“with disabilities”

provided civil rights protections to individuals with disabilities and guaranteed them equal opportunity in public accommodations, employment, transportation, state and local government services, and telecommunications. Some 43 million disabled people were affected by the law. The employment provisions applied beginning in 1992 to employers with 25 or more employees; those with 15–24 employees would have to be in compliance by 1994. The public accommodations provisions were generally effective beginning January 1992. They required that necessary changes be made to afford access by persons with disabilities to all public facilities, including restaurants, theaters, day-care centers, parks, institutional buildings, and hotels.