Showing posts sorted by relevance for query ada. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query ada. Sort by date Show all posts

ADA is 34 years old

Celebrating the 34th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act

On July 26, 1990, President George H.W. Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) into law, marking a historic milestone for disability rights. The ADA has been instrumental in prohibiting discrimination against the disabled in all areas of public life, including jobs, schools, transportation, and public and private places open to the general public.

The journey to the ADA's signing was fueled by the relentless efforts of dedicated disability rights activists. One pivotal moment in this movement was the televised and widely viewed Capitol Crawl on March 12, 1990. Hundreds of disability rights activists gathered in Washington, D.C., to urge Congress to pass the ADA. As part of the protest, dozens of individuals with disabilities left their wheelchairs and crawled up the 83 stone steps of the U.S. Capitol building, dramatically demonstrating the barriers they faced in everyday life. Among them was an 8-year-old girl named Jennifer Keelan, whose participation powerfully symbolized the need for change. Her determination and courage, along with that of others, highlighted the urgent need for comprehensive legislation to protect the rights of people with disabilities.

Key figures in the disability rights movement played crucial roles in advocating for the ADA. The late Judith Heumann (we miss you Judy), a lifelong advocate for the rights of people with disabilities, was instrumental in the fight for the ADA. Her leadership and tireless advocacy helped bring disability rights to the forefront of national consciousness. Ed Roberts, known as the father of the independent living movement, also significantly influenced the disability rights movement, emphasizing the importance of self-determination and community-based support. There were countless others whose contributions were vital in making the ADA a reality, reflecting a broad and united effort toward equality and inclusion.

The ADA consists of five titles, each addressing different aspects of public life:

  1. Title I – Employment: Prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities in employment and requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations.
  2. Title II – Public Services: Ensures that people with disabilities have equal access to public services, programs, and activities, including public transportation.
  3. Title III – Public Accommodations: Prohibits discrimination in public accommodations such as restaurants, hotels, and stores, and requires accessible facilities.
  4. Title IV – Telecommunications: Mandates accessible telecommunications services, including relay services for individuals with hearing and speech impairments.
  5. Title V – Miscellaneous Provisions: Contains various provisions, including protections against retaliation and coercion, and guidelines for the implementation of the ADA.

It's humbling that laws like the ADA enable disabled individuals like me to avail of opportunities such as getting into college or even embarking on a PhD journey. Such a thing would have been unimaginable earlier. The ADA's passage represents the collective effort and resilience of countless individuals who fought for equality and accessibility. As we commemorate the 34th anniversary of the ADA, we honor the legacy of those activists and reaffirm our commitment to advancing the rights and inclusion of people with disabilities. 



Related Posts: [Disability Legislation], [Disability Rights], [Disability History] [Autism Cares], [ADA], [Capitol Crawl] [Olmstead Act], [Section 504], 



ADA 32 at the White House

Me shaking hands with the President


It's an honor to get invited to the White House and get to shake hands with the President of the United States, more so for 32nd anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

I am of the post-ADA generation, born after ADA was passed in 1990. Undoubtedly, it is laws like ADA that the allow the doors of opportunity to open to the possibility of me, and in President's Biden's words, "to work, to study, to make connections."  

It is a reason I can, with some measure of confidence, say - So what if I am significantly disabled, I too can pursue a PhD. I too can aspire to higher education, to employment (that's next), to inclusion, and aspire to go toe to toe with my non disabled peers. Perchance, I too can change the world. 

It is because of laws like ADA that Lady Liberty turns her torch towards folks like me, so we too get the opportunity to pursue our version of the American Dream.

I am extremely grateful and in deep admiration of all stalwarts who laid groundwork that folks in my generation and beyond can now build on. In her speech, First Lady, Dr Jill Biden, spoke of 8 year old Jennifer Keelan who cast aside her wheelchair and crawled up the steps of the Capitol Hill in March 1990; "acts of protest," (widely televised) which spurred the signing of the law in July 1990. The then Senator Joe Biden has been a co-sponsor of the bill, sponsored by Sen Harkin and signed into law by President George HW Bush.

Thank you, thank you, to all those tireless stalwarts, (including living legends like my hero, Judy Heumann), in Dr Biden's words, for "refusing to be silent about indignities... faced" and for "holding on to the hope of a better way."

Thank you Mr President for acknowledging this momentous occasion for all of us disabled folks and being part if its journey right from inception. 

In his speech at the Rose Garden of the White House, President Biden referred to the ADA as "one of the most important civil rights laws ever," as he recalled the words of Justin Dart Jr. (regarded as the godfather of ADA) - "ADA is only the beginning, its not the solution, Its the center foundation on which solutions will be constructed." 

Indeed, ADA is a starting point that was crafted 32 years ago and it is up to our generation to continually shape it to meet the changing needs of today and tomorrow. 

