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An interesting article inDisability Scoopby Meredith Rodriguez about how state treasurers from across the US are meeting to discuss how to implement the ABLE accounts.. ABLE accounts will be tax-exempt accounts to help cover expenses for people with disabilities.

State Officials Plan For New ABLE Accounts

By Meredith Rodriguez

CHICAGO State treasurers from across the country are meeting in Chicago this week to discuss how to implement a tax-exempt plan to help families cover the expenses of people with disabilities.

The new ABLE accounts, which stands for Achieving a Better Life Experience, will operate much like 529 college savings plans in that the growth is federal tax-free and families are allowed to withdraw money for qualified expenses tax-free.

This is not just an Illinois issue, the states Treasurer Michael Frerichs said at a Thursday morning news conference in Chicagos Thompson Center. ABLE accounts could benefit hundreds of thousands of people across the country.

Illinois families who have children with disabilities also spoke Thursday.

Patti Vasquezs life entered a state of emergency 10 years ago when her son, Declan, was born missing the fibers connecting the left and right sides of his brain. The family was told that he may never walk, talk or progress past the intellectual capability of a 2-year-old, said Vasquez, of Chicago.

Although Declan started walking at 3, she said he still doesnt speak. He learned how to point at 8, she said, and how to give a kiss at 9.

We have a hard time thinking about the future, Vasquez said. Will my beautiful, blue-eyed boy who loves water and dancing to Mozart and hugging, will he be loved the way he deserves?

She said things like the ABLE Act, which was passed into federal law with bipartisan support in December, give her family hope. Each state has the option to implement the program, and it was signed into law in Illinois at the end of July.

More than 20 states have enacted similar legislation, the Illinois treasurers office estimated.

In Illinois, the treasurers office will be responsible for the administration and implementation of ABLE accounts, which can be used to pay for long-term and short-term qualifying expenses, such as building a ramp to enter a home or paying for speech therapy.

The treasurers office estimates that in Illinois there will be 40,000 participants, although more than 120,000 people could qualify.

At the conference on Thursday and Friday, which includes 88 participants from 35 states, Illinois is working with other states to presentfederal rule makerssuggestions on how to implement the process efficiently and make the plans as user-friendly as possible. Illinois is also exploring a collaboration with other states, Frerichs said.

Frerichs declined to give a specific timeline for Illinois, but Betty Lochner, chair of the College Savings Plans Network, said it will take most states about a year to set up the program.

So were really at the very beginning of a big mission, Lochner said.

Source:http://www.disabilityscoop.com/2015/08/07/state-plan-able-accounts/20542/

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Speak up about IRIS and self-direction!


By SD Network, 2015-08-13

Speak up about IRIS and self-direction!


Public Comments due September 11, 2015



The state budget eliminates IRIS as a separate Medicaid Waiver program, and folds self-direction under the umbrella of managed care. However, DHS must renew the current IRIS waiverset to expire at the end of 2015 so the IRIS program can continue to run until (and if) it is replaced by the new system.


Every opportunity to tell DHS what self-direction should look like is important. Submitting public comments on the current IRIS programeven though the state budget calls for self-direction to be folded under managed care in the new systemcan clearly communicate the elements of self-direction that people with disabilities and their families feel are important to retain in a new system.


Survival Coalition has prepared a briefFrequently Asked Questionssheet; advocates are reading and analyzing the content of this waiver; additional talking points are forthcoming.

Submit your comments to DHS by September 11, 2015 via e-mail to DHSIRIS@wisconsin.govor mail to:

Department of Health Services

Attn: IRIS Waiver

1 West Wilson Street, Room 418

P.O. Box 7851

Madison, WI 53707-7851


You can read the proposed IRIS waiver athttps://www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/iris/iriswaiverrenewal.pdf

***Thanks to the Wisconsin Board for Developmental Disabilities for this information.

This is an interesting articleDisability Scoopwritten by Michelle Diament about how federal officials have clarified the service animal rules. She explains that the Department of Justice had so many questions about the rules they issued four years ago that they issued a revised document including37 questions and answers covering everything from what type of work a service animal might perform to how they are trained and what sort of animals qualify.

