A Future Retrospective?

CHANGE & THE ADA—Past, Present, & Future Thoughts

So… after  considerable musing about  the 21^st birthday of the ADA--- thinking  back to the days before the ADA and then wondering what the future holds-- I have come to three conclusions. 

(1)Things Change—(2) People Change Things & (3)What Changes is our Responsibility

Things Change--Give or take a year—(once you get to be my age they all become a blur) the ADA is two decades old.  Two decades before that around about 1970 the average price of gas was about 35 cents a gallon (unless there was a price war going on then it was about 20 cents a gallon. A postage stamp would run you a whopping six pennies.  The average price of a house was about $23,000 and the Dow Jones closed the year at a towering 840 or so. 

In 1990 gas prices were creeping above a dollar nationwide.  The average house was now $123,000 or so, and the ADA (remember the ADA—that’s what I’m writing about) came into law.  Yesterday, I felt a bit of joy when I saw gas for $3.49 a gallon—you see what I’m saying—things change.  Oh yeah, I also rode a bus that had a lift, four places for people who use chairs, and counted 33 curb cuts—none of which were there in 1990 (as far as I could tell). 

People Change Things--So… these changes in accessibility did they come about because throngs of people wanted them?  Probably not.  Probably only one or two people here or there reminded others of the ADA and our right to access.  But these curbs didn’t cut themselves and the bus designers didn’t sit around and just one day say “well this bus either needs a disco ball or a ramp which should we try?”  People with disabilities exercised the rights assured in the ADA and made this happen.  I think it would be really appropriate to remember Mead’s quote here.  "Never doubt that a small group of concerned citizens can change the world. Indeed it's the only thing that ever has.” 

What Changes is our Responsibility—In the two decades before and since ADA things have changed and people have changed them so what’s next?  I don’t know.  We might not be able to make every bus, every house, every store, every school, or every restaurant accessible.  One thing we can do, however, is work on two attitudes at a time.  You thought I was going to say one at a time? We can work on the attitude of people who believe access is not really that important and we can also work on our attitude that sometimes leaves the “heavy lifting” up to others.  This is our responsibility- and so I close with a Justin Dart quote that serves as an eloquent reminder.  “I propose that we of the disability community lead the revolution of empowerment... [this] is not empty rhetoric. There is a distinct and vital difference between society/government that empowers people, and a society/government that provides for them and regulates them for their own good...empowerment is when government joins with business, labor, religion, and individual citizens to guarantee every person the tool to govern, to produce and [to] live the best life possible for self and for all...we [PWDs] have unique knowledge and experience to offer. We have the responsibility to lead.” 
COME JOIN US AS WE CONTINUE TO LEAD THE REVOLUTION JULY 26^TH 2011