I feel, the fact of ADA being a work in progress needs to be highlighted, as it seems especially relevant to the wide diversity in autism, which means building in flexibility and open-mindedness, as there is not going to be a clear one-solution-fits-all. 

“For our country, the ADA is a testament to the character of our people, to the country... It’s proof we can work together and keep moving closer to realizing the promise of America for all Americans,” Biden said.
(President's full remarks, fact sheet)  

We have to continue to look for solutions and workarounds on many many fronts; this is a humankind issue. There is a reason for the word "kind" in the word humankind; "kind-ness" is a fundamental but oft forgotten character trait of people, that has carried us through the troubling periods of human history from time immemorial. 

I want to believe Charles Darwin’s take on the human species as one of “survival of the kindest,” and not just “survival of the fittest.” I want to believe our human society has great capacity for goodness and compassion for all its members.

My generation has to carry this torch forward and demand not just a seat at the table of solutions, but perhaps redefine the table itself, and not just in this country but worldwide for humankind. 

Blind jazz pianist, Jose Andre Montano, prior to his mesmerizing performance that day, gave some very good and practical advice which was very relevant to our mental health - "life is more wonderful if you love your differences and you love who you are... [otherwise] life would not make sense." We often forget the toll of mental health that accompanies the fact of disability as we are constantly in this race to catch up or meet the ever moving target of what society considers acceptable.

On a personal note, too thrilling to get invited to the White House and get to shake hands with the President. The White House is truly magnificent both inside and out. And to be where such laws were signed.... In total awe.





























ADA 33



"It is hard for younger generations to imagine a world without the ADA, but before it existed, if you were disabled, stores could turn you away and employers could refuse to hire you. Transit was largely inaccessible. America simply was not built for all Americans, but courageous activists pushed to change that. In 1973, the Congress passed the landmark Rehabilitation Act, banning discrimination by any federally funded entity. Then, 17 years later, a bipartisan group of legislators persevered in passing the ADA, banning discrimination against people with disabilities in most areas of public life, from the workplace and public schools to public transit and telecommunications.

The ADA has had a profound impact, but we still have much more work to do...."


Happy Birthday ADA


Pointing to the person who signed the ADA. with friends Lia Cohen-Odiaga and Rebecca Long at Smithsonian American Art Museum during my visit to DC

A good start but not the end: -

"Let the shameful wall of exclusion finally come tumbling down." - President George HW Bush, on signing the Americans with Disability Act, July 26, 1990
 
Happy 30th Birthday ADA - Hari of the ADA generation


Collaboration-Cooperation

My hero, Judy Heumann turns 75 on Dec 18th. Happy Birthday Judy!!


Back in 2019 I had the opportunity to interview the legendary disability civil rights activist, Judy Heumann, for UC Berkeley's "The Daily Californian". 

What an amazing conversation it was too. I prepared for the interview by reading up everything on her online, including the 466 pages of oral interviews archives of the Disability Rights Movement in UC Berkeley's Bancroft Library. 

Of course with any newspaper article, there is a word limit, so any writeup goes through multiple rounds of edits and reorganization of material and focusing on just a few things, so a lot of the conversation ends up getting left out. But Judy had so much advise for us disabled folks. So here is my longer early uncut/unedited draft of our conversation (with a lot of her original quotes) so we can continue to learn from her.

=========

Collaboration-Cooperation: A conversation with Judy Heumann


When I entered UC Berkeley as one of the first two non speaking autistics, I knew that Berkeley had been a key city in the Disability Rights Movement (DRM), though I was a little fuzzy about the details. Growing up, you are only exposed to a little slice of your world of disability and the issues surrounding your specific disability. I had of course heard of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), as it had dominated much of my school years. Though at times flawed in its implementation, IDEA was this wonderful law that gave children with disabilities like me the legal right to a free and appropriate education in the public school system in the least restrictive environment. Prior to its 1975 precursor, The Education for All Handicapped Children Act, children like me were denied the right to schooling. But I did not know a lot more, for I do not remember disability history being highlighted in any of my high school history textbooks. 

It was my Disability Studies classes here on campus that opened my eyes to the rich history of the efforts made to ensure civil rights for this often marginalized and overlooked minority. Over the summer, I also had the opportunity to attend the Autistic Self Advocacy Network’s (ASAN) campus inclusion leadership program to learn more about autistic identity and disability justice. It led me to wonder -  if I as a disabled person knew so little, how then could others without a disability know about the issues surrounding disability and become our allies in the struggle for our civil rights.

It was therefore a privilege to interview UC Berkeley alumna Judy Heumann, a lifelong civil rights advocate for people with disabilities and a leader in the DRM. It was a pleasure discussing these issues with her as it not only improved my own knowledge but also make me think and kept me on my toes, as she would at times turn the questions back on me, and ask me for my thoughts.

