The ADA at three years: a statute in flux

In the three years since the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was enacted, significant developments have occurred in the form of new administrative and judicial interpretations of the Act. The new guidelines and decisions will assist employers in complying with the ambiguous, and sometimes confusing, provisions of the ADA. Recent developments in areas such as the definition of a disability and the permissibility of medical inquiries, along with continuing developments in the areas of mental disabilities and defining reasonable accommodations, give employers insight into the obligations created by the ADA. These developments are a good starting point to understanding the ADA, but there is still a long way to go. This article surveys the recent developments in the law and examines the considerations that have become important to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the courts in interpreting the ADA's provisions.     

Eviction and homelessness: the impact on African children

More than 80 million African children lack access to healthy shelter, and 16 million of these children are living on the streets. This phenomenon of street children represents massive social failure as well as a violation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Urbanization--and the attendant processes of industrial expansion, land speculation, and "beautification"--has created a cycle of poverty, evictions, family disruption, and unwanted and abandoned children. In African cities, at least 60% of the population lives in informal, underserviced, and frequently illegal slums and squatter settlements in households generally headed by a single mother. Increasingly, eviction is being used as a strategy for driving the poor out of urban areas where they have come to seek work. Mothers who are themselves illiterate, malnourished, and constantly facing the threat of eviction are unable to meet their children's basic security needs. Moreover, violent evictions subvert children's educational and health status, cause psychological trauma and the loss of a sense of belonging, and exacerbate the household's precarious economic status. Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) have been successful in preventing some evictions and have established programs for the care of street children. Recommended is improved coordination between NGOs and local and national governments, as exemplified by the urban child welfare task force established by the Kenyan Government. Above all, however, NGOs need to develop strategies for dealing more effectively with mass urban poverty and providing the necessary infrastructure to improve the lives of slum residents.