The Americans with Disabilities Act: A Mandate for Marketers
本文探讨美国残疾人法案如何直接和间接影响营销人员，要求他们为残疾消费者提供便利，并呼吁超越最低合规标准，以尊重和敏感的态度对待这一庞大群体。
An estimated 49 million Americans (nearly one in five) have a physical or mental disability, which makes people with disabilities the country's largest minority (Hopkins 1994). More than one in six individuals of working age (16 to 64 years of age) has a disability; twothirds of these 29 million are not currently employed, though 79% state that they would like to work (Louis Harris and Associates 1994). In July 1990, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), hailed by many as landmark legislation, was signed into effect by President George Bush. The ADA prohibits discrimination against persons with disabilities in hiring and promotion decisions and provides access to public transportation and public accommodations and services, as well as to telecommunications (Fersh and Thomas 1993). Our intent is to examine how the ADA affects marketers, both directly in regulating their activities and indirectly by raising awareness of a sizable group that marketers have heretofore largely ignored. The next section provides a brief description of the provisions of the ADA, followed by a discussion of the issue of access. This issue directly affects marketers because they must make provisions for accommodating customers with a variety of disabilities. The final section calls on marketers to venture beyond de minimis compliance with the letter of the ADA and attend to its spirit as well, by approaching people with disabilities with the sensitivity and respect every consumer deserves.