[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 100 (Wednesday, July 26, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8256-S8257]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        16TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT

  Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, today, July 26, marks the 16th anniversary 
of the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
  On this 16th anniversary, we celebrate one of the great, landmark 
civil rights laws of the 20th century--a long-overdue emancipation 
proclamation for people with disabilities.
  We also celebrate the men and women, from all across America, whose 
daily acts of protest and persistence and courage moved this law 
forward to passage 16 years ago.
  We celebrate some 50 million Americans with disabilities, who now 
begin each day with the right to equal opportunity, full participation, 
independent living, and economic self-sufficiency.
  That is the triumph we celebrate today.
  That is the spirit that made the Americans with Disabilities Act 
possible.
  And that is the promise that will continue to move this country and 
the disability community forward.
  Our society is so dynamic and so rapidly changing, we are often 
oblivious to quiet revolutions taking place in our midst. One such a 
revolution has been unfolding since the Americans with Disabilities Act 
became law 16 years ago.
  How soon we forget that, prior to the ADA, Americans with 
disabilities routinely faced prejudice, discrimination, and exclusion--
not to mention physical barriers to movement and access in their 
everyday lives. People with disabilities faced blatant discrimination 
in the workplace. They were often denied employment, no matter how well 
qualified they were. People in wheelchairs faced a nearly impossible 
obstacle course of curbs, stairs, and narrow doors.
  One of those courageous people who fought for passage of the ADA was 
a young Iowan with severe cerebral palsy named Danette Crawford. I 
remember vividly when I first met Danette in 1990, when I was making 
the final push to get ADA through Congress. She was just 14 and one of 
the brightest persons I had ever met. I talked to her about what ADA 
would mean to her in terms of educational and job opportunities--
ensuring that she would not be discriminated against in the workplace.
  She listened to all this, and in her wonderful way, she said: 
``That's very nice, very important, Senator. But, you know, all I 
really want to do is just be able to go out and buy a pair of shoes 
just like anybody else.'' And, of course, she was right. That is 
exactly what the ADA is all about.
  The reach--the triumph--of the ADA revolution is all around us. It 
has become part of America. In May, I attended a convention in downtown 
Washington of several hundred disability rights advocates, many with 
severe impairments. They arrived on trains and airplanes built to 
accommodate people in wheelchairs. They came to the hotel on Metro and 
in regular busses, all seamlessly accessible by wheelchair. They 
navigated city streets equipped with curb cuts and ramps. The hotel 
where the convention took place was equipped in countless ways to 
accommodate people with disabilities. A woman on the dais translated 
the speeches into sign language so that people with hearing 
disabilities could be full participants.
  For those of us who are able-bodied, these many changes are all but 
invisible. For a person who uses a wheelchair, 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.''
  Just as important, the ADA has changed attitudes. It used to be 
perfectly acceptable to treat people with disabilities as second-class 
citizens, to exclude and marginalize them. I remember my brother, 
Frank, who was deaf. Frank was the real inspiration behind all of my 
work in the Senate on the Americans with Disabilities Act. He passed 
away 6 years ago, a month before the 10th anniversary of ADA. He always 
said that he was sorry that the ADA was not there for him when he was 
growing up but that he was very happy that the ADA is here now for 
young people so they can have a better future.
  Frank lost his hearing at an early age. Then he was taken from his 
home, his family and his community and sent across the State to the 
Iowa State School for the Deaf. People often referred to it as the 
school for the ``deaf and dumb.'' Yes, that is the insensitive way that 
people used to talk. I remember my brother telling me, ``I may be deaf, 
but I am not dumb.''
  While at school, Frank was told he could be one of three things: a 
cobbler, a printer's assistant, or a baker. He said he didn't want to 
be any one of those things. They said: OK, you are going to be a baker. 
So after he got out of school, Frank became a baker. But that is not 
what he wanted to do. Frank stubbornly refused to accept the biases and 
stereotypes that society tried to impose on him. He fought for--and 
won--a life of dignity.
  But I remember how difficult everyday tasks were for him. For 
example, I remember, as a young boy, going with my older brother Frank 
to a store. The salesperson, when she found out that Frank was deaf, 
looked through him like he was invisible and turned to me to ask me 
what he wanted. I remember when he wanted to get a driver's license, he 
was told that ``deaf people don't drive.'' So the deck was stacked 
against Frank in a thousand ways, strictly because he was a person with 
a disability.
  I remember when my brother finally found a job to his liking. He got 
a job at a manufacturing plant in Des Moines--a good job at Delavan 
Corporation. Mr. Delavan decided he wanted to hire people with 
disabilities, and so my brother went to work there. It was a great job. 
He became a drill press operator making nozzles for jet engines. He 
took enormous pride in his work.
  Later on, when I was in the Navy, I remember coming home on leave for 
Christmas. I was unmarried at the time, as was Frank. So I went with 
him to the company where he worked, which was putting on a Christmas 
dinner. I didn't expect anything special. But it turned out that they 
were honoring Frank that night because in 10 years at Delevan, he had 
not missed a single day of work and hadn't been late once.
  That is characteristic of how hard-working and dedicated people with 
disabilities are when they are given a