Justice Department Clarifies Service Animal Rules

By Michelle Diament

Federal officials are further clarifying the rights and responsibilities of people with disabilities who rely on service animals amid continued confusion.

Four years ago, the U.S. Department of Justice issuedrevised ruleson service animals under the Americans with Disabilities Act. But the agency has received so many questions since that time that its trying again with a new 8-page technical assistancedocument.

The latest effort includes 37 questions and answers covering everything from what type of work a service animal might perform to how they are trained and what sort of animals qualify.

The ADA requires state and local government agencies, businesses and non-profit organizations (covered entities) that provide goods or services to the public to make reasonable modifications in their policies, practices or procedures when necessary to accommodate people with disabilities, the Justice Department states. Accordingly, entities that have a no pets policy generally must modify the policy to allow service animals into their facilities.

The document defines a service animal as a dog that has been individually trained to do work or perform tasks for an individual with a disability that is directly related to their disability. No certification, licensing, identification or documentation is required.

Service animals can accompany people with disabilities in a wide variety of circumstances including at salad bars or other self-service food lines, in ambulances and hospitals and at hotels where they should not be limited to or charged extra for pet-friendly rooms, the Justice Department said.

Under federal law, businesses looking to assess if a dog is a service animal may only ask if the animal is required due to a disability and what work or task the dog is trained to perform.

Source:http://www.disabilityscoop.com/2015/07/31/justice-service-animal-rules/20516/

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This is a fantastic article inDisability Scoopwritten by Shaun Heasley about howMedicaid is spending more on community-based services than on institutional care. This is the first time ever that this has happened. This is a very interesting article.

Spending On Community Living Hits Record

By Shaun Heasley


For the first time ever, Medicaid is spending more on community-based services than on institutional care.

A new report finds that more than half of Medicaid spending on long-term services and supports went toward home and community-based services during fiscal year 2013, which spannedfrom October 2012 through September 2013.

During that time, state and federal Medicaid programs allocated $146 billion toward long-term care services, 51 percent of which went to community-based options. Thats up from 49 percent the year before, according to thereportproduced for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

For the third year in a row, spending on home and community-based services grew while funding for institutional care declined.

The figures account for Medicaid services provided to people with developmental disabilities, older people and those with physical disabilities as well as individuals with serious mental illness or emotional disturbance. Medicaid pays for more long-term services and supports than any other provider in the nation.

There was an uptick in home and community-based services spending for all of the populations served, the report found, though people with developmental disabilities were by far the most likely to be served in this manner.

Despite the national trend toward community-based offerings, however, the situation varies by state. In about half of states, the majority of Medicaid dollars were still directed to institutional care, the report found.

Source: http://www.disabilityscoop.com/2015/07/22/spending-community-record/20457/

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An interesting article in theWisconsin Gazettewritten by Ginny Grimsley about how the Americans with Disabilities Act improving lives for Americans with Disabilities. She explains that many of the initial concerns about the ADA never came to be.

Americans With Disabilities Act celebrates 25 years of breaking down barriers

By Ginny Grimsley

The day the Americans With Disabilities Act passed in 1990, U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin delivered a speech from the Senate floor in a way most of his colleagues didnt understand.

Harkin, the bills sponsor, used sign language for the benefit of his brother who was deaf and had taught Harkin this lesson: People should be judged on the basis of their abilities and not on the basis of their disabilities.

With the country marking the Acts 25th anniversary, Brandi Rarus, a former Miss Deaf America, remembers how important it was for people with disabilities to make it known they would no longer allow others to set limits on what they could achieve.

Those of us with disabilities face many barriers, says Rarus, co-author with Gail Harris of the bookFinding Zoe: A Deaf Womans Story of Identity, Love and Adoption. (www.brandirarus.com)

Some of those are unavoidable. I cant listen to the radio as I drive to work in the morning. Often, because of communication barriers, I have to work twice as hard as a hearing person. Instead of taking me five minutes to make a doctors appointment, it takes me 10.

