ADA & Advocacy – Like Final Exams – Really Never End Mark E Seifarth
In 1979, I was the first student in Kent State University history to give the main commencement address. And while that is needed background, it is not the important point in this introduction. The focal point is the subject of the commencement speech itself – “The Finals are Never Over.”
No more all-nighters, no more waking up late for an exam, or four or five exams in the same week after graduation to be sure – but the journey, the challenges, the aspirations, and yes, the sorrows are never over. In fact, according to my address, they are just beginning for graduates and most others.
Fast forward to July 26, 2024, the 34th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
We need to celebrate our inclusion, opportunities, and equal access for people with disabilities in employment, government, public accommodation, communication, to name a few.
Furthermore, let’s celebrate June 22, 2024, the 25th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court Olmstead Decision concluding that the ADA prohibits unnecessary segregation of people with disabilities in institutions AND have the right to live and receive services in the most appropriate integrated setting in their communities.
For many of us feeling that we now have at least a seat at the table in running our own lives and had earned “nothing about us without us” in our own communities, perhaps, just perhaps, we would have a respite from paternalism, nothing but the medical model, professionals asked about our lives before us, and more.
But after we celebrate, the work continues, the journey continues, and unfortunately sometimes discrimination and separateness still occur.
There also continues to be very positive inclusive movements forward resulting from our education and advocacy. Governor DeWine’s initiative – included in Ohio’s last two-year budget – required appointing at least one person with a disability eligible for services to each of Ohio’s 88 County Boards of Developmental Disabilities (DD) in 2025 and after.
This has increased the discussion and support for ongoing training for all County Board of DD members as to their responsibilities and duties.
Prior to that, Ohio became an Employment First State that presumes all Ohioans, including people with significant disabilities, can and should have the opportunity (and support & training) to work in their communities.
But looking to just some of the challenges ahead in inclusion and fairness:
• The Supreme Court just decided that a homeless person can be ticketed or arrested for sleeping in a public park or public space even though there is no other adequate shelter or affordable place in the community to live or sleep.
• The Supreme Court just overturned a 40-year-old standard for decision making that required federal courts to defer to reasonable agency decisions where federal law is unclear or silent. So, courts will not have to accept expertise from the very agencies that oversee laws when regulations are challenged perhaps weakening those very laws.
• While our veterans have received some coverage for illnesses resulting from burn pits, the need is very high for support of post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury, hearing loss, illness caused by toxic exposure and other injuries
• Accessible, affordable housing for people with disabilities is still unavailable or out or reach in many areas
We are in a time of significant change. In the past, one could argue our lack of rights and inclusion was simple paternalism or we know better than you do. But now in some areas, rights are being reexamined, diminished and taken away. In 2018, U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth and 42 of her Senate colleagues wrote a letter to Senate leadership pledging to block the ADA Education & Reform Act that had passed the U.S. House because it would have undermined enforcement provisions that safeguard accessibility in public accommodations. Senator Duckworth’s advocacy ensured the ADA would not be significantly weakened.
Like Senator Duckworth, we must continue to advocate and educate for equal rights and opportunities, because now we see that rights earned can just as easily be taken away.
Who knew that in 1979 – The Finals Are Never Over – would be even more true today!
Now list the issues most important to you. Education and advocacy continue to be a team effort across an ever-widening need for everyone to be treated with equality and equity. Reach out to support others in their advocacy and learn from them as they learn from you.
The journey and challenges ahead – and need to work together – may be best summed up in this quote from Martin Neimoller, a prominent Lutheran pastor, who spent the last eight years of Nazi rule in Nazi prison and concentration camps – and is perhaps best remembered for his Postwar Statement:
➢ “First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out – because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out – because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out – because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me – and there was no one left to speak for me.”