2010 Great Lakes Region ADA Report Cards

I’m a person, not a condition

By Joni Eareckson Tada, Special to CNN

July 26, 2010 7:45 p.m. EDT

Editor’s note: Joni Eareckson Tada is an author, disability advocate and the founder of Joni and Friends International Disability Center. Injured in a diving accident in 1967, she is one of the longest living quadriplegics on record.

(CNN) — As I sat on the White House lawn 20 years ago and watched President George H.W. Bush sign the Americans with Disabilities Act into law, I knew it was a grand day for disabled people. However, I also knew that we still had a long way to go.

Much like the civil rights legislation of the ’60s, I recognized that the president’s signature might change physical accommodations, but it would take more than that to change hearts and minds.

While I could now roll my wheelchair into buildings with ease, I still had a hard time getting people to look me in the eye and see me as a person rather than a condition. Even today, 20 years later, my wheelchair still makes people uncomfortable.

Why is that? For the most part, able-bodied, “healthy” people still fear disability. As a nation, we treat disabled people more equally and humanely than any country in the world. However, most Americans, when they encounter a disabled person, first think of themselves, “I hope that never happens to me.”

To me, that says we still have a long way to go toward recognizing people as people, no matter what they look, act, walk — or don’t walk — like.

As recently as 2008, Congress found it necessary to adopt an amendment to the Americans with Disabilities Act in response to cases in which employers wrongly interpreted the original act and by doing so continued to act in a discriminatory manner.

The U.S. House Committee on Education and Labor reported that in 2004, plaintiffs lost 97 percent of ADA employment discrimination claims that went to trial. “People who are not hired or are fired because an employer mistakenly believes they cannot perform the job — or because the employer does not want ‘people like that’ in the workplace — have been denied protection from employment discrimination due to these court decisions,” the committee’s report stated.

Why is this still happening in what we like to feel is such an enlightened era? Unfortunately, many individuals’ discriminatory attitudes stem from childhood. Studies of preschoolers have shown that they will choose nondisabled playmates over those with disabilities.

I think there are a couple of reasons for this, and I am excited that both are things we can change. First, it starts at home. I don’t think most parents purposely instill discrimination in their children. I think it’s just that most young children are not exposed to anyone with disabilities and therefore lack the familiarity that makes them comfortable around someone different from them.

Parents need to look for opportunities to introduce their children to community members with disabilities, laying a foundation for inclusion, acceptance and friendship.

Secondly, I think we lack sufficient courses and training in the field of disability studies. Individuals involved in educating our young people — even those in preschool — need to know better how to teach students with disabilities, but even more so, how to instill a welcoming attitude toward those students in their classrooms.

I believe most of us recognize intellectually that we are all created equal, but we need to help children and young adults go deeper in understanding what disabled people contribute to society and how valuable they are as human beings, not just to God, but to all of us.

A case that illustrates this all too poignantly is one that is in the news right now — the case of Abbie Dorn, the young mother who suffered brain damage following the birth of her triplets four years ago. Abbie’s husband has divorced her and refused to allow her children to see her. How are these children going to grow up with a proper attitude toward disabilities?

Whether Abbie can speak or hug her children or not is immaterial. They would benefit from knowing and loving her.

This was our original intent with implementing the Americans with Disabilities Act 20 years ago, and it must remain our goal as a society that no one, no matter how disabling the condition, is discriminated against — not just in deed but also in word and attitude. To have real social change, we must have heart change.

I pray everyone will join with me in honoring this 20th anniversary by renewing our own personal commitment to check our attitudes, get over our own fear and discomfort, and befriend the person behind the disability in our own community, church, workplace, school or neighborhood.

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Joni Eareckson Tada.

The following information is forwarded to you by the DBTAC-Great Lakes ADA Centerwww.adagreatlakes.org)for your information:– and it will do more to give Americans with disabilities control over their own lives than any legislation since the ADA. I know many of you know the frustration of fighting with an insurance company. That’s why this law finally shifts the balance of power from them to you and to other consumers. (Applause.)http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-20th-anniversary-americans-with-disabilities-act

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release

July 26, 2010

Remarks by the President on 20th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act South Lawn

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Good evening, everybody. (Applause.) Thank you so much. Well, we have a gorgeous day to celebrate an extraordinary event in the life of this nation. Welcome, all of you, to our White House. And thank you, Robert, for the wonderful introduction. It is a pleasure and honor to be with all of you on the 20th anniversary of one of the most comprehensive civil rights bills in the history of this country — the Americans with Disabilities Act. (Applause.)

