WASHINGTON - When President George H. W. Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in 1990, he said this landmark law would enable everyone with a disability to "pass through once-closed doors into a bright new era of equality, independence and freedom."

Yet by nominating Judge Terrence W. Boyle to serve on the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the current President Bush threatens to shatter the legacy his father established 15 years ago.

Slowly but steadily, the ADA is helping to remove the obstacles-both physical and attitudinal-that have denied people with disabilities access to the American dream.