{"id":10422,"date":"2020-07-25T00:41:59","date_gmt":"2020-07-25T07:41:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/?p=10422"},"modified":"2020-07-28T13:18:05","modified_gmt":"2020-07-28T20:18:05","slug":"message-of-the-day-81","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/?p=10422","title":{"rendered":"Message of the Day: Human Rights"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Fight for Equal Rights Continues<\/em>, 30th anniversary, ADA, July 26, 2020, Smithsonian<\/span><\/p>\n

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Thirty years ago tomorrow,\u00a0the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was signed into law on July 26, 1990.<\/p>\n

It was the first time in history in any nation that such a protection under law had been created.Like all struggles for equality, people have fought for it and died for it, for many years.<\/p>\n

And like all struggles for equality, they are all interconnected, and when they are not united in fully supporting each other, there is a price to pay.<\/p>\n

It’s not a day to be passed over, yet in the main, it will be, in part because of everything else going on.<\/p>\n

So we won’t let it be.<\/p>\n

Everything else going on couldn’t be more interrelated with the 61 million Americans<\/em> and one billion people on earth<\/em>\u00a0living with some form of disability.<\/p>\n

They are, of course, disproportionately impacted by Covid-19, which continues to grow with over 16 million cases and over 650,000 deaths, which has become increasingly personal for us as we write.<\/p>\n

The Smithsonian Magazine published an important and enlightening article yesterday,\u00a0The ADA Was a Monumental Achievement 30 Years Ago, but the Fight for Equal Rights Continues.<\/em><\/p>\n

The article starts:<\/p>\n

For disability rights leader Judy Heumann<\/a>, the tumult of 2020\u2014first the COVID-19 pandemic, then a reignited movement against racial injustice\u2014underscores just how much work remains to be done.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cEverything\u2019s kind of being thrown into the pot right now, right?\u201d she says.<\/em><\/p>\n

Heumann has been at the forefront of the fight for equality for disabled Americans. She relishes the hard-won successes but has no misconceptions about how looking back at 30 years since the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was signed on July 26, 1990, much progress still has to be made.<\/em><\/p>\n

That day, the United States became the first country to pass comprehensive protections for the basic civil rights of people with disabilities, outlawing discrimination against individuals with disabilities in schools, employment, transportation and other key parts of public life. The ADA would also remake the physical environment of the country by mandating accessibility in public spaces\u2014entry ramps, Braille on signs, automatic doors, curb cuts and lifts on city buses and other measures that make it easier for the more than 61 million Americans<\/a> living with disabilities to participate fully in society.<\/em><\/p>\n

Heumann, who contracted polio as a baby and has used a wheelchair most of her life, grew up in Brooklyn, where the local public school refused to let her attend because of her disability. Protections for the civil rights of people with disabilities in those days were limited\u2014neither the 1964 Civil Rights Act nor the 1965 Voting Rights Act had included people with disabilities as a protected class.<\/em><\/p>\n

Her first foray into activism came in 1970, when Heumann sued the Board of Education of the City of New York to become the city\u2019s first teacher who uses a wheelchair. She later moved to Berkeley, California, where she worked alongside activist Ed Roberts<\/a> at the Center for Independent Living, a pioneering home for people with disabilities founded on the principles of community and self-empowerment.<\/em><\/p>\n

In 1977, she, fellow activists Kitty Cone<\/a>, Brad Lomax<\/a> and others led a grueling sit-in<\/a> at a federal building in San Francisco to demand that the government enforce Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act<\/a>, which stated that federally funded organizations could not discriminate against people with disabilities. (The new Netflix documentary Crip Camp<\/a>, produced by Barack and Michelle Obama, includes inspiring documentary footage of the protest.)<\/em><\/p>\n

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The 504 sit-in united Americans with different kinds of disabilities\u2014people who were hearing or visually impared, or who used wheelchairs or had mental disabilities\u2014in an unprecedented way, Heumann says. \u201cIt empowered us,\u201d she recalls. \u201cSimply put, we were slowly moving from being a rag-tag, unorganized group of disabled people \u2026 to a cross-disability movement. We were really recognizing that it was possible for us to envision a day when barriers of discrimination could be torn down\u2026 Without the voices of disabled individuals, we would not have gotten 504, the way it ultimately came out, nor would we have been able to get the ADA.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The full article and link will follow.<\/p>\n

