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FEMALE NARRATOR: UW-Madison Disability Resources Training.
Module 1.
Disability Law, Policy, and The Civil Rights Movement.
The struggle for civil rights for people with disabilities
is deeply intertwined with the civil rights movements for
other disenfranchised communities, including people
of color and women.
Many of the earliest civil rights laws governing
citizenship and basic human rights are applicable in the
struggle of people with disabilities to enjoy an equal
opportunity to fully participate in society.
In the early 20th century, initial legislation focused on
vocational rehabilitation and return to civilian employment
for World War I disabled veterans.
This 1918 legislation, followed by the Social
Security Act of 1935, paved the way for broader
protections and governmental assistance to all individuals
with disabilities.
In the early 1970s, three significant milestones in the
disability civil rights movement were reached.
First, a federal court ruled that, "Every child, no matter
the nature or severity of the disability, was entitled to a
free, appropriate public education." Second, a new
federal law provided that no handicapped individual could
be excluded from, denied the benefits of, or discriminated
against under any program or activity receiving federal
financial assistance.
Finally, Public Law 94-142 required "A free and
appropriate public education in the 'least restrictive
environment'," which led to the inclusion of students with
disabilities in mainstream, K-12, educational settings.
These laws, and other landmark civil rights laws providing
protection against discrimination on the basis of
race and gender, laid the groundwork for the Americans
with Disabilities Act in 1990.
The ADA provided protection from discrimination on the
basis of disability and the rights to inclusion and
participation in public programs and services.
The ADA also broadened protection to include private
entities, and led to such significant changes as, the
requirement for all public and private transportation to be
accessible, the development of telecommunications systems for
the deaf, and the establishment of minimum
accessibility standards for the design, construction, and
alteration of buildings and facilities.
In 1998, Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act was enacted
to eliminate barriers in information technology, open
new opportunities for people with disabilities, and
encouraged development of technologies that will help
achieve these goals.
The Web Accessibility Initiative developed
strategies, guidelines, and resources to help make the web
accessible to people with disabilities.
This Initiative is part of the World Wide Web Consortium, an
international community that develops open standards to
ensure the long-term growth of the web.
Another ADA amendment, in 2008, averted a trend toward
narrowing the legal definition of disability.
Instead, the ADA as amended, expanded the protections of
the original ADA to include more individuals with less
severe impairments.
It clarifies the original anti-discriminatory intent of
the law and makes it easier to determine disability status.
Additionally, current law considers even impairments
that are in remission or are episodic to be disabilities,
if the impairment would substantially limit a major
activity when active, for example, cancer, epilepsy, or
post-traumatic stress disorder.
Not everyone with an impairment or medical
condition is protected by the law.
To be protected, a person must show that he or she has a
disability in one of three ways.
First, there must be a physical or mental condition
that substantially limits a major life activity, including
walking, talking, seeing, hearing, learning, reading,
concentrating, communicating, and thinking.
Under current law, disabilities may also include
substantial limits to major bodily functions, such as
functions of the immune system, cell growth,
digestive, bladder and bowel functions, neurological and
brain functions, respiratory and circulatory functions,
endocrine functions, or reproductive functions.
Second, a person may be disabled if there's a history
of a disability, such as cancer that is in remission.
And third, a person with even a minor impairment is
disabled, as long as the impairment lasts, or is
expected to last, six months or more.
Once disability status is confirmed, an individual is
protected from discrimination on the basis of disability.
Following the disability determination, a separate
assessment of a need for accommodation is conducted.
The purpose of an accommodation is to provide
the individual with an equal opportunity to participate in
the same program services or activities available to others
in the community.
Accommodations may be provided specifically to an individual,
for example, a sign language interpreter.
Or an accommodation may be incorporated into the
environment, as in the cases of curb cuts, accessible web
pages, and automatic door openers.
Adaptations and accommodations that are intentionally built
into the environment are examples of universal design.
Universal design makes products and environments that
are usable to the greatest extent by the
widest array of users.
The benefits of universal design are not limited to
individuals with disabilities.
There are many examples of universal design in daily use
by the general population.
For example, curb cuts benefit parents with baby strollers.
And open captioning is commonplace in venues such as
a sports bar, where multiple TV screens are provided for
simultaneous viewing.
CATHY TRUEBA: Accommodations for disabilities are intended
to be outcome-neutral.
That is, an accommodation should create equal access.
The laws for disabled Americans are not intended to
confer advantage, lower performance standards, or
guarantee success.
But when the accessibility rights of the individual are
balanced with the essential function of the task or
activity, all people then have an equal opportunity to fully
participate in society.
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