Commentary by Frederick A. Shotz
I am the grinch who stole the celebration of the Americans with Disability Act. While there are parties in cities around the country (celebrating the signing into law of the Americans with Disability Act July 26, 1990) I believe that we have nothing to celebrate. There are tens of thousands of cities in this country where nothing has been done to make the government buildings or the public right of way accessible. That work was supposed to have been completed in 1995.
There are thousands of courthouses in the United States that are not accessible in spite of the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in Tennessee v. Lane. We have nothing to celebrate!
There are millions of businesses that are open to the public (places of public accommodation) that are not accessible. The owners of all of these businesses were required to be accessible by this date in 1992. Most have done nothing. We have nothing to celebrate!
People who are deaf are ignored by businesses and governments every day. Try to use the drive-thru at a Wendy’s or go to the pharmacy counter in a Walgreens if you are deaf and see how much the ADA has helped. Physicians still refuse to pay for sign language interpreters for patients who are deaf. Concert promoters still refuse to pay for sign language interpreters for patrons who are deaf. We have nothing to celebrate!
Ask a person who is blind about how they cross the street. In spite of available technology far less than 1 percent of intersections that provide visual pedestrian crossing signals have audible signals for people who are blind. With about the only Braille signage being on restroom doors, and with almost no restaurants in the county providing menus in Braille why should people who are blind bother learning to read Braille? Just try to get a government document from a city, county or state in Braille. It is like asking the wall to do something for you. We have nothing to celebrate!
Ask a person who is blind how much he/she enjoys surfing the Internet. After you learn how inaccessible most Internet sites are, including many government Web sites, you will agree that we have nothing to celebrate.
Try going out for a day in a wheelchair and while out try using a restroom in a store or restaurant. In far more than 75 percent of the stores and restaurants across the country a wheelchair user cannot get into the restroom or if the door is wide enough will not be able to use the toilet due to lack of floor space to get to the toilet, lack of grab bars, too low toilet seats, etc. Wheelchair users often have to get to the edge of dehydration when going out because drinking fluids means needing to use a toilet and that is too often just not possible. We have nothing to celebrate!
People with disabilities due to intellectual impairments are treated rudely and without sensitivity, constantly. A 30-year-old woman who is intellectually impaired can’t even order her own hamburger in a Wendy’s because they won’t give her the time she needs to order. We have nothing to celebrate!
The Bush Administration has filled the federal courts with judges that do not support the rights of people with disabilities and who rule against us over and over, ignoring the intent of Congress. We have nothing to celebrate!
The Supreme Court has never been our friend but now it is worse. The Chief Justice was the lawyer who represented Toyota in the Toyota v. Williams case. That case, more than any other case, took ADA protection away from people, millions of people, who Congress intended to protect. We have nothing to celebrate!
The newest Supreme Court Justice has a substantial record of opposing civil rights in general. Even when he voted (as an appeals court judge) in favor of an issue in an ADA case, his vote on another issue in the same case took back more than he gave. His vote will easily take the 5-4 majority that we have had in some cases (such as Tennessee v. Williams) and reverse it to 4-5 so that we can lose every ADA case that goes to the Supreme Court. We have nothing to celebrate!
I will make the same suggestion to all of you that I made last year and the year before. Today, on the 17th anniversary of the ADA, file a lawsuit against a business or a local government for their continued violations of the ADA. If every person with a disability who has standing under the ADA filed just one lawsuit today we would get the attention of every TV station and every newspaper in the country and businesses and local governments might figure out the game of ignoring our rights is over.
If you don’t know how to enforce the ADA, if you can’t find a lawyer to represent you, if you don’t know how to file a pro se case in the absence of a lawyer, then join All Disabled Americans, Inc. (www.alldisabledamericans.org) We will help you figure out how to enforce the ADA.
Celebrate the 17th anniversary of the ADA by personally enforcing the ADA. That would be a real celebration!
Frederick A. Shotz is president of the nonprofit All Disabled Americans, Inc., (www.alldisabledamericans.org) and a consultant. He can be reached at fred.shotz@adaconsulting.com.