The landmark Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), signed into law in 1990, turns 25 this year. Part of its legacy is a generation of individuals with disabilities that have known only the ADA’s acknowledgment of their rights to participate fully in all aspects of American society. The ADA’s legacy, however, is greater than this. Together we can preserve, celebrate and educate not only this generation but also the next by remembering our collective past and preparing for what’s to come.
Mark Johnson; Jan. 29, 2015
Others have commented recently (here) that “the story of the disability rights movement hasn’t been fully told.” This is a bold concern, but it and others like it speak too often specifically to a broader question: what is the ADA’s civil rights legacy – not just for yesterday but also the next generation?
This question is at the heart of the ADA Legacy Project and its commemoration of the law’s 25th anniversary later this year. Established in 2013, the project honors the contributions of people with disabilities and their allies by preserving, celebrating and educating:
Preserving the history of the civil rights movement.
As Justin Dart, Jr. said, “we are not a tragic minority; we are a magnificent, triumphant majority.” Indeed. The history of the civil rights movement is a triumphant one. For the generations of Americans who will grow up with the ADA and others outside the movement, that history may be unknown and the challenges faced by its advocates and allies unthinkable. But its role in the broader civil rights victories of the 20th century reflect back on each of us and our nation’s progress towards ending discrimination whatever the source.
The ADA Legacy Project is helping to preserve this past by partnering with those who work to collect, promote and exhibit materials from the civil rights movements. Part of this mission has been demonstrated best by the ADA Legacy Tour.
Wrapped in photos from the civil rights movement and making its way across the country, the ADA Legacy Tour’s bus pays tribute to the cross-disability efforts that led to the passage of the ADA in 1990. Inspired by the historic 50-state journey taken by Dart and his wife, Yoshiko, to garner grassroots support for the then yet-to-be-passed ADA, the bus and tour have been expanded since its first launch in 2006-7. Notably, the bus newly features a four-panel display on the history of self-advocacy courtesy of the Museum of disABILITY History in Buffalo, plus: disability history quilts, local and national milestones, new displays on the 2006-7 Road to Freedom Tour, and information about the ADA Legacy Project.
To date, the bus tour has travelled 11,500 miles and made stops in 18 states. In March, it will kick-off 2015 in Austin. You can find route information, including stops in or near your hometown, at adalegacy.com.
In addition to completing the bus tour’s first phase last year, the ADA Legacy Project has launched a number of other initiatives to preserve the history of the civil rights movement, including publishing Equal Access, Equal Opportunity, a 168-page commemorative magazine. Digital and text only copies are available also at adalegacy.com.
But the work of preserving this history is also very local; it depends on the efforts of individual advocates involved in the civil rights movement today and in decades past to share and preserve their own collections. These individual collections are important to the telling and re-telling of the rich history of the movement. It is the materials – from buttons and posters to pamphlets, memos, articles and flyers – as well as oral histories and individual experiences that help frame our collective history. More information on the broader effort to preserve these stories can be found here, with tips for preserving your own history here.
Celebrating its milestones, including the ADA.
At the ADA Legacy Project, we are celebrating our present by honoring the milestones and accomplishments of the past, including the 25th anniversary of the ADA’s passage on July 26. The ADA did more than acknowledge the rights of people with disabilities to fully participate in all aspects of society; from employment and education, to housing, community inclusion and government participation, it has worked to address and move beyond barriers existing for people with disabilities.
The ADA has fulfilled much of its promise. A 2010 national survey of disability leaders authored by Lex Frieden, who helped craft the ADA, found the “equal opportunity” law for people with disabilities “had more influence on their lives than any other social, cultural or legislative change.” Nearly 60 percent of those surveyed agreed that access to public accommodations, retail and commercial establishments has shown the greatest improvement since the ADA’s passage. Respondents also described remarkable improvements in the area of transportation, and credited the law with making it easier for people with disabilities to gain employment in inclusive settings.
The progress and accomplishments since 1990 are undeniable and definitely worth celebrating. Or, as others have shared, reflect a need for continued focus on #PromotingDisabilityPride. As the ADA Legacy Tour shows, disability groups across the country are demonstrating their local pride by hosting events to celebrate and preserve the spirit of the ADA. Throughout the winter, local ADA25 groups will be planning and implementing 25th anniversary activities – as many as 250 events are anticipated nationwide. Plus, all month long this July, the ADA Legacy Project and its many partners will be hosting events in and around Washington, D.C. Here’s a small sample:
- July 12: VSA Young Artists Soloist event at the Kennedy
- July 16: Josh Blue, An Evening of Comedy at the Kennedy
- July 20: Screen on the Green 2015 on the National Mall,
featuring “The Best Years of Our Lives”
- July 22: Justice for All Awards dinner and rooftop reception
- July 23: Michael Cleveland & the Flamekeepers at the
- July 23-24: National Council on Disability quarterly meeting
- July 23-26: Smithsonian Institute Film Festival
- July 24: Blessing Offor, Rhythm & Blues at the Kennedy
- July 24-26: Disability Culture Festival at the Museum of
- July 25: National Dance Day, featuring the Axis Dance
Company at the Kennedy Center
- July 26: ADA Legacy Bus arrives in Washington, D.C.;
Millennium Stage Performances and VSA Jean Kennedy
lecture, both at the Kennedy Center
- July 27: ADA25, “A Celebration of Pride, Power &
- July 27-29: Access Board meeting
- July 28: ADA25 March, rally and Capitol Hill visits
Celebration is in the air, and now’s the time to join in. For more
information about activities near you and ways to get involved,
Educating the public and future generations of advocates.
