To washington any time, anywhere. Host we are back, andt of our landmark series, we are going to be talking about the americans with disabilities act. We are going to start by showing you senator tom harkin introducing the final report of the americans with disabilities act in july 1992 than to the u. S. Senator appeared for the radio listeners, the first part will be silent because he is doing it in sign language. Hold on and you will hear us in a few minutes. [video clip] [performing sign language] mr. President , i think you for permitting me perhaps to Say Something that only a few people understood. But i wanted to do that as sort of a special way of thinking a very special person in my life who taught me at a very early age that people with disabilities could do anything they set their minds to do and that people should be judged on the basis of their abilities and not on the basis of their disabilities. Host we are joined in the studio today by former senator tom harkin who is here to talk about the americans with his abilities act of 1990 that he authored and cosponsored. Also with us this mornings disability rights activist judy huemann, and theyre both here to talk about the impact of the ada on the lives of americans with disabilities and the Small Business community. Thank you for bring with us. First, senator harkin, why does the americans with disabilities act fit into our landmark legislation . Guest is great to hear be here it is great to be here with judy. Why is it landmark . Look around, think about what america like before the ada and what it looks like now. Transportation, access to buildings, people with disabilities in employment and all aspects of society. It changed the face of america. Buses are assessable and trains and stores with widened doors and bathrooms everybody can use. It broke down those physical barriers, but just as important, it broke down attitudinal errors, attitudinal feelings and prejudices with people with disabilities. The americans with disabilities act said look, disability is a normal part of human existence and should in no way diminish a persons right to full participation in society, equal opportunities, independent being, living, and having work and meaningful employment. That to me is what really changed america, and i think people today, broadly speaking, now see people with disabilities not with separate and apart from but a part of our family. Host judy, did life really change before the ada and after the ada . Guest i agree totally with tom, obviously. Life had begun to change before the ada because of section 504 which came about in the 1970s, but the americans with disabilities act, from my perspective, was really not only groundbreaking in the United States but around the world, because it was decades of work which required disabled people with all types of disabilities to come together under one umbrella. The ada really required that we have two Work Together and be able to tell a story the types of discrimination we were experiencing. We need to be able to work at remedies. Toms point, fundamentally, is that our moving forward as a Disability Community, being granted rights like other constituents in the United States, not only was a powerful message here but around the world. Host youre just talking ago seconds ago about stories you had to tell about living in america with disabilities. What was it like before the ada . What did the disabled community face in the United States before the ada . Guest i will start off by talking about myself and tom might want to speak about his brother. Today, the cdc says there are 60 million disabled people in the United States and according to the world health organization, there are 1. 5 billion disabled people. One thing i want to say also is we need to look at disability and await which is not just thinking of people with visible disabilities. That is a very important part of the definition under the ada. To the viewers and listeners, people who have things like diabetes or depression or bipolar or cancer or significant back problems, something which limits one or more major life activities, you are protected under the americans with disabilities act. Most importantly, you need to see ourselves as a part of an evergrowing movement. When i talk about that as an evergrowing movement, it is not that the numbers are dramatically changes but the fact that people like myself, and with invisible disabilities are recognizing that we need to be proud of who we are. That is part of who we are, not the totality of who we are is that we have one or more different kinds of disabilities. That is a significant outcome of the ada, that we see ourselves as being a part of society. Myself, some of the issues of discriminations faced and some of the broader ones, i graduated college and wanted to be a teacher. I was in brooklyn and i applied for a teaching license because i had taken the appropriate courses. There were no loss at that point. I had to take the written, oral and they were given in buildings that had at least one flight of stairs here i had to have friends carry me up those stairs. I had to write specifically. I was able to get attorneys who worked for free and the judge was the first block woman to serve black woman to serve on the bench and it was lucky we had her, because she understood that what happened was clear discrimination. So i settled out of court and that might teaching license and taught for three years. The time that i went to a restaurant with some other friends and the manager told us to leave because we were disturbing. There was no law at that time that made that illegal. I told him to call the police. I learned to become a very strong advocate, not because it was something that was inherent in me or that my parents raised me to be an advocate, but my parents, even today, learn very quickly that if they werent going to be our advocate, my advocate, and i didnt learn how to be my own advocate and things like getting on buses. You think about rosa parks, a black woman who got on a bus, sat in the front and was told she had to sit in the back. If rosa parks had been a wheelchair user when this happened, she would never have been able to get on the bus. The ada was one of the exact change that that all people in Civil Rights Movements can now get on the bus. Host senator harkin, in that clip we showed from 1990 gave the beginning of it in sign language. What is your passion on