Any introduction to Huemann cannot do justice to her accomplishments. An incomplete list follows. Heumann became a wheelchair user due to childhood polio, and has challenged the system at every turn from a young age. She had been denied access to her school as she was considered a fire hazard. She sued and won the right to a teaching license from the New York Board of Education. She was involved in the United Nations Convention of the Rights of People with Disabilities and in the passing of important disability legislations in the US like IDEA, Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. She has worked in key roles for the Clinton and Obama administrations, the World Bank and is a senior fellow at the Ford Foundation. 

 Closer to home, she helped set up the first Center for Independent Living (CIL), here in Berkeley and served as its Deputy Director from 1975-82. She co-founded the World Institute of Disability (WID) in 1983 in Oakland with a focus on policy issues. 

Most famously Heumann led 150 people with disabilities in the “504 sit-in”, the longest sit-in in US history, lasting 28 days, at the San Francisco federal building housing the Department of Health, Education and Welfare (HEW), memorialized in Drunk History. The list just goes on.

We started the conversation on when disability rights “solidified” into an actual movement. According to Heumann, the movement had started in the late 1940s itself but just became more prominent after World War II. But in terms of impact, given the CDC numbers of 56 million people with disabilities and 1 billion worldwide, Heumann feels the movement has far from solidified, is still emerging and very much in a developmental period.


Heumann confirmed what I’d heard mentioned or implied in my Disability Studies classes on campus that Berkeley’s DRM history tended to be chauvinistic. “Many women in the movement are not getting the credit they should,” both in Berkeley and nationally, said Heumann. She attributed it in part to the way the women’s movement itself had been evolving, with the women’s movement itself not appropriately represented by women with disabilities. But she felt the situation has changed in the last 30-40 years with disabled women taking on more positions of prominence. 

She drew attention to some women with disabilities in leadership positions that came to her mind at both national and international levels. At the national level were the late Martha Bristo , Rebecca Cokley, Maria Town, Katherine Perez, Sandy Ho, Haben Girma, and Julia Bascom. At the International level were Rosangela Berman Bieler, Ola Abu Alghaib, and Yetnebersh Nigussie. She was quick to point out that her list was both small and incomplete as there were so many people at this point.

We then discussed what had changed between the DRM in its earlier days and now. She pointed out though the DRM had been around for fifty to sixty years, initially cross-disability groups worked separately. She attributed one of the big changes to the “recognition we needed to be able to come together [cross-disability] on important pieces of legislation started in the late sixties, seventies and resulted in many things including our ability to get the ADA passed,” It was the realization that they were not going to get the support of elected bodies like state legislature and the congress unless they came together. A larger group also meant more sophistication and the ability to have a wider agenda like the “inclusion of disability related issues outside of the disability community,” said Heumann. 


“Recognition we needed to be able to come together [cross-disability] on important pieces of legislation ... resulted in many things including our ability to get the ADA passed." 



She also drew attention to my being able to work for the Daily Californian as an excellent example of laws like IDEA and ADA at work. She pointed out that before 1975 at least 1 million disabled children were not allowed in schools. “A very important part of what is slowly happening in the US is students, including students with more significant disabilities are going to school and like you have gotten into Berkeley, a highly prestigious school and I presume you are getting accommodations at school and you are obviously feeling more a part of the school because you are going out for things like writing for the newspaper. So I think that’s slowly what’s changing,” said Heumann.

“A very important part of what is slowly happening in the US is students, including students with more significant disabilities are going to school and like you have gotten into Berkeley, a highly prestigious school ... you are obviously feeling more a part of the school because you are going out for things like writing for the newspaper.”


The other positive thing she highlighted is that a growing number of disabled people are feeling proud of who they were and not hiding their disability and attributed this to the growth of the independent living movement. She added that parents of children with disabilities are also organizing more.

The conversation then turned to the current pressing issues in the DRM. Heumann could not overstress discrimination, which can come through lack of awareness, the ramification being “denying us opportunities.” One barrier is that many who are disabled are not identifying as disabled, so part of the challenge was to help people become stronger and see that discrimination was wrong regardless of who it was impacting in the disabled community. 

“I think when we feel we are being discriminated against, we need to talk about it as such,” said Heumann. People also needed to feel like they are a part of their own community and not stigmatized for being disabled in that community.

“I think when we feel we are being discriminated against, we need to talk about it as such,”


Cross-disability was another issue according to Heumann. The DRM needed to help people across various forms of disabilities to feel they are part of a single movement so that we can better articulate legislative measures needs for the entire community as in the case of employment. 

"Employers need to look at disability like they are looking at other diversity communities"


Heumann would like to see more legislative policy changes so that “employers are looking at disability like they are looking at other diversity communities.” She did not want to hear continual stories of people like her friend, turn down good jobs that they are well qualified for, due to a fear of losing state health benefits and personal attendant services. Heumann underlined that the area of employment needed to be looked at very closely. There is currently a huge disincentive for people with more significant disabilities on Medi-Cal and Social Security benefits from being productively employed.

