Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

CNYers With Disabilities, Policy Expert, Reflect on 25 Years of the ADA

Scott Willis
/
WAER News

  The Americans with Disabilities Act turns 25 on Sunday, and one long-time Syracuse disability rights advocate says the ADA amounted to equal rights legislation.

"I know firsthand what is was like to not be able to get a a job, to not be able to go into a public facility and access services like everyone else, to not be able to get on a bus and go anywhere even if I could get a job, there were no curb cuts, we didn't have our civil rights."

Sally Johnston is Advocacy Coordinator at Access CNY, and uses a motorized wheelchair to get around.   So does Karen Gillette, who says she graduated from college when the ADA was signed in 1990.  She says making establishments more accessible also meant greater inclusion of a population that was previously shut out…

"We were forced to go through back alleys by the dumpsters to get into restaurants.  Now we can go through the front door or the side door."

Credit Scott Willis / WAER News
/
WAER News

  Even though the ADA has been in place for 25 years, she and others with disabilities say there’s still a long way to go.  The law was passed before Nick Holzthum was even born, but he knows its significance.  He’s a junior at Syracuse University studying information technology.

"It means I can fall back on the law when  I'm denied access to a  building, either attitudinal or physical barriers.  I'm able to draw on the law as a way to expedite the process of negotiating an accommodation."

Holzthum says he’s had to do that often, even at SU.  For example, he says the bursars and financial aid office have a wheelchair lift, but it hasn’t worked for 14 years.  While most buildings are far more accessible than they used to be, Holzthum and others say the single biggest barrier has been affordable, accessible housing.  Advocates will call more attention to that Wednesday July 29th in the Westcott neighborhood.

THE ADA AS POLICY AND LAW

An expert in disability law and policy at Syracuse University says the ADA has greatly improved inclusion of those with disabilities into daily life since it was signed 25 years ago.  University Professor and Chairman of the Burton Blatt Institute Peter Blanck has studied and written about the ADA and disability rights for decades.  He says there’s always room for improvement.

"The greatest change has to come through attitude change,  which eventually changes cultural norms about full inclusion of people with disabilities, whether its in health care, or transportation, or employment, or any other area for that matter."

ada_pb_web.mp3
University Professor and Chairman of the Burton Blatt Institute at SU Peter Blanck asks us to imagine life without the ADA.

Credit Scott Willis / WAER News
/
WAER News

  SU Junior Nick Holzthum uses a wheelchair, and says some of his best friends and allies used to have discriminatory views of those with disabilities.  

"The attitudes of people still have a ways to go to catch up with the spirit of the law." 

Blanck at the Blatt Institute says it’s Holzthum’s generation that will force change almost circumstantially…

ADA25TH-BLANCK.mp3
BBI Chairman Peter Blanck and SU student Nick Holzthum talk about the change still likely to come under the ADA.

 

   

Scott Willis covers politics, local government, transportation, and arts and culture for WAER. He came to Syracuse from Detroit in 2001, where he began his career in radio as an intern and freelance reporter. Scott is honored and privileged to bring the day’s news and in-depth feature reporting to WAER’s dedicated and generous listeners. You can find him on twitter @swillisWAER and email him at srwillis@syr.edu.