ADA EQUALS CIVIL RIGHTS? RIGHT ON!

EARTHBOUND TOMBOY

BY HEIDI JOHNSON-WRIGHT

God bless the Americans with Disabilities Act. But a pox on the houses of those who named it.

Why is it that the ADA – the most broad-sweeping piece of civil rights legislation affecting people with disabilities – does not have the phrase “civil rights” in its title?

If you’re disabled or love someone who is, you probably know it’s a civil rights law. A law that guarantees that people with disabilities have the same opportunities as everyone else to participate in life -- to enjoy employment, goods and services, and State and local government programs and activities.

But a whole lot of people haven’t a clue. People who should know better -- like civic leaders, business owners and journalists.

Folks who are ignorant in this way sometimes dismiss the ADA. The reason I hear most often as to why the ADA need not be complied with is cash.

“Oh, it would be too expensive,” they shrug and say, whether their cost assessment is accurate or not.

When I hear this, I think, “Are you really OK with reducing my equal enjoyment of civil rights -- and that of millions of others -- to dollars and cents?”

Would these cost-benefit analysts say “Sorry, too expensive!” about the civil rights of people in other protected classes, such as race, gender, religion or ethnicity?

Some would, yes. There are always a percentage of willfully obtuse knuckleheads who can’t be reasoned with.

But I think a lot of folks simply don’t see the ADA in the same light as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 because of its moniker. Just as importantly, we disabled Americans have failed to tell our story.

We haven’t gotten the message out that when a restaurant entrance could be ramped but isn’t, it’s the same as having a sign over the door telling African Americans they won’t be served.

We’ve failed to express that when a city has a website inaccessible to blind residents, it’s no different than telling Jewish people they’re forbidden from using that website.

We haven’t communicated that when a company refuses to provide a reasonable accommodation to a deaf employee, it’s equal to paying a man more than a woman, simply because she’s a woman.

We disabled folks have let others hijack our message and “tell our story” for us. And what has it gotten us?

Slanted news stories about those angry handicapped people who should shut up and simply be happy with their special parking spaces.

Shamelessly bigoted politicians who demonize the ADA as something that allegedly bankrupts hard-working business owners.

Sensationalistic, inaccurate headlines about some malcontent in a wheelchair who sued one of those hard-working business owners because a toilet stall was one-eighth of an inch too narrow.

How do we fix it? How do we turn this around so Americans understand the true character of the ADA and its importance to people with disabilities?

I’m not sure. But a good start would be for disability rights organizations to align themselves with other civil rights organizations.

I yearn to see Jesse Jackson on TV asserting that the ADA is just as important to the equality of Americans as the civil rights acts passed in the 1960s.

I long for the day when other leaders – such as those representing Jewish, gay and women’s rights groups – champion the rights of people with disabilities along with those from their own organizations.

Until then, the struggle of folks with disabilities may have plateaued out.

Look on the bright side: we still have the parking.

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