The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) stipulates that many disabled people qualify for consideration as adoptive parents. Both private and public adoption agencies are regulated under this law. Agencies that categorically reject a disabled individual on the basis of deafness, blindness, drug use history and treatment, or HIV infection are in violation of the ADA and subject to liability.
However, the job of any adoption agency is to locate a family suitable for a child, not the opposite. Placement can be denied if a prospective adoptive parent has a disability that seems to be a legitimate concern. This only holds true if the action is not part of routinely excluding prospective parents based on their disabilities.
People are considered disabled and protected from discrimination under the ADA if they have a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of their major life abilities. Disabled individuals may have a previous record of this type of impairment or be currently regarded as having it. This includes when the impairment is treated as limiting major life abilities, attitudes of others limit abilities, or when the impairment does not actually exist but others treat the individual as though it does.
Things like performing manual tasks, caring for self, seeing, walking, speaking, hearing, breathing, working, and learning are considered major life abilities. Web sites have been created to match disabled children with adoptive parents who possess the same disability. However, a disabled adopter is not limited to adopting a child with special needs.
Disabled adults should not take any initial resistance to their desire to adopt personally. They should instead remain focused on the various options available. It is important that they explain any limitations resulting from their disability and how they are being handled. Doing so from the start ensures the most suitable adoption placement.