(CNSNews.com) - People with HIV or AIDS -- regardless of whether they exhibit symptoms -- are considered to have a disability, and therefore they are protected by the Americans With Disabilities Act in their choice of profession, the Obama administration says.
The U.S. Justice Department last week released a new "fact sheet" intended to provide guidance for state licensing agencies and occupational training schools.
The fact sheet says that individuals with HIV or AIDS who want to become barbers, massage therapists or home health care assistants, for example, must not be turned away because of their illness.
"People with HIV or AIDS should not be denied access to their chosen profession because of outdated laws or unfounded stereotypes and fears,” said Loretta King, acting assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division.
According to a Justice Department news release announcing the guidelines, “Persons with HIV and AIDS unfortunately still face obstacles in obtaining training and state licensure in these occupations because of overly broad state licensure requirements that applicants be free of communicable diseases.
“Because HIV disease is not communicated through casual contact, excluding individuals with HIV under these licensure requirements is unnecessary and discriminates against these individuals in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act,” the news release said.
The Justice Department notes that the ADA gives federal civil rights protections to individuals with disabilities similar to the protections provided to individuals on the basis of race, color, sex, national origin, age, and religion.
The Justice Department further states that an individual is considered to have a “disability” if he or she has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, has a record of such impairment, or is regarded as having such impairment. “Persons with HIV disease, either symptomatic or asymptomatic, have physical impairments that substantially limit one or more major life activities and thus are protected by the ADA.”
Federal protections also extend to people who are discriminated against because they are regarded as being HIV-positive” For example, the ADA would protect a person who is denied an occupational license or admission to a school because of a rumor or assumption that he has HIV or AIDS, even if he does not.
The Justice Department offers the following examples of discrimination against persons with HIV/AIDS:
-- a certificate program for health aides having a blanket policy denying admission to anyone with HIV; and
-- a cosmetology school denying admission to an HIV-positive individual because state cosmetology regulations require that cosmetologists be free from contagious, communicable, or infectious disease.
Since HIV cannot be transmitted by casual contact, the Justice Department says “the circumstances do not exist for the transmission of HIV in a school or workplace setting, including those involving massage therapy, cosmetology, or home healthcare services.”
In 1998, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that HIV infection was a disability covered by the ADA.