I see so many champions of this law here today. I wish I had time to acknowledge each and every one of you. I want to thank all of you. But I also want to thank our Cabinet Secretaries and the members of my administration here today who are working to advance the goals of the ADA so that it is not just the letter of the law, but the spirit of the law, that’s being applied all across this country. (Applause.)

I want to thank the members of Congress in attendance who fought to make ADA possible and to keep improving it throughout the years. (Applause.) I want to acknowledge Dick Thornburgh, who worked hard to make this happen as Attorney General under President George H.W. Bush. (Applause.)

And by the way, I had a chance to speak to President Bush before I came out here, and he sends heartfelt regards to all of you. And it’s — he’s extraordinarily proud of the law that was passed. He was very humble about his own role, but I think it’s worth acknowledging the great work that he did. (Applause.)

We also remember those we’ve lost who helped make this law possible — like our old friend, Ted Kennedy. (Applause.) And I see Patrick here.

And Justin Dart, Jr., a man folks call the father of the ADA — whose wife Yoshiko, is here. (Applause.) Yoshiko, so nice to see you. (Applause.)

I also notice that Elizabeth Dole is here, and I had a chance to speak to Bob Dole, as well, and thank him for the extraordinary role that he played in advancing this legislation. (Applause.)

Let me also say that Congressman Jim Langevin wanted to be here today, but he’s currently presiding over the House chamber — the first time in our history somebody using a wheelchair has done so. (Applause.)

Today, as we commemorate what the ADA accomplished, we celebrate who the ADA was all about. It was about the young girl in Washington State who just wanted to see a movie at her hometown theater, but was turned away because she had cerebral palsy; or the young man in Indiana who showed up at a worksite, able to do the work, excited for the opportunity, but was turned away and called a cripple because of a minor disability he had already trained himself to work with; or the student in California who was eager and able to attend the college of his dreams, and refused to let the iron grip of polio keep him from the classroom — each of whom became integral to this cause.

And it was about all of you. You understand these stories because you or someone you loved lived them. And that sparked a movement. It began when Americans no longer saw their own disabilities as a barrier to their success, and set out to tear down the physical and social barriers that were. It grew when you realized you weren’t alone. It became a massive wave of bottom-up change that swept across the country as you refused to accept the world as it was. And when you were told, no, don’t try, you can’the — you responded with that age-old American creed: Yes, we can.

(Applause.)

AUDIENCE MEMBER: (Inaudible.)

THE PRESIDENT: Yes, we can!

Sit-ins in San Francisco. Demonstrations in Denver. Protests in Washington, D.C., at Gallaudet, and before Congress. People marched, and organized, and testified. And laws changed, and minds changed, and progress was won. (Applause.)

Now, that’s not to say it was easy. You didn’t always have folks in Washington to fight on your behalf. And when you did, they weren’t as powerful, as well-connected, as well-funded as the lobbyists who lined up to kill any attempt at change. And at first, you might have thought, what does anyone in Washington know or care about my battle? But what you knew from your own experience is that disability touches us all. If one in six Americans has a disability, then odds are the rest of us love somebody with a disability.

I was telling a story to a group that was in the Oval Office before I came out here about Michelle’s father who had MS. By the time I met him, he had to use two canes just to walk. He was stricken with MS when he was 30 years old, but he never missed a day of work; had to wake up an hour early to get dressed –

AUDIENCE MEMBER: So what.

THE PRESIDENT: — to get to the job, but that was his attitude — so what. He could do it. Didn’t miss a dance recital. Did not miss a ball game of his son. Everybody has got a story like that somewhere in their family.

And that’s how you rallied an unlikely assortment of leaders in Congress and in the White House to the cause. Congressmen like Steny Hoyer, who knew his wife Judy’s battle with epilepsy; and Tony Coehlo, who waged his own; and Jim Sensenbrenner, whose wife, Cheryl, is a tremendous leader and advocate for the community. And they’re both here today. (Applause.)

Senators like Tom Harkin, who’s here today, and who signed — (applause)

– who signed part of a speech on the ADA so his deaf brother, Frank, would understand. And Ted Kennedy, whose sister had a severe intellectual disability and whose son lost a leg to cancer. And Bob Dole, who was wounded serving heroically in World War II. Senior officials in the White House, and even the President himself.

They understood this injustice from the depths of their own experience.

They also understood that by allowing this injustice to stand, we were depriving of our nation — we were depriving our nation and our economy of the full talents and contributions of tens of millions of Americans with disabilities.

