[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 6 (Monday, February 4, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E66-E67]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[[Page E66]]
                              DISABILITIES

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. JAMES R. LANGEVIN

                            of rhode island

                    in the house of representatives

                        Monday, February 4, 2002

  Mr. LANGEVIN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to bring to the House's 
attention a valuable report on the state of the union for Americans 
with Disabilities.
  As a quadriplegic since the age of 16, I believe that the Americans 
with Disabilities Act has not only helped me and others with 
disabilities, but has also enabled society to benefit from the skills 
and talents of the 54 million individuals with disabilities. The 
landmark legislation has also provided people with disabilities the 
chance to lead more productive and satisfying lives that include 
integration into America's social infrastructure.
  However, there is still much to be done so I am pleased to highlight 
the efforts of the National Organization on Disability, which 
celebrates the progress of the nation and works to increase access, 
opportunity, and inclusion for people with disabilities. I would like 
to submit for the Record a copy of the National Organization on 
Disability's State of the Union 2002 for Americans with Disabilities 
which provides benchmarks for the current state of disability life in 
America, and calls for action on improvements that have still to be 
made:

      THE STATE OF THE UNION 2002 FOR AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES

       The State of the Union Address that President George W. 
     Bush delivered on January 29, 2002, focused on the terrible 
     attacks on the country just over four months ago, and the 
     overwhelming national and international response to them. The 
     President also spoke to the country about the core issues of 
     the nation and his presidency, especially the economy; 
     employment; education; access to the goods and services 
     people want and need; and strengthening the social fiber, 
     commitment to service, and protection of civil rights that 
     are core elements of our national pride.
       One large segment of the population that is directly 
     impacted by the issues raised in the President's speech, and 
     the country's approach to those issues, is the disability 
     community. As many as one in five Americans--54 million men, 
     women and children--live with disabilities, as of course do 
     their family members, friends, and service providers. 
     Disabilities run a wide gamut, including mental and physical 
     conditions; visible and non-visible ones; conditions that 
     people are born with, or develop during their lifetimes as a 
     result of illness, age, accident, or attack; and ones that 
     have varying degrees of severity. But all fall within a 
     common definition: They in some way limit people's ability to 
     participate fully in one or more major life activities. 
     Nobody should dismiss disability issues as unimportant to 
     them, for any person can join the disability community in an 
     instant.
       As detailed below, Americans with disabilities remain 
     pervasively disadvantaged in all aspects of American life. In 
     his second week in office, President Bush sent a strong 
     message of concern about this situation when he announced the 
     New Freedom Initiative. Coming a decade after his father 
     signed the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the New 
     Freedom Initiative lays out an ambitious agenda for assuring 
     the full participation of people with disabilities in all 
     aspects of American life. The New Freedom Initiative holds 
     much promise. We look forward to working with the government 
     and the American people to bring it to fruition.

              The Disability Community in a Changed World

       September 11 and its aftermath stunned, shook and saddened 
     the nation. The terrorist attacks made all Americans, 
     especially those touched by disabilities, reevaluate our 
     lifestyles, and consider what we could change to better 
     protect ourselves and our loved ones.
       The nation was moved to learn of wheelchair users who 
     perished while awaiting rescue when the World Trade Center 
     towers fell. We also were inspired by the stories of several 
     people who had severe disabilities and survived. One man 
     escaped after walking down dozens of flights of stairs on his 
     artificial leg, and another with the aid of his guide dog. 
     Two wheelchair users were carried to safety by their 
     colleagues.
       These survivors, like many of the others who escaped before 
     the towers collapsed, benefited from intensive emergency 
     drills that had been conducted since the World Trade Center 
     bombing in 1993. Their survival is testament to how critical 
     emergency planning and preparedness is--whether the emergency 
     is natural, man-made or terrorist-driven. This has inspired a 
     new focus in the disability community on disaster 
     preparedness.
       According to a late 2001 Harris Poll survey released by the 
     National Organization on Disability (N.O.D.), 58 percent of 
     people with disabilities say they do not know whom to contact 
     about emergency plans for their community in the event of a 
     terrorist attack or other crisis. Sixty-one percent say that 
     they have not made plans to quickly and safely evacuate their 
     home. Among those who are employed full or part time, 50 
     percent say no plans have been made to safely evacuate their 
     workplace.
       All these percentages are higher than for those without 
     disabilities. The country as a whole has much catching up to 
     do to be prepared, but people with disabilities lag behind 
     everyone else. This is a critical discrepancy, because those 
     of us with disabilities must in fact be better prepared to 
     not be at a disadvantage in an emergency.
       Intense national planning for emergencies is needed. This 
     requires the enthusiastic cooperation of the government, 
     business, and communities. People with disabilities should 
     not be considered only as beneficiaries of emergency 
     preparedness plans devised by others--they belong at the 
     table, contributing their unique perspectives, insights and 
     experiences, so the resultant plans will be the best for all 
     Americans. People with disabilities must be included on 
     community preparedness committees across the nation and at 
     the highest levels of government planning. We are pleased 
     that Office of Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge has 
     pledged to appoint at least one person with a disability to a 
     high-level position in his organization.

