mark handler
SAWHORSE
Our View - U.S. still a long way from being ADA-compliant
USA TODAY Digital Services
http://www.press-citizen.com/a...t?odyssey=nav%7Chead
Twenty-one years ago Tuesday, just before signing the Americans with Disabilities Act, then President George H.W. Bush reportedly said, "Let the shameful wall of exclusion finally come tumbling down."
Although sections of that wall continue to stand for the estimated 54 million Americans who have a disability, large sections have been brought down over the past two decades.
The passage and signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act has triggered a fundamental cultural shift in the way our society accommodates people with disabilities. In the past two decades, the phrase "ADA-compliant" has become shorthand for the idea that accommodating people with disabilities isn't just an optional, nice thing to do; it's a question of basic equality and civil rights.
The legislation established a clear and comprehensive national mandate for the elimination of discrimination against individuals with disabilities. It outlined requirements for ensuring equal opportunity for people with disabilities in employment, state and local government services, public accommodations, businesses and transportation.
Defining disability as any condition that impairs one or more major life activities, the law provided recourse for people with physical or mental disabilities when they were discriminated against. And the act was expanded in 2008 to include chronic health conditions such as diabetes, epilepsy and cancer.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau and the "Americans with Disabilities: 2005" report, 54 million Americans have a disability that impairs one or more major life activities. That number of people with disabilities breaks down to:
» 5 percent of children 5 to 17.
» 10 percent of people 18 to 64.
» 38 percent of adults 65 and older.
» And 11 million people 6 and older require personal assistance with everyday activities.
Many people are gathering today from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday at the Iowa Children's Museum in the Coral Ridge Mall to celebrate the legislation's 21-year history of expanding opportunities for millions of Americans. (For information, see http://access2independence.org/ada-celebration.)
But as much as the 21-year anniversary is a time for celebrating what's been accomplished, it's also a time to remind people how more is left to do -- especially in terms of mental illness.
Recent surveys about the effectiveness of the law have returned with mixed results. A 2010 online survey, created by Lex Frieden of the University of Texas Health Science Center, found that two-thirds of people with disabilities feel the law has been the most significant influence on their lives in the past two decades -- improving public awareness of disabilities and opening up new possibilities for the disabled in public places and through transportation services.
A survey conducted by the Kessler Foundation/National Organization on Disability, on the other hand, found that many gaps still exist between the 54 million Americans with disabilities and those without in key areas such as employment, access to health care and socializing.
Those survey results aren't necessarily contradictory. The Americans with Disabilities Act has helped change the national default so that curb breaks and ramps as well as wheelchair-accessible entrances and rest rooms are the norm rather than the exception.
But America is a still a long way from being fully ADA-compliant.
USA TODAY Digital Services
http://www.press-citizen.com/a...t?odyssey=nav%7Chead
Twenty-one years ago Tuesday, just before signing the Americans with Disabilities Act, then President George H.W. Bush reportedly said, "Let the shameful wall of exclusion finally come tumbling down."
Although sections of that wall continue to stand for the estimated 54 million Americans who have a disability, large sections have been brought down over the past two decades.
The passage and signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act has triggered a fundamental cultural shift in the way our society accommodates people with disabilities. In the past two decades, the phrase "ADA-compliant" has become shorthand for the idea that accommodating people with disabilities isn't just an optional, nice thing to do; it's a question of basic equality and civil rights.
The legislation established a clear and comprehensive national mandate for the elimination of discrimination against individuals with disabilities. It outlined requirements for ensuring equal opportunity for people with disabilities in employment, state and local government services, public accommodations, businesses and transportation.
Defining disability as any condition that impairs one or more major life activities, the law provided recourse for people with physical or mental disabilities when they were discriminated against. And the act was expanded in 2008 to include chronic health conditions such as diabetes, epilepsy and cancer.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau and the "Americans with Disabilities: 2005" report, 54 million Americans have a disability that impairs one or more major life activities. That number of people with disabilities breaks down to:
» 5 percent of children 5 to 17.
» 10 percent of people 18 to 64.
» 38 percent of adults 65 and older.
» And 11 million people 6 and older require personal assistance with everyday activities.
Many people are gathering today from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday at the Iowa Children's Museum in the Coral Ridge Mall to celebrate the legislation's 21-year history of expanding opportunities for millions of Americans. (For information, see http://access2independence.org/ada-celebration.)
But as much as the 21-year anniversary is a time for celebrating what's been accomplished, it's also a time to remind people how more is left to do -- especially in terms of mental illness.
Recent surveys about the effectiveness of the law have returned with mixed results. A 2010 online survey, created by Lex Frieden of the University of Texas Health Science Center, found that two-thirds of people with disabilities feel the law has been the most significant influence on their lives in the past two decades -- improving public awareness of disabilities and opening up new possibilities for the disabled in public places and through transportation services.
A survey conducted by the Kessler Foundation/National Organization on Disability, on the other hand, found that many gaps still exist between the 54 million Americans with disabilities and those without in key areas such as employment, access to health care and socializing.
Those survey results aren't necessarily contradictory. The Americans with Disabilities Act has helped change the national default so that curb breaks and ramps as well as wheelchair-accessible entrances and rest rooms are the norm rather than the exception.
But America is a still a long way from being fully ADA-compliant.
