The Americans with Disabilities Act Celebrates 20th Anniversary!
In 1990, thousands of people with disabilities, along with their families and friends wrote letters, called members of Congress, and met with their own representatives and senators to send the message, “We want equal opportunity. Please pass the Americans with Disabilities Act.”
On July 26, 1990, many of these same advocates watched, both in the Rose Garden and on television, as President H. W. Bush signed the ADA into law. Twenty years have passed. Is there now equal opportunity for people with disabilities?
The ADA is like all civil rights laws and amendments in that it requires citizens to file complaints to trigger the involvement of the agencies that will force compliance. Advocates have used all of the tools available to them to gain equality; educational seminars, negotiation, filing complaints with federal agencies, law suits, and civil disobedience. These efforts have brought about many positive changes. For example, in the last two years the federal government has made increasing employment of people with disabilities within its organizations a very high priority and there are more people with disabilities working. However, there are many more people with disabilities in our country than there were in 1990 and the percentage of unemployed people with disabilities has remained constant.
Most large businesses and government agencies are striving to provide full wheelchair access, although small businesses and communities may not treat access as a priority. Both private and public entities are still slow to provide make the provision of equally effective communication a reality. Very few public meetings automatically provide sign language interpreters. Many employers in both sectors balk at providing readers for people with print impairments. The media is still writing sensational and often degrading stories about people with disabilities using terms such as “handicapped,” “confined to a wheelchair,” and “just got out of a mental hospital,” etc. Most public schools still segregate children with developmental disabilities for most of the school day. Very few municipal recreation programs are truly available to children with physical disabilities.
There are bright beacons of hope as well as some failures on the path to realizing the dream of equality. Almost all colleges and universities have an office for disabled student services and therefore, more and more people with disabilities are attending and succeeding in higher education. People with disabilities appear in advertisements, on television, and as leading characters in movies. The ADA and ensuing court decisions have opened the doors of institutions and congregate care homes, making it possible for people with disabilities to become active members of their home communities. People with disabilities now adopt children, own their own homes, take cruises, head large corporations, and support dozens of online stores that cater to people with a variety of disabilities.
The ADA has allowed people with disabilities to be more visible. People with disabilities can ride on public transportation, attend a baseball game, and anchor a newscast. People with disabilities are no longer invisible. Many of us are proud to be who we are. People with disabilities are the fastest growing minority in America and as baby boomers age; the percentage of people with disabilities in our country will also increase. In the next ten years, universal design in city planning, new construction and civic life will become the norm, not just a cool, new idea. Laws do not change attitudes, but they certainly do change “opportunity.” Equal opportunity makes possible the achievement of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for all.