There is currently a huge disincentive for people with more significant disabilities on Medi-Cal and Social Security benefits from being productively employed.


Heumann felt that much more attention should be paid to poor families who are not able to devote the time and attention needed to obtain services for their children. As a result, those children are being adversely affected and not getting the appropriate services under IDEA.

From the viewpoint of an outsider, Heumann felt a critical issue in the autism arena is to help ensure that people with communication disabilities (whether it is autism or other disability like deafness) get mechanisms and technology in a timely manner with the presumption of competence. “Whatever the cause of the different types of communication, we need to be working with children really really early on and trying different mechanisms that can work,” said Heumann. She pointed to the new non-profit Communication First, of which she is a director, working to advance the civil rights for people with communication disabilities.


“Whatever the cause of the different types of communication, we need to be working with children really really early on and trying different mechanisms that can work,”


In order for “vulnerable populations” to move up to education and employment, Heumann underscored how we need to be working more comprehensively with these populations. This was a concept that was stressed during my week with the ASAN program - that we can help the whole community by supporting the needs of the most vulnerable group amongst us.

Heumann also thought the message being given to families of children with autism at the time of a child’s diagnosis depends on “people’s perceptions of what we are or are not able to do.” So she encourages families to interact more with organizations like ASAN and spend more time with adult autistics so that families have a better understanding of the richness of the community. Autistics need to spend time with other autistics and have available a variety of mentorship programs (ASAN program being an example), but on a regular basis, to get a positive understanding of what is possible.

Heumann laughingly credited her Brooklyn origins to her personal qualities quoting the saying, ”New York City - if you can make it here, you can make it anywhere.” On a more serious note she pointed to fortitude as a personal strength as, “at some point I really had to make a decision as to whether or not I was going to allow discrimination to adversely affect me without fighting for change.“ She added that networking is also important to her as she likes to work with other people and stressed that for networking “it’s important to also have friends from diverse communities.”

“At some point I really had to make a decision as to whether or not I was going to allow discrimination to adversely affect me without fighting for change.“


What Heumann would like to be remembered for is her belief that “we need to be fighting for an end to discrimination for all people [and for] collaboration cooperation.” She explained that change itself may take time, but in the meantime we cannot accept no, and need to be pushing as hard as possible when fighting for our rights. She would also like to be remembered for talking to college students like me and others - a reason she does interviews like the current one is because she enjoys the two way interactive flow where, “you’re getting information from me and I’m getting it from you.”

Change itself may take time, but in the meantime we cannot accept no... We need to be fighting for an end to discrimination for all people and for collaboration- cooperation.”


Even as she continues to work in other areas, Huemann recently investigated the representation (or lack thereof) of disability in the media culminating in a detailed report. Essentially, she found that disability is being left out of the conversation even as the changing face of media now is all about diversity. She pointed out that we are learning so much more about people of color, sexual orientation and religious issues through the media, but “still only learning a little bit about us, that’s because disabled people are not playing prominent enough roles...The absence of disability in the media continues to result in stigma and discrimination.” In addition there has to be authentic representation, that it, disabled characters have to be played by actors with disabilities and not by non-disabled actors. Equally important is the fact that people with disabilities are adversely affected if they don’t see themselves represented in TV, movies and documentaries. Heumann discusses these issues and more in her new memoir, “Being Heumann: An Unrepentant Memoir of a Disability Rights Activist.”

The conversation then turned closer to home, to her time in Berkeley and the Bay Area. Heumann had needed to do a masters after suing the New York Board of Education for a teaching license and had been accepted into Columbia. Heumann stated that she may not have joined UC Berkeley if Ed Roberts had not reached out initially and sparked her interest. They had not known each other before then. Roberts had been calling to identify emerging leaders and asked if she would be interested in two campus departments - Public Health and City & Regional Planning - that were then recruiting students with disabilities. With the help of the late Prof. Henrick Blum, who later became her faculty advisor, she joined the School of Public Health in 1975.

In the Bancroft Library’s Disability Rights and Independent Movement Oral History Project archives, containing 466 pages of interviews with Heumann- she had stated that “For some reason, in graduate school I didn't feel the same kind of fear around tests.” As a Berkeley student I just had to ask if that was due to being in 'Berkeley.' Heumann laughingly agreed that part of it had to do with being in Berkeley because “it was really very exciting to be able to be around so many disabled people that were fighting for the same thing, you know fighting to strengthen our movement and to remove barriers and it was also easier to socialize because you know Berkeley is much smaller so one could get around this city much easier.” She added that academically, graduate school was also more essays, class participation, discussions and smaller classes focused more narrowly on a field of study which made it easier.


