=46rom : ADA Watch <JimWard@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
Subject : Opinion: ADA Amendments Act, Where We Have Been, Where We
are Going
ADAWatch.org
National Coalition for Disability Rights
OPINION: As the ADA Amendments Act Moves In the House=85
The ADA Watch/NCDR Board and State Steering Committee has announced,
in a show of unity with other disability organizations, its sup****t of
the ADA Amendments Act.
This is not, however, the ADA Restoration Act we all worked so hard on
and it is quickly moving forward without the sup****t of key disability
rights organizations and leaders. The concerns being voiced come from
many who were vital in the passage of the Americans with Disabilities
Act in 1990. The Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund
(www.dredf.org), for example, as part of an analysis posted on their
website, states that:
"Passage of the current deal will improve the status quo for many, but
it will also mean that the op****tunity to correct the paradigm to
remove severity as a factor of coverage and include many more who are
currently unable to use the ADA because they are not considered
=93disabled enough=94 will be lost or indefinitely delayed as the new
provisions are interpreted up the judicial ladder."
As you might have noticed, ADA Watch has been publicly quiet for some
time now. Spending 18 months on the Road To Freedom bus traveling the
United States to promote the original ADA Restoration Act certainly
has left us in a prolonged period of reentry both organizationally and
personally. [See below for what we have been cooking up] But we also
we also held our public tongue at the request of disability
negotiators who were in "delicate" negotiations with the business
community.
Well now those negotiations are over, there is a deal that does not
allow for any strengthening of the bill by our sup****ters in Congress,
and there is little time to use this process to build community or
change public consciousness about disability rights. There also seems
to be, in this process, a missed op****tunity.
As this process unfolded, ADA Watch/NCDR was at the table and, like
others, expressed our concerns regarding content, process and timing.
While many say that this is the best deal that could be had in the
current environment, and while the Congressional leader****p forced us
into negotiations with business lobbying groups before it went to the
floor, it seems that we, as a community, could have done more to
soften the ground leading to these negotiations. A more cohesive and
inclusive campaign, much like the one that led to the initial passage
of the ADA, could have produced greater unity in our community and
capitalized on all of our strengths -- from the grassroots advocates
to the legal teams, from our lobbyists to our media experts, and
more.
ADA Watch/NCDR was praised by the disability negotiators for the
extensive media we received in publically making the case for ADA
Restoration on the Road To Freedom bus tour. While we appreciate the
praise, the reality is that we have one of the smallest budgets of any
national organization =96 less than the yearly CEO salaries of some of
the larger organizations. The fact that we received the bulk of media
coverage in the year prior to this deal leaves us wondering what might
have been had there been the will to fund either our campaign or
another centralized effort to compete against the well-organized
campaign of our opponents. While we often say that we are a poor
community and that we can never compete with the well-funded cor****ate
lobbyists, the reality is that =96 while our constituency is poor =96
there are billions of dollars being raised annually in the name of
disability. Isn=92t it time that a larger share of those funds went to
publically promote the ADA and disability rights =96 not as charity, not
as sympathy, not just as research or cure =96 but as fundamental civil
and human rights.
As we learned in traveling around the country, and as you surely know,
we are not winning in the media. More times than not, the ADA is
covered as =93big government putting =93Mom and Pop=94 stores out of
business.=94 (Never mind that this is fiction and that, more times than
not, we are talking about multinational cor****ations!) These stories
are generated directly from the news releases from cor****ate lobbying
groups and associations. When the original ADA Restoration Act was
introduced these groups took aim, even declaring that individuals with
a =93hangnail=94 were now going to be covered by the ADA! Outrageous as
they sound, they have been very effective.
So we are left to guess how the negotiations might have been
influenced were there an organized effort that matched or even
exceeded that which led to the passage of the ADA in 1990. A campaign
that drew fairly on the resources in our community. A campaign with
earned and unearned media ****traying the struggle for equal
op****tunity nearly 20 years after passage of the world=92s first civil
rights law for people with disabilities. Community organizing efforts
to teach and build coalition in sup****t of restoration. Maybe even an
ADAPT action at the Chamber of Commerce after the =93hangnail=94 remarks.
A united community pu****ng for full restoration of the ADA.
While, as an organization, we are not second-guessing our colleagues
and have expressed sup****t for the ADA Amendments Act, it is difficult
not to imagine the results of a more unified effort. One that, in
addition to the considerable legal drafting and negotiations, put
similar emphasis =96 and funding =96 on the other =93prongs=94 of the
socia=
l
change =93pitchfork.=94 That we could have gotten more seems evident in
the now public sentiment of at least one of the business lobbyists
involved in the negotiations. Randel Johnson, a vice president at the
U.S. Chamber of Commerce, referring to the original ADA Restoration
Act, was quoted in the Wall Street Journal as saying, "We couldn't
beat this bill so there was a need for a compromise=85=94
This process has undeniably taken a toll on our community. There are
many divisions, many bruised egos, many damaged relation****ps. When
the smoke clears, we hope there is an awareness that there remains a
need for a unified campaign to change the =93hearts and minds=94 of
Americans regarding the ADA and disability rights. We don=92t claim that
our coalition alone is the answer to fill that need, but we hope that
we can be a part of such an effort. And as we *****s what happened, we
should avoid the polarizing =96 and often self-serving =96
characterizations highlighting supposed dichotomies in our community
such as disabled/nondisabled, lawyers/lay-advocates, Inside/Outside
the Beltway, physical/mental disabilities, rights/research, and the
like. This is not a time for further segregation but for greater
unity.
