COVID-19 and the Americans with Disabilities Act: Implications for employment and higher education

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is a federal law that protects individuals with disabilities from discrimination in all areas of public life. The ADA contributes to equal opportunity across policy areas, including the interconnected domains of higher education and employment. Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, emerging research has begun to document the disparities in impact on people with disabilities, among other marginalized groups. However, no research to date has reviewed and synthesized literature that addresses disability discrimination related to COVID-19 that has implications for application of the ADA.

This rapid evidence review aims to increase understanding about how COVID-19 has resulted in challenges for people with disabilities in the domains of employment and higher education that may be resolved through application of the ADA.

Keyword searches were conducted in five electronic databases. Title, abstract, and full text screening was conducted followed by a thematic analysis of key ADA themes.

Twelve final articles were included in this review, eight categorized within higher education and four within employment. In relation to the ADA and COVID-19, five studies revealed findings related to web accessibility, eight related to effective communication, and four related to reasonable accommodations.

The findings provide a broad overview of the current research on how COVID-19 has affected accessibility, communications and accommodations in employment and higher education and identify gaps in the literature within these policy domains.