11. Influencing Innovation: The Americans With Disabilities Act
TechCrunch post by Lora Kolodny: "No matter how much you think government should be involved in private sector business, it’s worth asking from a design standpoint: Why can’t a deaf person watch a movie at the theater with closed captions alongside hearing friends? Does an ATM work more effectively in a tiny room where wheelchair access is impossible? Why should 911 dispatchers accept calls from the voiced, but not a text message from someone mute?" Read More
12. Looking Back On 20 Years Of Disability Rights
NPR story by Ben Mattlin: "Now, the ADA's impact is everywhere: wheelchair lifts on city buses, signs in Braille, sign-language interpreters. Many young disabled people are growing up with a marvelous sense of belonging, entitlement and pride." Read More
13. The Americans with Disabilities Act 20th Anniversary
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission: "One way the ADA achieves equality in employment for people with disabilities is by requiring employers to offer 'reasonable accommodations' when necessary for them to perform the essential functions of the job. These can be as simple as a ramp to enter a building, a computer program to convert written words into speech, or a quick work break to monitor blood sugar or take medicine. Of course, the usual anti-discrimination provisions—no harassment on the basis of disability, no refusing to hire or promote someone due to disability—apply as well." Read More
14. Obama's Top Disability Adviser on ADA's 20th Anniversary
Washington Post interview with Kareem Dale, "associate director of the White House Office of Public Engagement and a special assistant to President Obama on disability policy, the first such adviser. He is legally blind and uses a cane when he walks." Read More
15. 20th Anniversary of the ADA
U.S. Department of Justice homepage for the Americans With Disabilities Act, featuring information for individuals and businesses.
16. The ADA at 20: An Appreciation and a Challenge
Huffington Post article by Peter Wilderotter, CEO, Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation: "This week's 20th anniversary of the Americans With Disabilities Act is a legitimate cause for celebration. A large chunk of that shameful wall has indeed come tumbling down. And the ADA's vision is widely honored. Yet considerable demolition work still remains to be done." Read More
17. 20 Years Ago Disabilities Came Out of the Shadows
AOL News article by Anne Ford: "The 'troubles' of others were brought into the light and into public, and an entirely new and vital segment of the population was suddenly granted rights and opportunities previously unattainable. Buildings with impassable stairways now installed ramps and elevators. Employers could no longer discriminate based on a disability. Public transportation became more accessible. By these actions, we as a country told our disabled citizens that they too belonged to our nation's family, and that their skills, their talents and their lives were valued." Read More
18. Two Decades of Richer Lives for America's Disabled
Providence Journal article by James Langevin: "Today, many of us have nearly forgotten an era in which it was commonplace for a person to be denied employment because she was blind, or unable to attend a university because he was in a wheelchair. Yet only a generation ago, it was the societal norm to treat individuals with disabilities as second-class citizens." Read More
19. U.S. Beacon of Disability Rights Lags on Jobs
Bloomburg Businessweek article by Albert R. Hunt: "There remain daunting challenges in health care, technology and especially jobs. The jobless rate for disabled people in the U.S. is officially 14.3 percent, or almost double that of able- bodied workers; since this figure only counts those looking for jobs, the real unemployment rate for the disabled, experts say, probably exceeds 50 percent." (No longer online)
20. ADA: Full Text of the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990
What all the fuss is about.