this subject and why do you know sign language . Tell us your experience in this area. Guest i grew up with a brother who was deaf, and i just saw how he was discriminated against when he was going up in terms of schooling and education and told he couldnt do this, he couldnt do that, couldnt get a job that he was qualified for. The problems he went through just to get a drivers license as a deaf person. It was just one hurdle after another. And so i just and i had a nephew who became quadriplegic. I began to see it was at only hearing problems but mobility problems he was a young man who was injured in the military and became quadriplegic. And i went to visit him and my sister and family, he couldnt even go to a restaurant or across the street because the curbs and doors and he couldnt get in there just one thing after another. I started because of my brother who was deaf and continued on after i saw what happened to kelly, and at one point met with danny piper, a young man with down syndrome and a light went off in my head that it is not just communication problems and mobility problems, it is also intellectual disabilities that people have and are discriminated against. All of this came together when i went to the senate in the 1980s and we had people like judy who was out there reading the charge by a broad civil rights bill. Either way, i might just say that judy huemann led the longest sit in in a federal facility in history in San Francisco in 1977. You are to see it amazing. I would also say for your viewers there is a movie alled crip camp. Guest you can get it on netflix. Guest you should see this movie because it gives the origin of the movement in the late 1960s, early 1970s of people with disabilities demanding their rights this country. I would just close on this we all know about the Civil Rights Act in the 1960s, notes, nation on the basis of race, sex, origin, religion, but they left out people with disabilities. We said what about us . They still discriminated and then that began this long movement. But my brother, frank, who is deaf and taught me sign language. Host my daughter is learning American Sign Language for her foreign language. Guest she will love it. Host let me take a second to remind our viewers they can take part in this conversation about the americans with disabilities act. We are going to open up regional lines. If you are in the eastern or central time zones, you call 202 7488000. If you are in the mountain or pacific time zones, your number is going to be 202 7488001. We are going to open up to special lines for this conversation. The first line will be for people with disabilities. We specifically want to hear from you and your experience with the ada. Your number is going to be 202 7488002. Our last line will be for caregivers of people with disabilities. We know this affects you as well your number is going to be 202 7488003. People with disabilities, we want to hear from you at 202 7488002. Caregivers, we want to hear from you at 202 7488003. You can always text us at 202 7488003. And we are always reading on social media on twitter at cspanwj, and at facebook at facebook. Com cspan. Senator harkin, you started talking about the politics of getting the ada past and you talked about judy passed and you talked about judy trying to get the bill passed in 1989. Guest as judy mentioned earlier, in the early 1970s, there was a rehabilitation act basically covering federal government, section 501, 5 03, 504, i get them mixed up. Then there was the education of all childrens act passed my first year in the house. I wasnt all that much involved in that, but later it became the individuals with disabilities education act, which was my bill that i got passed over 20 years later. It came together because, well the Disability Community was hammering us. They were demonstrating all over the country. You have to remember that in the 19 80s, people with disabilities would lay down 1980s, people would people with disabilities with lay down under the buses and the buses couldnt move. This became national news. I remember at one time we had a demonstration where people with wheelchairs had chained themselves across independent avenue by the capitol at rush hour. What was funny is i went outside to watch this with my staff person, bobby silverstein, who we all know did a lot of the writing and was with me on the floor that day, we went out to watch this. It is cold out, dark, rushhour, and they brought the paddy wagons and police to get rid of the wheelchairs blocking the traffic. They brought the bolt cutters and were cutting the chains and they brought the paddy wagons and the wheelchairs wouldnt fit in the paddy wagons. And they were saying g, you cant even arrest gee, you cant even arrest us because we cant fit into the paddy wagons. The National Committee and disabilities just said, look, we were left out of the civil rights bill. We need a broad civil rights bill that covers all persons with disabilities. That is the outside influence that came in. Host that is what i want you to talk about judy, that outside influence. Where did that start and when did you get involved and how did it get all the way to washington . Guest thank you. There are thousands of disabled people in the United States who worked on section 504. It is fairly fair to say that no one person creates a movement, and i really want to underscore that. Basically, i got involved out of necessities with stories i was telling you earlier about discrimination, not being able to get across the street. Growing up in new york i would have to ride 20 blocks in my wheelchair behind the buses and cabs because of the curbs. The beginning of the film shows disabled people going to a particular camp. What we were learning at that camp and other camps around the country as disabled people who were becoming teenagers is that our nondisabled peers were talking about college, careers, getting married, where they wanted to work and how they wanted to participate, and for many of us it was very clear that was not going to be what was happening. We also made the decision that we were not going to be prohibited by pursuing our dreams because of problems in discrimination. It is really important to say the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s and 1960s and obviously way before that, had a very strong impact on many of us, because television really wasnt coming into being until the 1950s. It was the