US Disability: 2010-2020

Key Events regarding Disability in the US: 2010 to 2020:

2010: The 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act, known as CVAA, was signed into law. It requires that unedited, full-length programs shown on TV with captions must also be captioned when they are made available online, with more requirements to be phased in at later dates

2010: Rosa's Law, which changed references in many Federal Statutes that referred to "Mental Retardation" to make them refer, instead, to "Intellectual Disability", became law in the U.S.

2010: The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act became law. Due to this law, since 2012 companies cannot drop a person's coverage when they get sick due to a mistake the person made on their application, or put a lifetime cap on how much care they will pay for if a person gets sick, and since 2014 companies cannot deny coverage based on preexisting conditions, or put an annual cap on how much care they will pay for if a person gets sick.

2011: New Americans with Disabilities Act rules came into effect. These rules expanded accessibility requirements for recreational facilities such as swimming pools, golf courses, exercise clubs, and boating facilities. They also set standards for the use of wheelchairs and other mobility devices like Segways in public spaces, and changed the standards for things such as selling tickets to events and reserving accessible hotel rooms. The new rules also clearly defined "service animal" as "...any dog that is individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of an individual with a disability, including a physical, sensory, psychiatric, intellectual, or other mental disability." This portion of the law also states that the services the service animal provides must be "directly related to the handler's disability" and dogs that provide only emotional support or crime deterrence cannot be defined as service animals.

2011: The Fair, Accurate, Inclusive, and Respectful Education Act, also known as the FAIR Education Act (Senate Bill 48), which states that California schools must include the contributions of people with Disabilities in their textbooks and in teaching of History and Social Studies classes, became law.

2012:  A lawsuit settlement provided that the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York would add wheelchair seating and accessible parking and renovate restrooms to make them more accessible.

2012: Gov. Andrew Cuomo and legislative leaders reached a deal to create a new state agency, the Justice Center for the Protection of People With Special Needs, to police abuse and neglect of more than one million New Yorkers with Developmental Disabilities, mental illnesses and other conditions that put them at risk.

2012: It was announced that Netflix will offer closed captions on all TV and movie content from September 2014 as part of a settlement with a Deaf viewer from Massachusetts (Lee Nettles) who sued the company.[356] In 2012, a federal judge in Springfield, Massachusetts ruled in that lawsuit that Netflix and other online providers that serve the public are subject to the federal Americans with Disabilities Act, the first ruling in the country to recognize that Internet-based businesses are covered by the act.

2013: All existing pools located at "public accommodations" must meet Americans With Disabilities Act standards. This requires the installation of a fixed lift for the pool areas.

2013: The U.S. Justice Department said in a settlement with Lesley University in Massachusetts that severe food allergies can be considered Disabilities under Federal Law.

2013: The U.S. Department of Education issued a mandate requiring schools to provide sports for children with Disabilities.

2013:  Airline website pages which have core travel information and services must be accessible to disabled people within two years, the Department of Transportation said, and all pages on airline websites must within three years be readily available to people with disabilities. The new regulations also required airline ticket agents to disclose — and offer — web-based discount fares to customers unable to use their sites due to a disability. Airlines already were required to provide equivalent service for consumers who were unable to use inaccessible websites. Airlines and airports were also required by the new regulations to have to make accessible to disabled people automated kiosks providing boarding passes and baggage tags, as they purchased new equipment. If no new kiosks were installed, 25 percent of the kiosks at each airport location in 2013 were required to be accessible within 10 years. Another new rule gave airlines more flexibility in how they transported manual, folding wheelchairs onboard, making it possible for them to carry up to two wheelchairs in the cabin. In addition to being able to stow a wheelchair in a closet, airlines were also allowed under the new regulations to strap a second chair across a row of seats. Closets also were required to have signs saying wheelchairs have priority over other baggage.

2014: Employees of Federal service and concession contractors with Disabilities who had been paid less than minimum wage under Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act were included in an Executive Order (signed in 2014) raising the Minimum Wage for employees of federal service and concession contractors to $10.10 an hour.

2015: The Every Student Succeeds Act set new mandates on expectations and requirements for students with Disabilities.

2015: New York City held its first Disability Pride Parade.

2015: Paying Workers with Disabilities less than the Minimum Wage was outlawed in New Hampshire.

2016: An Ethics Rule of the American Bar Association now forbids comments or actions that single out someone on the basis of Disability, as well as other factors.

2016: Paying workers with Disabilities less than the minimum wage was outlawed in Maryland.

2018:  Delta Air Lines stated that starting March 1, documentation would be required about the health of service and support animals, and in some cases there would have to be a promise of their good conduct.

2018: Paying workers with disabilities less than the minimum wage was outlawed in Alaska.

2018: Starting March 1, United Airlines required documents to confirm that an emotional support animal is healthy and properly trained for being in public places.

2018: Beginning November 1, 2018, Frontier Airlines declared that emotional support animals must be either a dog or a cat.

2018:  In December 2018, the U.S. Department of Transportation began requiring that airlines track the number of reports they receive of mishandled wheelchairs and scooters.