Vicki Smith
Nineteen years ago, on July 26, 1990, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) became law. This landmark civil-rights legislation removed many barriers to participation in community life for people with disabilities. Whether the barriers were driven by policy, architectural design, communication or attitudes, the ADA was (and is) intended to guarantee people with disabilities equal opportunity and protections to which all U.S. citizens are entitled. These are rights that citizens without disabilities already enjoy.
And it has been a great success. Since its inception, this law has accomplished amazing outcomes for people with disabilities. Many policy, structural and communication barriers have been eliminated. People with disabilities are moving out of institutional settings where they don’t belong into their communities, with appropriate supports and services. More and more people with disabilities are returning to work or staying employed with accommodations.
Public buildings are more accessible. Trains, buses and other forms of public transportation are more accessible, young adults with disabilities go to college and get advanced degrees and people who are blind or have visual impairments now have access to ATMs in Braille.
Unfortunately, as is so often the case with any important movements of social progress, many obstacles remain.
Despite mostly good intentions, elected officials continue to badly underfund essential programs and services. At the same time, many persons in positions of authority still have much to learn about what the law does and why it is important.
The ADA’s success has made it especially painful to watch the recent actions of the North Carolina General Assembly.
Though precipitated by the budget crisis rather than bad intentions, lawmakers are still methodically reducing appropriations for some of the very services that implement the opportunities and protections the ADA provides. The decisions faced by the legislators have been dreadfully difficult in light of current budget constraints, but their impact will be even harder on the people who depend on the services being slashed.
Equally as painful and troubling (and perhaps even less excusable) have been the attitudes demonstrated by some of our elected representatives. For example, at a recent committee meeting about the feasibility of changing state law to allow people who are deaf to serve as jurors (legislators were debating whether or not to change a North Carolina statute that requires that jurors be able to “hear and understand Englishâ€) multiple lawmakers made insensitive – even offensive – remarks. These comments demonstrated yet again why access for people with disabilities has to be protected in federal law.
Another similar example of an attitudinal barrier surrounds the development of local emergency evacuation plans. Right now, many of these plans do not consistently include accommodations for people with disabilities – people who use a wheelchair, people who can’t hear emergency warnings or alerts, people who can’t see or read signs, people who have service animals or people who need medication. America witnessed the shortsightedness of such an approach during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Unfortunately, many officials continue to drag their feet. Some have even made the absurd argument that accommodations for people with special needs will somehow prevent “equal treatment†for everyone.
Yes, 19 years for the ADA is an important milestone in American history and should be celebrated. But it is hard to muster a great deal of joy at a time in which the disability community faces cuts to services that have the potential to wipe out these accomplishments. It also is hard to celebrate when faced with attitudes that stigmatize a population that has faced such extreme discrimination.
Yet despite these obstacles, people with disabilities overcome hardships daily. It is the daily courage and capabilities demonstrated by people with disabilities that will continue to tear down the barriers standing in our way. Perhaps the best way to say “Happy Anniversary!†to the ADA – at least for now and the foreseeable future – is to renew our commitment to enforcing it.
Vicki Smith is executive director of Disability Rights North Carolina.
Thank you for this excellent article, Vicki Smith! It’s extraordinary to see that this last civil rights struggle still has such an uphill battle (literally and figuratively).
As for the mostly good intentions of elected officials, I cannot be certain of that. I watch our Mayor, who is a lawyer, consistently manufacture excuses (and outright misrepresentations of the on-the-ground realities) in order to avoid implementing even low-cost accessibility improvements within a majority of municipal services. In fact,I wonder how many local governments even have accessible websites, let alone equally inclusive municipal programs, services, activities- and employment opportunities…
My daughter has brain damage and is legally disabled — the result of a tragic fall she had as a toddler. As a result, I’ve lived with thoughts about access for 19 years. Admittedly, hers are not physical limitations. In other words, she has no apparent mechanical challenges. However, in the course of having raised her, I’ve certainly routinely encountered those who have.
Needless to say, I was anxious to read Ms. Smith’s article. However, I was disappointed by her reliance upon generalities — something which is too widely “used and abused” by advocates of “whatever persuation.” What I searched for were concrete examples of how each classification about which she wrote could be improved.
What services have been reduced because of appropriations cuts! Where are the limitations most evident (stores, sachools, public transportation, etc.)! How far have we come rather than generalizing about ADA’s failings.
Ms. Smith also fails to suggest ways in which the problems she references can be addressed. Where’s her evidence that government can conform budgets while continuing to implement ADA recomendations? Where’s her proposed plan?
It’s one thing to have strong opinions about needed services. It’s quite another to understand that, whether a household or a government, all entities have limited resources, need to establish and constently refine objectives, and remain flexible. In this respect individuals, families, governments are all businesses requiring constant revisions about how best to acquire and how best to dispense with ever-limited resources.
I’d have benefitted more from this article if it were less “pie-in-the-sky” thinking than if it reflected some measurable suggestions for bringing about a better future using “real world thinking” — thinking about who, what, when, how, and how much.
Emphasizing the “why” only stirs up a hornets nest without providing an opportunity to avoid the sting. Let’s “get real” about public policy planning. Let’s review sustainable ways targeting each need so that individuals, familes, businesses, and governments make the best of use of their limited resources.
My comment is about some of the day to day living problems the the disabled face. My wife uses a motorized wheelchair and uses a van with a side discharge ramp.
Businesses ignore the 8′ access aisle for vans. Some have no access aisles. Many do not have the proper number of spaces.
Doorways are not wide enough,
Businesses are not accessible, because they have a step to enter.
Retail stores do not have accessible dressing rooms, rest rooms and do not allow proper space between displays.
Check out counters are to high.
Grocery stores do not have an accessible checkout.
Plastic bags to put fresh produce in are out of reach.
We shouldn’t have to ask another shopper to please get me a bag.
Restruants have tables to close together.
Many churches are not accessible.
These are some of the day to day problems a person in a chair run into.
thank the LORD, most people are willing to help.