But some barriers are avoidable, Rarus says. And thats why the Americans With Disabilities Act has played such an important role in peoples lives for the last 25 years.

The ADA prohibits discrimination against qualified individuals with disabilities when it comes to employment issues. The Act also requires employers to make reasonable accommodations for a disability unless it causes an undue hardship.

Harris, a professional storyteller and Rarus co-author, says that although Rarus is deaf, her life struggles are similar to everyones.

We can all relate to finding our place in the world and fitting in, about self-acceptance, about being judged and judging others, and how we must look past all that to fulfill our dreams, says Harris. (www.gailharrisauthor.com)

The U.S. Department of Labor says many concerns about the ADA never materialized. According to the department:

Complying isnt expensive.The majority of workers with disabilities do not need accommodations, and for those who do, the cost is usually minimal. In fact, 57 percent of accommodations cost nothing, according to the Job Accommodation Network, a service from the Department of Labor's Office of Disability Employment Policy.

Lawsuits have not flooded the courts.The majority of ADA employment-related disputes are resolved through informal negotiation or mediation. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which enforces the ADA's employment provisions, investigates the merits of each case and offers alternatives to litigation. The number of ADA employment-related cases represents a tiny percentage of the millions of employers in the U.S.

The ADA is rarely misused.If an individual files a complaint under the ADA and does not have a condition that meets its definition of disability, the complaint is dismissed. While claims by people with false or minor conditions may get media attention, the reality is these complaints are usually dismissed.
Rarus, who became deaf at age 6 when she contracted spinal meningitis, was making strides toward success even before the passage of the ADA.

Winning the Miss Deaf America crown in 1988 led to numerous opportunities. She signed the National Anthem at a Chicago Cubs game. She spoke at corporate conferences and traveled the country speaking out for deaf children and building awareness of what it means to be deaf. She was understudy for Marlee Matlin in the playChildren of a Lesser God.

Her latest project isFinding Zoe. The book Rarus and Harris joined forces to write tells the story of Rarus early years as she learned to live with being deaf, but the focal point becomes her effort to adopt Zoe, a deaf infant caught in the foster care system.

Harris, upon collaborating with Rarus on her story, was on a mission to help bring it forth, as everyone is deserving of basic human rights. People dont realize what the deaf have gone through, she says.

Working with Rarus and the anniversary of the ADA have reminded her of the challenges all people face, whether black or white, deaf or hearing, gay or straight.

Its how we deal with them that counts, Harris says. Brandis courage and tenacity can get us thinking about our own vulnerabilities and how they can make us strong.

Source: http://www.wisconsingazette.com/opinion/americans-with-disabilities-act-celebrates-25-years-of-breaking-down-barriers.html

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Member Spotlight: Tricia Thompson


By SD Network, 2015-08-03

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Meet Tricia Thompson. As a former special education teacher and a current IRIS consultant, Tricia full-heartedly believes in self-determination and the power of making ones own choices. She strives to encourage people to make their own decisions and to take chances in life. Shes an extremely positive person and we are so fortunate to have her on the Self-Determination Network. Learn more about Tricia in this months Member Spotlight.

How are you involved with self-directed supports and self-determination? Why did you join the SDNetwork?'

