Emancipation

              I love writing about disability. I find the experience fascinating, morally complex, a topic that demands constant imagination and exploration. Yet, many of the challenges that face the disabled community are not addressed with theory, or philosophical argumentation. Disabled language, culture, and sharing collective experiences are important, but they don’t readily shape our world, not really. Intellectual philosophizing is slow to bring about shifts in the larger world. No, if you want to bring about substantive immediate change you have to look to policy. I’ve talked about my butt, gender identity, death, coffee, and the occasional revelation. Yet I’ve neglected a political event which has had the most lasting impact on my life, and the lives of my disabled brothers and sisters.

           The Americans with Disabilities Act upon its passage was one of the largest pieces of Civil Rights legislation in US history. Its protections have made every accomplishment of my life possible. Without the ADA I would not have graduated High School, I would not have met my wonderful friends at Drake University, I certainly would not be an intern at Disability Rights Iowa. The ADA is in my job title after all. Without the ADA, my entire life would have been profoundly diminished, reduced by the extensive social, financial, and medical limitations of the pre-ADA world.  For the disabled community, the ADA was nothing less than liberation. If that sounds dramatic, it is because it was. With the signature of President George H.W. Bush, the disabled community went from being politically perceived as a fragmented social oddity to a protected class, with rights cemented and inalienable. Our government, (the same government that generations prior had committed us to hellish institutions, castrated us, denied us our basic human rights) had finally acknowledged the vulnerability of the disabled population to discrimination. It affirmed our immeasurable value should we be allowed to become a full participants in American society, and sought to bring about that full participation. The ADA was radical, expansive, and almost…idealistic. Reading it, you can’t help but appreciate that its authors were attempting nothing less than the total removal of the socially constructed constraints imposed on the disabled community. Its titles address everything from employment to educational access, curb cuts to captioning, many of the greatest challenges of the disabled community acknowledged and addressed. It is staggering in its scope and audacity.

            Title I of the ADA deals with employment. Its basic premise is that people with disabilities deserve equal access to job opportunities, accommodation, and long term career success. It attests that with slight modification we can be full, valuable workers in every walk of life. Its protections are clear and essential. The disabled have the right to accommodation in the application process, the interview, and as an employee. The title protects us from discriminatory hiring policies, and mandates that employers must allow equal access to opportunities for which we qualify, to accommodate our needs (within reason) and create an environment in which we have the ability to show our full ability. Provided we are capable of fulfilling the essential elements of the job, our employers must, with a few caveats, provide the accommodations which make our work possible.

           Title II opened the doors of government, allowing the disabled community equal access to the services of the state, services so often essential for our independence and well being. We pay taxes and contribute greatly to this county, voicing our unique perspective in every dimension of life.  Our status as full American citizens demands that our government rises to meet our unique needs. In its simplest form, Title II mandates that the programs and services of government be extended to all people, regardless of disability. Perhaps most importantly, it requires that city transportation be accessible. The ability to get out into our communities, and engage fully as members of society is essential. This element finally released millions of disabled Americans imprisoned by their lack of accessible transportation.

            Title III established the principle of Universal Design, the policy that all private businesses must accommodate the disabled community within their capability to do so, and that all future renovations and constructions must be done with an eye towards accessibility. Common decency and a respect for human dignity demand accessible design. Title III simply makes this moral obligation law, and its extensive regulations establish clear guidelines for ensuring that access. Businesses must be accessible, and those who are able to make the necessary changes to accommodate disabled patrons must do so with expediency.  The extent of the ADA is vast, and I’ve only just touched on its three main pillars. There are sections on closed captioning, retaliation, and a large collection of miscellaneous issues. It truly is a substantial legislative work, and I couldn’t hope to do it justice here.  Just familiarizing oneself with its major provisions is daunting.

             It was a privilege then to spend last week in San Antonio, at the ADA Symposium. I’m a political science major, a West Wing fan, someone who ravenously consumes every piece of information I can about disability rights and advocacy. So to spend a week in beautiful San Antonio, discussing and learning about the endless facets of the ADA was a dream. I toured the River Walk and discussed its accessibility issues, learned about ADA case law, spent my days studying the extensive requirements established in the ADA, and spent my nights sipping Cervezas as mariachi music echoed off the water. I truly suffer for the cause.

                

           The Symposium was important to me because I have such a strong feeling of obligation to fully understand the ADA, to appreciate the many ways it protects my rights as an American citizen. This sense of obligation is partially to protect my own rights, but mostly a desire to arm myself to better help my fellow disabled Americans. The Symposium was the perfect place for me to learn, to explore, and to come to realize just how far I have to go when it comes to fully understanding the scope of the ADA. There are so many parts to understanding a law. You have to understand what the legislation requires of course, that goes without saying. Yet, the ADA itself is less the building then the beams. Any legislation is just a beginning; it needs enforcement, legal interpretation by the courts to refine its meaning, endless statements of clarification. Laws are living documents, requiring collective interpretation, and revision in response to that interpretation. They require diligent, passionate people dedicated to seeing its principles become a reality. The ADA has been amended several times, amended to defend an inclusive, wide interpretation of disability so essential to its function. 

             Understanding the ADA is not so much a goal, as a never-ending process, one in which I’ll be engaged in the rest of my life.  I am thankful for the ADA, for all its flaws, despite its many failures to fully bring about the changes it mandates. I love it’s obvious ambition, its sentiment, it’s very purpose. At its core, the ADA it is a statement by my government acknowledging my worth as a disabled American, and giving my right to full participation the force of law. As has been said by Senator Harkin many times, the ADA is an Emancipation Proclamation for millions of disabled Americans. Still, it is an Emancipation which demands our full dedication to its principles, our continued efforts as a society to see it as a promise fulfilled. All those here at Disability Rights Iowa continue to work towards that promise, and as I continue to learn I hope to play my part in that effort. Thanks to everyone at DRI for their work towards a more inclusive world.