A Comprehensive Analysis of the Effects of US Disability Discrimination Laws on the Employment of the Disabled Population1

We conduct a comprehensive analysis of the effect of disability discrimination laws on the labor markets of individuals with disabilities. We examine almost all variation in the federal law (Americans with Disabilities Act, Supreme Court cases, ADA Amendments Act) in addition to variation in state laws. We focus on estimating the effects of these legal changes on hiring, as this is the margin where the effect of the laws is most unclear. We estimate effects by type of disability, going beyond the conventional “work-limited” definition by using definitions based on the severity of impairments to activities of daily life, and by distinguishing between disability types, such as focusing on if the conditions are salient to an employer at the time of interview. We find that most expansions (contractions) of disability discrimination protections are associated with increases (decreases) in hiring. Our results varied by how disability is defined, such as results differing for those with impairments to activities of daily life or for those with a salient or non-salient physical conditions, and our results varied by the legal change studied. This suggests that studies using a single disability measure or a single legal change may not capture the heterogeneity of effects.