On July 26, 1990, President George H.W. Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act into law on the South Lawn of the White House, surrounded by hundreds of disability rights advocates who had fought for years to make that moment possible.
Thirty-six years later, the ADA remains one of the most consequential pieces of civil rights legislation in American history. And for Missouri’s Extended Employment Sheltered Workshops, it is not just a legal backdrop. It is the foundation everything is built on.
What the ADA Did… and What It Didn’t Do Alone
The ADA prohibited discrimination against people with disabilities in employment, public accommodations, transportation, and government services. It established the legal expectation that people with disabilities belong in the workforce, in their communities, and in public life… not as an exception, but as a right.
But legislation doesn’t build community on its own. It takes organizations, managers, and dedicated staff willing to do the daily work of making that right real. That’s where Missouri’s sheltered workshops have always come in.
36 Years of Showing Up
Before the ADA was signed, many of the shops that make up MASWM’s membership were already operating — already providing structured employment, skills development, and community connection to Missourians with disabilities who had few other options. The ADA didn’t create that commitment. It gave it a legal framework and a national stage.
In the decades since, Missouri’s shops have adapted to every shift in policy, funding, and public expectation. They have navigated changes to federal and state regulations, evolving definitions of “competitive integrated employment,” and ongoing debates about what meaningful work looks like for people with different support needs. They have done this, in most cases, with limited resources and extraordinary dedication.
That’s not a small thing. That’s 36 years of showing up.
What the ADA Means in Practice Today
For the managers and staff at Missouri’s shops, the ADA is not an abstract principle. It shapes how facilities are designed, how employees are supported, how services are documented, and how shops communicate with partner agencies, families, and the public.
Title I of the ADA, the employment title, is the most directly relevant. It requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations for qualified employees with disabilities and prohibits discrimination in hiring, advancement, and all other terms of employment. For shops whose entire workforce is built around supporting employees with disabilities, this is both a legal obligation and a daily operating reality.
ADA compliance also intersects with accessibility: in physical spaces, in digital tools, and in communications. As more of MASWM’s members expand their digital presence and connect with partner agencies online, web accessibility is increasingly part of the ADA conversation, not separate from it.
The Work Ahead
Thirty-six years in, the ADA’s promise is still being realized, albeit unevenly, and often slowly. For people with significant support needs, access to meaningful employment remains a genuine challenge. Missouri’s shops exist precisely to meet that challenge: to provide structured, supported work for individuals who may not be served by the open labor market, while continuing to advocate for the resources and policy frameworks that make that work possible.
MASWM’s member shops are not relics of a pre-ADA era. They are a living, active part of Missouri’s response to the ADA’s mandate… 36 years and counting.
A Note of Gratitude
On this anniversary, MASWM extends its gratitude to the disability rights advocates whose work made the ADA possible, to the state of Missouri for its ongoing support of Extended Employment programs, and above all to the managers, direct support professionals, and employees at every one of our member shops. You are the reason these 36 years mean something.
Here’s to the next 36.
