New York Students, Families Struggle with Lack of Accessible Schools

Rebecca Kostyuchenko carries her 75-pound daughter, who has difficulty walking, up two flights of stairs every Wednesday to her computer class at Public School 321, in Brooklyn, so she can work on her coding skills with the other fifth graders.But that seems like a cakewalk to the Kostyuchenkos. Three years ago, their daughter, Jacqueline, had class on the second floor. They made multiple trips there each day to tote her to class, to the cafeteria for lunch and to the gym for physical education so she could attend school near home, like other children in their Park Slope neighborhood.

With Caregiver Pay Hike, Feds Warn States About ADA Obligations

As new rules roll out mandating better pay for in-home care workers, federal officials say states must not compromise the rights of people with disabilities in the process.

Starting in January, home care workers will qualify for the first time for federal minimum wage and overtime protections. Now, the Obama administration is warning states not to forget the needs of people with disabilities — who often rely on in-home care providers — as they implement the new policy.

25 Years Later, Some See Real Progress

Read on. This is not just about physical limitations - but all individuals.

NEW YORK — When New York City announced 30 years ago that it was spending more than $50 million for buses with wheelchair lifts, Ronnie Raymond rolled her eyes. The founder of a reinsurance brokerage firm, she commuted by bus “and I never saw anyone in a wheelchair, anywhere,” she says. “So why spend all that money?” 

The city had already invested in 1,362 accessible buses, and only 10 to 20 people citywide a day boarded in a wheelchair. 

“The reason I didn’t see anyone in wheelchairs,” Ms. Raymond later realized when she herself developed multiple sclerosis and had to use a wheelchair, “was because they couldn’t get anywhere.” Most could not even get to the bus stop. 

Limited Funds, Lingering Bias Has Delayed States' ADA Compliance

GWEN IFILL: It's been 23 years since the Americans With Disabilities Act became law.Judy Woodruff reports on the advances and the setbacks in the continued fight to implement the landmark legislation.

Justice Dept. Files Lawsuit Against Florida for Warehousing Children

Florida health care agencies have acted with "deliberate indifference to the suffering" of frail and disabled children by offering parents no "meaningful" choice but to warehouse their children in nursing homes along with elders, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a lawsuit against the state filed Monday.

Advocates Hope Senate Reconsider Treaty

WASHINGTON -- Advocates for Louisiana's disabled residents are trying to figure out why the Senate failed to ratify what they view as a non-controversial treaty designed to bring U.S. protections to other countries. The vote fell five short of the two-thirds margin needed to ratify a treaty.
The advocates contend the treaty, known as the United Nations Convention on The Rights of Persons with Disabilities, would insure that disabled Americans, including military, are provided with protections when they travel abroad.

Opinion: U.N. Treaty Vote Defies Even Dole

It may be difficult for many to remember how formidable Bob Dole was. The respected lion of the Senate, former Senate majority leader and standard-bearer of the Republican Party in 1996 worked miracles across the aisle with Democrats. It was a different era.

And that’s why it was so heartbreaking to see the 89-year-old Kansan, in his wheelchair, return to the Senate floor trying, in vain, to persuade fellow Republicans to vote for an international treaty to ban discrimination against people with disabilities.

Editorial: Florida's Children Deserve Better

TAMPA, Fla. -- Call it official neglect. Florida is accused by the Obama administration and the parents of sick and disabled children of warehousing hundreds of those children in large nursing homes rather than helping them stay home with their families. Disabled children have a right to the support services that would allow them to live safely at home or in community settings. But the state has been fulfilling its duty for some children and not others, leaving it to the courts to set things right for the rest.

Workers with Disabilities Still Struggling

If you didn't catch the PBS Newshour's report on the Americans with Disabilities Act Thursday night, you may want to watch the video or read the transcript.


Now, unemployment as it affects people with disabilities.
That was the subject of much attention today on the 22nd anniversary of the signing of the Americans With Disabilities Act. During the recession, disabled workers were hit five times as hard as other workers when it came to losing their jobs. People with disabilities have also had more trouble finding new jobs during the recovery.

