of civil rights legislation, is also in peril, most notably through a lawsuit filed by 17 Republican state attorneys general and led by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, as my colleague Sarah Szilagy reported in October.

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I don’t know what the Trump administration will do. I’m very concerned. The inclination, I should say, is that they’re not going to enforce civil rights laws, and they’ve cut a lot of people out of the Justice Department. ADA has been the law of the land on a bipartisan basis for 35 years and now Trump is cutting DOJ enforcement, Social Security and education programs established to make sure those of us with disabilities are given the same opportunity to succeed as everyone else.

Previously covered:

[02-18-25] Donald Trump’s Next Diversity Target: People With Disabilities

[01-31-25] DEI (A?) – The Effect of Donald Trump’s DEI Executive Order on Accessibility

Is Disability Inclusion in the Crosshairs?

While the primary focus is on race- and sex-based affirmative action, the Order lumps together “DEI” and Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility (“DEIA”) efforts. So, disability inclusion efforts may now be under scrutiny as well.

Here’s what makes disability-based affirmative actions programs different: unlike race- and sex-based affirmative action, there is no constitutional argument against disability-based affirmative action programs, nor could they be classified as “illegal.” In fact, programs promoting disability inclusion, nondiscrimination, and accessibility are actually required under federal law, such as the Rehabilitation Act. However, laws can only be as effective as their enforcement, and if the new administration chooses to dismantle oversight, the burden to enforce these protections will be placed on individuals and advocates.

[01-21-25] Ending Illegal Discrimination And Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity – The White House

Déjà vu:

[06-24] The Mandate for Leadership, Then and Now (archived)

Still, even if a reelected President Trump should ignore the suggestions provided in Mandate, the document is instructive. The transformations that began in 1980 with Reagan’s election reshaped American society, just as the original group of Heritage authors suggested they would. The vision of the market and of state rollbacks that they promoted eroded living standards and wages and propelled a stunning rise in economic inequality and social hierarchy. Private economic wealth is all that has filled in the gap, and the far-right mobilization of the present—with its conspiratorial fantasies of malign takeover and internal subversion—is the legacy of the atomized, hierarchical society produced by the Reagan revolution. For all the ways that Project 2025 may fantasize about a return to 1980, we find ourselves in a very different place today. As Feulner says, “Onward!”

[2020] Cutting Social Security Disability Benefits Can Backfire Horribly

In the early 1980s, the Ronald Reagan administration terminated benefits for thousands of disabled people who were supposedly loafing on Social Security Disability Insurance instead of getting a job.

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Now the Donald Trump administration is pursuing changes that disability advocates say could repeat those same mistakes.

[1982] FAIRNESS OF REAGAN’S CUTOFFS OF DISABILITY AID QUESTIONED