The Effect of the Americans with Disabilities Act on Supplemental Security Income

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was passed in 1990 and implemented in 1992 with the goal of eliminating discrimination against disabled workers. It did so by requiring employers to accommodate disabled workers and by providing protections against discrimination based on a disability in terms of hiring, termination, and wage decisions. While a number of studies have examined the ADA’s impact on the employment of disabled individuals, it is important to also understand the impact on their use of federal disability programs, including Supplemental Security Income (SSI). I investigate this using state and county data on SSI outcomes for blind and disabled adults, together with a range of complementary data on demographic and economic characteristics. There is evidence of an increase in SSI applications and allowances in the first three years after the implementation of the ADA in all states treated by the ADA. These effects are concentrated in states that had no employment protections prior to the ADA, as opposed to states with protections but no disability accommodations. Compared to the findings for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), the effects of the ADA are similar in terms of increases in applications and stronger in terms of increases in allowances. The results suggest that some of the ADA’s effects on employment may have led disabled individuals to apply for SSI.