The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 is a civil rights statute that prohibits discrimination against people who have disabilities. Under the ADA, designing and constructing facilities for public use that are not usable by people who have disabilities constitutes discrimination.

The ADA covers a wide range of disability, from physical conditions affecting mobility, stamina, sight, hearing, and speech to conditions such as emotional illness and learning disorders. Such disabilities may or may not be evident to others. The percentage of the US population affected by a condition that constitutes a disability under the ADA is expected to increase over the coming decades, in part due to the growing numbers of the elderly.

The ADA addresses access to the workplace (title I), state and local government services (title II), and places of public accommodation and commercial facilities (title III). It also requires telephone companies to provide telecommunications relay services for people who have hearing or speech impairments (title IV) and miscellaneous instructions to Federal agencies that enforce the law (title V).