                               Employment

       The slowing economy was a significant issue before 
     September 11, and this situation became more critical after 
     the terrorist attacks. This is not an easy time for anyone to 
     enter the workforce, but that is what many people with 
     disabilities are desperately trying to do.
       Only 32 percent of Americans with disabilities of working 
     age are employed full or part time. That number is in 
     contrast to 81 percent of other Americans, according to the 
     comprehensive 2000 N.O.D./Harris Survey of Americans with 
     Disabilities. It is a national tragedy that, nearly a dozen 
     years after the passage of the Americans with Disabilities 
     Act, the vast majority of Americans with disabilities remain 
     unemployed. This is not by choice; two out of three who are 
     not employed say they would prefer to be working. Any efforts 
     that lead to their becoming employed are good investments 
     that will benefit these individuals, the workforce, and the 
     economy.
       President Bush has demonstrated a commitment to greater 
     employment for people with disabilities in the New Freedom 
     Initiative. We now call on the President and the Congress to 
     keep employment a priority and work together toward a 
     national goal of 38 percent employment for people with 
     disabilities by 2005, with continuing progress toward 50 
     percent in the decade to follow.
       Indeed, employment numbers should be increasing, if for no 
     other reason than there are new ways for people to be 
     employed. Technology offers real hope. Computers and the 
     Internet are opening doors. People who are deaf use ``instant 
     messaging'' to have real-time conversations; people who are 
     blind use voice-synthesis technology to write and read 
     documents and website information, and people with limited 
     ability to get to an office have new ways to work from home. 
     Use of the Internet by people with disabilities is growing 
     rapidly, in fact at twice the pace of other Americans.
       Too often, even when people with disabilities find jobs, 
     they are low-level, low-paying jobs. Yet it is well 
     documented that employers find employees with disabilities 
     excel at all levels. In the healthcare and education sectors, 
     for example, there is room for many more people with 
     disabilities.
       The disability community is troubled by two recent 
     employment-related Supreme Court decisions that undercut this 
     group's primary civil rights law, the Americans with 
     Disabilities Act. Last February's Barrett v. Alabama decision 
     threatened the implementation of the ADA. This month's 
     decision in Toyota v. Williams continues a disturbing trend 
     by the Court to narrow the ADA's protections, and caused one 
     of the 1990 law's Congressional authors to suggest revisiting 
     the statute so that it meets the goal of expansive, not 
     restrictive, coverage for workers with disabilities. People 
     with disabilities belong in the workforce, and Congress must 
     indeed make it a priority to strengthen and defend the 
     legislation that affirms employment as a natural expectation. 
     The Supreme Court will hear other cases that test the ADA. 
     The Court must recognize that when it interprets the will of 
     Congress and the Constitution, it has the opportunity to 
     strengthen rather than weaken the ADA--and strengthening it 
     reflects the will of the vast majority of Americans.

                             Income Levels

       It is not surprising, given the lower rate of employment 
     for people with disabilities, that a significant income gap 
     exists between those with and without disabilities. People 
     who have disabilities are roughly three times as likely to 
     live in poverty, with annual household incomes below $15,000 
     (29 percent versus 10 percent). Conversely, people with 
     disabilities are less than half as likely to live in 
     households that earn more than $50,000 annually (16 percent 
     versus 39 percent). This income gap contributes to and 
     compounds the disadvantages that people with disabilities 
     face.

                        Access to Transportation

       People who have disabilities often have insufficient access 
     to transportation, with 30 percent citing this as a problem--
     three times the rate of the non-disabled. This creates a 
     catch-22 situation: How can one have a job if one cannot get 
     to it? How can one afford transportation if one does not have 
     a job? There is an urgent need for more and better 
     disability-friendly transportation in the cities and towns of 
     Americans.

                         Access to Health Care

       Health care is also less accessible to Americans with 
     disabilities, who often are the

[[Page E67]]

     citizens needing it most. Due in large part to their limited 
     employment and reduced discretionary income, people with 
     disabilities are more than twice as likely to delay needed 
     health care because they cannot afford it (28 percent versus 
     12 percent of others).
       There is a critical need for further legislation to protect 
     people with disabilities who need medical treatment, and aid 
     them in getting their needed medications. Congress and the 
     Administration must pass the patients' bill of rights; expand 
     health insurance coverage to cover all Americans, including 
     those who are not employed; and ensure that peoples' 
     opportunities to fully participate in life activities are not 
     artificially restricted by their limited access to 
     healthcare.

