Today, July 26, 2018, National Disability Institute (NDI) commemorates the 28th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
The ADA, passed in 1990, is a milestone civil rights law that prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities in all areas of public life. The ADA levels the playing field for people with disabilities and assures equal treatment and opportunities for people with disabilities on the job, in school, in the community, in transportation and telecommunications and more.
Judith “Judy” Heumann, an internationally recognized activist and leader in the disability community, has been a longtime friend of NDI. Judy led the Section 504 Sit-In, which resulted in signing of important regulations for Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Section 504 was an early U.S. federal civil rights law that protected people with disabilities against discrimination and it set the precedent for the ADA.
In NDI’s new blog: “The Americans with Disabilities Act: Signs of Progress, Yet…“, Judy shares her vision for how our country can improve on the progress we’ve made in the past 28 years.
July 26 also represents another important anniversary for NDI – the second anniversary of the DISABLE POVERTY campaign. While DISABLE POVERTY, a two-year campaign launched by NDI on July 26, 2016, will be ending on July 31, 2018, one in three Americans with disabilities continues to live in poverty.
“Twenty-eight years after the signing into law of the ADA, there remain persistent barriers to economic self-sufficiency for people with disabilities, a third of whom live below the poverty line,” Michael Morris, NDI Executive Director, said. “Equal opportunity must include options to build the knowledge and skills necessary to make informed financial decisions, access to financial education and coaching, affordable and accessible financial services and products, inclusion in career pathways and the ability to save and build assets.”
Watch the DISABLE POVERTY video to learn more about this important issue.
NDI envisions a society where people with disabilities have the same opportunities to achieve financial stability and independence as people without disabilities and is committed to building a better financial future for people with disabilities and their families.
