H.R. 620: What Now?

So. HR620 passed the House. That’s really bad for the disability community, and we should all be upset about it. But what is HR620, and why is it so harmful? And what can we do about it?

TL;DR: HR620 makes it difficult to enforce the Americans with Disabilities Act (the ADA). That shuts people with disabilities out of public life even more than we already are. It’s in Congress’ hands right now, but we can do our damn best to make sure it never passes the Senate.

HR620, also known as the ADA Education and Reform Act, is a bill that would require written notice of an ADA violation and a significant waiting period before an ADA lawsuit can be filed. This is important because right now the only enforcement of the ADA is through lawsuits. Yeah. The major civil rights legislation for PwD is only enforced through lawsuits. Now HR620 is trying to make it harder to do that.

Proponents of the bill say it’s needed so that businesses can “have more time” to follow the law. The ADA has been around since the 1990s. That’s almost 30 years. How much more time do they need?

Another reason people are supporting the bill is to reduce “frivolous lawsuits for money”. Except there are a couple problems with that. One: you can’t be awarded money for an ADA lawsuit. The only thing that can come out of an ADA lawsuit is forcing them to make the building ADA compliant.

Second, most of these “frivolous lawsuits” and “minor violations” aren’t so minor after all. A few inches in the doorway can be the difference between a wheelchair user getting through the door or being stuck outside. A ramp slightly too steep can make it impossible to use. These are the things businesses are calling frivolous so that they don’t have to follow a thirty year old law.

So what happens if the ADAERA goes into effect?

The big thing is that people with disabilities would have to wait 120 days to begin the process of filing a lawsuit after providing the correct notification. Not everybody has 120 days to wait. Many architectural barriers are urgent and time-sensitive. Waiting 120 days effectively makes it impossible to sue to fix those.

It would also become harder to sue without a lawyer. This will make it especially difficult for people in rural areas, low income people, people of color, and anyone who is already discriminated against in the legal system. Many people will likely not be able to sue at all due to not being able to get a lawyer.

The ADA would become the only rights bill in the U.S. to have this kind of mandatory waiting period.

All of this will lead to shutting disabled people out of public life. When something is inaccessible, when we can’t access it, then we can’t engage in public life the way anyone else can. This will threaten our independence and interdependence. This will take away our ability to connect with our communities.

This won’t only affect people with disabilities (though, let me be clear: we are the primary target here). Have you ever heard of the curb cutter effect? When the ADA mandated curb cuts in the 90s, people with disabilities weren’t the only ones to benefit. People with wheeled luggage, grocery carts, strollers, and all kinds of things also benefited from the cut curbs. This works in reverse too. Something that takes away access from people with disabilities will undoubtedly also take away access from nondisabled people.

So. HR620 passed the House. What can we do about it?

Right now, there is no Senate version of this bill. That’s a good thing for now, but there will be a Senate version soon. When that happens, we need to do everything we can to stop it from going through. Lobbying, public demonstration, everything we have in our arsenal as a community needs to come out for this. For more info, check out the hashtags #HandsOffMyADA and #StopHR620.

Non-disabled people, we need you right now. You praised us when PwD showed up for medicare and everything else since January of 2017, now we need you to show up for this. The disability community is the largest minority in the U.S., but we can’t do this alone. Contact your Senators. Show up to demonstrations. Support organizations like ASAN and ADAPT (and countless others) who have been doing the work on this. Help us stop this thing once and for all.

Charlie is an alum of ASAN’s Autistic College Inclusion program, as well as a founding member/alum of Gender Spectrum’s Youth Council and a member of the Oakland LGBTQ+ Community Center disabled services committee. To get in contact about this article or other topics, email ch.garciaspiegel@gmail.com.