first time like people that was the first time people like myself and others were not only learning about the impact of discrimination but also what people were willing to do to express themselves and fight for them right and fight collectively for rights. The exclusion of disabled people in the Civil Rights Act was something as more of us were getting older and learned about what legislation was and learned about the Civil Rights Act itself and its impact, really made us realize the fact that in that period of time when the Civil Rights Act was being developed, we were invisible. That was a very important part of the movement then and today. The ada has created something called the Ada Generation were younger disabled people realize that just having the ada wasnt sufficient, but had to be implemented and people need to understand what that rights are so they can deal with it collectively. Host a perfect segue to what i want to talk about next, which is what is specifically in the ada . I will read a couple of the titles of the ada and i want you to tell me about why it is in here. Title i of the ada bans employment discrimination against those with disabilities and covers employees employers with more than 15 employees. Title ii prohibits discrimination by public duties, which includes physical access to public buildings and public transportation. Title iii bars discrimination in public accommodation in places of commerce and covers Service Animals for auxiliary aids and calls for a balancing for accommodations. Lets start with title i, why does it cover employers with more than 50 employees and not those with fewer question mark guest that was with fewer . Guest that was a compromise. I will start out, if you dont mind a little history, i didnt announce the first ada. It was lowell riker. On the house site it was tony gwynn lowe and steve barlett, maybe and then lowell riker got defeated and then it fell to me and i was chair of the disability subcommittee, so i picked it up and moved it after that. We did start out with just covering everybody but then we had to compromise. We took something from the Small Business legislation of 15 employees. What can i tell you, it was just a compromise. I wish it was less than that, sure, and quite frankly i think that Many Employers who have fewer employees than that of i voluntarily and do that because they see their customers coming in the door and they want customers and people with disabilities and families coming into the store to shop or whatever. It could be just a small watch repair shop we have in a strip mall near where i live. People with disabilities by watches and rings and earrings and get their watches repaired, so they made the doors wider and put in a ramp so people could get in and out. It was just a compromise. Guest and in the state of california, it is five. The ada and other federal laws are going above. I want to emphasize another point that tom was making, which is the developing of standards. Those standards have been developed at the federal and state levels, and those standards ensure things like when a new building is going to be built that the door will be wider from the beginning so it isnt left up to each individual merchant to decide what the width of the door will be because there are standards on that. One very important outcome of ada 504 has been that as these laws been implemented, we are seeing standards that are happening at the average person isnt even aware of, but those changes, like elevators for train stations and buses that have lower floors have a lift that comes out. Those are for people with baby carriers, canes, broken legs to use these very important parts of our life without ever knowing why it came about, but they are benefiting. Now if you were to take those things away, many people would recognize that whether or not they were defined as having a disability, they would be excluded temporarily. Universal design is one of the outcomes happening with the ada. I remember, i insisted that employment be number one. And i still feel this way, employment is so critical to a persons life. Work is more than just getting a paycheck. It is how we affirm our identities. We make friends, get involved in our community through our work. Employment was so important. What we wanted to do in the employment title, focus on the 15, but it is businesses had to provide reasonable accommodations for a person with a disability to get a job. They could not discriminate in hiring. If you are a person with a disability and applying, they cannot ask you about any disabilities, at all. We wanted to break down those barriers to employment, to get people into meaningful jobs. Not sub minimum wage jobs, segregated jobs, but integrated in employment. That is what we put it number one. Guest about employment for the audience, it is very important to look at the onset of disability. When we look at employment for younger people, and i was 18 months old, i was not seeing myself. I am still not seeing myself that much in childrens books, on television, places where young people see themselves. So you find that as much because of ada and other laws, the movement itself, younger disabled people are seeing employment as something they want to participate in. Prior to the ada, not seeing yourself as a doctor, a teacher, a bus driver, a personal assistant, you did not relate. The ada put forward a very strong statement that there is an expectation that disabled people can work and will work, and looking at removing those barriers that mentally made people feel like this is not for me. Then, you have so many other people who acquire disability as a result of working or a result of something that happened while they were in the workforce. Ada is so important for that population of people, to be able to have a sense they cannot be kicked out of their job. I want to say that one of the very important changes that have happened over the last three plus decades with the ada and before that because of section 504, employers are recognizing what we were saying in the beginning. That is disabled people are meaningful, valuable employees and customers. We have to recognize the failure of disabled people being a part of our society, not being represented, has set up visions of what we are not able to do. As tom was saying, those are really beginning to fall. Host let us let viewers take part in the conversation, starting with james from new