Heumann felt that as more colleges are in compliance with Section 504 and becoming more accessible, life is becoming better for students with disabilities on campuses. This is in sharp contrast to the time when she had her School of Public Health classes in the old Warren Building way off Shattuck Ave. Since that building had inaccessible bathrooms, she would have to come all the way to the Disabled Students Program (DSP) on Bancroft Ave to get somebody to help her go to the bathroom. Then she would have to travel all the way back to Warren to get to class.

Heumann then spoke of her years in Berkeley with the CIL and the WID. Highlights for her was how they were learning to work together with other political organizations and different groups all fighting for equality. She stressed that they were doing work cross-age (from children through seniors), cross-race and cross-disability with organizations like the Asian Health Clinics to what used to be called the Over-Sixties Clinic (Collaboration-Cooperation). She also liked how the CIL was growing with a staff reaching 200 at one point.

This was also the time when they were “learning how to network effectively, establishing goals and timelines about when we want certain things to happen and living up to them,” said Heumann, which proved useful at the time of the 504 sit-ins. Heumann pointed out that much of what she had been saying during the course of this interview was an important part of what happened with 504.

The Rehabilitation Act had been passed in 1973 itself, with Section 504 of the law finally giving voice to the issue of discrimination by stating that any program that received federal funds could not discriminate against anyone with disabilities. Section 504 is widely regarded as the first disability civil rights law in the United States. However. Secretary Joseph Califano was not signing off on the 504 regulations. A law without regulations to enforce its implementation essentially has no teeth. Heumann pointed to the cross-disability organization American Coalition of Citizens with Disabilities (ACCD), of which she was a member, leading the effort to get the regulations out of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare (HEW). The disability community had been growing increasingly unhappy with the stalling. ACCD finally issued a deadline ultimatum and followed through with demonstrations and sit-ins at eight HEW regional headquarters all over the country. The 28 day long San Francisco federal building sit-in at by 150 people with disabilities was crucial in swinging the momentum towards signing of the regulations by Califano.

Heumann felt a reason the Bay Area 504 sit-in was so successful was because the CILs played an important role and California had way more CILs before any other state. By 1976, California had eight CILs versus one in Michigan and one in Massachusetts. As a result, “we were able to organize, we were able to work with labor unions we had good relationships with the media and I think all those things resulted in our ability to be successful with the 504 regulations,“ said Heumann.

She would like to remind disabled students and their allies to go online and look at the Power of 504, a video produced by the Defense Rights Education and Defense Fund (DREDF), Drunk History and her Ted Talk to learn more about 504. For Heumann, the 504 demonstrations underscore the importance of collaboration as they were supported not just by the disability community but by other groups like unions, church groups, farm workers, etc. The 504 regulations helped set the stage for the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

I also asked Heumann what advice she would give for the younger generation?
How do they go about “articulating” needs and see opportunities, as civil rights seems such a huge term and a bit overwhelming? 
How could young people get involved to shape the movement? 
How could they build allies amongst the non-disabled population? 
And did she have any advice for both the disabled community and their non-disabled allies?

Heumann started off by telling students that working inter-generationally and cross-disability, “will strengthen our engagement [as] we have different levels of knowledge and expertise.” Its the power of collaboration-cooperation. She also pointed out that a major weakness of the disability movement is that it is not documented enough. Knowing “where we’ve been and where we are [helps us with] where we want to go.” So she advises students to know your history, for knowledge made you better equipped to play a meaningful role. Then, when you come across an opportunity or barrier that affects the community, you will know if its a tech issue or something else. The “where we want to go” part is also an important part of the intergenerational and cross-disability discussion.


Knowing “where we’ve been and where we are [helps us with] where we want to go.” 


She underlined that we also should understand the needs of others so that we can speak on each others behalf and call on each other for support. So communication was very important for Heumann who advised seeking out others on college campuses and high schools. She would like to see disability brought into the curricula, not just as a subject of disability studies, but integrated into academic work across the board.

“I know a disability cultural center is going to be happening” on campus, stated Heumann [note: UC Berkeley did get a Disability Cultural Center in 2021]. She added that disabled students should not just limit themselves to disability organizations but also consider joining or working with other cultural centers so that you can learn from each other. “Do not be fearful of speaking up and looking at creating change” said Heumann.

For students in other countries, Heumann advised looking up the growing number of disability organizations in those countries and seeing if you want to work with them. She also added that students should get involved in issues that the previous generation did not have to contend with like the impact of the environment and climate change. 

“Use social media more, reach out, speak to more groups and continue to work collaboratively and invite people in to speak so that we can be learning and talking together” said Heumann.

“Use social media more, reach out, speak to more groups and continue to work collaboratively and invite people in to speak so that we can be learning and talking together”


 

@harisri108 #Redefine_the_Table #autism #belonging

The Daily Cal's Disability Impact Special Issue

The Daily Cal came out with A Disability Impact Special (23 articles). A tribute to 30 Years of ADA. 

