Media Advisory: July 7, 2008
Contact: Lindsay Eierman
678-906-4090

Doug@DougHeckman.com

Heckman Supports ADA Amendment Act 

NORCROSS, Georgia – Doug Heckman, the Democratic candidate for U.S. Congress from Georgia's 7th District, commends Congress for passing the ADA Amendment Act (H.R. 3195) and thereby clarifying the intentions of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. By voting 407-17 in favor of the Act, the House of Representatives declared with one voice that the issue of discrimination has no second legitimate position in a just society. Heckman strongly believes in civil and equal rights for people in all demographics, including Americans with disabilities.

Heckman supports the broadened definition of "disability" affected by the ADA Amendment Act. Since 1990, cases such as Bragdon v. Abbott (1998), PGA Tour Inc, v. Martin (2001), and Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Kentucky, Inc. v. Williams (2002) have compelled the Supreme Court to revisit the original ADA Act. In each case, the Court has debated and divided primarily over whether or not Congress intended to include a given disability under the Act's provisions. The broadened scope of "disability" defined in the ADA Amendment Act will make the law easier to apply and easier for courts to decipher.

We regret that John Linder (R-GA), Heckman's general elections opponent, voted against the ADA Amendment Act. Linder cast one of those seventeen dissenting votes (source: United States House of Representatives Roll Call #460, June 25, 2008). In response, Heckman said, "This is a good bill. Is John Linder really representing our District well by voting against the Act?" The ADA Amendment Act is supported by such organizations as the American Association of People with Disabilities and the Association of University Centers on Disabilities.