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United Cerebral Palsy (UCP) is the world's premier gateway to disability resources on the Internet and is a network for people with disabilities, with information on advocacy and services for people with cerebral palsy and other disabilities and their families.

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ADA 20th Anniversary

United Cerebral Palsy Commemorates the 20th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) & Looks Forward to Future Efforts to Achieve Life Without Limits for People with Disabilities



United Cerebral Palsy Commemorates the 20th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) & Looks Forward to Future Efforts to Achieve Life Without Limits for People with Disabilities

Imagine an America that took one look at people with disabilities and said “No.” Where an employer said, “No, you can’t work here.” Where a landlord said, “No, you can’t live here.” Where a restaurant owner said, “No, you can’t eat here.”

We don’t need to imagine these scenarios because 20 years ago, these were not only very common occurrences but perfectly legal ones, too. On July 26, 1990, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was signed into law, and our country paved the way to became a better place for the tens of millions of Americans with disabilities.

Ask most Americans what the ADA has brought, and they are likely to mention curb cuts and priority parking spaces. But the ADA is infinitely more. Americans with disabilities know very well just how much more. They know that discrimination in employment, public accommodations, commercial facilities, transportation and telecommunications on the basis of disability is against the law. And they celebrate this great civil rights victory today in their jobs, their homes, and in all other facets of their lives that have been substantially improved because of the ADA. They will be doing so as they use a ramp to access a post office building, read the closed captioning at the bottom of their television screens, take extra time to complete an exam, or use accessible technology accommodations in their jobs.

It is not just the law that the ADA changed. The ADA created the foundation that changed the law and also changed our attitudes. By knocking down legal barriers, the ADA changes how we perceive people with disabilities. Because we now live, study, work and play amongst all of our citizens as never before, we are changed and we have become better for it. Prejudice and fear are starting to give way to respect and inclusion.

When the ADA was enacted, we may never have thought that a high school in Texas would elect a student with Down syndrome to be its prom queen; a young man with cerebral palsy would be in contention to be a talk show host on a major TV network; or that a person with autism holds a fulltime, high paying job. However, all of these wonderful things have happened.

We cannot acknowledge the ADA anniversary without also thanking the thousands of self advocates, family members, volunteers and service providers who shared their stories, met with their legislators and reached out to the media to spread the word. Public Policy staff at The Arc and United Cerebral Palsy (UCP) – Paul Marchand and Liz Savage -- were at the forefront of the development and enactment of this landmark law, and they deserve our acknowledgement and gratitude. Both worked tirelessly with other national disability advocates in Washington to turn the dream of non-discrimination into reality.

We celebrate the 1999 Olmstead Supreme Court decision, which grew from and further strengthened the law. Olmstead clarified that unjustified segregation of persons with disabilities is a form of discrimination. This is because it removed unwarranted assumptions that people isolated in institutions are incapable or unworthy of participating in community life. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, delivering the opinion of the court, ruled that "states are required to place persons with mental disabilities in community settings rather than in institutions when the State’s treatment professionals have determined that community placement is appropriate, the transfer from institutional care to a less restrictive setting is not opposed by the affected individual, and the placement can be reasonably accommodated, taking into account the resources available to the State and the needs of others with mental disabilities." Since the Olmstead decision, many states have significantly reduced the number of people placed in public institutions by instead providing services and supports in community-based residential settings. However, we must keep up the fight as there are still far too few states - only 10 - that have closed all of their institutions.

The ADA’s more recent offshoot, the ADA Amendments Act of 2008, also strengthened the ADA by better defining disability. People with intellectual and developmental disabilities will never again be told by the courts that they are not “disabled enough” because they can drive a car or because they have a job. Judges won’t have to question whether “thinking, reasoning, and communicating are major life activities protected under the ADA.”

Most recently, health care reform was signed into law known as the Affordable Care Act. Before that, non-discrimination in health care had been the missing piece of a truly comprehensive ADA from a national legislative standpoint. Since passage, the ADA is now complete from a national legislative standpoint.

The ADA continues to gain momentum as the Obama Administration and federal courts are stepping up efforts to support the Olmstead decision. In June a judge ordered the state of Florida to provide community services to a person at risk of institutionalization. In May, the Justice Department filed briefs in Florida, Illinois, New Jersey and Arkansas to end discrimination against and unnecessary segregation of persons with disabilities. The Department of Health and Human Services recently created a program to help cities and states link housing with long-term care services and supports.

Twenty years since the enactment of the ADA, we are grateful as we reflect on this incredible civil rights achievement and subsequent milestones. We have come quite a long way, but we are not where we need to be just yet. We must continue to sustain a movement with a single goal: ensuring a life without limits for people with disabilities. This means continuing to push for the services and supports that enable people with disabilities to live as full citizens. By doing so, we will ensure that the promise of the ADA – true civil rights – will come to fruition.