Reporting at MSNBC, Eve Tahmincioglu says Americans with disabilities still face overwhelming barriers to employment two decades after the enactment of the ADA. A recent Harris Survey of working-aged people with disabilities found that only 21 percent were employed either full or part-time, compared with 59 percent of people without disabilities.

The study, commissioned by the National Organization on Disability and the Kessler Foundation, said 73 percent of those without jobs cited their disability as the reason they were unemployed. The survey also found that people with disabilities are twice as likely as people without disabilities to have annual household incomes of $15,000 or less.

“There have been great improvements because of the ADA, but discrimination in the workplace is still at an unacceptable level,” said Rodger DeRose, CEO of the Kessler Foundation.

… Without job opportunities, DeRose said, all the accessibility advances for disabled folks — such as ramps and parking spots — that resulted thanks to the Act, won’t truly help the disabled integrate fully into society, both socially and economically.

(With video from the NBC Today Show, featuring NOD board member Bonnie St. John and Alana Wallace, actor in the “Think Beyond the Label” public service campaign.)

By Tom Harkin in Politico.com:

… at its heart, the ADA is simple. In the words of one activist, this landmark law is about securing for people with disabilities the most fundamental of rights: “the right to live in the world.” It ensures they can go places and do things that other Americans take for granted.

I will always remember a young Iowan named Danette Crawford. In 1990, she was just 14. She used a wheelchair, and lived with great pain. But she campaigned hard for the ADA. When I told her that the ADA would mean better educational opportunities, and prevent workplace discrimination, Danette said: “Those things are very important. But, you know, what I really want to do is just be able to go out and buy a pair of shoes like anybody else.”

Two decades later, people with disabilities can do that — and so much more. The ADA has changed America in ways largely invisible to most citizens, but profoundly transformative for tens of millions of Americans with disabilities.

… The ADA has broken down barriers, created opportunities and transformed lives. Today, we recognize that people with disabilities – like all people – have unique abilities, talents and aptitudes. Our nation is better, fairer and richer when we make full use of those gifts. 

The ADA is America at its very, very best.

Sen. Harkin (D-Iowa) is chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee.

David Abel reports in the Boston Globe that thousands of pedestrian ramps, walkways and government buildings around Boston, including polling places and schools, remain inaccessible to people with disabilities twenty years after the Americans with Disabilities Act became the law of the land.

Advocates say the city and state have often failed to comply with the law, and succeeded in persuading the city’s Architectural Access Board to levy the largest fines in its history . Officials acknowledge that they have been lax in implementing needed changes, but insist that they are now making progress.

“It has been embarrassing that such a world-class city like Boston isn’t more inclusive or hasn’t served as a model for other cities,” said Valerie Fletcher, executive director of the Institute for Human Centered Design in Boston, which has helped organize a celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act today. on Boston Common.

(With video)

As the nation’s disabilities law marks its 20th anniversary today, it’s still the target of criticism and derisive humor, CNN reports. The law is credited with creating opportunities and transforming lives, yet critics say it imposes unfair financial burdens on businesses. An excerpt:

As the anniversary approached, an internet chat board sampling turned up countless positive comments but also many critical ones.

”ADA laws have been interpreted, reinterpreted and misinterpreted so many times that unfortunately nobody has a final answer until you end up in court,” one posting complained.

On plumbingzone.com, a forum for plumbers, a comment poked fun at requirements for urinal heights in public restrooms, saying, ”Listen, a handicapped person ain’t gonna use a urinal to begin with.”

The Census Bureau estimates that 54 million Americans, or almost one in five, have a disability.

When her now-adult daughter was born, Anne Ford writes at AOL.com, society’s answer to the problems of people with disabilities was to avoid acknowledging them.  That all began to change when President George H.W. Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act twenty years ago, she says. In that moment,

… 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.

Disabilities came out of the shadows. People began to talk openly and understand, and most important, to accept. Today the idea of a person in a wheelchair stopping conversation and getting looks of disapproval for entering a restaurant is inconceivable.

As for learning disabilities, more and more young people with LD are successfully transitioning out of high school into the workplace or college because they have access to accommodations such as extra time for tests and note takers. Before the ADA, these accommodations did not exist.

… An estimated 15 million Americans have a learning disability, but thanks to the ADA, we have learned that with understanding and acceptance, with simple and usually inexpensive accommodations and with the protections afforded by the ADA, people with disabilities can succeed.

Author Anne Ford is the chairman of the National Center for Learning Disabilities. She has written three books about her journey as the mother of a daughter with learning disabilities.

Albert R. Hunt, writing in Bloomberg Businessweek, says the ADA has transformed the nation and served as a model for much of the rest of the world.

Still, daunting challenges remain, particularly in employment, Hunt says. Experts estimate that the real unemployment rate for people with disabilities probably exceeds 50 percent. At the same time, many cash-strapped states are cutting back on vital services for people with disabilities. An excerpt:

The progress since Bush signed the measure in the summer of 1990 has been notable. Moreover, auguring well for the future, there’s a generational divide, with younger people far more comfortable and accepting of those with disabilities.

Yet the most remarkable change has been for those most affected.

“The ADA has helped disabled people think about their status as a measure of civil rights and equality, not simply as a medical or social welfare policy,” says Andy Imparato, the president of the American Association of People with Disabilities. “The ADA has given us the right to talk about our disabilities and not be ashamed.”

From the Providence Journal, Boston Globe:

Rep. James Langevin (D-Rhode Island) writes that only a generation ago, people with disabilities were commonly treated as second-class citizens. Langevin, who was paralyzed at the age of 16 as a result of an accident, says the 20th anniversary of the ADA offers an opportunity not just to celebrate our achievements but to reflect on how to improve upon them. An excerpt:

Individuals with disabilities remain one of our nation’s greatest untapped resources, and they continue to face challenges in accessing employment, transportation, housing and even health care. This will only continue as we see increasing numbers of veterans returning with traumatic brain injury, post-traumatic-stress disorders and other disabling conditions.

It is more important than ever to educate businesses and link them with resources to create more job opportunities in our communities. We must collaborate with local and state governments to ensure that transportation is available and accessible to everyone so they can get to their job, or the doctor, or the grocery store. We need to provide more resources for our teachers so that every child can receive a proper education, which is the steppingstone to a brighter future.

… We have come so far, but we have much more work ahead. Disabilities don’t discriminate on the basis of party affiliation, income or gender; instead, they have the unique ability to unite us in common purpose. If we act with courage and commitment, then we will provide the means for every individual to fulfill his or her potential and realize the true promise of the ADA on its 20th anniversary, and for years to come.

Langevin will preside over the House of Representatives Monday, using a Speaker’s rostrum that has recently been made wheelchair-accessible through a series of lifts.