I have been pushing for such an issue for a few months now. I was able to give input on what the front art cover should look like. Its black and white images of the disability rights movement overlaid with the modern face of disability in color; color in more ways that one - different races, different disabilities, visible and invisible disabilities. 

Check it out https://www.dailycal.org/section/special/30-years-of-ada-2020/ 



Other articles in the issue by me are 

https://www.dailycal.org/2020/10/23/born-into-the-ada/ 



















Born into the ADA

 I wrote 3 of the articles for the Daily Californian's Disability Impact Issue for the 30th Anniversary of the ADA. This article was a personal reflection. 

“(ADA) also allows me to not just demand a seat at the table so that individuals like me can be part of the conversations around change, but question if the table itself needs to be redefined.”









Happy Birthday ADA

How can I miss out posting this photo. Total highlight of the visit for the three of us. President
Barack Obama
, Thank you for being such a huge ally of the disability community.
Happy 30th Birthday ADA, - Hari of the ADA generation

With friends Lia & Rebecca at Smithsonian American Art Museum during my visit to DC last year for the The Autistic Self Advocacy Network ACI training.
Image Description: Three young college age autistics, black haired, wearing glasses, of average height and of various genders proudly standing next to a portrait of President
Barack Obama


New article In Psychology Today

How Reasonable are Reasonable Accommodations at Work

Feedback.

Yes, 100% agree with these important points - the problems with reactive enforcement, power imbalances, "neurodiversity lite" etc. Thank you for being a powerful voice in favour of change!!  

Another brilliant article Hari. I am sharing it widely too. The students in our autism certificate programs always love your pieces and refer back to them frequently in their reflections.

ADA 32 in DC

Was a honor to be part of group invited to attend formal reception hosted by Vice President Kamala Harris at her residence, Naval Observatory, in DC, to celebrate ADA 32 and get to meet and interact with so many luminaries. 

What can I say. OMG.

Photo 1: Vice President Kamala Harris and Mr Emhoff.

Photo 2: Attorney General Merrick Garland

Photo 3: Senator Tom Harkin (who was chief sponsor of the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990)

Photo 4: Got to meet my hero in-person, Judy Heumann, the legendary disability civil rights activist. In deepest admiration and awe of the grueling efforts of her generation that helped open the doors of inclusion and opportunity for the current generation of disabled folks like me.

Photo 5: Me just hanging out with the flags, quite wide-eyed at my surroundings and the people I was surrounded by and got to interact with. Was honestly quite stunned to receive a White House event invite.

(Image Descriptions: work in progress....)
















 


Disabled People are not ADA People.


 People with disabilities are not “Americans with Disabilities Act people” or “Americans with Disabilities Act Guests.” The ADA is a law that increases equity for disabled people, not a label of any individuals. Referring to people with disabilities in this way is disrespectful and never appropriate.




Redefine the Table


“It is the existence of laws like the ADA that ... allows me to not just demand a seat at the table so that individuals like me can be part of the conversations around change, but question if the table itself needs to be redefined.”

-Hari Srinivasan, “Born Into the ADA”
The Daily Californian


 

Lives Worth Living

 Lecture 1 of my first Disability Studies Class at UC Berkeley with Prof Victor Pineda. 

CYPLAN 120 Community Planning and Public Policy for Disability

We got to see the movie "Lives Worth Living"



Impressions: 
I am thrilled that there were so many front-runners who have eased the path for disabled individuals like me by making ADA possible. The movie was very powerful and moving.

The disability rights movement was inspired by the civil rights and gender equality movements and drew on many of their tactics, especially that of civil disobedience.
The sit-in in the rotunda was a masterful stroke, and more so tying themselves to their wheelchairs and to each other, so as to prevent forcible removal. It is definitely not easy for a cop to lift both a person and a heavy motorized wheelchair. I can imagine that the image of disabled individuals dragging themselves up the steps did not sit well with lawmakers, especially since it was televised and drew the attention of a national audience.


No laws get passed without the support of lawmakers and in a way it was fortunate that the Kennedy family had a personal stake in the issue along with a few other well-wishing lawmakers. Robert Kennedy was able to end large institutions by exposing the appalling practices at places like Willowbrook in NY. Though he had not intended to, President G.W Bush ended up being a proponent of the movement and declaring, “let the wall of exclusion come tumbling down.”


I liked the movement’s clear message of, “nothing about us without us,” and that the change had to happen “now.” For too long, the non-disabled had decided what was best for the disabled, a very paternalistic attitude. A non-deaf president of Gallaudet University for the deaf was forced to step down, which added momentum to the movement. Incidentally, the director of Disability Services at San Jose City College is deaf.


