Tuesday, July 21, 2015

Watch President Obama speak about the importance of the Americans with Disabilities Act on its 25th anniversary

On July 20, 2015, President Obama delivers remarks in the East Room of the White House celebrating the 25th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act. July 20, 2015.

The YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKyBrk6ntaM

Some of the media coverage of the ADA 25th anniversary in the last few weeks:


ADA 25 Chicago
State funding for students with disabilities
ECS, 6.26.15
About 13 percent of all public school students receive special educational services and state spending for these students is rising.1 In Michigan, for example, spending rose 60 percent from 2000 to 2010.2 While service costs have been increasing, the share of the costs covered by federal funding has been decreasing.

Disabled athletes can compete in swimming, track in Illinois
Pantagraph, 6.24.15
CHICAGO (AP) -- Disabled prep student athletes will be given full opportunities to compete in certain sports under a settlement with the Illinois High School Association that Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan announced Wednesday.

IHSA settlement could mean more opportunities for athletes with disabilities
Chicago Tribune, 6.24.15
Lake Forest High School swimmer Ana Kohout had a meet for the ages last November, when she won two events and finished second in two more at the state championships. Such results usually would yield a huge number of points for her team, but in her case, Lake Forest got nothing.

Break down the barriers facing disabled students
CNN, 6.26.15
(CNN)It's not always a label you're born with. Sometimes, being disabled is something that happens to you over time, after years of living a healthy life.

Disability Acceptance and Access
IEET, 6.27.15
At almost any minute of any day, your life could change drastically. Our bodies are fragile, our destinies determined second-by-second. Snap your fingers. That’s how suddenly what you have come to expect for yourself, or a member of your family, could change as the result of an illness or accident. What would it mean in terms of work, mobility, relationship, identity? How quickly or slowly would you adapt to a drastically new state of reality?

For a Child with a Learning Disability, There’s Such a Thing As Too Much Help
New York Times, 6.25.15
As a kindergartner in a large public school, my son, who has a language-based learning disability, was mainstreamed in a general education classroom and shadowed throughout the day by an aide, or paraprofessional.

Whitewater's Studio 84 connects people with disabilities to art
GazetteXtra, 6.28.15
WHITEWATER—Kelly Gunn never thought her dream of publishing a children's book she wrote and illustrated would come true. http://www.gazettextra.com/20150628/whitewaters_studio_84_connects_people_with_disabilities_to_art

Improved communications included in bill to protect people with disability, reforms pass SA Lower House
ABC, 6.28.15
Alternative communication methods and an assistant to help people with a disability communicate during court cases are just two reforms included in a bill that has passed South Australia's Lower House.

The ADA at 25: Disability by the numbers
Business Management, 6.24.15
On July 26, 1990, President George H.W. Bush signed into law the Americans with Disabilities Act, which prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities in employment, as well as transportation, public accommodations, commercial facilities, telecommunications and state and local government services.

5 Lessons I’ve Learned from People Who Stare at My Daughter
Time, 6.29.15
They probably don't intend to be rude or mean, so I've learned to give them grace, and to teach them.

Deborah Kendrick: Those with disabilities don’t need cure to be whole
Columbus Dispatch, 6.29.15
Any seasoned disability-rights advocate will understand that it is a joke when I quip that one place we are always first served is at the doctor’s office.

State To Require Cameras In Special Ed Classrooms
Disability Scoop, 6.29.15
In what’s believed to be a first, a new law in Texas will require schools to install cameras upon request in classrooms serving students with disabilities.

LIGHTHOUSE PRESCHOOL BLENDS CHILDREN OF VARYING ABILITIES INTO ONE CLASSROOM 
ABC 7, 6.28.15
CHICAGO (WLS) -- More educators are recognizing the importance of early-childhood education, beginning with preschool.

Camp teaches those with disabilities to ride bicycles
NWI Times, 6.25.15
PORTER TOWNSHIP | Elaine Reeves Haywood came from Chicago to Boone Grove High School with one goal in mind: to teach her son, Malcolm, to ride a bike.

Dance places those with special needs into fun social setting
Chicago Tribune, 6.28.15
Because they enjoy dancing so much, Jefferson Bryant and Darwin Leaks, consumers of Tradewinds Services, rarely sat down during the recent Social Dance for people with special needs. Dozens of others joined them on the dance floor at the Jean Shepherd Center in Hammond during the event sponsored by Friends and Family of Northwest Indiana.

ADA at 25: The changing face of access
Chicago Tribune, 6.25.15
The Americans with Disabilities Act will be 25 years old on July 26 and those who have labored to develop it and raise consciousness of it continue to fret over continuing barriers to transportation; employment and communication.

Offshoot to Penguin Project allows adults with developmental disabilities opportunities to perform
Journal Star, 6.26.15
EAST PEORIA — When Illinois Central College decided to start an adult version of the Penguin Project, founder Dr. Andy Morgan was overjoyed.

Americans with Disabilities Act Turns 25, Worcester to Celebrate on Saturday
Go Local Worcester, 6.26.15
For the 25th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the City of Worcester will be holding a celebration on Saturday. It will go from 12:00 PM to 4:00 PM at Union Station, 2 Washington Square in Worcester. Enacted in 1990, the ADA is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities in all areas of public life, including jobs, schools, transportation, and all public and private places that are open to the general public. The purpose of the law is to make sure that people with disabilities have the same rights and opportunities as everyone else.

Celebrate ADA, freedom for all
Missoulian, 6.28.15
July is a month when we celebrate our freedom as a country and as individuals, and recommit to protecting liberty for ourselves and our loved ones. Not only is it the month in which the Declaration of Independence was signed, but it is also the month in which the Americans with Disabilities Act was signed in 1990.

Looming ADA rules could affect millions of websites
Sun-Sentinel, 6.26.15
Is your website fully accessible to the disabled?

ADA: 25 Years of Changing America and Inspiring the World
Philadelphia News, 6.27.15
“The day I cast my vote for the ADA was one of my proudest days as a United States Senator. We knew it would lead to great changes in America. Only through time have we come to realize how important the ADA is internationally.”
– Secretary of State John Kerry

ADA made US a better place
Columbus Dispatch, 6.27.15
It has been 25 years this July since President George H. W. Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act into law.

Making history with the Disability Pride Parade
The Villager, 6.25.15
As we come together to celebrate the achievements of the L.G.B.T. community this month, get ready to witness the pride of the disability community.

EEOC's Proposed ADA Wellness Plan Rule Elicits Critical Comments From All Sides
BNA, 6.29.15
June 26 — The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission under the Americans with Disabilities Act should permit employers to offer the same financial incentives for participation in workplace wellness programs that are currently available under the Affordable Care Act and its implementing regulations, congressional Republicans and multiple business groups said in comments submitted to the commission.