Anniversaries “are times for celebration, reflection and thinking
critically about what comes next.” Simply put, there’s work left
to be done.
In this spirit, the ADA Legacy Project is promoting the
SixBy‘15 campaign, a project of the Association of University
Centers on Disabilities and other national disability rights
organizations to advance six national goals by the end of 2015.
The campaign builds on former U.S. senator Tom Harkin’s goal
to have 6 million working-age adults with disabilities participating
in the workforce by 2015 and adds goals on community living,
education, transition, healthy living, and early childhood:
Goal 1: Employment
In March of 2014, 4.7 million people with disabilities
participated in the labor force. That means less than 20
percent of people with disabilities are working or looking
for work, compared to 68 percent of people without
disabilities. By the end of 2015, the campaign would
like to see that number reach 6 million.
Goal 2: Community Living
The Affordable Care Act included a new Medicaid
State plan option for states called Community First
Choice (CFC). States that take up the option can
provide home and community-based services without
a waiver or waiting list and receive increased federal
financial support for those services. By the end of 2015,
the Campaign would like to see four more states join the
current slate in implementing CFC and addressing the
institutional bias in their Medicaid programs.
Goal 3: Education
In the 2010-11 school year, 22 states graduated more
than 60 percent of their students with disabilities with
a regular diploma. Others graduated as few as 23 percent.
The Campaign would like to see at least six more states
reach the goal of graduating 60 percent or more of their
students with disabilities with regular diplomas by the
end of 2015.
Goal 5: Transition
From 2004 to 2006, an average of 8 percent of youth with
disabilities applied for vocational rehabilitation services.
Of those who applied, only 56 percent actually received
services. The Campaign’s goal is for at least six states
to commit to supporting internships, scholarships, and other
evidence-based services to help youth with disabilities
transition from high school to higher education and
Goal 5: Healthy Living
In 2009, the New York State Department of Health Center
for Community Health adopted a policy that all public health
programs must explicitly include children and adults with
disabilities and their families as a target population in
health promotion efforts. All programs must discuss the
importance of people with disabilities in the project and
all applicants for grant funding must describe how they will
include people with disabilities in their programs. New York
is the first state to adopt such a deliberate policy of inclusion
of people with disabilities. The Campaign hopes that by the
end of 2015, six more states will take this step and build a
more inclusive public health system.
Goal 6: Early Childhood
An estimated 17 percent of children in the U.S. have a
developmental or behavioral disability, such as
intellectual disability or autism spectrum disorder, but less
than half of children with these disabilities are identified before
starting school. Early identification connects children with
disabilities to services so they can start school ready to learn.
The Campaign hopes that by the end of 2015, six states will
have increased their current rate of developmental screening
for children birth to age three by 15 percent, and at least six
states commit to improving cross-system information exchange
that supports access to services for children identified by
These are hearty goals for continued advocacy, and efforts to promote
and spread awareness of their underlying issues are just as important
as the work being done to see the Campaign’s six goals achieved.
This is where the ADA’s legacy is greater than the ADA Generation:
it’s about the next generation, too. Today’s post-ADA advocacy is
working to instill a strong future for those with disabilities in part by
building the foundation for tomorrow’s civil rights movement. That
foundation is younger, naturally, and reflective of new issue-areas
and the intersectionality all-too common to Millennials, but it also
reflects evolving issues from the past, particularly in the realms of
technology and employment.
Let’s get to it.
Educating the public on the past – its challenges, methods and
accomplishments – and preparing future generations of advocates is as
important today as it was in the heyday of the 1980s when Justin and
Yoshiko launched their historic national tour. The biggest difference
today, perhaps, is we aren’t as small a community. We have national
presence, countless advocates and allies, successes and progress
under our belts, and an entire new generation ready to push on.
2015 will be a busy year. There’s a lot more to do, and just as much to
remember and celebrate. Together we can help honor the legacy of the
past and create a new future by supporting the ADA Legacy Project
and its many partners.
Mark Johnson is director of Advocacy at the Shepherd Center. Learn
more about the Shepherd Center at http://www.shepherd.org/.