24th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)

This Saturday will mark the 24th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). On July 26, 1990, President George H.W. Bush stated the famous words - “Let the shameful walls of exclusion finally come tumbling down.”  With the signage of the ADA, “legal protections that ensure equal opportunity and access to the mainstream of American life” became possible for millions of individuals in areas of Employment (Title I), State and Local Government (Title II), Public Accommodations, (Title III), Telecommunications (Title IV), and Miscellaneous Provisions (Title V). Job Accommodation Network (JAN) provides a great précis of why and how the ADA is important for individuals with disabilities.

The ADA signified the adoption of a public policy committed to the removal of a broad range of impediments to the integration of people with disabilities into society. Historically, societies have frequently misconstrued, overreacted to, or ignored differences in individual mental and physical abilities. Recorded instances of ridicule, torture, imprisonment and execution of people with disabilities are not uncommon.

In colonial times, it was considered the family's responsibility to care for individuals born with disabilities or those who became disabled later through illness, injury or other causes. According to a leading authority, "Fear, shame and lack of understanding led some families to hide or disown their disabled members or allow them to die." A system of "farming out" those individuals whose families were unable or unwilling to support them to people who received public assistance to provide for their room, board, and care survived until the latter part of the 19th century. Public concern over abuses—including recorded cases in which care providers collected their fees and then locked people with disabilities in attics to starve or freeze to death—eventually led to a change in focus.

A shift towards more organized, institutionalized care began in the 1820s. The term "warehousing," sometimes used to describe this type of treatment, refers to the fact that most such care was custodial in nature and resulted from a view of people with disabilities as defective, incompetent, and in need of special institutions, care, and services which isolated them from society in order to survive. Specialized institutions for individuals with particular types of disabilities were developed. These also were custodial in nature.

This pattern of institutionalization has fallen into disrepute for two principal reasons. First, individuals living in these institutions were subjected to abuse and neglect on a massive scale. Second, and even more fundamental, it was not the purpose of these institutions to promote the productivity or independence of those residing in them because the prevailing concept of disability at the time assumed that to attempt to do so was futile. The protective isolation model operated on the assumption that people with disabilities needed protection from the hardships of society. The loss to these individuals and to society of their freedom and contributions cannot be calculated. As a result many individuals who could have contributed to society and lived productively have been isolated and segregated.

In the 1920s the return of veterans of the First World War and an increase in industrial accidents meant there were large numbers of people with disabilities for whom rehabilitation and a return to work began to be considered as appropriate goals. Federal legislation created the forerunner to the rehabilitation structure in the United States, currently embodied in the provisions of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.

The period from 1920 to 1960 was marked by the development of welfare and entitlement programs as an alternative to total care institutions. The return of WWII and Korean War veterans led to an increase in the range of available rehabilitation services. Developments in medical technology increased the number of individuals surviving disease and accidents and significantly increased the ability of people with disabilities to be more physically mobile. A burgeoning of the rehabilitation profession began. More work and recreational programs were created, although most of the organizations sponsoring them were run by people without disabilities and the programs were usually sheltered and segregated.

Many of these organizations advocated for legislative and policy changes which led to the provision of some services for people with disabilities. The charity approach to disability, characterized by efforts to care for people with disabilities, was evidenced among those who wanted to "help the handicapped." One observer has characterized this period as one of "an increasing humanization of certain classes of disabled people based on qualities of deservedness, normalcy and employability and a move from total societal indifference to a recognition that the remaining 'unfortunates' must receive some level of minimal care."

Influenced by the goals, rhetoric and tactics of the civil rights movement, the modern disability rights movement has been marked by the increasing prominence of people with disabilities themselves as its leaders and spokespersons and the emergence of the first national cross-disability organization in the 1970's. It rejects paternalistic treatment that impedes the realization of the full potential of people with disabilities.

In contrast to earlier conceptions of disability, the new paradigm rejects the “medical model” that disability is a deficiency or abnormality.  It maintains that people with disabilities are competent and have the right to govern their lives, and holds that the proper goal of public policy is the creation of meaningful equal opportunity. Core to the movement is the elimination of attitudinal, communication, transportation, policy and physical barriers which will result in a substantial enhancement in the integration of people with disabilities into our society.

Source: “Preamble: History.” ADA Handbook. Job Accommodation Network. Web 23 July 2014.<http://askjan.org/media/adahandbook/PREAMBLE.html>.

Comments

[Brandon]

Definitely call it a great day!