[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 102 (Monday, July 25, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8803-S8805]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
HONORING 15TH ANNIVERSARY OF AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the hour of 5:15
having arrived, there will be 15 minutes for
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debate on the Americans with Disabilities resolution. The Senator from
Iowa will control 15 minutes.
The Senator is recognized.
Mr. HARKIN. I thank the Chair.
Mr. President, in remarks on the floor this morning I spoke about the
remarkable progress that we have made since the Americans with
Disabilities Act became law 15 years ago tomorrow. Today, the physical
impact of ADA's quiet revolution is all around us. Sidewalks are
equipped with curb cuts allowing access for people using wheelchairs.
New buildings are outfitted in countless ways with ramps, wide doors,
and large bathroom stalls to accommodate people with disabilities. Many
banks have talking ATMs to assist individuals who are blind. Service
animals are welcome in restaurants and shops, and on and on.
For those of us who are able-bodied, these changes are all but
invisible. For a person with a disability, they are transforming and
liberating. So are provisions in the ADA outlawing discrimination
against qualified individuals with disabilities in the workplace, and
requiring employers to provide reasonable accommodations.
The ADA is about designing our policies and also our physical
environment so that America can benefit from the contributions of all
of our citizens. The ADA is about rejecting the false dichotomy between
disabled and abled. It is about recognizing that people with
disabilities, like all people, have unique abilities, talents, and
aptitudes and that our country, that our America, is better, fairer and
richer when we make full use of those gifts.
Last week, in anticipation of this 15th anniversary, I asked people
from all across America to send stories about how their lives are
different today thanks to the Americans with Disabilities Act. I wanted
to find out what the ADA means to people in their everyday lives.
I want to recite some of those.
Before I do, I ask unanimous consent that Senators Cantwell and
Voinovich be added as original cosponsors of S. Res. 207.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. HARKIN. One young woman whose name is Cheri Blauwet wrote me and
said:
I am a paraplegic as the result of a farming accident when
I was 15 months old. I am now 25 years old and am currently a
medical student at Stanford University in addition to being a
wheelchair racer on the United States Paralympic Team. My
ultimate goal is to become a physician and to work
internationally to provide sport and physical activity
opportunities to my peers with disabilities.
She continued:
I was 10 years old when the ADA was passed in 1990.
Although I didn't know it at that time, my realization of my
own talents and capacities would be shaped on this fateful
day. As I grew into adulthood, I attended a public university
and had an accessible dorm room and classrooms that were
wheel chair friendly. I received financial assistance from
the state Vocational Rehabilitation program. I was able to
apply for jobs, scholarships, and schools and to know I would
be viewed without discrimination. My ability to easily take
buses, trains, and airplanes led me to domestic and global
travel for the purposes of building my sports and medical
careers. I knew that something as simple as a set of stairs
would not stop me from achieving my life goals.
A woman from Chicago who uses a wheelchair and works for the Federal
Reserve wrote the following:
I am part of the first generation of Americans with
disabilities to grow up with the ADA in effect, and as a
result, it never crossed my mind that going to college,
studying abroad, or working in a big city would be impossible
for me. I knew these goals would be challenging--as they
would be for anyone. But I also knew they were possible, in
part, because of the ADA. The law laid the groundwork to make
this country more accessible for everyone, and it gave me the
access I need to do the things I'm capable of doing. For
example, I need accessible transportation to go to work so I
can afford my apartment. My apartment is located near a city
bus line, and all of the buses have lifts to accommodate my
wheelchair. ADA helped to make these necessities available to
me and others with disabilities, giving us more opportunities
than ever before to be active members of the community. It's
hard for me to imagine what my life would be like without the
ADA and without the accessibility I take advantage of every
day.
An individual from Laramie, WY, wrote:
The ADA has made a tremendous impact in my life. The
ability to go into a store to shop, or to travel, and to find
a place to stay have been the largest differences I've
experienced. Now, when I find a place of business that I
can't get into or get around in because of my wheelchair,
it's the exception rather than the rule. In 1990, in Wyoming,
the number of businesses I couldn't get into, or get around
in, far outnumbered the number of businesses that were
accessible. That has changed. Many have added ramps,
doorbells, or simply rearranged displays to make wider
aisles.
An individual with a spinal cord injury from St. Paul, MN, wrote:
I'm 32. Growing up, I was never sure whether I would be
employed. Thanks to the ADA, I received accommodations to
enable me to earn a B.A. and a J.D. I passed the bar in 1998,
thanks to accommodations received under the ADA. One of my
first jobs was clerking for a district court judge. Under the
ADA, the court provided me with assistive technology to
enable me to write judicial opinions and orders. The ADA has
made a tremendous difference in my life, both personally and
professionally. The ADA has enabled me to participate in
every facet of daily life, including the mundane things like
going to a movie or staying at a hotel. I can't imagine what
my life would be like if this law had not passed.
A woman who has an 11-year-old son with a disability wrote:
I am thankful for the ADA each time we pull into a
handicapped parking space, hit the automatic door to the
building, and can move around due to widened doorways. Each
time we go into a movie theater and don't have to sit on the
very front row. Each time we go to a theme park show where we
don't have to sit in the very back row.