Early on, the disabled had realized that there was strength in numbers and came together as a community instead of each disability acting for its particular interests. Clearly, as a very large group, their tireless efforts did help get laws passed.


Since the movie laws like IDEA have passed which has addressed both physical and intellectual access. The disability movement which started with physical disabilities grew to include developmental, intellectual and other forms of disabilities.


However, implementation of the law is still lax and societal attitudes have not caught up. I have experienced a pervasive culture of low expectations by special educators and a reluctance to mainstream despite the underlying principles of LRE and FAPE in IDEA. In high scoring districts like those in south bay, the reluctance is also fueled by parents of typical kids who do not want their high-achieving, kid’s education to be distracted by the presence of disabled kids in the classroom. The result is the large numbers or special education classrooms rather than mainstreaming a great majority of those kids. It ends up limiting their opportunities in life.


I have been fortunate that Cal is such an accepting place. I wonder about my life after Cal, would ADA give enough protections or would I be presumed incompetent or an economic burden yet again.

When Priviledge is Exploitation of the Disabled. Rinse Repeat



Today’s BBC and CNN and many other media outlets ran stories on Lori Laughlin’s daughter and how “apparently contrite” she is and how she blames her privilege for not even being aware of her mistakes.

Everyone is talking about how the sports quota was misused and how money was used to buy seats. There seems to be less outrage over the exploitation of a vulnerable population.

Why is there not more outrage
shame on you talk shows for inviting these people back and giving them visibility
Shame of you mainstream newspapers for highlighting and making newsworthy a carefully orchestrated PR image rebuilding campaign of celebrities, that too in a year where you were working on  touting the 30th anniversary of ADA.

Is this why 150 folks with disabilities crawled up the steps the steps of Capitol Hill in 1990 to get the ADA passed?

Is this the use for disability  accommodations.

It in incredibly hard for real disabled people to get a dx in order to access services.
Accommodations are hard fought for in order to provide equity of access for disabled people. it is a struggle to get even basic accommodations at every level often involving lawsuits.

I’m a psychology student and deeply ashamed of the psychologists who handing out disabled labels to privileged kids so they can exploit disability accommodations.  It's a violation of the disability community.

Shame on anyone who is enabling such people to become social influencers again.

What message are you sending. that its ok to exploit and violate a vulnerable  if you are privileged, because money can buy you a PR firm in case it backfires.


What is the message being sent out, that the disabled community are sitting ducks for exploitation as and when you want?

Coming and saying you was unaware because of your privilege seems like a made up another "privileged" excuse especially when you read the LA times article that talks about the methods used. Students were coached on how to act “slow” so they could get an learning disability dx. Which meant they got extra time for their SAT and ACT tests. 

Did privilege mask the fact that pretending to be slow to get a disability diagnosis is somehow wrong?

Did privilege mask that getting the extra time on tests or that private time seem not quite right?

Its not just exploitation, it feel like a violation of the disability community. it is real damage being done to the disabled community which is trying to so hard to make inroads into acceptance and inclusion.

If a person is really contrite, and wants to not just privilege as an excuse, try to truly understand the other side. Don’t talk the talk, walk the walk.  Koin the peace corps, go work in a real underprivileged area for a few years, without using it as a photo op or a background to your social media. Live like that community, dress like that community, eat like that community and do some good for that community.

You can only become a “somebody" when you become a “nobody" who is really making a  real difference to that community.


What students say on intersections of autism.

Sharing some some student midterm papers on different intersections  from my  1:54 Autism Spectrum Class this semester on this topic.

Lives Worth Living

Lecture 1 of my first Disability Studies Class at UC Berkeley with Prof Victor Pineda. 
CYPLAN 120 Community Planning and Public Policy for Disability

We got to see the movie "Lives Worth Living"

Impressions: 
I am thrilled that there were so many front-runners who have eased the path for disabled individuals like me by making ADA possible. The movie was very powerful and moving.

The disability rights movement was inspired by the civil rights and gender equality movements and drew on many of their tactics, especially that of civil disobedience.
The sit-in in the rotunda was a masterful stroke, and more so tying themselves to their wheelchairs and to each other, so as to prevent forcible removal. It is definitely not easy for a cop to lift both a person and a heavy motorized wheelchair. I can imagine that the image of disabled individuals dragging themselves up the steps did not sit well with lawmakers, especially since it was televised and drew the attention of a national audience.


No laws get passed without the support of lawmakers and in a way it was fortunate that the Kennedy family had a personal stake in the issue along with a few other well-wishing lawmakers. Robert Kennedy was able to end large institutions by exposing the appalling practices at places like Willowbrook in NY. Though he had not intended to, President G.W Bush ended up being a proponent of the movement and declaring, “let the wall of exclusion come tumbling down.”


