Most Americans support the Americans with Disabilities Act both in theory and practice. But when asked which particular disabilities they think ought to qualify for extra consideration, that solidarity begins to break down.
The pollsters at Harris did their thing with the approach of the 25th anniversary of passage of the ADA. A large majority of those surveyed — 83 percent — support the tenets of the act. Most agree that such conditions as blindness or vision impairment, hearing loss, epilepsy, cerebral palsy, autism and multiple sclerosis are definitely disabilities that should be taken into consideration on the job and in society in general.
But grinding more finely, Harris reported less overall support for the following conditions: speech and language disorders, learning disabilities, cancer, depression and migraines.
Those at least received between 20 percent and 30 percent support as disabilities deserving of accommodations. Others got even less support, including morbid obesity (17 percent), anorexia or bulimia (16 percent), drug addiction (10 percent), alcoholism (9 percent) and gambling (5 percent).
Republicans and older Americans tended to be less willing to support accommodations for those with disabilities, while millennials and Democrats were the most supportive.
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Dan Cook
Dan Cook is a journalist and communications consultant based in Portland, OR. During his journalism career he has been a reporter and editor for a variety of media companies, including American Lawyer Media, BusinessWeek, Newhouse Newspapers, Knight-Ridder, Time Inc., and Reuters. He specializes in health care and insurance related coverage for BenefitsPRO.
