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Celebrating National Disability Independence Day

In July we celebrate National Disability Independence by commemorating the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act!

History of the ADA

The ADA was officially signed into law by President George H. W. Bush on July 26, 1990. Figures such as Senator Tom Harkin from Iowa, Justin Dart JR., and Judy Heumann were key players that helped advocates, allies, and legislators come together across the nation to create a piece of legislation unlike other countries to protect the rights of individuals with disabilities.
Dart is commonly known as the Father of the ADA and Heumann as the Mother of the Disability Rights Movement. Both used their experiences to help gather stories of individuals with disabilities to take to legislators in Washington D.C. The stories they gathered demonstrated how individuals with disabilities were being kept from a fair education, housing, employment, and even physical access to facilities, universities, and their own neighborhoods.
Heumann and other advocates occupied the Department of Health and Welfare’s building in San Francisco to demand change prior to the ADA and to demonstrate its importance to our nation as a whole. Groups and entities such as Safeway and the Black Panthers came to help when the disability advocates were left with no access to phones, water, food, and medical care. These peaceful protests helped build coalitions and allies across numerous races, ethnicities, genders, and ages.

ADA Protections

The ADA was implemented to provide standards and accountability for portions of the law not included in Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. It is the most significant piece of legislation currently available to persons with disabilities because it prohibits discrimination based on a disability. All five titles of the ADA require that:

  • Public services be accessible to individuals with disabilities.
  • State and local governments be accessible to individuals with disabilities.
  • Commercial entities be accessible to individuals with disabilities.
  • Persons with disabilities are afforded access to equal communication.
  • Employers must provide reasonable accommodations.

This means that wherever the public is welcome, an individual with a disability should be able to enter and participate in any programs and services regardless of mobility aid, disability, or the use of a service animal.

Demographics

According to the CDC, about 1 in 3 Hoosier adults have a disability and face significant barriers to health care. Thirty-three years have passed since the signing of the ADA and significant barriers for people with disabilities persist and continue to prevent them from participating fully in society. Some well-known barriers include low employment rates, inaccessible infrastructure, lack of reliable and affordable transportation, national shortage on accessible housing, and community engagement. The use of assistive technology, addressing mental health related disabilities, and service animals returning to the workplace are just a few of the hot topics being discussed by the Department of Labor and the Job Accommodation Network.

Call to Action

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