The ADA is a detailed civil rights law whose goal is to protect people with disabilities from discrimination. Before the ADA, people with disabilities did not have many legal protections. In 1964, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed. This law made it illegal to discriminate against people because of their race, religion, gender, national origin (home country), and many other things. But people with disabilities were not included or protected under the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The ADA gave the Civil Rights Act's protections - and some others - to people with disabilities.