Those are just a few of the many letters. I ask unanimous consent
that the remainder of the letters I have be printed in the Record at
this point.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
A woman with multiple disabilities wrote: ``Without the
ADA, I would either be on welfare or Social Security, unable
to support myself. Thanks to the ADA, I am a tax-paying
citizen helping to support others, living in my own little
home which I bought myself, paying for my own car, bills and
medicine. The ADA has helped me to secure meaningful
employment. In the 70's and 80's, when I was hard of hearing
with hearing aids, I had a very difficult time finding and
holding jobs because I was not able to hear on the phone, and
most often misunderstood verbal instruction. I could often
only find jobs paying the minimum wage. Now, though, thanks
to the ADA, I am happily employed with an employer who
recognizes me for my abilities, not my limits.''
A German woman with a disability wrote the following:
``Although I am not an American with a disability but a
German with a disability, the ADA had an impact on my life.
The United States is one of my favorite countries for
traveling. Why? I am a wheelchair user and I enjoy having no
problems finding an accessible hotel. I don't have any
trouble finding accessible restrooms, and I never have any
problems visiting museums, parks, attractions and public
buildings. There are many more parking spaces for the
disabled than in Europe. And if I book my flight at an
American airline, there will be no stupid questions--I am
just a passenger who uses a wheelchair. No big deal! I try to
travel to US at least once a year, because of the ADA. It
means seamless travel to me.''
And one final story. A man from Minnesota with a spinal
cord injury wrote the following: ``Six years ago, my spine
was severed in a car accident. In that one afternoon I went
from being a positive and productive husband, father, and
worker in the U.S. to spending months at the Mayo Hospitals.
Before that time I didn't know or think much about the ADA.
Since my accident I have remained a positive husband not just
the right to be independent and have a job, but the
wherewithal to be independent and hold a job.
Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, shortly we are going to have a vote on a
resolution commending the 15th anniversary of the Americans with
Disabilities Act and all it has achieved for our society. It truly has
opened the doors and torn down the walls of segregation and
discrimination and the denial of equal opportunity for people with
disabilities.
As I said this morning, after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 passed, we
thought we had done a great thing, and indeed we had. But for a large
group of Americans with disabilities, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 left
them out because they still faced segregation on a daily basis. They
faced discrimination on a daily basis; they faced inequality of
opportunity on a daily basis. So the Americans with Disabilities Act,
signed into law on July 26, 1990, finally accorded to Americans with
disabilities every right that every American ought to have. That is the
right to live independently, the right to have equality of opportunity,
the right to have economic self-sufficiency, and the right to be
accorded full participation in our society. Those are the four goals of
the Americans with Disabilities Act, and now we see the evidence all
around us.
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On July 26, 1990, when he signed the Americans with Disabilities Act
into law, President George Herbert Walker Bush spoke with great
eloquence, and I will never forget his final words before taking up his
pen.
He said, ``Let the shameful wall of exclusion finally come tumbling
down.''
Today, that wall has indeed fallen. We must continue this progress.
We must go forward and not backward.
As I said this morning, we have come a long way in making sure people
with disabilities are able to participate in American society. We see
people in restaurants, traveling, in theaters and sports arenas, people
with jobs, people going to school, people becoming lawyers and doctors
and everything else, regardless of their disability, and it is a
wonderful thing for our country. It has made us a better, richer, and
fairer country.
We only have one other thing that we have to do. We have to make sure
people with disabilities have personal attendant services so they can
go to work. Right now, 15 years after the Americans with Disabilities
Act, over 60 percent of people with disabilities are unemployed, no
job. Many of them can have a job if they just have some personal
attendant services to help them get going in the morning or help them
at night, maybe help them on their job. As taxpayers we know this will
cost us less money than institutionalizing people, and it will make
their lives and our lives better.
One final thought. As chairman of the Disability Policy Subcommittee,
I brought the Americans with Disabilities Act to the floor in 1990.
Right after it was passed, I spoke in sign language from this desk down
here about what this would mean for people like my brother Frank who
was deaf. So I will close my remarks today by using another sign. I
will not speak at all in sign language, but I would like to close by
saying that there is a wonderful sign--see, sign language is very
expressive. There is a wonderful sign in sign language for ``America.''
I am going to teach it right now to Senators who are watching. The sign
for ``America'' in sign language is where one puts all of their fingers
together like this, intertwined, and makes a circle. That is the sign
for America, all of the fingers intertwined, one family in a closed
circle. It is a beautiful sign. It really expresses volumes about
America.
Fifteen years ago, not all of those fingers were there. People with
disabilities were not part of that family. Now they are. So our family
in America is more complete, the circle is more complete because of the
Americans with Disabilities Act. For centuries they were excluded.
People were excluded from our family. Now they are a part of our
family, and it has made us a better, fairer, and richer country.
So I hope all Senators will give a strong vote of approval to this
resolution; one, to recognize the advances that we have made; second,
to recommit ourselves to make sure that we will not go backward but
that we will continue forward to even break down more barriers, to
become even more inclusive, to make sure that every single person with
a disability is a member of that American family.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the Senate will
proceed to a vote on S. Res. 207. The question is on agreeing to the
resolution.
