When President George H.W. Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act on July 26, 1990, he said, “Let the shameful wall of exclusion finally come tumbling down.”
Has that wall come down? After 26 years, it is time to assess ADA accomplishments.
The ADA had four goals: full participation, equal opportunity, independent living and economic self-sufficiency.
The first goal, full participation, requires that all individuals, regardless of disability, be allowed to participate in society’s programs, services and activities. Certainly the ADA has ensured such public services as paratransit providers, accessible buses, ramps, loading zones, parking spaces, elevators and many more accessibility standards.
In 1988, Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, introduced ADA legislation in the U.S. Senate. Regarding the first goal, he says “we’ve done pretty well.” Reality differs across the country. My daughter uses a wheelchair now and often finds restrooms marked accessible are anything but.
The second goal of the ADA, equal opportunity, requires that public accommodations, employment, transportation, government services and telecommunications be as available to an individual with a disability as they are to other members of society. At the Justice Department’s ADA 25th anniversary celebration, Harkin said, “Better; we have aways to go.”
Attitudes and a lack of understanding prevent this goal from being fully realized. For example, when my daughter and I were shopping in a large Seattle mall department store, her wheelchair got stuck in the women’s clothing section. A sales person assisting us said “people like that should stay in the main aisles.” Where in that statement is my daughter’s equal opportunity to purchase clothing for herself?
Some progress has been made toward independent living, the third goal of the ADA. It strives for a society in which people with disabilities can live where they want and with whom they want. The individual or person authorized to direct their care can make the choice. I have seen cases where those choices differ, however, and capable individuals denied independence.
Ultimately, ADA progress has to be judged on its fourth goal, economic self-sufficiency — the ability to support yourself financially and live your American Dream. In Harkin’s words, providing economic self-sufficiency to individuals with disabilities is a “blot on our national character.”
The Current Population Survey is the only national survey to have consistently used the same definition of disability. From 1981-2014, prior to and since ADA implementation, the survey asked respondents if they had a “health problem or disability which prevents them from working or which limits the kind or amount of work they can do.” Survey statistics track the employment rate and labor market activity for all respondents.
If the ADA has successfully assisted individuals with disabilities find employment, CPS statistics would show an increase in percentages of respondents who reported a disability. However, the exact opposite is true. Between 1990, when the ADA was implemented, to 2014, labor market activity in Alaska fell 18.6 percent. The Alaska employment rate for disability decreased 8.2 percent. National data during the same time period is similar. But why, when accessibility is so much better? Human attitude toward disability.
In “Confessions of a Bitter Cripple,” Elizabeth Barnes has heard it all, even the comment that a disabled human being is less valuable than another. A wheelchair user, the University of Virginia philosophy professor says society considers disability to be a matter of bad luck. Barnes could have taken it a step further and explained it as “inspiration porn” — telling an individual with a disability they are inspiring even though, with disability excluded, they have done nothing extraordinary. Such comments objectify individuals with disabilities for the benefit of non-disabled people in much the same way that pornography objectifies women for the benefit of men. If society did not consider disability a form of bad luck, society would not find mundane tasks inspiring.
At the ADA silver celebration Harkin proclaimed: “No more pity! No more patronizing. … Just take down those barriers and let me show you what I can do!” He told the story of a young Iowan born with an intellectual disability who was able to reach her goal of running a coffee shop. She employs five individuals, two of whom also have disabilities. She is living her American Dream.
Given the chance, everyone, regardless of disability, can be fully capable, successful members of society, but we will not see the full possibility of the ADA until the remaining barriers fall. While the physical environment is much better than before the ADA, the psychological and emotional barriers have proven to be much sturdier. When society stops thinking that people with disabilities are somehow less than fully capable, policies that limit them will finally come tumbling down.
• Tracy Hansen is a recent graduate of the University of Alaska Southeast with a Bachelor of Liberal Arts. Her column is a synopsis of her capstone presentation. Much of her work at UAS has focused on disability rights. She has a daughter with multiple disabilities, friends with various disabilities and had an uncle and aunt with Cerebral Palsy.
Read more Opinion:
My Turn: The mining industry wants it both ways
