30 Years of the Americans with Disabilities Act

KU Staff Senate D&I Committee

“Society prefers I talk about how I overcame my obstacles rather than the injustices I face within a world that is not built around the needs of the disabled community.”

― Sylvia Colt-Lacayo, Disability activist, writer, and filmmaker

Thirty years ago, on July 26, 1990, President George H.W. Bush signed into law the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) to ensure the civil rights of individuals with disabilities. This legislation established a clear and comprehensive national mandate for the elimination of discrimination based on disability against qualified individuals with disabilities. This year we celebrate the 30th anniversary of the signing of the ADA with a look back at what the ADA did for our country and what it has done for our campus in creating an accessible and inclusive environment for all individuals with disabilities.

Before we celebrate what we as a campus have done in the past few years, we would like to take a moment to celebrate the ADA itself and its impact on our campus and our community. When the ADA was signed there were few protections in place for individuals with disabilities, the main protection used on campus was section 504, which allowed for individuals with disabilities to request accommodations from state funded institutions – the University of Kansas being one such institution. With the signing of the ADA, all qualified individuals with disabilities were able to request workplace or academic accommodations. The ADA also allowed protection against discrimination based upon disability, required architectural accessibility of all buildings built after the signing of the ADA, and required a certain percentage of the budget for improvements to an existing building go towards accessibility upgrades.

We can all thank the ADA for architectural standards we all benefit from today, like curb cuts at the airport when we are dragging our luggage, elevators when pushing a stroller, wheelchair accessible bathrooms large enough to have a changing table in them, push button door openers and so much more. Due to the ADA being passed and signed into law, the precursor to KU’s ADA Resource Center for Equity & Accessibility (RCEA) office was born and everything they continue to do pushes forward the idea of the ADA – proactive disability inclusion.

Accessible KU (accessibility.ku.edu) is a growing resource webpage dedicated to the needs of our campus and features links on requesting accommodations, policies our campus holds in regards to disability, resources on mental health, how-to guides on creating accessible content, and an ever growing content calendar filled with events hosted by ADA RCEA. One resource you might review or is the video interviews of faculty, staff, and students with disabilities who describe their experience with the ADA and campus life.

The ADA RCEA holds monthly events throughout the year focused on disability, inclusion, awareness, and accessibility in the fall and spring semesters. These events are called Lunchtime Conversations in which the goal is to inform the audience about a topic within the realm of disability inclusion and allow them to learn from experts in the field, individuals with lived experience, and each other in asking questions to the speaker(s) involved. A new program will be announced this fall which showcases artists with disabilities and their work, for more information, further information will be released soon regarding the Equity and Inclusion Series: #Disability Art. In addition to these events the RCEA hosts the October, National Disability Employment Awareness Month Celebration – in years past Haben Girma, the first deaf-blind lawyer to graduate from Harvard Law; Derek Shields, the co-founder of Forward Works Consulting – a national leader in disability mentorship – and a panel of KU Community Leaders who spoke to their lived experience with Mental Health and Employment, have all been in attendance of this celebration. This October the RCEA, in partnership with over 40 campus and community partners, will host a transformational leader on disability inclusion. This year, Judy Heumann, known as the mother of the Disability Rights Movement, will be hosted by the RCEA, and over 48 co-sponsors for the conjunction of Disability Employment Awareness and the 30th anniversary of the signing of the ADA more information on this significant event will be announced in the coming weeks.

The RCEA also served as the executive sponsor of the Staff Fellows Program this past spring, the initiative was to broaden the Mental Health Initiatives provided on campus and to our faculty and staff, and our office will be completing their suggestions in the coming year under the guidance of the Provost.

The RCEA is also involved across campus working to create a more inclusive environment both physically and mentally throughout campus. This was done in part by the creation of the Faculty Staff Council for Disability Inclusion which has just finished up its third full year as a university governed Faculty Staff Council, this council has been responsible for a survey to increase awareness surrounding the Voluntary Self-Disclosure form provided with employment in hopes to improve stigma around campus, as well as a letter to State Officials regarding the Health Quest program about barriers to full participation for individuals with disabilities in hopes to make this statewide program more accessible to individuals with disabilities. Catherine Johnson, director of the KU ADA RCEA, also serves as chair of the Architectural Accessibility and Inclusion Committee. Through this program the funds mandated by the ADA to go towards architectural accessibility upgrades are allocated to units in need.

Last year the RCEA grew in size by adding two new members to the team, Abby King and Katelynn Schultz. With their addition to the office, RCEA has been able to focus even more time on providing resources to our KU Community by creating the “Hosting an Accessible Event Checklist,” the “Event Accessibility and Accommodation Policy,” and the “Mental Health Resource Guide.” With growth of the office they were also able to pilot the Mentoring Circles for Disability Inclusion Program. Through this program the mission of disability inclusion as well as knowledge of the disability rights movement, laws, history, and accessibility standards have been taught to 39 departments on campus and continues to grow through each cohort. It is the goal of the RCEA to train at least one member of each of the over 200 units on campus. With this training members will be certified through the ADA as Ambassadors of Proactive Disability Inclusion pushing forward not only our mission statement, but the purpose behind the ADA in each piece of their work.

Thirty years after the ADA was signed into law, the ADA has delivered on many of its promises, we have architectural standards to ensure physically accessible buildings, accessible transportation, equal access to goods and services, equal access to competitive employment, the ability to request workplace accommodations, and a general societal understanding that discrimination based on disability is prohibited. This is a time of great celebration and recognition for all engaged in ensuring the intent of the ADA is realized. It is also a time for serious reflection on how we as a nation consider disability, accessibility, and disability inclusion.

Thirty years from now, or sooner, I hope that we as a nation have successfully embraced that disability is a normal part of our all lives, and that we proactively consider and address disability, accessibility and disability inclusion in a manner that truly realizes the intent of the ADA of proactive full inclusion and equal opportunity for all individuals with disabilities.

Resources for Learning