by James Bovard

About the author: James Bovard is the author of Lost Rights: The Destruction of American Liberty and Shakedown: How Government Screws You from A to Z.

Federal disability policy is rapidly becoming the Bush administration’s legacy to nightclub comics. But few laws in recent memory have sown as much uncertainty and legal chaos as the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), passed at President George Bush’s urging in 1990. The act defined disability as “(a) a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of the major life activities of such individual; (b) a record of such an impairment; or (c) being regarded as having such an impairment.”

A Wide Definition

Julie C. Janofsky, an attorney who has written about the ADA for the Wall Street...