Commentary on Obama ADA speech: ‘We’re screwed’
July 28th, 2009Josie Byzek, managing editor of New Mobility magazine, says President Obama “bombed” in his speech on the 19th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Byzek says Obama fed into stereotypes and failed to recognize the civil rights struggles faced daily by people with disabilities. (Video of his remarks on CSPAN here.) An excerpt:
If this clip is indicative of Obama’s disability policies, then it’s clear Obama believes most of the hard work is already done (if it was ever that important to begin with), and mainly all we need now is better medical treatment, either through stem cell research or health care. Obama’s greatest praise is for the appeasers who never complain, and he gave just a passing pat on the back for the advocates who brought the ADA into being. Job done, he seems to say. No need for that type of unpleasantness any more.
But, oh yes, while we’re in a magnanimous mood, why don’t we beef up ADA enforcement a bit, says the tone of Obama’s speech. Too, let’s give lip service to the rights of Americans to live freely in the community. Maybe then they’ll stop handcuffing themselves to my house.
Once again I can only conclude that Obama has a crip problem.
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August 1st, 2009 at 3:12 am
It seems as though President Obama connected with at least a dozen disability rights leaders the day of his speech.
There is a summary posted on the down-syn list from one of twelve representatives of the disability community invited by President Obama to meet privately with him, Attorney General Holder, Secretary of Labor Solis, and senior White House officials on July 24, in advance of the ADA 19th Anniversary ceremony and the announcement of the decision to sign and seek Senate ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
Some of the topics brought to the table for Attorney General Eric Holder and Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis were: “priorities for civil rights enforcement at both departments, including but not limited to internet accessibility, Olmstead enforcement, reducing the waiting period for ADA complaints to be resolved, using OFCCP to enforce the affirmative action provisions in the Rehabilitation Act, protecting children from the use of
aversives and restraints; and implementing a government-wide strategy to improve the representation of people with significant disabilities in the federal workforce.”
She also wrote:
“A significant portion of our time with the President was devoted to health care reform and the need to end the institutional bias in Medicaid, and the President offered to have Nancy-Ann DeParle and Peter Orszag and other members of his health reform team sit down with us in the next few weeks to discuss our ideas, including making the Community Choice Act a state option as part of the final bill that emerges from Congress.”
and
“… we emphasized the importance of seeing disability policy issues as fundamentally about fairness, civil rights and human rights. We shared some personal discrimination stories and expressed our desire to work with the White House and agencies across the administration on a broad-based strategy to make progress between now and next July 26 …”
” … All in all, we felt that this historic meeting represented a very important step forward for our community and for the country.”
So, there is that.
July 31st, 2009 at 2:34 pm
Call me crazy, but has anyone thought that Obama’s nomination of Sonya Sotomayor would be considered a great job at “connecting with disability rights leaders”?
Feel free to check out the July 8th post in this blog concerning Sotomayor for yourselves.
July 30th, 2009 at 2:59 am
The speech was a bitter disappointment. Obama badly misjudged his audience and lost an opportunity to connect with disability rights leaders.
July 28th, 2009 at 3:25 pm
at first i was thinking, you can sign all the statements you want, what are you DOING? obama lists some things that are being done at the 17 min mark.