Congress in its infinite wisdom has passed into law an Americans with Disabilities Act that, its proponents say covers one in six of the population, 43m Americans, despite the fact that only 3.3m people fall into the categories named – the deaf and hard of hearing, the blind and partially sighted, and the halt and lame: it’s going to cost businesses – including IBM Corp – a fortune for very limited benefit, but IBM hopes to recoup some of the cost by teaming up with Sealund & Associates Inc of Atlanta to market a computer-based training program designed to help companies comply with the Act – and its target market is enormous because the Act covers every organisation that employs 25 or more people and will be yet another goldmine for the lawyers; no pricing detail was given.