Mr. LEVIN. I ask for the yeas and nays.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
There is a sufficient second.
The clerk will call the roll.
The assistant Journal clerk called the roll.
Mr. McCONNELL. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the
Senator from Utah (Mr. Bennett), the Senator from Georgia (Mr.
Chambliss), the Senator from Mississippi (Mr. Cochran), the Senator
from Idaho (Mr. Craig), the Senator from Tennessee (Mr. Frist), the
Senator from Arizona (Mr. Kyl), the Senator from Florida (Mr.
Martinez), and the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. Santorum).
Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Indiana (Mr. Bayh), the
Senator from Delaware (Mr. Biden), the Senator from New Jersey (Mr.
Corzine), the Senator from Massachusetts (Mr. Kennedy), and the Senator
from West Virginia (Mr. Rockefeller), are necessarily absent.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Cornyn). Is there any Senator in the
Chamber desiring to vote?
The result was announced--yeas 87, nays 0, as follows:
[Rollcall Vote No. 201 Leg.]
YEAS--87
Akaka
Alexander
Allard
Allen
Baucus
Bingaman
Bond
Boxer
Brownback
Bunning
Burns
Burr
Byrd
Cantwell
Carper
Chafee
Clinton
Coburn
Coleman
Collins
Conrad
Cornyn
Crapo
Dayton
DeMint
DeWine
Dodd
Dole
Domenici
Dorgan
Durbin
Ensign
Enzi
Feingold
Feinstein
Graham
Grassley
Gregg
Hagel
Harkin
Hatch
Hutchison
Inhofe
Inouye
Isakson
Jeffords
Johnson
Kerry
Kohl
Landrieu
Lautenberg
Leahy
Levin
Lieberman
Lincoln
Lott
Lugar
McCain
McConnell
Mikulski
Murkowski
Murray
Nelson (FL)
Nelson (NE)
Obama
Pryor
Reed
Reid
Roberts
Salazar
Sarbanes
Schumer
Sessions
Shelby
Smith
Snowe
Specter
Stabenow
Stevens
Sununu
Talent
Thomas
Thune
Vitter
Voinovich
Warner
Wyden
NOT VOTING--13
Bayh
Bennett
Biden
Chambliss
Cochran
Corzine
Craig
Frist
Kennedy
Kyl
Martinez
Rockefeller
Santorum
The resolution (S. Res. 207) was agreed to.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the preamble is
agreed to and the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table.
The resolution, with its preamble, reads as follows:
S. Res. 207
Whereas July 26, 2005, marks the 15th anniversary of the
enactment of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990;
Whereas prior to the passage of the Americans with
Disabilities Act, it was commonplace for individuals with
disabilities to experience discrimination in all aspects of
their everyday lives--in employment, housing, public
accommodations, education, transportation, communication,
recreation, voting, and access to public services;
Whereas prior to the passage of the Americans with
Disabilities Act, individuals with disabilities often were
the subject of stereotypes and prejudices that did not
reflect their abilities, talents, and eagerness to fully
contribute to our society and economy;
Whereas the dedicated efforts of disability rights
advocates, such as Justin Dart, Jr. and others too numerous
to mention, served to awaken Congress and the American people
to the discrimination and prejudice faced by individuals with
disabilities;
Whereas Congress worked in a bipartisan manner to craft
legislation making such discrimination illegal and opening
doors of opportunity to individuals with disabilities;
Whereas Congress passed the Americans with Disabilities Act
and President George Herbert Walker Bush signed the Act into
law on July 26, 1990;
Whereas the Americans with Disabilities Act pledged to
fulfill the Nation's goals of equality of opportunity,
economic self-sufficiency, full participation, and
independent living for individuals with disabilities;
Whereas the Americans with Disabilities Act prohibited
employers from discriminating against qualified individuals
with disabilities, required that State and local governmental
entities accommodate qualified individuals with disabilities,
encouraged places of public accommodation to take reasonable
steps to make their goods and services accessible to
individuals with disabilities, and required that new trains
and buses be accessible;
Whereas since 1990, the Americans with Disabilities Act has
played an historic role in allowing some 54,000,000 Americans
with disabilities to participate more fully in our national
life by removing barriers in employment, transportation,
public services, telecommunications, and public
accommodations;
Whereas accommodations such as curb cuts, ramps, accessible
trains and buses, accessible stadiums, accessible
telecommunications, and accessible Web sites have become
commonplace since passage of the Americans with Disabilities
Act, benefitting not only individuals with disabilities but
all Americans; and
Whereas the Americans with Disabilities Act is our Nation's
landmark civil rights legislation for people with
disabilities: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Senate--
(1) recognizes and honors the 15th anniversary of the
enactment of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990;
(2) salutes all people whose efforts contributed to the
enactment of such Act; and
(3) encourages all Americans to celebrate the advance of
freedom and the opening of opportunity made possible by the
enactment of such Act.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Virginia.
____________________