For a long time, the workforce treated disabled individuals as second-class citizens at best, and as drains on society at worst. Most companies did not even consider hiring disabled workers, and if they did hire such workers, the disabled individuals were often relegated to mundane tasks that did not offer a great deal of personal satisfaction or opportunity for advancement. The advent of the Americans with Disabilities Act changed this for the better in many ways, outlining additional regulations designed to ensure that disabled workers are not unlawfully prevented from working.
As wonderful as the ADA was for disabled workers, the state of California decided to take protecting the rights of disabled workers even further with the Fair Employment and Housing Act. Because of the ADA and the FEHA, disabled workers can now enjoy their work free of discrimination in hiring practices and treatment in the workforce. This includes requiring employers to make reasonable accommodations for disabled workers.
The concept of reasonable accommodation was brought about to ensure that employers did not have plausible deniability when refusing to hire disabled workers. A company claiming that they cannot hire workers because they do not have wheelchair accessible ramps, for example, would seem like a reasonable claim. That is why reasonable accommodations require such companies to create such ramps, to ensure that workers in wheelchairs are able to work if hired.
Because of the ADA and the FEHA, disabled individuals should no longer have to fear being discriminated against in the workforce, either in hiring practices or daily treatment. This means that if you are refused employment because of your disability or you are treated differently due to your disability, you could have grounds to bring legal action against the company in question. If you believe that you have been discriminated against by your employer because of a disability, consider meeting with an attorney to learn more about your rights.