Article Review # 2

The second article I have chosen to review, and first one off of the course disc, is the Guide to Disability Rights. The reason I have selected this article is because I believe this relates directly to some of the most important laws that have been enacted in recent years. The Guide is exactly that--an easy to read "summary of the federal civil rights laws that ensure equal opportunity for people with disabilities." What I like about this article is that it does not rely on the long-winded legal-speak that can bore the brown out of dirt. It addresses each Act that has been passed in the effort to make the world an easier and more accessible place for those who have disabilities.

I find this issue very close to my heart as the child of a father who spent his entire adult life with a leg and hip injury/disability that caused him to walk on crutches for the first twelve years of my life. I can remember accompanying him as a child as he ran errands and clearly recall the obstacles that hampered his ability to access the world like able bodied people. Once when he went to pick up a birthday cake from a bakery he struggled to go up the stairs and into the store with his crutches and me. Once he paid for the cake he asked if someone could assist him to his car and was refused!This was back in a day when stores used to walk people to their cars and put groceries into their trunks! I remember the hurt sound in his voice when he told my mother about this. I was young and it made me sad to hear my father's emotional pain. As an adult it angers me that ignorant people brought that upon him. He is a proud and very independent man. For him to even ask for assistance took a lot out of him, and then to be refused is outrageous.

My father became an independent businessman so that he could be employed consistently and carry good health insurance through his business. He did this because, at that time, employers could discriminate against those with disabilities. Under the Americans with Disabilities Act that is now illegal. The following Acts are also discussed within the article:

State and local governments are also mandated to give people with disabilities equal opportunities to benefit from all their programs, services, and activities--including public education, employment, transportation, recreation, health care, social services, courts, voting, and town meetings.

Telecommunication carriers are mandated to provide access for people with speech and hearing disabilities. They must close caption television programming and provide 24 hour interstate and intrastate telecommunications relay service for those who need such services. In addition, manufacturers of telecommunications equipment must make sure their equipment and services are readily available to those with disabilities.

The Fair Housing Act makes it illegal to discriminate against those with disabilities in regards to renting or buying dwellings. It requires owners of buildings to make "reasonable exceptions" in policies or operations to provide those with disabilities equal housing opportunities. For instance if an apartment complex does not permit pets an exception should be made for a blind person who relies on a seeing eye service dog. New housing is also required to be designed to be handicapped accessible--in housing units of four or more.

The Air Carrier Access Act prohibits discrimination in transportation by domestic or foreign carriers.

The Voting Accessibility for the Elderly and Handicapped Act requires polling places to be physically accessible for those with disabilities for federal elections--or provide an alternate means for voting. This law was recently strengthened by the National Voter Registration Act which is also known as the Voter Motor Act. Essentially this act requires State level agencies that provide services to those with disabilities to provide them with voter registration materials and assistance with filling forms out and transmitting them to the appropriate state official. Most people encounter this at their local Department of Motor Vehicles, where they are able to fill out voter registration cards while conducting their business there.

The Civil Rights of Institutionalized People Act is a law that permits the U.S. Attorney General to investigate conditions of confinement in jails, publicly operated nursing homes and institutions for those with psychiatric and development disabilities. This law is especially important given the terrible history of those facilities that have taken care of those with disabilities or the inability to speak out publicly (such as a prisoner). In the past places like Pineland or the Maine Youth Center or Augusta Mental Health Institute mistreated and in some cases tortured those committed to their care. The Maine Youth Center was even cited by Amnesty International for their violations of basic human rights. The laws have been amended to provide more oversight and better care for those who are institutionalized.

Schools are held to higher standards through the Individuals with Disabilities Act - as they can no longer discriminate against those children with disabilities, but instead must provide them with a free and appropriate education like everyone else. This has had huge impacts on those with disabilities who have been given access to education with their peers in the last 30 years. Prior to this Act many of those with disabilities were forbidden to education and opportunities to learn.

The Rehabilitation Act prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in programs run by the federal government, in programs being funding through the federal government, in federal employment and in the employment practices of federal contractors. This change in the law opened up doors for employment to a huge class of people that had been formerly discriminated against by their own government. This is remarkable that it took so long for such laws, given that a full forty years earlier the United States had a President that had been crippled by Polio and was confined to a wheelchair!

And the Architectural Barriers Act essentially requires that all buildings constructed with federal funds or leased by federal agencies comply with federal standards for accessibility. This again, opens doors--quite literally--for those who with disabilities.

The article does a nice job of outlining the acts that have been passed to make life easier for those with disabilities. Look a little bit closer, though, and you will realize that life is easier for us all. Think about the last time you walked through the doors of a building, carrying a load of packages and the doors swung open for you automatically. Think about the workout at the gym that was made more bearable for you because of the televisions that bear closed captioning of their programs so you could understand what was going on, despite all the noise in the room. These are just two of the ways that changes in the laws have provided benefits to every single one of us. What a small price to pay for accessibility for all!