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                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, February 23, 1992                   TAG: 9202230258
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

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DISABILITIES ACT WILL OPEN DOORS

The Americans With Disabilities Act, a sweeping federal civil rights law passed last year by Congress and signed into law by President Bush, took effect Jan. 26.

The law is supposed to swing open the doors of American business to the nation's largest minority group: the 43 million people with physical or mental disabilities.

The law requires that all "public places of accommodation" - including retail stores, restaurants, movie theaters, hotels and professional offices - make themselves accessible to disabled people, unless that imposes an "undue burden." An estimated one in five Americans has some form of physical or mental disability, according to U.S. government data.

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