We then post the article on the issue from CNN posted late tonight, titled:\u00a0‘Crip Camp’: Where disability rights stand 30 years after these kids fought for recognition and changed the world.<\/em><\/p>\n

The latter article also covers a new documentary on Netflix on the above, with President Barak Obama and Michelle Obama as co-producers, titled: Crip Camp. <\/em>We highly recommend it.<\/p>\n

Here are the articles and links:<\/p>\n

“The ADA Was a Monumental Achievement 30 Years Ago, but the Fight for Equal Rights Continues”<\/a><\/p>\n

By Nora McGreevy, July 24, 2020<\/p>\n

A look back at the fight for disability rights comes with the reckoning of the challenges left unsolved<\/em><\/p>\n

\"A<\/span>
A group of activists, including Judy Heumann (center, with yellow stockings) protest for the enforcement of Section 504 of the 1973 Rehabilitation Act, in April of 1977. Later that month, the protesters would occupy a federal building in San Fransisco in protest in a sit-in that lasted more than 25 days. (Photo by Wally McNamee \/ CORBIS \/ via Getty Images)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For disability rights leader Judy Heumann<\/a>, the tumult of 2020\u2014first the COVID-19 pandemic, then a reignited movement against racial injustice\u2014underscores just how much work remains to be done.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything\u2019s kind of being thrown into the pot right now, right?\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Heumann has been at the forefront of the fight for equality for disabled Americans. She relishes the hard-won successes but has no misconceptions about how looking back at 30 years since the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was signed on July 26, 1990, much progress still has to be made.<\/p>\n

That day, the United States became the first country to pass comprehensive protections for the basic civil rights of people with disabilities, outlawing discrimination against individuals with disabilities in schools, employment, transportation and other key parts of public life. The ADA would also remake the physical environment of the country by mandating accessibility in public spaces\u2014entry ramps, Braille on signs, automatic doors, curb cuts and lifts on city buses and other measures that make it easier for the more than 61 million Americans<\/a> living with disabilities to participate fully in society.<\/p>\n

Heumann, who contracted polio as a baby and has used a wheelchair most of her life, grew up in Brooklyn, where the local public school refused to let her attend because of her disability. Protections for the civil rights of people with disabilities in those days were limited\u2014neither the 1964 Civil Rights Act nor the 1965 Voting Rights Act had included people with disabilities as a protected class.<\/p>\n

Her first foray into activism came in 1970, when Heumann sued the Board of Education of the City of New York to become the city\u2019s first teacher who uses a wheelchair. She later moved to Berkeley, California, where she worked alongside activist Ed Roberts<\/a> at the Center for Independent Living, a pioneering home for people with disabilities founded on the principles of community and self-empowerment.<\/p>\n

\"A
Protester Ken Stein made this poster during the historic 504 sit-in at the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare offices in San Francisco. The sit-in lasted more than 25 days. (Smithsonian National Museum of American History)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In 1977, she, fellow activists Kitty Cone<\/a>, Brad Lomax<\/a> and others led a grueling sit-in<\/a> at a federal building in San Francisco to demand that the government enforce Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act<\/a>, which stated that federally funded organizations could not discriminate against people with disabilities. (The new Netflix documentary Crip Camp<\/a><\/em>, produced by Barack and Michelle Obama, includes inspiring documentary footage of the protest.)<\/p>\n

The 504 sit-in united Americans with different kinds of disabilities\u2014people who were hearing or visually impared, or who used wheelchairs or had mental disabilities\u2014in an unprecedented way, Heumann says. \u201cIt empowered us,\u201d she recalls. \u201cSimply put, we were slowly moving from being a rag-tag, unorganized group of disabled people \u2026 to a cross-disability movement. We were really recognizing that it was possible for us to envision a day when barriers of discrimination could be torn down\u2026 Without the voices of disabled individuals, we would not have gotten 504, the way it ultimately came out, nor would we have been able to get the ADA.\u201d<\/p>\n

