NCJ Number
121626
Journal
Washington University Law Quarterly Volume: 67 Issue: 2 Dated: (1989) Pages: 627-641
Date Published
1989
Length
15 pages
Annotation
The U.S. Department of Justice has extended the protections of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 to both symptomatic and asymptomatic carriers of the AIDS virus, thus making it illegal to discriminate against AIDS carriers in any federally-funded programs, activities, or employment covered by the Act.
Abstract
These protections were extended to all AIDS carriers under a Justice Department memorandum released September 27, 1988. However, for some time, lower courts had been uniformly extending the Act's protections to asymptomatic as well as symptomatic carriers of the AIDS virus. The Justice Department memoranda of 1986 and 1988 and relevant case law are discussed in detail. While the 1988 memorandum does not eliminate discrimination against HIV-infected individuals who are not substantially limited in major life activities by the disease, it goes a long way toward accepting the medical profession's view that those who are infected with the AIDS virus are actually handicapped. 85 footnotes.