hampshire. Good morning. Caller yes, hi. Thank you for allowing me to address. I applaud everything you are doing, particularly addressing the viewpoint of visible disabilities, but expanding to those that affect large numbers of people in the population. Recently, i had the opportunity to travel to europe. A number of countries, italy, france, spain. I found a varying acceptance of the disabled people and provisions for expediting their ability to integrate probably because the early onset of the americans with disability took place in america, now it is totally it is totally in place, totally effective. There, i found it less so. It was episodic from country to country. It did not occur until much later than in america, so i wanted to say how thankful i am for the people i know and the general population who have benefited from these initiatives that are good for the country as a whole. Host talk to us about the International Acceptance of the ada. Our other countries doing with the United States did . Or is it still an uphill climb internationally for people who are disabled . Guest it is a combination. For those of you history buffs, 1981 was the year when year of disabled people. We go back that far to the bbc, canadians, japanese that hourlong documentaries on the United States into what was going on with 504 and the work towards americans disabilities act. Another important point is that the u. N. Convention on the rights of persons with disabilities, which unfortunately, the United States has still not ratified, has been having a major impact on disabled people around the world. Very similar to what was going on and is going on in the United States after the second world war. But one of the differences is, the ada covers the public and private sector. What you have seen in many countries is that they are starting with where we were, 504 only covers entities receiving money from the federal government. You might see, for example, buildings being constructed in a country overseas where, if it is a federal building, it will be accessible. If it is private, it will not be. Let us talk about what we are talking about. When i was growing up, shopping malls were not accessible. There were not accessible bathrooms. There were steps, no ramps. Ive, like many people, are cautious about drinking. I do not mean alcohol, i mean water. We do not know if we will be able to use the bathroom. After years of not knowing whether you can use the bathroom, you stop drinking. You see that in europe. In some places, bathrooms are accessible. Other places, they are not. The same pattern. Host what is it like internationally . Guest what she said, a lot of countries started picking up on this. The convention on the rights of persons with disabilities, that was fully propagated about 2008, 2009 . Guest 2008. Guest so i might just add, other countries are picking up. Some are doing better than others. But they caller talked about traveling in different parts of europe, i have been some of those places. They were using the excuse, these are old buildings. They go back to the middle ages, we cannot change them, it destroys the architecture. People are ingenious at figuring out how to put in elevators, ramps, how to widen doors without destroying the architecture. Ive seen in italy, different countries. It just takes the government and the private sector working together to say, look. We can figure this out. Guest there is an Organization Called the International Disability alliance, it represents more than 13 international disabled organizations and regional groups. You can see how the movement, which i do think was really evolving a lot in the United States before others, is really catching on around the world. And, the ingenuity and creativity of disabled people around the world is clearly coming forward. Guest i might add, there is something called the harken institute at drake university. One of the big things is on disability, we are focused on employment. To show you the hunger of the other countries have, we have an International Conference every year. The last one we had, judy was there, was in belfast last month. We had represented is from 30 countries and over 600 people. Representatives from 30 countries and over 600 people. Countries in africa, pakistan, india, bangladesh, jordan. They want to figure out how we to do what we have done here in america. Guest the most important part, there were major corporations from all over the world. I think the ability now to get corporations, who are doing good jobs, who want to be seen, let people know what they are doing very much came forth in that conference. Host from north carolina, good morning. Caller good morning. I just wanted to make a couple comments. I graduated from college in 1975, shortly after i was in a car wreck and became a paraplegic. I was totally confined to a wheelchair after that. I want to make two comments, one about sports. In the early 70s, people thought about people in wheelchairs and sports, they thought about wheelchair basketball. Three and a couple of guys decided to change that in the 70s. We started road racing, just three of us. We would go around the country, go to these road races unannounced. They would let us race. As time went on in the 80s and 90s, we were still doing this. Bigger and bigger groups of wheelchairs were participating in the road races and marathons. The second thing, i would like to make a comment on, employment. I worked for ups for 42 years. It can be done. I went in entrylevel and worked my way up, i did a full circle of operation jobs, imports, exports, hazmats, dispatching, customer service. I did it all. And they did it in a wheelchair as a paraplegic. It can be done. The third thing, international travel, i went to london in the early 80s. There were physical barriers, structural barriers. But the english people were so kind and understanding, there was hardly any place i could not go in london, it was amazing. I appreciate the call, thank you. Host i saw you nod when he was talking about sports. Guest my first trip out of the United States was when i went to where the Wheelchair Accessible sorry, paralympics were taking place. Thank you for bringing this up, i want to say why. If you look at where we are what is called the paralympics, they were separate from the olympics. So the olympics in 1972 ring munich, the paralympics were elsewhere. In the 90s, that changed. The paralympics and olympics are now