This certainly is not our last legislative battle and many in our
community have said that laws alone will not lead to the kind of
social change we are seeking. The =93missed op****tunity=94 that many are
seeing in this process will present itself again. Perhaps, however, we
should not wait for the next battle and can commit now to greater
unity and the fostering of a stronger disability community. Now, more
than ever it seems, we need to join together behind a common agenda
and we need to unite all aspects of what we call the =93disability
community.=94 We need to work together as national, state and local
organizations; legal, non-legal and self-advocacy organizations;
advocates and academics; youth organizations; rights and research
organizations; student and educator organizations; parent and family
organizations; aging organizations; as well as associated non-
disability led civil rights and social justice organizations.
We can=92t afford to exclude anybody who wants to get behind our vision
of equality and op****tunity for people with disabilities in America.
See below for what the National Coalition for Disability Rights (NCDR)
has in the works for fostering =93unity in the community=94 and changing
public consciousness about disability rights. New member****p
information for NCDR has just been posted at:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/362=
1464/NCDRMember****p-
What do you think? Contact ADA Watch/NCDR=92s president, Jim Ward,
directly and share your thoughts. He can be reached by email at
jimward@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
and our mailing address is:
ADA Watch/National Coalition for Disability Rights
ATTN: Jim Ward
601 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Suite 900S
Wa****ngton, DC 20004
The National Coalition for Disability Rights Looks Ahead=85
Here is a look at what we are working on to do our part in community
organizing, coalition-building and public awareness. As always, we are
seeking individual and organizational sup****t to fulfill our mission.
Please contact us if you have time and skills =96 or a financial
contribution =96 that you would like to contribute to our effort. Along
with organizers, media experts, writers and graphic designers, we are
especially looking for technicians with experience in Joomla to put
the fini****ng touches on our new online community news and action
center.
Road To Freedom: Our =93mobile marketing=94 bus continues to roll across
America, spreading the message of disability rights as essential civil
rights. We have traveled nearly 40,000 miles to every state. More than
100 bus stop media events have been produced in partner****p with state
and local disability organizations. These events have attracted
extensive media attention and included Members of Congress, Governors,
Mayors and other state and local policymakers. We are currently
editing both a do***entary film and book of the first year of this
journey and disability rights history. Look for the Road To Freedom
bus at the National Council on Independent Living conference in
Wa****ngton, DC next month, where we will lead a convoy of vehicles to
the National Forum on Disability Issues with the presidential
candidates on July 26, the 18th anniversary of the Americans with
Disabilities Act. To view photos from the road, go to:
http://adawatch.smugmug.com/gallery/2925333_qPCEV
National Agenda for Disability Rights: While some might define their
coalition based on disability, NCDR seeks to build unity around
pressing issues of common concern. In this spirit, NCDR will be
launching a drive to promote a National Agenda for Disability Rights =96
a declaration of values and goals to advance equity and op****tunity
for people with disabilities. This do***ent, which is being vetted at
the national, state and local levels, seeks to build unity and broadly
focuses on civil rights, housing, government services, trans****tation,
education, healthcare, assistive technology and more. We will need
your help to get national, state and local organizations to sign-on in
sup****t of the vetted Agenda. At this early stage, it should not be
assumed that each organization associated with our Board of Directors,
National Advisory Committee, or State Coalition Steering Committee
necessarily sup****ts this do***ent. This do***ent has just been posted
for comments at:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/3620189/A-National-Agenda-for-D=
isability-Rights
Community Organizing: NCDR seeks to place a vetted National Agenda for
Disability Rights at the center of an intensive community organizing
project to build coalition within the disability community at the
national, state and local levels. NCDR has been in the process of
reaching out to leading community organization educators with the help
of the Association for Community Organization & Social Administration.
ACOSA is a member****p organization for community organizers,
activists, nonprofit administrators, community builders, policy
practitioners, students and educators. Wikipedia explains that,while
=93organizing describes any activity involving people interacting with
one another in a formal manner, much community organizing is in the
pursuit of a common agenda. Community organizers create social
movements by building a base of concerned people, mobilizing these
community members to act, and developing leader****p from and
relation****ps among the people involved.=94
Issue Areas: NCDR has identified key areas of focus for our
educational and advocacy efforts. These areas correspond with
leader****p committees to be comprised of leaders in respective areas
as well as associated online content areas of the new ADAWatch.org
website and Action Center. Contact us if you are interested in serving
on one of these committees and/or writing for a website topic area.
These areas are:
1. Civil Rights & Discrimination
2. Poverty & Social Justice
3. Healthcare & Public Policy
4. Community Organizing & Coalition-Building
5. Media & Public Outreach
6. Disability Rights History
New Website and Action Center: NCDR has been putting extensive work
into rebuilding our online community news and action center that will
reside at www.adawatch.org and www.ncdr.org. Launching prior to the
anniversary of the ADA on July 26th, the new website will:
=B7 highlight news and coalition activities in our key areas of
focus
=B7 provide breaking news and action alerts impacting the
disability community
=B7 incor****ate online advocacy tools from Democracy In Action
=B7 provide state pages and action tools to build the capacity
of state cross-disability coalitions
=B7 highlight community leaders, academics and writers by way of
opinion columns and articles
=B7 promote =93town hall=94 forums to increase community influence
on national organizations and public policy
NCDR looks forward to working with you build a united disability
community to create a more equitable and just Nation. As always, let
us know what you think.
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National Coalition for Disability Rights (NCDR)
601 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Suite 900S
Wa****ngton, DC 20004
National Coalition for Disability Rights
1201 Pennsylvania Avenue, Suite 300
Wa****ngton, District of Columbia 20004
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