When President George H.W. Bush finally signed the ADA in 1990, he was flanked by some of the key people who helped its passage, including Justin Dart Jr., the vice chair of the National Council on Disability, who had embarked on an epic nationwide tour to advocate for the legislation just years earlier.<\/p>\n

\"On
George Bush signs the Americans with Disabilities Act on July 26, 1990. Reverend Harold Wilkie, a disability rights advocate, and Sandra Parrino of the National Council on Disability stand behind. Evan Kemp, chairman of the Equal Employment and Opportunity Commission, sits on the President’s right; Justin Dart Jr. sits on his left, wearing a blue and white “ADA” button. (Photo by Fotosearch \/ Getty Images)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWhen it was passed and signed, there was a huge ceremony because it was seen as this amazing national moment, even though the law was imperfect,\u201d says Katherine Ott, the curator in the division of science and medicine at the Smithsonian\u2019s National Museum of American History. \u201cAt the moment, it was one of the happiest days in the 20th century for people with disabilities.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

In the three decades that followed, a new generation of Americans with disabilities, known as the \u201cADA generation,\u201d grew up in a world where their basic rights were protected by the law. But the ADA has its limits.<\/p>\n

Thirty years later, experts say that many of the ADA\u2019s promises of universal accessibility have not come to pass\u2014in part because laws like Section 504 and the ADA are predicated on someone litigating, explains Beth Ziebarth, who directs Access Smithsonian, the branch of the Smithsonian Institution that works to make its museums, zoo and research centers accessible to all.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe mechanism for actually implementing the ADA, in many respects, is the process of somebody with a disability filing a complaint about the lack of accessibility,\u201d Ziebarth says. \u201cThat leads to spotty compliance across the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

For instance, Heumann notes that air travel\u2014an industry not covered by the ADA\u2014has become \u201cworse and worse\u201d for people with disabilities over the years, particularly when it comes to getting motorized wheelchairs in and out of cargo pits. Technology companies, too, often lag behind in providing accessibility measures for users with disabilities\u2014contributing to what\u2019s known as the \u201cdigital divide,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ADA is a very important piece of legislation. But even if it were being implemented as effectively as possible, it still doesn\u2019t address other issues that disabled people are facing,\u201d Heumann says.<\/p>\n

\"A
“I love the ADA” button, circa 1990s (Smithsonian National Museum of American History)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Issues of representation for all people with disabilities\u2014and particularly people of color\u2014are now more a part of the conversation than ever. When protests against racial injustice erupted across the country in May after the killing of George Floyd, many disability activists were quick to point out how issues of disability rights and civil rights for African Americans are interconnected, and sometimes overlooked. Studies estimate that one-third to one-half<\/a> of black Americans killed by the police are experiencing episodes of mental illness or have a disability, although no national database exists to track those statistics, as reporter Abigail Abrams reported for Time<\/em><\/a> last month.<\/p>\n

In June, South Carolina-based disability rights activist Vilissa Thompson watched snapshots of the Black Disabled Lives Matter marches<\/a> in Washington D.C. flood her timeline. \u201cIt was really incredible to see,\u201d Thompson says.<\/p>\n

At 34 years old, Thompson, who is black and uses a wheelchair, feels lucky to have grown up with the ADA. But the disability movement must also reckon with racism, inclusivity and an intersectional understanding of race and disability, she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re going to talk about black liberation or freedom, disability rights have to be involved in the story, and vice versa,\u201d Thompson says.<\/p>\n

On her website, Ramp Your Voice<\/a>, Thompson has written extensively about black leaders in the Disability Rights Movement whose stories are often left out of the historical narrative, activists like Brad Lomax<\/a>, who played a pivotal role in the 504 Sit-In by connecting activists with the Black Panther Party, which provided hot meals to the people stuck in the federal building.<\/p>\n

