“I want future generations to know that we are a
people who see our differences as a
great gift, that we are a people who value the dignity and worth of every
citizen – man and woman, young and old,
black and white, Latino and Asian, immigrant and Native American, gay and
straight, Americans with mental illness
or physical disability.”
-- U.S.
This month’s 25th anniversary of Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA
In
Andy Imparato’s blog post, The ADA and Claiming Disability, I thought about inserting “old age” for
“disabilities”:
“Rather
than buying into the larger societal narrative that disabilities are inherently
limiting, we have an opportunity to recognize that personal experience with
disability can lead to greater personal strength, creative problem-solving, and
a stronger connection to other populations who face discrimination at work, at
school and in the community.”
From ugly to beautiful law
In 1867, the first “ugly law,” making it illegal
for persons with disabilities to appear in public, was enacted in San Francisco
Carla Johnson of San Francisco Mayor’s Office on Disability (MOD) and Community Alliance for Disability Advocates (AIDS Legal Referral Panel, Senior and Disability Action, San Francisco
IHSS Public Authority,
The Arc of San Francisco,
LightHouse for the Blind,
Independent Living Resource Center of San Francisco, Paul K. Longmore Institute on Disability, Community Living Campaign,
Toolworks, Bakeworks) hosted ADA Month Kick Off Celebration on July 1st inside City Hall (which celebrated its own centennial
last month).
Mayor Ed Lee greeted the audience of “beautiful
people” and praised ADA for promoting independence,
inclusion and community, consistent with making San Francisco San Francisco ,
he introduced a resolution that was adopted nationwide to recommit
cities to the goals and ideals of ADA San Francisco
District
1 Supervisor Eric Mar honored grassroots organizations like ILRC and
co-sponsors for organizing California San Francisco
Kathy Martinez, a former ten-year-old actress in Lassie TV show, recalled being age 17
during 1977 sit-in that was an “invitation to fight for our civil rights.” As former Assistant Secretary in Office of Disability Employment Policy at U.S. Department of Labor, she advocated hiring people with disabilities to
achieve financial independence.
Former Assemblymember Tom Ammiano recalled being
a school teacher who brought his hungry students to the 504 rally, so when
asked, “What do we want?” they replied, “French toast,” instead of “civil
rights!” On a more serious note, he
reminded us that we all get old, when accommodations are welcome then, but
awareness is needed beforehand to prepare. He said
to look for the 2016 ballot measure for Dignity Fund,
which would allocate real estate taxes for seniors and persons with
disabilities.
Access SFUSD appeared on stage twice: to speak on disability perspectives (“because of ADA
San
Francisco MOD squad, established in 1998 as the City's overall ADA Coordinator, and banner reminded us that celebrating 25 years of ADA doesn't stop here: the struggle continues to eliminate attitudinal, communication, transportation, policy and physical barriers in order to achieve full integration of people with disabilities in our society.
Ms.
Wheelchair California at Patient No More panel, a preview of
larger exhibit at Ed Roberts Campus in Berkeley
Universal design
Panelists discussed ADA ’s impact on design with architect Michael Chambers as moderator at SmithGroupJJR in San Francisco
·
Architect Chris
Downey of Architecture for the Blind:
ADA
·
Disability Rights Advocates attorney Zoe Chernicoff:
ADA
·
Architect and
gerontologist Alexis Denton:
ADA
·
Architect Gilda
Puente-Peters: ADA model has been used
internationally by other countries to develop their own access standards, but ADA
·
Center for
Independent Living’s work and benefits counselor Alana Theriault: ADA
Chris and Alana mentioned Berkeley
Ed
Roberts Campus housed the equally accessible exhibit,
Patient No More! People with Disabilities Securing Civil Rights,
which held its grand opening on ADA
Spiral ramp inside Ed
Roberts Campus
Quiet area outdoors to
get away from sensory overload
Disability Mural (2000-Present) is the first community artwork about the everyday experiences of
living with a disability, created by people with and without disabilities.
Mural tile reads: "One day many people will learn to sign, and we all be seeing voices...when all the world speaks with its hands!"
