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ADA Education Project Created;
New Publication Outlines Increased Protections For PWA's

For IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 3, 1990

  To educate people with AIDS about their rights and
responsibilities under the new Americans with Disabilities Act,
the American Civil Liberties Union's national AIDS Project, along
with the AIDS Action Council and the American Foundation for AIDS
Research, have established a new education project and issued a
new publication: "The Americans With Disabilities Act: What It
Means For People Living With AIDS."

  The new publication outlines the provisions of the ADA and how
they can be used by people living with AIDS. It provides answers
in 19 areas, ranging from basic definitions of the ADA and the
term "disabled" to questions about discrimination against people
with HIV disease or AIDS.

  "Passage of the Americans with Disability Act was significant,
but at this point the protections the law offers are just a
promise," said William B. Rubenstein, the Director of the
national AIDS Project of the American Civil Liberties Union. "Our
ADA Education Project and our new publication are steps aimed at
making the law's protections work for PWAs."

  The ADA Education Project is also developing more comprehensive
materials on the legislation. In addition, the Project is
creating an "in service" training program, which will be
conducted by staff from the three sponsoring organizations for
interested organizations and corporations throughout the United
States.

  "The success of this legislation is going to depend largely on
how it is viewed and adopted by corporate America," said Mathilde
Krim, the Co-Chair of the American Foundation for AIDS Research.
"We think the in-service training program will go a long way in
insuring that persons with AIDS and HIV disease will be protected
to the fullest extent possible under the new law."

  Signed into law in July 1990, the ADA is the most important,
and perhaps the most complex, piece of civil rights legislation
passed in this country in the past 25 years. It extends federal
protection against discrimination for persons with disabilities
in the private workplace and in places of public accommodation.
As discussed in the new publication, the ADA provides uniform,
forceful, enforceable federal protections to persons with
disabilities, including persons with AIDS and HIV infection.

  "We are confident that persons with AIDS and HIV disease will
find this publication a useful guide to understanding their
rights under the ADA," said Daniel Bross, executive director of
the AIDS Action Council. "Our pamphlet helps bring to life this
important new legislation and will help the AIDS community
educate itself about the new rights this law gives."

  Rubenstein of the ACLU AIDS Project urged persons and
organizations interested in this new law to contact the ADA
Education Project at the national offices of the ACLU at 132 West
43d Street, New York, NY, 10036.

  "The ACLU was instrumental in getting this law passed in
Washington," Rubenstein said. "We are now equally determined to
insure that the new law is enforced and its protections widely
used by persons with AIDS or HIV disease."