In fact, Bagenstos said, ADA plaintiffs win less frequently than any other category of plaintiffs besides those bringing prisoner's rights suits.
"I think a big part of the reason [for this low success rate] is the courts have stringently narrowed the definition of who's disabled," he said.
Jane Alper, a panelist and an attorney for the Boston Disability Law Center, said the disabled are still "the most oppressed group of any minority group in this country."
She said judges who enforce the statutes are often too hesitant to force businesses to make special provisions for their disabled employees.
"In the real world, reasonable accommodation is something a judge thinks is reasonable," she said.
As a result of these problems, members of the panel said that disabled Americans still face discrimination, years after the passage of the bill.
Brooke M. Ellison '00, co-chair of disabled advocacy group EMPOWER: Encouraging Mankind to Perceive Others with Equal Respect, said that while Harvard has been accommodating with regard to her disability, she has more trouble off campus.
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