Happy birthday to the Americans with Disabilities Act!
Since its passage back in 1990, ramps have replaced curbs and stairs, braille has appeared inside most elevators, and outside the door too so that people who are blind and visually impaired can know where they have arrived, transit systems have installed lifts on buses, telephone relay systems have made it possible for people who are deaf to make and receive phone calls, public access is guaranteed to all members of the public, service animals are welcomed in public venues, employers understand that people with disabilities make the best employees, and, perhaps best of all, attitudes have changed! Certainly, we have a long way to go. Too many businesses and even public venues have yet to understand that the law applies to them!
But, advocacy by the one-in-six Americans with disabilities and those who care about them, projects like the Department of Justice's Project Civic Access, and lawsuits and arbitration by agencies like the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission, continue to educate, nudge, and compel businesses, agencies, and individuals to comply.
July 26 marks Independence Day for people with disabilities everywhere in the USA, and Gettinghired joins everyone in our community in celebration and in pledging to do all we can to make the civil rights the ADA guarantees a reality for every American with a disability.
Happy birthday, ADA!
Posted
Jul 24 2009, 10:45 AM
by
BusyBee
Filed under: Braille, employees with disabilities, Americans with Disabilities Act, ADA, service animals, ramps, advocacy, lifts, changed attitudes, public access, civil rights, Department of Justice, telephone relay service, 19th anniversary, Project Civic Access, Equal Employment Opportunities Commission, EEOC