Countdown begins for 35-year anniversary of key legislation protecting those with disabilities
Signed by then-President George H.W. Bush on July 26, 1990, the Americans with Disabilities Act was a game-changing development for those living with a disability.
The law prohibits discrimination against anyone with disabilities in all areas of life and society.
The ADA continues to be a critical piece of legislation with its impact on accessibility and inclusion for those with disabilities, according to Ann Deschamps, director of the Mid-Atlantic ADA Center in Rockville, Maryland.
“The ADA has broken down a lot of barriers,” Deschamps told WTOP. “When I was growing up, ‘disability’ was for people who were blind, people who were deaf. Today, one in four people, according to the (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), has a disability.”
Deschamps said with all the advances that have been made for all Americans with the ADA, she recognizes much work remains to be done, especially in the area of education of some populations about what the law does and was intended for.
“The No. 1 barrier for people with disabilities is attitudes,” Deschamps said. “(Some) still equate disability as ‘not able,’ which we know that is not the truth.”
Deschamps said that because nothing is clear cut when it comes to defining disability, every case has to be considered on its own merits and challenges.
“The most common answer to any ADA question is, ‘it depends,'” she said. “That’s why we’re here, to provide free technical assistance, answering the public’s questions.”
She said the latest development that’s coming soon is new web accessibility guidelines .
“There are a lot of resources online that can help developers create accessible apps and accessible websites,” Deschamps said.
“It’s so important that you think about accessibility from the very beginning as opposed to developing your website or developing your app and then saying, ‘How do we make this accessible to somebody who is blind or someone who uses a screen reader?’ … You have to think of it ahead of time, and then you can build the accessibility features into the app or the website.”
Anyone who has questions about the ADA can call 800-949-4232 or go to adainfo.org.