BAC Rutland

With celebrations of sorts expected this summer to herald the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act 19 years ago, there are those who think the purchase of a birthday or anniversary card is in order. I, regrettably, submit that a “get well” card would be more appropriate.

That’s because the act, aimed at improving employment and assimilation opportunities for people with disabilities, is badly in need of a blood transfusion. Or, perhaps, it needs surgery to implant the vim, vigor and vitality its parents envisioned for it as a teenager.

Consider the ADA’s goals and weigh them against the status quo on employment and access issues, then sigh and wonder why a legislative act so rich in good intentions and support of influential individuals is not getting the job done.

Or ask these questions: How can a country that put a man on the moon 40 years ago be unable to get wheelchair users into allegedly accessible buildings? Why can’t the public and private sectors more frequently include people with vision or hearing impairments among those to whom messages are sent?

To be sure, there have been some advances in terms of hiring and accessibility in the Lower Hudson Valley and elsewhere. But not enough; not nearly enough.

And while I’m normally a “glass is half full” person, I believe it’s time to focus on the empty part of the glass. There are simply too many people who haven’t been helped by the legislation for us to be positive about its impacts.

For example:

• Before the ADA was drafted, the unemployment rate of people with disabilities hovered between 65 percent and 70 percent. It is still above 60 percent – and would probably be higher if so many people hadn’t given up seeking a job after years of being rebuffed.
• The poverty rate for people with disabilities is still three times that of the population at large.
• Thousands of restaurants and theaters can only be entered by walking up or down steps; acts that must be repeated if one has the temerity to ask: “Where are the restrooms?”
• A vision-impaired friend in Westchester tells me she has been barred from entering stores because she’s accompanied by a guide dog. Cab drivers deny her rides for the same reason – all despite federal and local laws that say guide dogs must be allowed to stay with their owners.
• Even though people with disabilities account for roughly one-sixth of our country’s population, how many of us can say that one out of six individuals we encounter in business, social or political situations has a disability?

Continuing with the half-empty glass focus, it is worth citing the one-two punch of a growing disability population (as people age and others survive injuries that were once fatal) and shrinking financial support of the organizations that serve its needs. Then, too, there are too many legislators who care more about the haves than the have nots, and a Supreme Court shackled by four justices who almost always support anti-plaintiff positions in ADA-related cases.

Fortunately, we have a president who cares enough about people with disabilities to have nine pages devoted to his pro-ADA positions on his Web site last year. He also had a Disability Policy Advisory Committee formed to help shape and promote new approaches.

But Barack Obama has other issues on his plate and it is not likely a clearly visible before-and-after scenario will play out in the immediate future.

This means continued barriers to entry into the economic and social mainstreams by people with disabilities. There will be more frustration and wasted resources, too, because studies from innumerable sources tell us this population sector brings valued skills, attitudes and attendance records to the workplace.

Sorry, this is not a time for celebration or complacency about the ADA. We have to do better.

The writer, who lives in Bronxville, is on the Steering Committee of the Westchester Disabled Advocacy Partnership and was a member of the Obama Disability Policy Advisory Committee in 2008.