In 2016, Thompson started the hashtag #DisabilityTooWhite to draw attention to media stories that center white disabled people, which continues to be used to this day: \u201cWe have to understand that black disabled folks have always been a part of both movements, the disability rights movement and the civil rights movement, whether they get acknowledgement or not,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Apart from the noteworthy anniversary, the ADA made news over a conflation of who and what the ADA specifically protects. A fake badge appropriating the ADA as an excuse to avoid wearing face masks\u2014a claim that the Department of Justice disavowed<\/a>\u2014has blossomed on Facebook and Twitter during the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

\u201cInappropriate use of the ADA is not uncommon,\u201d Thompson says. \u201cIt\u2019s upsetting that people are using the ADA in this way to avoid responsibility and what they can do during this time. It\u2019s a grotesque misuse of the mandate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Individuals with disabilities who also have underlying chronic illness are likely at higher risk of severe illness from COVID-19, and those living in nursing homes<\/a> or institutions face higher risks of transmission, Heumann points out. Workers with disabilities have also been disproportionately affected by the financial fallout of the national shutdown, according to initial studies<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The pandemic also brought deep-rooted disparities in medical care against people with disabilities to the fore: in March, for instance, disability rights groups in Washington and Alabama filed complaints against state ventilator rationing plans, as Minyvonne Burke reported for NBC News<\/em><\/a> at the time. These plans suggested that medical professionals could chose to not use ventilators on patients with disabilities in the case of a shortage.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was shades of the eugenics issue<\/a> all over again,\u201d Ziebarth says, referring to the long history of forced sterilization and euthanasia that Americans with disabilities endured, particularly in the late 19th century and early 20th centuries. \u201cThat\u2019s kind of a scary reality: we\u2019re not far away from everything going back to where it was in the early 1900s.”<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

For Ziebarth, it reveals how fragile hard-won progress can be. \u201cWe realize that it\u2019s really important for the younger generations to understand that your rights can be taken away from you,\u201d Ziebarth says. \u201cWe need to be vigilant. Otherwise we can lose everything that people fought so hard for.\u201d<\/p>\n

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. . .<\/strong><\/p>\n

‘Crip Camp’: Where disability rights stand 30 years after these kids fought for recognition and changed the world<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

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By Sandee LaMotte, CNN<\/span><\/p>\n

Sun July 26, 2020<\/p>\n

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(CNN)\u00a0<\/cite>Today it would be unthinkable to nickname a summer getaway for children with disabilities “Crip Camp.”<\/p>\n

Yet that was the nickname given to Camp Jened, a summer camp for children, teens and adults with disabilities that operated in the Catskill Mountains of New York from 1951 to 1977. The camp is the subject of a documentary on the origins of the disability rights movement released earlier this year.<\/p>\n

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At ‘Crip Camp,’ kids were made to feel as if they were worthy, intellegent and able.<\/p>\n

Before Americans began to see the falsehoods and dangers of such stereotypes, it was common to use terms like gimp, deformed, imbecile, freak, retarded and cripple to describe a person with a disability.<\/p>\n

“Today that’s like the ‘N’ word, but that was what you were called in those days. You were seen as crippled and perceived not able to take care of yourself or accomplish things,” said retired Rep. Tony Coelho, who has lived with epilepsy since an accident at age 16.<\/p>\n

A California Democrat, Coelho is an author of the ground-breaking Americans with Disabilities Act,<\/a> which turns 30 on Sunday. The act outlaws discrimination in employment based on physical or mental disability and requires accessibility to buildings and public and private transportation.<\/p>\n

Coelho recalled the emotional March day in 1990 when 60 protesters, including 8-year-old Jennifer Keelan<\/a>, left their wheelchairs to crawl up the 83 steps of the US Capitol unassisted, arriving at the top bloody and bruised but undeterred from their goal of persuading Congress to pass the defining legislation.<\/p>\n

“The young people getting out of their wheelchairs, not able to use their lower extremities, but still crawling up those marble steps … ” said Coelho with obvious emotion.<\/p>\n

“All of a sudden it was visual: The Capitol steps are not inclusive for people in wheelchairs and for people with disabilities. I knew this was going to really change things. We passed the bill in the House by a big margin.”<\/p>\n