Today marks the 20th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The Act gives civil rights protections to individuals with disabilities. It guarantees equal opportunity for people with disabilities in public
accommodations, commercial facilities, employment, transportation, state and
local government services and telecommunications.
The ADA did not garner a lot of attention when it was signed, which is slightly surprising. In 2008, the U.S. Census Bureau stated there were 54 million people in the U.S. with a disability; 11 million of them needing personal assistance with everyday activities. To give you an idea of the ADA’s impact, in 1995 less than 40 percent of buses in the country were lift- or ramp-equipped, and by 2008, 98 percent had lifts for ramps.
The <a href=”http://www.bestdentalplans.com”>best way to understand the ADA’s impact is to hear stories from the people it has helped. That’s why the Disability.gov Blog has been running “100 Days to the ADA” that features disabled citizens writing about how the ADA has changed their lives in very personal posts. For instance, in Thursday’s post a gentleman wrote about how researching the ADA for a paper helped pull him out of his depression.
Do you know anyone who has been personally affected by the ADA?