Successes And Shortcomings: 30 Years Of The Americans With Disabilities Act Disability rights activists convoy down Beacon Hill after being charged with trespassing at the McCormick Building, which houses the Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services, in Boston, on Nov. 1, 2016. Charles Krupa / AP Share ADA | UTR Thirty years ago, East and West Germany reunited after the fall of the Soviet Union. It was 1990, the same year The World Wide Web debuted, plus singer Mariah Careyâs blockbuster hit, "Vision of Love," kicked off her career. And President George H.W. Bush signed into law the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) banning discrimination against millions of Americans in education, transportation, and public accommodations. Three decades later, the 1 in 4 adult Americans with disabilities have benefitted from the ADAâs protections. But the benefits are being threatened by the wide-ranging impact of COVID-19, and by the ever-widening inequities in health care and employment. In this 30th anniversary year of the passage of the ADA, the disability rights movement looks back to the billâs legacy and ahead to new challenges.