Tag Archives: ADA25

ADA25

Fittingly, I will be spending part of this 25th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act at work.

   
It is a good reminder for me to step back from obsessing over career trajectories and picking up more shifts and so on to think about the fact that it is in part because of the disability rights movement that I am working in the first place – that I was able to attain the education that enabled me to get this job in the first place, that such things as “reasonable accommodations” in the workplace even exist.

I don’t work in the disability field, and that is partially thanks to the ADA. Even in the mid-2000s, the operating assumption was that I would choose that path. The ADA showed that people with disabilities can and do work in every sector, in every environment. That is part of the impact of the ADA.

So that is how I will celebrate, in the mundane rhythm of work and life. As everyone should be able to. 

24th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act

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The ADA was signed 24 years ago today. While I was definitely too young to remember life pre-ADA for people with disabilities, I know I have benefited from growing up in a post- ADA and post- IDEA society. It’s not perfect for people with disabilities, of course, there are still huge barriers and challenges – but progress has been made and is only continuing.

I loved the message of this graphic – it’s so true! Disability rights are indeed civil rights.