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.

By Roger Bradley in the Ft. Myers [Florida] News Press:

How will our community reduce the 80 percent unemployment rate for people with disabilities in an area already saturated with unemployment? How will our community provide adequate transportation services which are so essential to avoid isolation of the disabled community during an era affected by an atmosphere of budget reductions? What can we do to remove the non-physical communication barriers inherent in the cyberspace medium of the World Wide Web?

In the future, we shouldn’t need legislation to motivate our community to make accommodating changes for anyone. The economic and societal benefits of doing so should be obvious, in addition to the fact that it is just the right thing to do.

Bradley is the executive director of LARC of Lee County, Florida.

Marking the 20th anniversary of the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act, Cincinnati writer and advocate Deborah Kendrick says the law has brought lasting improvements to American society. An excerpt from her essay in the Columbus [Ohio] Dispatch:

… the ADA sent a clear message to the American people — indeed, to the world — that every person counts. That’s what the law said in essence, and if we care enough to make a law about a thing, then it seeps into our bones and changes how we look at things.

Some subsequent laws and unspoken courtesy codes have eliminated rude words like cripple and spastic and retard. Instead of telling people who have physical or mental disabilities to stay home, as we once did, we more often now celebrate their accomplishments. The unemployment rate may still be at a staggering 70 percent, but most employers know not to fire or decline to hire a qualified worker because of his or her disability.

The 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act may not have brought utopia, but as I tell a young college student with a disability that my college did not have to accept me based on my qualifications, that landlords and insurance agents could legally refuse to sell me services, as I tell her these things and witness her total incredulity, I know we have much to celebrate.

Writing in the Louisville Courier-Journal, lawyer Mark W. Leach commemorates the 28th anniversary of the birth of  “Baby Doe” in Bloomington, Indiana.

The child, who was born with Down syndrome and an incomplete esophagus, was denied life-saving surgery by his parents at the recommendation of their physician. When the hospital challenged the parents’ decision, the ensuing legal battle led to the creation of federal law setting out specific requirements for the treatment of infants with disabilities or serious illness.

An excerpt:

On this anniversary, we would like to think that the world and people’s understanding of Down syndrome has changed, but clearly, that isn’t always the case. So we are left to wonder, what can we do to ensure that the next Baby Doe born will have the chance to live and see his or her birthday?

By Washington Post columnist Michael Gerson.

Refuting an op-ed in support of the use of the word “retard,” Gerson says what is worst about the current public conversation is “a dismissive attitude toward the struggles of the disabled.”

People who wish to understand the context of the current debate, Gerson says, would do well to study a prominent 20th century American movement that sought to direct human evolution by eliminating the supply of people with developmental and physical disabilities in the population. Called the eugenics movement, it targeted for elimination a number of groups identified as “socially unfit,” including the “feebleminded,” “epileptics,” the “insane,” the “deformed,” and the “deaf.” Forced sterilization of the “unfit” was endorsed by the U.S. Supreme Court and did not end in the United States until the 1970s.

An excerpt:

Given this history, the r-word does not seem so innocuous. And defending it does not seem so heroic. [Christopher M.] Fairman can have his cherished f-word, which merely soils and trivializes the sex act. But defending the r-word is not the protection of free expression; it is the defense of bullies.

… There is not an exact correlation between vileness of speech and vileness of character, but there is a rough correlation. Words such as the r-word and the n-word often reveal aggression, contempt and hatred. They are a form of verbal violence. In these cases, what Fairman calls “self-censorship” is really kindness and moral judgment. And what he regards as free expression is just rude, abusive and cruel.

… Yes, government involvement in the censorship of words is dangerous. But what the Special Olympics is proposing –- encouraging people to take a personal pledge against the derogatory use of the r-word –- is not government censorship, it is social stigma. In this case, such stigma is a sign of moral maturity.

I have signed the pledge at www.r-word.org. I hope you do as well.

Related columns by Michael Gerson.

Just ten years ago, writes Oregon state legislator Sara Gelser, her state closed a notorious institution that had lost its federal funding amid charges of widespread abuse and neglect. Now, she says, Oregon has become the first state in the nation to serve all of its citizens with developmental disabilities in their own communities. An excerpt from Gelser’s op-ed in the Portland Oregonian:

Oregon can be proud to be the first state in the nation to have fully transformed its developmentally disabled system into one that affirms equality and human dignity. In other parts of the country, advocates still raise alarms about the conditions that persist for thousands of children and adults living in their state institutions. Many of those states look to Oregon for advice about how to improve their service systems. We must continue our efforts to improve Oregon’s developmental disability service system, and must never forget the abuses of the past. However, with the 10th anniversary of Fairview’s closure, we should take a moment to celebrate our progress.

Today, Oregonians with developmental disabilities are no longer deemed “inmates” of an institution.

Instead, they are neighbors and friends.

That is progress.

Gelser is the mother of a person with an intellectual disability. Earlier post here.

Alexa Posny, the recently confirmed assistant secretary for special education and rehabilitative services, tells  Education Week that she became a special educator after seeing a childhood playmate barred from school because he had Down syndrome. Posny is 57, according to the Washington Post. An excerpt:

Q. What inspired you to work in special education?

A. During my childhood, I learned that children with disabilities often were not educated the way other children were. One of my playmates was a child with intellectual disabilities (Down syndrome). Although he would play with me and other children in my neighborhood, I soon discovered that he did not go to school.

At that time, I could never understand why he was never with us. He was more like us than unlike us, but he never entered the school door. Thirty some years later, the lives of students with disabilities have greatly improved and I have been engaged in this field during this entire time.

(Photo from allgov.com)