I joined the SD network after learning about a "Coffee Break" that involved a discussion regarding the recent proposed state budget and thelong term care proposed changes. As with everything in life, I have found I learn a lot from the questions and concerns other people have. Currently, I work as a long term care consultant with IRIS. Believing in self-determination is in my blood. As the eldest of nine children I quickly learned that I had to take charge of my own life. I grew up making my own choices. Sometimes these choices resulted in growth and sometimes.......well.......I learned from mymistakes. I never appreciated the value of being able to succeed and fail from my own choices until I started working as a special education teacher in the central city of Milwaukee. The families I worked with who felt like they were a part of the decision making regarding their children, were also the families who took more ownership of their responsibility to those decisions. They felt like their opinion was whatmattered and would not allow anyone else or a system determine what they felt was right for their child with a disability. In effect, their ability to embrace self-determination in their own life also helped their own children grow up with the same beliefs. It was a pattern of decision makingthat was created basedon empowerment and not hopelessness. I strongly believe that self-determination is within all of us and can be temporarilysilenced or empowered. As a consultant, I strive to encourage individuals to make their own decisions about their own life in a way they feel they can and want to. I also speak about the importance of taking chances and that it's ok if they try something and fail. It's what makes us human.

Tell us some good news - what's the most exciting thing happening for you (or in Wisconsin) in terms self-determination or Self-Directed Supports?

Good News.....ah yes.....how I love to think about good news these days more than ever. Many of the people I have been working with have been with me the entire four years I have worked as a consultant. The amount of time we have worked together is significant because we have built a very trusting relationship. They trust I have their best interest at heart and know I will follow through with what I say I am going to. For some, this is the first experience they have had with a "system" of supports that has resulted in positive outcomes and experience with a "case manager." So, even when there are multiple changes happening all at once, they are able to trust that I willcontinueto do the best I can for them given the unique circumstances.

What tip or resource would you like to share with people who want to direct their own supports, or who would want to be more self-determined?

The best tip or resource I can offer to those who want to self-direct their resources, is to make a connection with one of the many great advocacy groups, such as the Board for People with Developmental Disabilities (BPDD). With the explosion of group specific Facebook pages, it is possible for anyone to reach out to someone anywhere in the world. These pages offer the opportunity tolearn from each other and share resources as well as provide support and direction on every issue imaginable.

What message would you like to share with themembersof the SDNetwork?

Four years ago I started working in my current role. Five monthsafter I started running, I signed up for my first 5K and then my second race one month later was a 10K. When it comes down to it, I despise running. Truly. What I love is the feeling of success afterwards and the stress relief that follows. Running has become my coping method for dealing with the stress in my life. Some days there isn't enough road for me to cover while other days a quick two mile run is enough to help me refocus. My point with all of this is that self-care is not just about taking a class on how to care for yourself. Self-care shouldmeanacceptingthat I have to define for myself what I need most and to hold myself accountable to doing something for me. Some days I am motivated and some days I want to just curl up on the couch and pretend reality doesn't exist. Some days I am only able to find the time to breath in and out five deep breaths in silence before reality comes screaming. Some days though I run until my legs won't go any further. When there is so much in life these days that I have no control over and changes happen no matter what I think or believe, it is important that I always remember I have the choice to breath in and out slowly for five breathsor go for a run.

What's your dream vacation?

My dream vacation has already happened. In 2010, I was chosen to accompany Oprah and 300friends to Australia for a 10 day all-expense paid trip. While there I stayed in five start resorts, was treated like royalty and ate food I couldn't pronounce. Prior to that trip I had never been out of the country. My only vacation as a child was when our family was moving from one state to another.I don't know honestly how I can top that trip because it was so completely unrealistic in every imaginable way possible. I guess what I will say is that the vacations I take with my family are very special to me because I am able to show my children and the brother I adopted a world I wish I could have experienced when I was a child. Our vacations together are fun and help us remember what really is important in this life. I need to mention, though, that I am not and will never be a fan of camping or long car rides and I am pretty sure my family wanted to leave me on the side of the road when we all went to Yellowstone several years ago.

***We love hearing the views and opinions of Network members. We need to mention that the views and opinions expressed on this site are those of the person who is sharing them. They do not necessarily reflect InControl Wisconsin or any of our supporters and funders.

This is a terrific article in theWashington Postwritten by Robert L. Burgdorf Jr. about why he wrote the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). It's very interesting to learn about the history and challenges behind it.

Why I wrote the Americans with Disabilities Act

The bill, a model for bipartisanship, addressed hideous discrimination faced by people with disabilities.

