Ill/Legal: Interrogating the Meaning and Function of the Category of Disability in Antidiscrimination Law

At a well-publicized White House ceremony on July 26, 1990, thousands of people with disabilities watched as President George Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) into law, declaring, "Let the shameful wall of exclusion finally come tumbling down." The President's words captured the optimism of people with disabilities nationwide that the enactment of the ADA, which extended federal anti discrimination protection to most private and public institutions, would finally bring an end to the segregation and stigmatization of the disabled.