Room for improvement on one
size fits all
Rosemarie Garland-Thomson has noted that disability is the body's response over time to its environment. Temporarily
abled people who acquire a disability later in life experience disability differently (like learning a foreign language later in life),
than people who have a congenital disability and already have adapted to “fit
in” the built environment or changed the inaccessible environment to accommodate their individual differences (latter often benefits our broader society). People with a congenital disability do not experience loss over not being able to do “normal” activities because they
never did, so this self-acceptance reframes “the problem is the solution.”
Celebrating disability civil rights
Cathy Kudlick, who developed
Patient No More exhibit with her team
at Longmore Institute, welcomed attendees at grand opening.
“Civil Rights were knocking at our door,
But
Carter wouldn’t stand on 504…
After
four years of delay,
We
came to claim the ground we’d gained…
Well,
for 28 days unafraid
150
people with disabilities they stayed.
They
had their eye on the prize. They held
on.
Hold
on. Hold on.
Keep
our eyes on the prize. Hold on…”
Dennis Billups,
504 Chief Morale Officer, led chant, “1-2-5-0-4. Kickin’ in the bathroom door
…We’re rolling in victory now.”
Interactive exhibit,
with poster of Billups during 504 demonstration, invited visitors to respond,
What makes you “patient no more”?
Bruce Oka, 504
participant and former SFMTA Director,
said he was "patient no more" because he was tired of being excluded, and talked
about need to be included.
Corbett O’Toole said she
was "patient no more" because there are only two lawyers in the nation available
to represent parents with disabilities losing custody of their children.
Persons with
disabilities nationwide occupied the regional offices of HEW in April 1977, but
only San Francisco
·
504
protests and ADA legislation grouped people with
many different disabilities together,
so there would be one big ADA
·
504
resulted in a national disability rights
movement and national disability organizations that could promote and defend
ADA
·
504
defined disability flexibly and took
prejudice into account, so ADA
Section 504 served as a
template for the more comprehensive ADA
Becoming Real in 24 Days: One Participant’s Story of the 1977 504 Demonstrations author and 504 participant HolLynn D'Lil.
disability = diversity
Invisible disabilities
At
this month’s Mayor’s Disability Council meeting,
attendees presented on “what ADA
means to me” with several mentioning “invisible” disabilities (like learning differences and
psychiatric disorders), how physical and mental disabilities influence another,
and the financial impacts. The majority
of disabilities are non-apparent, and until ADA Amendments Act of 2008,
the U.S. Supreme Court did not consider persons with diabetes and mental
illness as disabled, and thus not entitled to protection against discrimination. In fact, neuropsychiatric disorders represent
the largest category of disability in the U.S.
People
With Disabilities Foundation (PWDF),
a non-profit that aims to “provide total integration
of people with mental disabilities into the whole of society,” hosted a delegation of disability advocates from 20
countries, at the invitation of U.S. Department of State’s International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP), Access for All: Enhancing the Lives of
People with Disabilities. Founded 15 years ago
in San Francisco, PWDF won the nation’s first court case
requiring a federal agency to accommodate the needs of persons with mental disabilities, who were denied equal access to Social Security disability
programs, in violation of Section 504 of the Rehab Act of 1973,
because they could not understand the complex eligibility rules. PWDF’s Parity in Advocacy initiative works to provide equal access to legal representation for those with mental
disabilities (advocacy version of Mental Health Parity).
With the passage of ADA 25 years ago, the U.S.
became the first country in the world to adopt national civil rights legislation
banning discrimination against persons with disabilities. ADA was the model for the Convention on the Rights
of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), which U.S. President Barack Obama signed
in 2009,
but its ratification voted down by the Senate.
The
50th anniversary of Older Americans Act (OAA) on July 14 was a non-event in the Bay Area. The decennial White House Conference on Aging (WHCoA) took place the day before with at least one
watch party of the live stream in San Francisco
I was
not aware of any delegations visiting from other countries to learn about OAA
as a model . . .
Model
garden at 30th Street