By Robert L. Burgdorf Jr.

In January 1987, I sat down at a word processor in my small office at the National Council on Disability and began writing the first draft of a bill. NCD published my draft of the Americans with Disabilities Act bill in 1988; it was introduced in Congress with a few changes that same year, and provided the basis for the revised version that was signed into law July 26, 1990. On the ADAs 25thanniversary, I want to tell the unlikely story of how this historic federal law came to be, and to reflect on what the law has accomplished.

The ADA was a response to an appalling problem: widespread, systemic, inhumane discrimination against people with disabilities. In 1971, a New York judge described people with disabilities as the most discriminated [against] minority in our nation. Large numbers of children with disabilities were systematically excluded from American public schools. In the early 1970s, according to widely quoted estimates, approximately 1million school-aged individuals with disabilities were totally excluded from public educational programs, and another 3million pupils with disabilities attended public schools but were not provided services to meet their basic educational needs. This meant that well overhalf of all kids with disabilities were not receiving minimally adequate education.

State residential treatment institutions for people with disabilities were generally abysmal. Large state facilities, typically located in rural areas with high walls and locked wards that isolated the residents from the rest of society, were primitive and often unsanitary, dangerous, overcrowded and inhumane. A New York court described the conditions at Willowbrook State School in 1972 as: horrible, dreadful, sub-human, a blot on the conscience, not only appalling but frightful, a place where the most helpless and defenseless of our citizens were left living on a thread of life rotting in inadequate warehouses, the living among the dead, the dead among the living.

Most public transportation systems made few, if any, accommodations for persons with disabilities, resulting in a transportation infrastructure that was almost totally unusable by people with mobility or visual impairments a situation that was mirrored in inaccessible private transportation services including taxis, ferries and private buses. Government buildings, public monuments and parks had generally been designed and built without taking into account the possibility that people with disabilities might want or need to use them. Flat or ramped entrances into stores and businesses were the exception rather than the rule. Curb cuts or ramps on sidewalks were extremely rare, often forcing people who used wheelchairs to make their way on streets, where they faced the peril of being hit by motor vehicles.

People with disabilities were routinely denied rights that most members of our society take for granted, including the right to vote (sometimes by state law, other times by inaccessible polling places), to obtain a drivers license, to enter the courts and to hold public office. Many states had laws prohibiting marriage by, and permitting or requiringinvoluntary sterilizationof, persons with various mental or physical conditions, particularly intellectual disability, mental health conditions and epilepsy. A number of states restricted or denied the right of people with mental disabilities to enter into contracts. Several U.S. cities, including Chicago, Columbus and Omaha, had what became known as ugly laws that banned from streets and public places people whose physical condition or appearance rendered them unpleasant for other people to see. These laws were actuallyenforcedas recently as1974, when a police officer arrested a man for violating Omahas ordinance.

In some instances, discrimination threatened the very lives of individuals with disabilities: Lifesaving medical treatments that would routinely have been made available to other patients were denied to patients with disabilities; in 1974, the New York Times cited an estimate thatunnecessary deaths of babies with disabilitiesin the U.S. resulting from withholding of medical treatment numbered in the thousands each year.

I had felt the sting of disability discrimination myself. When I was a year old, I contracted polio, which caused serious damage to my right arm and shoulder. For the next 10 years, I had a functioning right hand and lower arm dangling from a nonfunctioning shoulder joint and upper arm. Creative surgery when I was 11 gave me some use and range of motion in the shoulder. As a result of my disability, I, not infrequently, experienced discrimination. Apart from routine slights and undesired pity, some incidents were more dramatic particularly being thrown off a construction job site by a contractor who said he didnt want any cripples on the job. And though it kept me out of the Vietnam War, it felt terrible that, after a pre-induction physical, the Selective Service System ruled on the spot that my disability made me unfit to serve my country.