That is how the ADA came to be, when, to his enduring credit, President George H.W. Bush signed it into law, on this lawn, on this day, 20 years ago. That’s how you changed America. (Applause.)

Equal access — to the classroom, the workplace, and the transportation required to get there. Equal opportunity — to live full and independent lives the way we choose. Not dependence — but independence. That’s what the ADA was all about. (Applause.)

But while it was a historic milestone in the journey to equality, it wasn’t the end. There was, and is, more to do. And that’s why today I’m announcing one of the most important updates to the ADA since its original enactment in 1991.

Today, the Department of Justice is publishing two new rules protecting disability-based discrimination — or prohibiting disability-based discrimination by more than 80,000 state and local government entities, and 7 million private businesses. (Applause.) And beginning 18 months from now, all new buildings must be constructed in a way that’s compliant with the new 2010 standards for the design of doors and windows and elevators and bathrooms — (applause) — buildings like stores and restaurants and schools and stadiums and hospitals and hotels and theaters. (Applause.)

My predecessor’s administration proposed these rules six years ago. And in those six years, they’ve been improved upon with more than 4,000 comments from the public. We’ve heard from all sides. And that’s allowed us to do this in a way that makes sense economically and allows appropriate flexibility while ensuring Americans with disabilities full participation in our society.

And for the very first time, these rules will cover recreational facilities like amusement parks and marinas and gyms and golf facilities and swimming pools — (applause) — and municipal facilities like courtrooms and prisons. (Applause.) From now on, businesses must follow practices that allow individuals with disabilities an equal chance to purchase tickets for accessible seating at sporting events and concerts.

(Applause.)

And our work goes on. Even as we speak, Attorney General Eric Holder is preparing new rules to ensure accessibility of websites. (Applause.)

AUDIENCE: Yes, we can.

THE PRESIDENT: Yes, we can.

We’re also placing a new focus on hiring Americans with disabilities across the federal government. (Applause.) Today, only 5 percent of the federal workforce is made up of Americans with disabilities — far below the proportion of Americans with disabilities in the general population.

In a few moments, I’ll sign an executive order that will establish the federal government as a model employer of individuals with disabilities.

(Applause.) So we’re going to boost recruitment, we’re going to boost training, we’re going to boost retention. We’ll better train hiring managers. Each agency will have a senior official who’s accountable for achieving the goals we’ve set. And I expect regular reports. And we’re going to post our progress online so that you can hold us accountable, too. (Applause.)

And these new steps build on the progress my administration has already made.

To see it that no one who signs up to fight for our country is ever excluded from its promise, we’ve made major investments in improving the care and treatment for our wounded warriors. (Applause.) To ensure full access to participation in our democracy and our economy, we’re working to make all government websites accessible to persons with disabilities.

(Applause.)

We’re expanding broadband Internet access to Americans who are deaf and hard of hearing. We’ve followed through with a promise I made to create three new disability offices at the State Department and Department of Transportation and at FEMA.

And to promote equal rights across the globe, the United States of America joined 140 other nations in signing the U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities — the first new human rights convention of the 21st century. (Applause.)

America was the first nation on Earth to comprehensively declare equality for its citizens with disabilities. We should join the rest of the world to declare it again — and when I submit our ratification package to Congress, I expect passage to be swift. (Applause.)

And to advance the right to live independently, I launched the Year of Community Living, on the 10th anniversary of the Olmstead decision — a decision that declared the involuntary institutional isolation of people with disabilities unlawful discrimination under the ADA. (Applause.)

So HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan have worked together to improve access to affordable housing and community supports and independent living arrangements for people with disabilities.

And we continued a program that successfully helps people with disabilities transition to the community of their choice. (Applause.) And I’m proud of the work that the Department of Justice is doing to enforce Olmstead across the country.

And we’ve finally broken down one discriminatory barrier that the ADA left in place. Because for too long, our health care system denied coverage to tens of millions of Americans with preexisting conditions — including Americans with disabilities. It was time to change that. And we did.

Yes, we did. (Applause.)

So the Affordable Care Act I signed into law four months ago will give every American more control over their health care -

No more denying coverage to children based on a preexisting condition or disability. No more lifetime limits on coverage. No more dropping your coverage when you get sick and need it the most because your insurance company found an unintentional error in your paperwork. (Applause.) And because Americans with disabilities are living longer and more independently, this law will establish better long-term care choices for Americans with disabilities as a consequence of the CLASS Act, an idea Ted Kennedy championed for years. (Applause.)