Now there's a new push from some leaders in politics and business to fight those trends, including by the new chairman of the National Governors Association, Delaware's Jack Markell, who says he plans to make this his signature issue.
Well, we talk now to two individuals closely involved with all these efforts. Senator Tom Harkin, a Democrat from Iowa, he is the chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pension Committee. And Jill Houghton, she's the executive director of the non-profit U.S. Business Leadership Network.

22 Years Later, Time to Get Serious About Jobs

Proud to share a post by our CEO Stephen Freeman, which appears on Huffington Post.

Why is the workplace still inaccessible to so many people with disabilities 22 years after the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act?
This bipartisan legislation held so much promise. Its authors and those of us in the field had visions of doors to employment flying open for individuals with disabilities. Unfortunately, that promise has only been partially realized. Employment for people with disabilities is lower today than it was before the passage of the ADA. As of June 2012, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, only 32 percent of working age people with disabilities were in the labor force, and only about 27.6 percent were actually working.
Despite the statistics, I am hopeful that we are finally ready to get serious about the power of people with disabilities to enrich the workplace.

A Call to Focus on Finding Jobs for People with Disabilities

Robert Lambert, a blind worker at
Blind Industries and Services of
Maryland, carries fabric that
has been cut into pieces for
military uniforms in Baltimore, M.D.

As the United States prepares to observe the anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act Thursday, it's tempting to say, "hold the celebration." That's because for those with disabilities, the employment picture has, sadly, not improved since the ADA was signed into law 22 years ago.
In fact, during the recent recession, it deteriorated five times as badly as did employment for the rest of American workers. While the non-disability workforce shrank by about 2 percent, for people with disabilities, the number working fell by over 10 percent. And according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the picture has remained grim as the economy has begun its recovery: While 3 million new jobs were added to the able-bodied work force, workers with disabilities have seen their ranks shrink further.

ADA Helps Iowans Succeed as Business Owners

Em's Coffee Co

INDEPENDENCE, Iowa -- ‘I am the boss down here,” Emilea Hillman declared one afternoon last week. “I have six employees. Ain’t it cool?”
But for a federal law passed two years after her birth, it’s doubtful Hillman would be working today, let alone running Em’s Coffee Co.
The Americans with Disabilities Act, signed 22 years ago today by President George H.W. Bush, extended civil rights protections to those with “a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits a major life activity.”
Ensuring a place in the mainstream of American life for those with disabilities meant a change in attitude that’s often taken for granted by a generation that grew up with the act.

Disability Group Files ADA Suit Against Wal-Mart

SAN FRANCISCO — A legal advocacy group filed suit against Wal-Mart Stores Inc. in San Francisco federal court Wednesday, alleging that the retailing giant discriminates against wheelchair users by placing check-out machines too high and out of reach.
"Because many customers who use wheelchairs and scooters cannot easily view, reach and use Wal-Mart's [point-of-sale] terminals securely and independently, they must often process their transactions without knowing the information displayed on the POS viewscreen," Kevin Knestrick of Berkeley-based Disability Rights Advocates wrote in the complaint.

Disability Should Not Be a Deterrent to Job Market

Recently, entertainment personality Jack Osbourne said he lost a job on a reality show because he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS).

As a professional who knows the value that people with disabilities in the workplace can bring, the news was stunning, sad and alarming. It also was proof that too many employers today underestimate the potential effectiveness of an employee with a disability.

Politics Aside, Officials Find a Common Ground: Jobs for People with Disabilities

How to bring down the nation’s high unemployment rate and create jobs for millions of people seeking work dominated last weekend’s confab of governors in Williamsburg, Va., setting the stage for an admittedly “niche initiative” targeted at employing people with disabilities. “There are a lot of people who want to be working in our country, and aren’t given a shot,” says Delaware Gov. Jack Markell, who was selected by his peers to head the National Governors Association (NGA) for the next year.

