Newsletter on Americans with Disabilities Act

Opinion:

ADA Myths 14 Years Later
"We cannot afford to take the ADA for granted. Although attitudes about people with disabilities are generally improving, myths and ignorance linger -- and often influence the judges, policymakers, employers and others who impact our lives. Fourteen years ago, we changed the law. Now, we must continue to change hearts and minds."

Headlines:

Soldiers Speak Out: Disability System Criticized
The military's system for compensating soldiers who become sick, injured or wounded can be as unforgiving as the battlefield: Fewer than one in 10 applicants receives the long-term disability payments they request.

Fewer Federal Employees with Disabilities
The number of federal employees with severe disabilities has declined by nearly 20 percent over the last decade.

Report: Mentally ill teens 'warehoused' in jails
Thousands of mentally ill youths in the U.S. are unnecessarily put in juvenile detention centers to await mental health treatment.

Integration Delayed for People with Disabilities
Despite the Supreme Court limits on segregating individuals disabilities, the effort to move people out of large institutions and into small community homes had been sluggish and uneven.

Disability Law News:

Court Denies Minister's Disability Discrimination Claim
The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the First Amendment bars an Arizona Methodist minister's claim that his church illegally refused to accommodate his attention deficit disorder and other disabilities.

Judge Orders N.Y. Police to Review AIDS Policy
A Manhattan judge has ordered the police department's medical board to rethink its "irrational" and "perplexing" decision to deny disability benefits to a police officer who says she contracted the AIDS virus on the job.

Lawyers with Disabilities Face Employment Discrimination
A California State Bar survey, conducted in a six-month period last year, found that lawyers with disabilities face high unemployment, a shortage of services, resistance to reasonable accommodations and "a surplus of skepticism."

Action Alert:

Texas GOP Calls for Dismantling of the ADA
Action is urgently needed to contact President Bush and the Texas Republican Party and tell them to reverse their call for an amendment to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) which would eliminate protections for millions of citizens with disabilities.

People in the News:

Marca Bristo Delivers Convention Speech
On the 14th anniversary of the ADA, Marca Bristo spoke at the Democratic National Convention in Boston. "We have made great strides, yet the real promise of the ADA -- inclusion, independence and equality of opportunity -- eludes many of us."

Hugh Gallagher, Disability Crusader Dies
Hugh G. Gallagher wrote an early civil rights law affecting people with disabilities. He made disability rights not only his agenda but the agenda of America.

William Brown, Lane Attorney, on the ADA
"Much remains to be done," was the message of a keynote address at the FDR estate by William Brown, the attorney who successfully argued a landmark Supreme Court Decision, Tennessee v. Lane.

Juliette Rizzo is new Ms. Wheelchair America
Juliette Rizzo of Maryland was crowned Ms. Wheelchair America 2005. She will travel the country for the next year to speak and advocate on behalf of the more than 50 millions Americans with disabilities.

Events and Organizations:

ADAPT at National Governors Meeting in Seattle
ADAPT blocked intersections around the Westin Hotel headquarters of the National Governors Association (NGA) summer meeting in Seattle for five hours before Pennsylvania Governor Edward Rendell agreed to introduce ADAPT's long term care resolution to the NGA membership.

Inaugural Disability Pride Parade in Chicago
The first International Disability Pride Parade was launched in Chicago on Sunday, July 18. Disabled peoples, their floats, their cars, their wheelchairs, their service dogs, and their friends all marched, rolled, and danced in a united show of pride.

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