I liked the movement’s clear message of, “nothing about us without us,” and that the change had to happen “now.” For too long, the non-disabled had decided what was best for the disabled, a very paternalistic attitude. A non-deaf president of Gallaudet University for the deaf was forced to step down, which added momentum to the movement. Incidentally, the director of Disability Services at San Jose City College is deaf.


Early on, the disabled had realized that there was strength in numbers and came together as a community instead of each disability acting for its particular interests. Clearly, as a very large group, their tireless efforts did help get laws passed.


Since the movie laws like IDEA have passed which has addressed both physical and intellectual access. The disability movement which started with physical disabilities grew to include developmental, intellectual and other forms of disabilities.


However, implementation of the law is still lax and societal attitudes have not caught up. I have experienced a pervasive culture of low expectations by special educators and a reluctance to mainstream despite the underlying principles of LRE and FAPE in IDEA. In high scoring districts like those in south bay, the reluctance is also fueled by parents of typical kids who do not want their high-achieving, kid’s education to be distracted by the presence of disabled kids in the classroom. The result is the large numbers or special education classrooms rather than mainstreaming a great majority of those kids. It ends up limiting their opportunities in life.


I have been fortunate that Cal is such an accepting place. I wonder about my life after Cal, would ADA give enough protections or would I be presumed incompetent or an economic burden yet again.

Section 504


"No otherwise qualified individual with a disability in the United States... shall, solely by reason of her or his disability, be excluded from the participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance."


This one line powerful statement is the heart of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, a landmark piece of legislation that laid the foundation for disability rights in the United States.  It was a groundbreaking step towards ensuring equal opportunities for individuals with disabilities in various aspects of public life.

The journey to its enactment and enforcement is a compelling narrative of relentless activism, dramatic protests, and the unwavering determination of a community fighting for their rights.

The Birth of Section 504

In 1973, the first federal civil rights protection for people with disabilities, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, was signed into law. Section 504 specifically prohibits discrimination against persons with disabilities by any program or activity receiving federal financial assistance. This law was based on the language of previous civil rights laws that protected women and minorities, recognizing that society had historically treated people with disabilities as second-class citizens based on deeply held fears and stereotypes. These attitudes had translated into pity and persecution and later into policies that were based on paternalism.

Activism and the 504 Sit-in

Despite its promise, the implementation of Section 504 faced significant delays and resistance. Between 1973 and 1977, no regulations were issued to enforce it. During this period, strong regulations were drafted by attorneys in the Office for Civil Rights and sent to the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW) with a recommendation to publish them for public comment. However, opposition from covered entities such as hospitals, universities, and state and county governments led to much delay. The disability community filed a lawsuit in federal court, and the judge ruled that the regulations must be issued but did not specify when.

In response to these delays, the disability community mobilized. One of the most significant actions was the 504 Sit-in at the San Francisco Federal Building in 1977, led by activists like Judy Heumann and  Kitty Cone. This sit-in, which lasted 26 days, was the longest nonviolent occupation of a federal building in U.S. history. Kitty Cone, in her "Short History of the 504 Sit-in" on the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund (DREDF) website, recounts the strategic planning and broad community support that sustained the protest.

Cone writes, "In the Bay Area, a broad cross-disability coalition, the Emergency 504 Coalition, began building for a rally on April 5th, knowing we’d sit in afterwards. We set up committees to take on different tasks such as rally speakers, media, fund-raising, medics, monitors, publicity, and outreach." The outreach committee's success in garnering broad community support from churches, unions, civil rights organizations, and others proved invaluable once inside the building. The Black Panther Party and Glide Memorial Church provided food, and the International Association of Machinists facilitated the transport of demonstrators to Washington."

The sit-in participants endured physically grueling conditions, sleeping on the floor and dealing with stress about their families, jobs, and health. Cone describes how all participants met daily to make tactical decisions in flowing, creative meetings that often went on for hours. This process was critical for developing consensus and a course of action.

Joseph Califano and the Regulations

The central figure of resistance within the government was Joseph Califano, the Secretary of HEW. Califano was reluctant to sign off on the regulations necessary to enforce Section 504. The activists' persistence, however, eventually bore fruit. Public pressure mounted, and the media attention garnered by the protests made it impossible to ignore their cause. On April 28, 1977, Califano finally signed the regulations, making Section 504 enforceable and marking a monumental victory for disability rights.

Impact of Section 504

Section 504 has had a profound impact on the lives of individuals with disabilities and on American society as a whole. Key outcomes include:

  • Educational Opportunities: Section 504 has ensured that students with disabilities have access to educational opportunities and accommodations, leading to more inclusive schools and universities.
  • Accessibility: The law has prompted public and private entities that receive federal funding to make their programs and facilities accessible to individuals with disabilities.
  • Foundation for Future Legislation: Section 504 set the stage for subsequent disability rights laws, including the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), by establishing the principle that discrimination based on disability is illegal.