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FEMALE NARRATOR: UW-Madison Disability Resources Training.
Module 1.
Disability Law, Policy, and the Civil Rights Movement.
AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Series of photos from the 1960s of
various groups protesting.
FEMALE NARRATOR: 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.
AUDIO DESCRIPTION: 1957 New York Times headline regarding civil
rights gains in the US.
FEMALE NARRATOR: 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.
AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Photo of World War I veterans
working in a shop.
FEMALE NARRATOR: In the early 20th century, initial
legislation focused on vocational rehabilitation and
return to civilian employment for World
War I disabled veterans.
AUDIO DESCRIPTION: 1917 news headline about putting war
cripples back to work.
Followed by President Roosevelt signing the Social
Security Act.
Followed by a '50s photo of a man in a wheelchair in a
living room using a typewriter.
FEMALE NARRATOR: 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."
AUDIO DESCRIPTION: The 1972 federal court case Mills
versus Board of Education.
FEMALE NARRATOR: 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.
AUDIO DESCRIPTION: The 1973 Rehabilitation
Act and Section 504.
FEMALE NARRATOR: 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.
AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Images of news stories regarding civil rights
and disability laws.
And headline that President Bush signed the ADA.
FEMALE NARRATOR: 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.
AUDIO DESCRIPTION: A student uses her laptop with a refreshable
Braille display.
Student writes in a notebook with a smart pen.
FEMALE NARRATOR: In 1998, Section 508 of the
Rehabilitation Act was enacted to eliminate barriers in
information technology, open new opportunities for people
with disabilities, and encourage 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.
AUDIO DESCRIPTION: A student in a wheelchair with her service
dog consults with her McBurney counselor and is seen in a
classroom setting.
FEMALE NARRATOR: 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 programs, services, or activities available to
others in the community.
AUDIO DESCRIPTION: An ASL interpreter signs for a women
in a small classroom.
Followed by a man carrying boxes using an
automatic door opener.
FEMALE NARRATOR: Accommodations may be provided specifically
to an individual, for example
a sign language interpreter or an accommodation may be incorportated
into the environment, as in the cases of curb cuts, accessible web
pages, and automatic door openers.
AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Students using a dorm entry ramp on move in day.
A student uses an adjustable height table.
FEMALE NARRATOR: 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.
AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Parents with a baby stroller use a curb cut.
FEMALE NARRATOR: 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.
AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Cathy Trueba, Assistant Dean of Student Life
and Director of the McBurney Disability Resource Center.
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.
AUDIO DESCRIPTION: McBurney Disability Resource Center.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Video by Media Plus You, LCC.
Executive Producer--
Cathy Trueba.
Producer--
Diane Woodbridge.
Voiceover--Cathy Trueba.
Additional voiceover and audio descriptions--
Debra Claire.
McBurney students and staff appearing in the video--
Debra Clair, Alex Sink, Kyle Loger, Meagan Minster, Branson
Minster, Molly Minster, Terri Oehrlein, Jorge Luis Perez,
Olivia Ramoino, Sam Schmidt, Todd Schwanke, Kate Skarda,
Heather Lipinski Stelljes, Ben Thomas, Cathy Trueba,
Elizabeth van Deslunt, Diane Woodbridge, Kris Wurgler,
Zeynap Yilmaz.
Special Thanks--
Georgiana McBurney Stebnitz.
McBurney Disability Resource Center--
Todd Schwanke.
Department of Economics--
Andres Adella's Lopez.
Department of Social Work--
Anna Haley-Lock.
UW-Madison Division of Information Technology--
Christopher Blair Bundy and John Thompson.
UW-Archives--
Vicki Tobias.
Wisconsin Historical Society--
Tom Olin.
This training series was made possible by many generous
contributions made to the McBurney Center Fund through
the UW Foundation.
For more information about the Center and ways you can offer
support, see www.mcburney.wisc.edu.
Copyright 2012 UW Board of Regents.