With so many able-bodied people out of work, why would Markell choose to focus on the special-needs community? It’s not politically correct to even ask such a question, but Markell has a ready answer, and he is not the least fazed by the unseemliness of the inquiry. He says hiring people with disabilities is good for the bottom line of companies that are doing it, which means it’s good for the shareholders. “It’s not just for charity,” he told The Daily Beast. His NGA initiative is dubbed “A Better Bottom Line: Employing People With Disabilities.”

What the Americans with Disabilities Act Means to Me

I must disclose a bit of a bias--I know Krista, the writer of this post from the White House blog, and I'm proud to see that she's doing big things for the disability community in the nation's capitol this summer! Keep up the good work!

WASHINGTON -- As a young woman with Cerebral Palsy, I learned at a young age that if I let my disability stop me from reaching my goals, I would be promoting a common misconception that disability is equal to inability. So, when I was offered an internship at the White House working for Kareem Dale doing outreach this summer, I could not let the opportunity pass. I had no idea what my internship would entail, how I would manage my expenses, and most importantly, if this new city would be accessible, but when I got to Washington, what I saw inspired me.

Americans with Disabilities Act: 21 Years Later

An interesting video at the link--see Executive Director of the World Institute of Disability, Kathy Martinez (who was also nominated by President Obama as assistant secretary for the Office of Disability Employment Policy) discuss the Americans with Disabilitites Act.

Today, twenty one years ago, the “Americans With Disabilities Act” was signed, protecting the 36 million people with disabilities in the U.S.

This afternoon, a coalition of disability groups is rallying together to protest sub-minimum wage jobs for those with disabilities, which they say U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk supports. Disabled Americans Want Work Now (DAWWN) and the National Federation of the Blind will protest from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the Federal Building in Chicago.

On ADA Anniversary, Texas Businesses Called Noncompliant

AUSTIN, Texas -- On the 21st anniversary of the passage of the Americans With Disabilities Act, a state advocacy group said Tuesday that it is suing several Sixth Street businesses and the Domain shopping center, accusing them of preventing people with disabilities from entering and fully enjoying the restaurants, music venues and shopping mall.

Clinical Pathology Laboratories is also among those named in the lawsuits, said Joseph Berra, an attorney for the Texas Civil Rights Project, which filed the suits on behalf of several plaintiffs.

Mass. Residents with Disabilities Sue State Health Care Agency

BOSTON -- Eight disabled residents and a local advocacy group filed a lawsuit in federal court yesterday against the state agency that provides health care to more than a million low-income people, arguing it has failed to comply with laws that require documents to cater to the needs of the deaf, blind, and other physically and mentally impaired recipients of care.

On the 21st anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Boston-based Disability Policy Consortium and other plaintiffs - four who are blind, two who are deaf, and two with other disabilities - filed a suit in US District Court in Boston, alleging MassHealth violated the law by failing to provide written notices in Braille or other electronic forms, failing to use American Sign Language to communicate, and not listing phone numbers to help the hearing impaired on the agency’s website.

“The ADA was pretty clear that state governments have to make communications accessible to people with disabilities, so they can participate as fully as anyone else,’’ said Bill Allan, executive director of the Disability Policy Consortium. “The Commonwealth has ignored this issue for years. It has been brought up to them in reports and by individuals. It’s time for them to take action.’’

Celebrating Accessibility

ST. GEORGE - Jody Cassida and her caretakers weren't just commemorating the 21st anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act on Tuesday. They were celebrating the cherished memories they now have because of it.

"We can't even say what a difference it makes being able to take her to a movie or shopping with us," said Deborah Clark, who along with her husband, Larry, adopted Cassida from a special needs foster care program more than 32 years ago. "She just loves to go with us."

With Cassida confined to a wheelchair and suffering from mental disabilities, Clark said she and her adopted daughter have seen firsthand the impact the law has made over the past two decades. Thanks to the ADA, businesses and municipalities are required to offer handicap parking spots, wheelchair ramps, curb cuts and a variety of other additions designed to make establishments accessible to all.