The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was enacted in 1990 to "provide a clear and comprehensive national mandate for the elimination of discrimination against individuals with disabilities.", Among other things, the ADA seeks "to assure equality of opportunity, full participation, independent living and economic self-sufficiency for disabled peo ple." Both Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) have been recognized as "disabilities" within the meaning of the ADA in the regulations that implement the act as well as in numerous cases brought under the statute. Indeed, HIV and AIDS were both among the disabilities Congress had in mind when it passed the ADA.
Armen H. Merjian, AIDS, Welfare, and Title H of theAmericans with Disabilities Act, 16 Yale L. & Pol'y Rev. (1997).