I had never thought about disability advocacy as a possible career path. But as a law student, a project I helped start morphed into the National Center for Law and the Handicapped. As a student intern at the Center and then as one of its first attorneys, I soon learned about groundbreaking lawsuits that were inciting a disability rights movement. Initial judicial victories in the early 1970s, particularly in Pennsylvania, Alabama and the District of Columbia, spawned an avalanche of disability rights lawsuits around the country.

I was involved as an attorney in some of those cases. Early groundbreaking successes in the courts focused on access to public school education and confinement in residential treatment facilities, but subsequent court decisions and protest actions by activists with disabilities addressed unequal treatment in other contexts, including transportation, guardianship, housing, medical services, involuntary sterilization, contracts and voting. By 1980, the case law was sufficiently developed to allow me to publish the (hefty) first law school casebook on disability rights.

In 1982, I was hired by the Office of the General Counsel of the Civil Rights Commission to help write its first report on disability discrimination. My job (one of the best Ive ever had) was to survey the whole field statistics, social science literature, histories, legislation, legal commentary and court decisions on the status of people with disabilities in American society and in the law. This work, which culminated in the commissions report, Accommodating the Spectrum of Individual Abilities,gave me the opportunity to take a big-picture look at disability rights law and where it ought to go. A key finding of the report was that discrimination based on disability was a serious and pervasive social problem.

Chris Bell, co-author on the Accommodating the Spectrum report, and I were disappointed that the members of the Civil Rights Commission decided not to include any legislative recommendations in the report. We wrote an article making two principal points: A federal law prohibiting discrimination on the basis of disability should cover all the contexts in which Congress had prohibited discrimination in other civil rights laws and, beyond that, should extend to all entities that affect interstate commerce; and such a law should, unlike then-existing disability statutes, define, explain and set standards as to what constitutes disability discrimination.

Unfortunately, despite Chriss and my nave belief that our blueprint would inspire legislative action by members of Congress or their staffs, the article was generally ignored.

Established as an independent federal agency in 1984, the National Council on Disability was charged with reviewing federal laws and programs affecting people with disabilities and producing a report to the president and Congress on how they should be improved. After conducting consumer forums around the country, NCD concluded that discrimination was the biggest problem facing those with disabilities. It recommended enactment of a comprehensive law prohibiting discrimination based on disability conclusions that were further buoyed by the results of a 1986 nationwide Harris Poll of Americans with Disabilities, which documented that people with disabilities were largely a disadvantaged, isolated, stay-at-home population that commonly experienced discrimination and desired civil rights protection. NCD tapped me to write the report, Toward Independence,in which NCD recommended a comprehensive nondiscrimination law, and then to draft such a law, which at the suggestion of Council member Kent Waldrep was named the Americans with Disabilities Act. NCD published the law I had drafted (with the Councils input and approval) in its 1988 report On the Threshold of Independence.

Disability has traditionally been a cross-party political matter, but the introduction and enactment of the ADA was extraordinarily bipartisan. Proposed by Reagan appointees in the NCD, initially sponsored by a Republican in the Senate (Senator Lowell Weicker) and a Democrat in the House of Representatives (Representative Tony Coelho), passed by a Democrat-controlled Senate and House of Representatives, and supported and signed by President George H.W. Bush, the ADA was a model of bipartisanship. As a result of such across-the-aisle support, the votes in Congress to pass the ADA were overwhelmingly in favor of passage. Since its passage, the ADA has been supported by each successive U.S. president, whether Democrat or Republican.

In a variety of ways, the ADA has lived up to the hopeful expectations that accompanied its passage. Among various areas of particular impact are the following:

Buildings, facilities and thoroughfares:Flat or ramped entrances into buildings have become the rule rather than the exception, and curb cuts and ramps on sidewalks are now commonplace. As a result of ADA mandates, designated disability parking spaces have become a standard feature of parking lots and garages. Due to all these improvements, today its common to encounter people using electric and manual wheelchairs, crutches, white canes, service animals or prosthetic devices on sidewalks and in parking lots, at malls and shopping centers, in airports and train stations, in stadiums and theaters, in parks and playgrounds, and at most other public places.