Equal access. Equal opportunity. The freedom to make our lives what we will. These aren’t principles that belong to any one group or any one political party. They are common principles. They are American principles. No matter who we are — young, old, rich, poor, black, white, Latino, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled or not — these are the principles we cherish as citizens of the United States of America.

(Applause.)

They were guaranteed to us in our founding documents. One of the signers of those documents was a man named Stephen Hopkins. He was a patriot, a scholar, a nine-time governor of Rhode Island. It’s also said he had a form of palsy. And on July 4, 1776, as he grasped his pen to sign his name to the Declaration of Independence, he said, “My hand trembles. But my heart does not.” My hand trembles. But my heart does not.

Life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness. Words that began our never-ending journey to form a more perfect union. To look out for one another. To advance opportunity and prosperity for all of our people. To constantly expand the meaning of life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness.

To move America forward. That’s what we did with the ADA. That is what we do today. And that’s what we’re going to do tomorrow — together.

So, thank you. God bless you. And God bless the United States of America. Let me sign this order. (Applause.)

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The Dawn of a New Day

By Guest Blogger Jonathan Young, Chair, National Council on Disability

For many of us, there is a personal dimension to the history of the American with Disabilities Act (ADA). My experience makes it possible for me to now write as the Chairman of the National Council on Disability (NCD), but in 1996, when I began my work on the history of the ADA, I was a doctoral candidate in American history specializing in 19th-century American intellectual and cultural history and writing a dissertation on the slavery debates. I was a person with a disability, having broken my neck in a high school wrestling match and living with partial paralysis. But I did not identify as a person with a disability, and I did not view myself as part of the disability community. To me, disability was the enemy. I wanted to pass for “normal” as best I could. I had internalized social stigma about disability.

In 1996 – ten years after my original spinal cord injury – I spiraled downward into depression and gave serious thought to dropping out of my Ph.D. program. Writing a history of the ADA on a contract with NCD was not the low-stress opportunity I was looking for, and when I decided to do the project I had substantial doubt about my ability to complete it. However, through writing the ADA’s history, my life was transformed.

I had only been vaguely aware of the ADA when it passed in 1990 – probably much like most of the 43 million people identified in the ADA’s findings who similarly lacked identity as a person with a disability and thus took little note of the ADA’s passage. However, researching the history of the ADA, and particularly interviewing many of the people who made the ADA’s enactment possible, made me rethink the meaning of disability and my own identity. I was riveted by the story of how the ADA came into existence and the gravity of the change wrought through it. My preconception that disability was a debilitating weakness, an enemy to be overcome, ran headlong into the life stories of disability rights advocates whose power and pride both individually and collectively laid the foundation for passage of the ADA.

By the time NCD released my completed history, Equality of Opportunity, on July 26, 1997, I had begun to view myself as a person with a disability and as part of the disability community. I had also emerged from a deep depression and regained my self-confidence – no doubt largely because my inability to embrace my identity as a person with a disability had contributed to my depression. In retrospect, the closing line of Equality of Opportunity – “The dawn of a new day” – was as much about the impact of the ADA on my life as the ADA itself. Identity as a person with a disability was liberating rather than stigmatizing. It gave my life new purpose and meaning.

This personal story is part and parcel of the ADA’s significance in our society. The ADA is a nondiscrimination law. But, much more than that, it is a clarion call for transforming attitudes about disability. The ADA proclaims that all people, including people with disabilities, should participate fully in all aspects of our communities and have opportunities to take risks, to succeed, and yes, to fail. Equality of opportunity means having a chance to live independently and become financially secure, but it is not a guarantee.

We celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the ADA well after civil rights provisions have been implemented in regulations, tested in court and even amended by the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act of 2008. We also celebrate amidst our nation’s worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. Unemployment is high. People are losing their homes. Access to health care remains elusive. And that is before we begin talking about the individual experiences of millions of people with disabilities, for whom the economic downturn only compounds longstanding disparities in living, learning and earning.

Unfortunately, the challenges that we face together as a nation are compounded by partisan strife. Although vitriol is no stranger to the history of American politics, something is sorely missing today – the genuine and widespread willingness to set aside ideology to pursue pragmatic solutions that make critical differences in the lives of real people. The explosion in access to 24-hour Internet-based communications exacerbates this trend, even though information technologies and other technologies have provided new levels of access for people with disabilities.

