Labor market discrimination against men with disabilities in the year of the ADA

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) provides civil rights protections to persons with disabilities, but the debate that preceded passage of the Act was not based on empirical estimates that could be used to measure its performance. This article estimates the extent of wage discrimination again st men with disabilities in 1990, providing a reference that can be used to evaluate the impact of the ADA. The results show large productivity-standa rdized wage differentials between disabled and nondisabled men that are wea kly correlated with the strength of prejudice against different impairments . Physical limitations explain part, but not all, of the wage differentials . The results also show that low employment rates are a more serious proble m than wage discrimination for workers with disabilities.