Mass transportation:The ADA imposed detailed requirements for operators of bus, rail and other public transportation systems, plus intercity and commuter rail systems. Implementation has been far from perfect, but transportation accessibility has progressed considerably.

Telecommunications:The ADAs telecommunications provisions have resulted in the establishment of a nationwide system of relay services, which permit the use of telephone services by those with hearing or speech impairments, and a closed captioning requirement for the verbal content of all federally funded television public service announcements.

Government services and public accommodations:The ADA has had a profound effect in reducing discrimination in state and local government services. Among many positive impacts, the U.S. Supreme Courts interpretation of the ADA in theOlmstead v. L.C.case has fostered the development of community residential treatment and care services in lieu of unnecessarily segregated large state institutions and nursing homes, and spawned strong presidential initiatives in favor of community-based alternatives for people with disabilities. Perhaps even more profound has been the impact of the ADAs public accommodation provisions that require accessibility and ban discrimination in almost all private businesses in America.

Hiring Practices:The ADAs employment provisions barred invasive pre-employment questionnaires and disability inquiries and the misuse of information garnered in pre-employment physicals. The employment provisions also have made job accommodations for workers with disabilities more common than they were before the ADA was enacted.

HIV Discrimination:The ADA has proven to be the principal civil rights law protecting people with HIV from the sometimes egregious discriminatory actions directed at them, and has been so applied by the Supreme Court.

International effect:The ADA has spurred numerous countries to enact legislation prohibiting discrimination on the basis of disability. These countries have looked to the ADA as an inspiration and a model in crafting their own legislative proposals.

None of the foregoing is meant to suggest that the ADA is a panacea for people with disabilities, nor to ignore the fact that there are huge gaps in enforcement of the laws requirements. Some covered entities have taken an I-wont-do-anything-until-Im-sued attitude toward the obligations imposed on them. But in the 25 years since its enactment, the ADA has, as NCD observed in one of its reports, begun to transform the social fabric of our nation. (For more on the history of the bill:A Dozen Things to Know about the ADA on its 25th Anniversary.)

In todays polarized political climate, its enlightening to contemplate that the ADA was an exemplary fruit of bipartisan congressional cooperation. When President Obama welcomed former senators Lowell P. Weicker Jr. and Bob Dole, Sen. Tom Harkin and Rep. Steny Hoyer to a White House reception this week to celebrate the ADAs 25thanniversary, it was a good reminder of what our nations leaders can accomplish when they meet each other in a spirit of civility and compromise.

Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2015/07/24/why-the-americans-with-disabilities-act-mattered/

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This is a very interesting article inThe Guardianwritten by Secretary of State John Kerry about how we must now globalize the Americans with Disabilities Act. He points out that the US leads disability rights, but now we need to spread them globally. There are many interesting statistics and points in this article.

The Americans with Disabilities Act turns 25: now we must work for global equality

By John Kerry

Ive traveled to a great number of countries as secretary of state, and Ive seen firsthand that the protection of disability rights is not an abstract concept. Things you can see and touch make a measurable difference for people living with disabilities: things like sidewalks with curb cuts; public buildings with accessible bathrooms; restaurants, stores, hotels and universities with ramps and elevator access; buses with lifts; train platforms with tactile strips.

But in too many countries, what we have done in the United States through theAmericans with Disabilities Act(ADA) which for 25 years this month has protected the19% ofAmericanswith disabilities from disability-based discrimination is far from reality. Children areleft to diebecause of the stigma associated with disability. Adults who are blind or deaf areexcluded from the labor market. Children with disabilities areturned away from schools. Roads and sidewalks are impassable for people using wheelchairs.

That disabled people in the United States have a different fate is due in no small part to the ADA, a piece of legislation won from a historic campaign waged by people with disabilities and their advocates. As a US senator, I was proud to join that campaign and proud to be a co-sponsor.

