• What’s changed in 20 years since ADA passage — Joseph Shapiro and Tony Cox on NPR’s Talk of the Nation
• Looking back on 20 years of disability rights — By Ben Mattlin on National Public Radio. An excerpt:

… When I was 27, the ADA became law. It didn’t get me a job. But it addressed the differences between essential and nonessential job tasks … it provided not just legal recourse, but validation and hope.

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 I never had.

Yes, there is still a long way to go. Yet in redefining the terms of disability, the ADA made us impossible to ignore. So now people should understand we’re just part of the human landscape, and we’re here to stay.

• Did the Americans with Disabilities Act work? Ross Douthat’s blog, New York Times
• Americans with Disabilities Act turns 20: ‘A reminder that we’re not done, and there’s still so much to do’ — Grand Rapids [MI] Press
• 20 years after Disabilities Act, why are we still struggling? By Lisa A. Goldstein in USA Today
• Much still needs to be done for Americans with disabilities — Letter by Shawn E. Jeffers in the Chicago Tribune
• Revealing culture at the Smithsonian: Very Special Arts (VSA) celebrates 20th anniversary of the ADA — Max Eternity in the Hufffington Post
• Equality not yet reality, disabled in area say — Toledo [Ohio] Blade
• How the disabilities act has influenced architecture — National Public Radio
• Amazing success fueled by act of discrimination– CNN
• Americans with Disabilities Act hits 20 — Detroit Free Press

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.”

Writing in the San Jose [CA] Mercury News, Sara Triano recalls the words of President George H.W. Bush at the signing of the ADA twenty years ago. “Let the shameful wall of exclusion finally come tumbling down.”

After two decades of work to end the segregation of people with disabilities, Triano says, the wall of exclusion is “still a prevalent reality for many of us.” An excerpt:

Opponents of the ADA believe that requiring businesses to provide access to people with disabilities isn’t “fair to the business owner” and that the market will eventually force them to be more accommodating. Similar arguments were made about the Civil Rights Act of 1964. History has shown, however, that the free market did not lead to a breakdown of racial segregation anymore than it has based on disability.

The creation of a society that values the dignity, equality, freedom and worth of every human being requires constitutional protection to end the historical practice of segregation. While the language of the ADA defines the law, its spirit defines our humanity.

As Justin Dart, widely known as the father of the ADA, once said: “ADA is a landmark commandment of fundamental human morality.” It sends a resounding message to people with disabilities: You are equal. You are whole. You are a valued contributor to our society.

So on this 20th anniversary of the ADA, it is up to us to make sure that none of us are excluded from its promise …

Triano is executive director of the Silicon Valley Independent Living Center.

From the New Orleans Times-Picayune:

Charter schools in New Orleans educate about 60 percent of the city’s public school children — a higher percentage than in any major American city. But they serve a much smaller percentage of children with disabilities than traditional schools. The gap raises questions about how charters can assure equal access to students who have been historically underserved and excluded.

According to state data, New Orleans’ charters serve only 38 percent of students with autism, 37 percent of those with an emotional disturbance, and about 23 percent of students with multiple disabilities. Parents of kids with disabilities describe heartbreaking school searches, rejection and isolation for their children.

… sometimes, new charter leaders may be hesitant to take on the most challenging — and costly — students from day one.

“I talked to (a charter operator) who said, ‘We want to take these kids, but we’re just not ready yet,’” said Margaret Lang, director of intervention services for the Recovery School District. “My comment to him was that nobody is ready. These children are born into families who are not ready. The number of qualified staff is minimal. No one has quote, unquote, enough experience. But the kids are here.”

In a recent analysis of charter schools around the country, Harvard professor Thomas Hehir said there is significant underrepresentation of students with disabilities in charters in San Diego, Los Angeles and Massachusetts.  Hehir, who served as director of the U.S. Department of Education’s office of special education programs in the Clinton administration, said officials should develop policies to assure that charters are not discriminating against students with disabilities.

From CBC News:

Canada has ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Speaking at the UN in New York, Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon said the action underscores the Canadian government’s commitment to “promoting and protecting the rights of persons with disabilities and enabling their full participation in society.”

Advocates say the ratification will require provincial governments to make changes, like requiring schools to provide inclusive education for all students. They say some Canadian students with disabilities are still being restricted to segregated school sites.

Canada is host to this year’s winter Paralympic Games.

See also: Who will fund accessibility compliance?

From the Boston Globe:

The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating allegations that a Massachusetts school is violating federal civil rights law by using electrical skin shocks to discipline children with disabilities.

The probe follows a 2009 letter of complaint signed by more than 30 disability rights groups alleging that the facility’s use of “painful and dehumanizing behavioral techniques violates all principles of human rights.”

The Judge Rotenberg Educational Center of Canton, southwest of Boston, is believed to be the only school in the country that gives children electric shocks as a form of treatment. Its population of 200 students have such conditions as autism, mental retardation and emotional problems. Roughly half wear electrodes attached to their skin, allowing staff members to remotely trigger an electrical shock through a hand-held device.

The school’s methods have stirred controversy for decades, garnering support from parents and opposition from rights advocates and politicians.

Earlier posts here.

Harvard University professor Thomas Hehir, writing in Education Week, calls for action to make sure that students with disabilities have access to charter schools. Presently, he says, students with special needs are conspicuously underrepresented in such schools.

Hehir, who served as director of the U.S. Department of Education’s office of special education programs in the Clinton administration, says officials should develop policies to assure that charters are not discriminating against students with disabilities.

He recommends increased monitoring of charters, enforcement of civil rights protections, financial sanctions against charters which fail to enroll equitable shares of students with disabilities, and support to assist schools in serving students with diverse needs. An excerpt:

The charter school movement shows much promise, and is providing important choice options within the American education system. It’s time to assure that all children benefit from it.