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New reports on the ADA: I’m all ears

by Beth

I lost my sight in 1985. Up until then I had been working as an advisor at a major University, counseling students who wanted to study abroad. Undergraduates would come in, we’d talk, I’d get on the phone and make sure their credits would transfer. It’s a job a person without sight could do. But the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) had not been passed yet. And I was fired.

This Thursday is the 17th anniversary of the passage of the ADA, and the National Council on Disability (NCD) is holding a news conference that morning at the Crowne Plaza Chicago Metro. I’m going to be there watching.

Or listening, I guess!

NCD is an independent federal agency that provides advice to the president, Congress, and executive branch agencies to empower individuals with disabilities to achieve economic self-sufficiency, independent living, and inclusion and integration into all aspects of society. Sound familiar? Easter Seals provides services so that people living with autism and disabilities have equal opportunities to do just that: live, learn, work and play in their communities.

NCD has put together two new reports on the Americans with Disabilities Act:

  1. “The Impact of the Americans with Disabilities Act: Assessing the Progress Toward Achieving the Goals of the ADA” features a two-year study of the impact the ADA had on the lives of Americans with disabilities since the ADA was passed.
  2. “Implementation of the Americans with Disabilities Act: Challenges, Best Practices, and New Opportunities for Success” describes the experiences and ideas of employers, legal professionals, governmental entities, and individuals with disabilities when it comes to ADA implementation.

The reports will be released at the news conference on Thursday. I’ll be all ears.


 

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