That historic, bipartisan legislation has played a huge role in making our country more accessible and inclusive. It guarantees our citizens with disabilities equal employment opportunity. It makes our buildings more accessible. And it requires the availability of communication aids that have enabled Americans with disabilities to participate more fully in society.

This has inspired people and governments around the world to see disability through the lens of equality and opportunity. Soon after its passage, other countries began writing and enacting their own laws guaranteeing equal rights and equal access to their citizens with disabilities. The ADA also influenced international organizations such as the Organization of American States and the European Union to address discrimination faced by persons with disabilities. The gold standard we set here in the United States has provided a template for ideas around the world about equal opportunity in education, employment, health, transportation and public access. Most notably, the principles underlying the ADA inspired and are reflected in the 2006UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the worlds first comprehensive global treaty on disability rights.

For all of the impact of the ADA around the world, there is more progress to be made. For one, the US has yet to ratify the convention. President Obama and I will keep fighting until its ratification is achieved, because we need to help push open the door for other interested countries to benefit not just from our example, but from our guidance and expertise.Thats why the State Department is backingMobility International USAs RightsNow! consortium, which is focused on enforcement and implementation of disability rights in Armenia, Kenya, Mexico and Vietnam. And its why were promoting a range of educational and cultural exchange programs focused on disability rights. For example, the alumni of ourMandela Washington Fellowshipprogram are working on a project in Uganda to provide education, language therapy and rehabilitation for children with disabilities from poor families.

As Secretary of State, I am blessed to have a spectacular team working full time on this issue with me. Judy Heumann, one of Americas leading activists on disability rights, serves as my special advisor for international disability rights and engages counterparts across the globe on disability rights issues. The department also has promoted the hiring of individuals with disabilities and anticipates doubling our 2015 hires over those of 2014. And this year, American ambassadors at posts around the world acknowledged the ADA anniversary at their official July 4 Independence Day celebrations to signal our support for local disability rights advocates and our ongoing commitment to advancing disability rights worldwide.

These are just a few examples of how we are making our foreign policy work for people with disabilities around the globe. The way we treat people of all backgrounds demonstrates our values and defines who we are. The principle is simple: though our circumstances might change, our rights must be respected and our opportunities must continue to improve.

As an international community, we must do everything in our power to pursue the policies of inclusivity so that we leave no one behind anywhere.

Source: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jul/22/americans-with-disabilities-act-25-global-equality-john-kerry

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This is a great article inDisability Scoopwritten by Michelle Diament about the celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) at the White House. President Obama made some remarks about how much more work needs to be done. There are some excellent quotes in this article.

Obama: ADA Fight Is Not Over

By Michelle Diament

In marking aquarter century since the landmark Americans with Disabilities Act became law, President Barack Obama said much more work is yet to be done.

Obama spoke Monday before a packed house in the East Room of the White House about the impact of the ADA at an event just days ahead of the laws 25th anniversary, which will occur Sunday.

Thanks to the ADA, the places that comprise our shared American life schools, workplaces, movie theaters, courthouses, buses, baseball stadiums, national parks they truly belong to everyone, the president told the crowd, which included former U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, former U.S. Rep. Tony Coelho and other leaders responsible for making the ADA a reality.

Despite the progress, however, Obama said more work is needed to ensure equality, specifically in regard to areas like employment where people with disabilities continue to lag.

Now, days like today are a celebration of our history. But theyre also a chance to rededicate ourselves to the future to address the injustices that still linger, to remove the barriers that remain, Obama said. We all know too many people with disabilities are still unemployed even though they can work, even though they want to work, even though they have so much to contribute.

The president committed to continue working on disability rights for the duration of his time in office and beyond.

In addition to the White House ceremony Monday, events honoring the anniversary of the civil rights law are planned this week at a variety of government agencies in the nations capital and at the Smithsonian Institution.

Source: http://www.disabilityscoop.com/2015/07/21/obama-ada-fight-is-not-over/20450/

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