Disability March in New York on July 25
Nadina LaSpina
[Forwarded by Janina Sajka -- jan...@netcom.com]
DISABILITY INDEPENDENCE DAY
MARCH & RALLY
SUNDAY, JULY 25, 1993
NEW YORK CITY
On Sunday, July 25, 1993, the community of persons with disabilities of
the Greater New York area, our friends and allies will come together in an
historic demonstration of pride and unity to commemorate the third
anniversary of the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act (7/26/90).
Join us! Let us celebrate together our emancipation from centuries of
isolation and humiliation! Let us show our determination to continue the
fight until we all achieve full equality at every level of this society!
Let us tell the world we are proud of what the disability rights movement
has achieved, and proud of our individual and common identities as persons
with disabilities.
Please, read our Platform (attached below). Better yet, upload it,
duplicate it and distribute it. Do the same with this announcement. Spread
the word. We can and will make the DISABILITY INDEPENDENCE DAY MARCH a
truly momentous event.
Information on site and time will be provided soon. You can contact:
Nadina LaSpina
Internet: las...@murray.fordham.edu
Telephone: (718) 225-5651
with your questions, thoughts and suggestions.
===============================================================================
PLATFORM
FOR THE SECOND ANNUAL
DISABILITY INDEPENDENCE DAY MARCH
Sunday, July 25, 1993
I am strongly committed to full implementation
and enforcement of the ADA, because I believe
our entire nation will share in the economic
and social benefits that will result from full
participation of Americans with disabilities
in our society...
My agenda for our country and for people with
disabilities goes beyond full implementation
of the ADA. I am committed to fighting for a
national health care system which provides
universal access to affordable, quality health
care, with more options for personal
assistance services for the elderly and for
persons who are disabled.
(Letter from President Elect Bill Clinton to
the ADA Employment Summit. December 1, 1992.)
The text of the ADA begins with the following "FINDINGS AND
PURPOSES" (sec.2) which we, the community of persons with
disabilities, wish to re-endorse and re-affirm.
a) FINDINGS. - The Congress finds that -
(1) some 43,000,000 Americans have one or more physical or
mental disabilities, and this number is increasing as the
population as a whole is growing older;
(2) historically, society has tended to isolate and segregate
individuals with disabilities, and, despite some improvements,
such forms of discrimination against individuals with
disabilities continue to be a serious and pervasive social
problem;
(3) discrimination against individuals with disabilities
persists in such critical areas as employment, housing, public
accommodations, education, transportation, health services,
voting, and access to public services;
(4) unlike individuals who have experienced discrimination on
the basis of race, color, sex, national origin, religion, or
age, individuals who have experienced discrimination on the
basis of disability have often had no legal recourse to
redress such discrimination;
(5) individuals with disabilities continually encounter
various forms of discrimination, including outright
intentional exclusion, the discriminatory effects of
architectural, transportation and communication barriers,
overprotective rules and policies, failure to make
modifications to existing facilities and practices,
exclusionary qualification standards and criteria,
segregation, and relegation to lesser services, programs,
activities, benefits, jobs, and other opportunities;
(6) census data, national polls, and other studies have
documented that people with disabilities, as a group, occupy
an inferior status in our society, and are severely
disadvantaged socially, vocationally, economically, and
educationally;
(7) individuals with disabilities are a discrete and insular
minority who have been faced with restrictions and
limitations, subjected to a history of purposeful unequal
treatment, and relegated to a position of political
powerlessness in our society, based on characteristics that
are beyond the control of such individuals and resulting from
stereotypic assumptions not truly indicative of the individual
ability of such individuals to participate in, and contribute
to, society;
(8) the Nation's proper goals regarding individuals with
disabilities are to assure equality of opportunity, full
participation, independent living, and economic self-
sufficiency for such individuals; and
(9) the continuing existence of unfair and unnecessary
discrimination and prejudice denies people with disabilities
the opportunity to compete on an equal basis and to pursue
those opportunities for which our free society is justifiably
famous, and costs the United States billions of dollars in
unnecessary expenses resulting from dependency and
nonproductivity.
(b) PURPOSE. - It is the purpose of this Act -
(1) to provide a clear and comprehensive national mandate for
the elimination of discrimination against individuals with
disabilities;
(2) to provide clear, strong, consistent, enforceable
standards addressing discrimination against individuals with
disabilities;
(3) to ensure that the Federal Government plays a central role
in enforcing the standards established in this Act on behalf
of individuals with disabilities; and
(4) to invoke the sweep of congressional authority, including
the power to enforce the fourteenth amendment and to regulate
commerce, in order to address the major areas of
discrimination faced day-to-day by people with disabilities.
The avowed purpose of the Disability Independence Day March
is:
- to commemorate the third anniversary of the signing into law of
the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) on July 26, 1990;
- to celebrate our emergence as a powerful political, economic, and
creative force in the mosaic of the American mainstream; and
- to signal our determination to continue to fight for equality at
every level of this society.
Our first Disability Independence March was held on July 26,
1992. It focused on "Employment", Title I of the ADA, which went
into effect on that date. Specifically, we confronted the City of
New York with its failure to modify its Affirmative Employment Plan
to include goals and timetables for the employment of qualified
persons with disabilities. Inasmuch as this issue has not yet been
resolved, we are committed to continue the struggle.
The 1993 Disability Independence Day March has a two-fold
theme. One focus is UNIVERSAL COMMUNICATION. Title IV of the ADA,
"Telecommunications", which goes into effect July 26, 1993,
guarantees "to make available to all individuals in the United
States a rapid, efficient, nationwide communication service". This
is a great victory but it only begins to address the vast range of
barriers to communication. Deaf and hard of hearing persons cannot
possibly be equal participants in the mainstream without access to
and participation in a supportive network of services and of
certified and qualified interpreters. Persons with cognitive,
visual, verbal and other disabilities also experience obstacles to
communication. Access to technology is one of the means whereby
these barriers could be minimized. The theme of "Universal
Communication" compels us to find ways of understanding each other
both within the community of persons with disabilities and within
society as a whole.
The other focus of the 1993 Disability Independence Day March
is UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE, which was purposefully omitted from the
ADA. We believe that the community of persons with disabilities
has a critical role to play in the re-examination of the health
care system. Our experiences with access, affordability and
adequacy of the private and public health care systems can provide
consistent and valuable guidelines for policy makers. Access to
health care is a civil rights issue for all people, both with and
without disabilities. Lack of access to health care can create
obstacles to full participation in employment, community activities
and family life. The participants in the Disability Independence
Day March take the position that "Universal Health Care" is a right
not a privilege. We place particular emphasis on personal
assistance services (PAS), and on self determination in all
decisions concerning treatment and rehabilitation. We support
health care reform based on principles of non discrimination,
comprehensiveness, appropriateness, equity and efficiency.
In conclusion, with this Disability Independence Day March, we
are calling upon persons with all types of disabilities to come
together to develop a common agenda; to create a unified, coherent,
all-inclusive vision of the future. Without unity, the ADA will
forever remain a hollow promise. Without pride in our individual
and common identities as persons with disabilities, there can be no
progress. We can and will start the unifying process NOW.
We have a window of opportunity that will not
open again in our lifetimes. Let us join
together, members of the disability community,
business, labor and government. Let us work
together to keep the promise of the ADA and
the American Dream for all our citizens.
(Justin Dart)
For more information contact:
Nadina LaSpina
Internet: las...@murray.fordham.edu
Telephone: (718) 225-5651