                               Education

       Opportunity begins, in so many ways, with education. 
     Currently, young people with disabilities are more than twice 
     as likely to drop out of high school (22 percent versus 9 
     percent), and only half as likely to complete college (12 
     percent versus 23 percent). Education for students with 
     disabilities is a critical priority. Students with special 
     needs must be given the chance to develop their skills and 
     their minds so they can be prepared for the workforce of the 
     future. In the first decade of the new millennium, America 
     should dramatically close these gaps in opportunities for 
     students with disabilities.
       It does well that Congress has increased funding for the 
     Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) 19 percent 
     this year to $7.5 billion. This investment will pay huge 
     dividends for the students and families impacted by the IDEA, 
     and for the country.
       Tremendous progress has been made in ``mainstreaming'' 
     students with disabilities since the IDEA was first 
     introduced nearly three decades ago. Mainstreaming is a win/
     win situations that increases opportunities for those 
     students, and also acclimates other students to peer 
     interaction. Youngsters who have friends and acquaintances 
     with disabilities learn to move beyond the disability and 
     judge the real person. They grow up expecting to interact 
     with diverse people in the workforce and in their 
     communities, dissolving prejudices and stereotypes in the 
     process.

                             Community Life

       It is in the communities of this nation that its 54 million 
     citizens with disabilities go about their daily lives, and 
     this is where these citizens need to be involved. Great 
     progress has been made; commitments from mayors and other 
     leaders have transformed many communities. Disability 
     advocates, no longer willing to be separated from the rest of 
     society, have pushed their communities into becoming more 
     accessible and welcoming places. There is much work still to 
     be done.
       Thirty-five percent of people with disabilities say they 
     are not at all involved with their communities, compared to 
     21 percent of their non-disabled counterparts. Not 
     surprisingly then, those with disabilities are one and a half 
     times as likely to feel isolated from others or left out of 
     their community than those without disabilities.
       The current efforts for disaster mobilization are one 
     example of an opportunity for the disability community to 
     remind civic leaders of their responsibility to plan for all 
     citizens. This work may open dialogue in many new and 
     productive directions with regard to overall community 
     efforts.

                             Religious Life

       Faith and religious life are important for many Americans. 
     Churches, synagogues and mosques need to be accessible to all 
     who wish to worship. With the theme ``Access: It begins in 
     the heart,'' thousands of houses of worship have enrolled in 
     the Accessible Congregations Campaign. Hopefully many other 
     congregations in the country also will commit to identifying 
     and removing barriers of architecture, communications and 
     attitudes that prevent people with disabilities from 
     practicing their faith.

                         Political Involvement

       Citizens with disabilities want to vote, and are doing so 
     at increasing rates. What had been a 20 percentage point 
     participation gap--31 percent versus more than 50 percent--in 
     the 1996 Presidential election was halved when 41 percent of 
     voting-aged citizens with disabilities cast ballots in 2000. 
     This followed a national get-out-the-disability-vote effort. 
     But many polling places remain inaccessible to wheelchair 
     users and others with limited mobility. Once inside the 
     building, others encounter voting machines they cannot use. 
     Persons with limited vision or hand strength are particularly 
     disadvantaged at the polls. People with disabilities want to 
     vote on election day, at the polls, just like everyone else.
       Technological improvements now available could make voting 
     at the polls possible for nearly all people with 
     disabilities. All that is needed is the will, or a legal 
     requirement, to put such voting machines into use. The 
     contested 2000 Presidential Election showed that every vote 
     counts. The disability community is determined to have full 
     enfranchisement.
       Late in 2001, the House of Representatives passed a bill 
     that did not adequately address the above issues. The 
     Senate's version of the bill, currently under review, is far 
     more promising. Millions of voters and potential voters will 
     be tracking this legislation in the hope that it will improve 
     the voting system for all Americans. None of the barriers 
     that have kept citizens with disabilities from voting should 
     be allowed to remain by the time of the 2004 Presidential 
     election, and the disability community calls on the 
     government at all levels to ensure these obstacles are 
     removed.

                          The Overall Picture

       A clear majority of people with disabilities, 63 percent, 
     say that life has improved for the disability community in 
     the past decade. But when asked about life satisfaction, only 
     33 percent say they are very satisfied with their life in 
     general--half as many as among those without disabilities. 
     There is much room for improvement, and the disability 
     community looks to the President and his Administration, the 
     Congress, and all those in a position of community leadership 
     to work proactively and productively with us to ensure that 
     no person with a disability is left behind.
       Anyone with a disability perspective who travels abroad 
     returns impressed by the way America is, in many ways, the 
     world leader in access, opportunity, and inclusion for people 
     with disabilities. Much progress has been made, and many 
     walls of exclusion have been leveled. People with 
     disabilities celebrate the progress of this nation, and also 
     remain dedicated to the vision of a day when all people, no 
     matter how they are born or what conditions they acquire, 
     will be full and equal participants in American life. This is 
     our dream for the State of the Union.

     

                          ____________________