[[Page S8257]]

chance in the workplace. Frank worked at that plant for 23 years and 
missed just 3 days of work, and that was because of a blizzard.
  Today the brazen discrimination and prejudice that Frank faced are 
part of what seems like a medieval past. We have overcome the false 
dichotomy between ``disabled'' and ``able.'' We recognize that people 
with disabilities--like all people--have unique abilities, talents, and 
aptitudes and that America is better, fairer, and richer when we make 
full use of those gifts.
  We have made amazing progress in just 16 years. For millions of 
Americans with disabilities, it truly is a revolution. It has been a 
quiet revolution, but it has also been a profound revolution.
  The day that the ADA passed was the proudest day of my legislative 
career. But every Senator who voted ``aye'' can look back, 16 years 
later, with enormous pride in this achievement. We were present at the 
creation. But our creation now has a robust life of its own. The ADA 
has been integrated into the fabric of American life. It has changed 
lives--and changed our Nation. It has made the American Dream possible 
for tens of millions of people who used to be trapped in a nightmare of 
prejudice and exclusion. This truly is a triumph.
  I am reluctant, in any way, to take away from the celebration of this 
anniversary, but I am obliged to point out that the ADA revolution is 
not yet complete.
  When we passed the ADA, we set four great national goals for 
Americans with disabilities: equal opportunity, independent living, 
full participation, and economic self-sufficiency. There is more work 
that needs to be done to reach the full promise of these goals.
  Right now, 16 years after the passage of the Americans with 
Disabilities Act, it is a shocking fact that more than 60 percent of 
people with disabilities are not employed. We need to do a better job 
of ensuring that people with disabilities have job opportunities--and 
not just any job but one that is equal to their interests and talents 
and pays accordingly.
  We need to make sure that people with disabilities have access to 
health care, with accessible medical equipment and properly trained 
medical professionals. We also need to make sure that they have access 
to health and wellness programs that focus on their unique needs. Just 
this week, I introduced a bill--S. 3717--that will go a long way toward 
accomplishing these goals.
  At the same time, we need to continue our progress in reversing the 
institutional bias in Medicaid. We need to move away from the days when 
two-thirds of Medicaid long-term-care dollars are spent on 
institutional services, with only one-third going to community-based 
care.
  My bill, S. 401, also known as MiCASSA--which is short for the 
Medicaid Community-Based Attendant Services and Supports Act--would 
level the playing field by requiring States to cover community services 
under their Medicaid Programs.
  With appropriate community-based services and supports, we can 
transform the lives of people with disabilities. They can live with 
family and friends, not strangers. They can be the neighbor down the 
street, not the person warehoused down the hall. This is not asking too 
much. This is the bare minimum that we should demand for every human 
being.
  The ADA is to people with disabilities what the Emancipation 
Proclamation was to African-Americans. But one of the great shames of 
American history is that it took a full century from the Emancipation 
Proclamation until the Civil Rights Act actually made good on Lincoln's 
promise.
  I say to my colleagues, we cannot allow history to repeat itself. We 
cannot wait a century for people with disabilities to be fully 
integrated into our society and our workforce. We need to fulfill the 
full promise of the ADA now.
  Yes, it takes money to pay for personal attendant services. But I 
think of my nephew, Kelly, who became a paraplegic while serving in the 
military. The Veterans Administration pays for his attendant services. 
This allows Kelly to get up in the morning, go to work, operate his 
small business, pay his taxes, and be a fully contributing member of 
our society.
  That is what every person with a disability wants. The costs of 
MiCASSA would be largely offset by the benefit of having people with 
disabilities who are employed, paying taxes, and contributing to the 
economy.
  It is a disgrace that, as I said, more than 60 percent of people with 
disabilities do not have jobs. Right now, they are unemployed and 
dependent. We want them employed and independent. This would be a boon 
for them. It would be a boon for the economy. And it would be a boon 
for the budget.
  So I cannot think of a better way to celebrate the 16th anniversary 
of the ADA than by rededicating ourselves to completing the ADA 
revolution. This means passing MiCASSA. This means passing the 
Promoting Wellness for Individuals with Disabilities Act. It means 
giving people with disabilities not just the right to be independent 
and have a job but the wherewithal to be independent and hold a job.
  Mr. President, one final thought: In sign language, there is a 
wonderful sign for the word ``America.'' It is this: all the fingers in 
one hand joined tightly together, with the other hand tracing a circle 
around the joined fingers. This describes an America for all, where we 
are not separate, where no one is left out, and we are all embraced by 
a circle, the circle of the American family.
  For centuries, Americans with disabilities were tragically left out 
of that circle. Our American family was not yet whole, not yet fully 
inclusive. The passage of the ADA 16 years ago rectified that. It 
brought everyone, including people with disabilities, into the circle. 
It made our American family--at last--complete.
  That is the historic achievement we celebrate today. That is the 
historic achievement that we must safeguard for generations to come. 
One America. One inclusive American family that respects the dignity, 
the value, and the civil rights of all, including Americans with 
disabilities.

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