Despite the fast-paced and daunting world we inhabit, tangible marks of the ADA’s success surround us -not just regarding the ADA’s specific nondiscrimination provisions but symbolically as well. The ADA is the disability community’s standard-bearer for the disability policy goals of equality of opportunity, full participation, independent living and economic self-sufficiency. Some of the ADA’s impact has been increasingly felt with the march of time as requirements for new and renovated construction create more livable communities and as physical and telecommunications infrastructures become more accessible and usable by more people with disabilities. In other cases, we see the symbolic victory of the ADA as people with disabilities assume prominent positions of leadership in government, business and our communities and as more children grow up embracing disability as a natural part of the human experience. But we also know that problems abound, and the hard work of delivering on the ADA’s promise still lies in front of us.

The ADA’s history also provides a sober reminder to the disability community about the challenges of, and need for cross-community collaboration. The ADA was a unique moment in disability history where diverse individuals and organizations rallied around a common cause. In doing so they showed the power of shared goals and coordinated action. Nevertheless, the years since the enactment of the ADA have restored in large measure the longer tradition of a splintered community with myriad – and sometimes competing -priorities. The disability community is anything but homogenous. It is difficult to find a common ground of policy issues that are equally viewed as priorities for different types of disabilities and for discreet policy areas. The ADA reminds us that there is a profound strength that comes in unity of numbers and purpose.

The legacy, the hope and the promise of the ADA endure, yet much more work must be done to transform law into life. Together, we can be the catalyst for our nation’s continued transformation.

The Dawn of a New Day

Countdown to the 20th Anniversary of the ADA: Day 3 – Happy 20th Birthday to the Americans with Disabilities Act!

By Guest Blogger Dick Thornburgh, Attorney General for President George H.W Bush The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) afforded me a unique opportunity to merge my personal and official agendas. As the proud parent of my son, Peter, who has both intellectual and physical disabilities, I had a personal interest in seeing this important advance in disability rights enacted into law. As Attorney General of the United States, I had also been assigned by President George H. W. Bush to be the point person for the administration’s efforts to secure passage of this groundbreaking law.

 None of us who were present for the signing of the ADA on July 26, 1990, will ever forget that day. Under a blazing summer sun, some 3,000 persons, with and without disabilities, gathered on the South Lawn of the White House and cheered and cheered as President Bush issued his stirring challenge “to let the shameful walls of exclusion finally come tumbling down.”

For those of us who had participated in the lengthy legislative process that produced the ADA, the day was especially meaningful. Democrats and Republicans alike, legislators and staff from both houses of Congress had labored long and hard in the effort to produce this critical civil rights legislation. Statements, speeches, hearings and arguments ensued over every detail of the proposed act. But most important of all was the constant pressure exerted on the legislative process by countless persons with disabilities themselves, supported by families, friends, caregivers and advocates. This was truly a grass roots effort that showed how success in the legislative process can indeed be gained by careful and informed lobbying based upon sound marshalling of the facts and arguments necessary to gain the attention of legislators.

 Since 1990, we have seen much progress made in furthering access to mainstream America for people with disabilities. We are reminded daily of progress by ramps and curb-cuts, dedicated parking spaces in shopping centers, brailed elevators and ATM machines and sign language interpreters at public meetings. More people with disabilities are living in their communities instead of being confined to isolated and impersonal institutions. On the other hand, progress has been slow in employment. Despite the provisions for equal access to employment and the requirement of “reasonable accommodation” in the workplace, there has been no net increase in the number of employed Americans with disabilities in the past twenty years. Clearly a disappointment.

 While activity in the courts has sometimes been of the “two steps forward, one step back” variety, careful monitoring of court decisions at odds with the intent of the ADA has produced curative legislative enactments to help restore its original intent.

 Meanwhile, Ginny’s and my son Peter lives in the community and, while greatly limited, he volunteers every day at the local food bank, is welcomed by his faith congregation and is supported by many programs and a circle of friends.

 But just as “eternal vigilance is the price of liberty,” such vigilance is doubly necessary to assure disability rights in these times of proposed cut-backs in government support for those with disabilities. We must assure that “those shameful walls of exclusion” which President Bush referred to at the signing of the ADA do not re-emerge under the guise of austerity programs at the state and federal level. The full and equal participation of Americans with disabilities in all aspects of life is not only good for people with disabilities, it is good for America. Moreover, it is the right thing to do.

 Happy 20th birthday to the Americans with Disabilities Act!

Posted by Diana Z. on Jul 23, 2010 1:20:34 PM in 100 Days to the ADA, Civil Rights