held at the same venue. They are not held the same time, because they cannot fit everybody together, but the amount of sports that are part of the paralympics is phenomenal. The impact not only of having the same city, but the whole issue of inclusion. If we go back and look to the games in london in 2012 and the impact that has had on nbc and others, in london, the paralympics was equal to the olympics. They included it in the hiring of staff. They did this amazing thing. Channel four in england had it. They wanted to have disabled individuals as the commentators for all the sports that were being done under the paralympics. And they could not find people with the level of skill or training. So, they found people they felt were qualified, trained them, did all of the commentating. Many of them are still professionally in the field. The other part about simple things, big things like the pair the bics analytics being together like the olympics and paralympics being together is demonstrating the skill and the art. He was talking about road racing, now the wheelchairs that are designed at that are so amazing and allow such speed. Let us look at the special olympics, which are working with people of intellectual end of elemental disabilities. In many countries around the world and of elemental disabilities. In many countries around the world, they are seen as equal valued members of the community. It is major. We have to remember in some countries, disability is seen as something which people believe was a result of a curse, a Family Member did in the past. Ada, final four, the convention on the rights of people with disabilities and our ability to be in society are really breaking down the smiths. Host we have a text that came in from one of the viewers, they want one of you to help them with. As an educator of students with disabilities, physical and learning, it is very hard to get the support needed for impoverished students to get diagnosed properly. My question is, what can you share in organizations that supply free diagnosis for students with disabilities . What do we do in education . Guest well, first of all, this is state stuff. State and local. State governments need to have in place a system whereby parents of Young Children with disabilities get tested early. Really early. Support that family early on, try to figure out what is the most appropriate integration for that child in the Education System . One of the things we did in the individual with disabilities education act was to set up what we called in individualized education plan. Each student gets in individualized education plan. It has to be done with the parents, parents have to be involved. School is involved. It can be modified and changed as it goes along, but only with the parent approval. They cannot kick kids out of school anymore like they used to. Again, i think the ada has set the overall structure. 504, 2. Set the structure for the federal. But the ada said, ok. States, you have to do it too. That is one thing people forget about in the ada. What we did indy 504 under the federal level, you now in the states have to do on the state level. Host organizations for this educator guest i would like to go back a little bit. Host this is bill from new york city. Guest so, first, i understand what you are saying. Families who believe their child may have a disability are frequently not being appropriately served by the school district. I want to really underscore that the School Districts are legally responsible to ensure that a child who needs to have an assessment gets that assessment at no cost to the parent. I know you are going to say that is what it is supposed to be, but it is not happening. That is the law. Filing complaints against the school district, with the state department of education this date is given the responsibility to monitor what is going on within the state. They are getting money from the federal government and the obligation to get the money from federal governments is to ensure that students are being served. In new york city, there is something called parent training information centers. They have various names. If you go online and look at parent training information centers, there is a Technical Assistance center based in new jersey, there are 100 ptis around the country. That is the one place to go. If you believe your child has a learning disability, having difficulty reading, difficulty with math, there are groups like the National Learning center on disability. Take a word you think this child may have, put it in. Autistic organizations, so many types. If it is for a parent, look at the parent training information centers. In new york city, you can call the mayors office, call the Governors Office this is true for any place. You can also call the department of education in the city, at the capital, at washington, d. C. In washington, d. C. I know this because i worked in the bill Clinton Administration and that was one of my responsibilities there are staff working in the office of special Education Program that have responsibility for working with certain states. So, if you see a problem and your family is not able to get what they need, call the office of special Education Program, find out who the person is that has responsibility for your state, and get more information. Guest also, every state has at least one. Maybe california and new york have two. . University what . Guest university affiliated centers on disability. Guest every state has one. The federal government gives them money, a lot of them give money out to different entities. In your state, you can find it. You can find where the University Center on disability is, get a hold of them. They can tell you where to go, they can guide you in the right way to get a hold of the parent training guest the ptis, go online. But in parent training information center, it will come up. The uses are important. One of the values of these organizations, they focus significantly on people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. They have Research Going on around the country. And there is another group, protection and advocacy. They exist in every state. Some of them have multiple offices around the state. But they definitely would be experts in listening to what the issue is, giving guidance. In some cases, they may be able to intervene and help or refer people to other places. Host let us talk to michelle, calling from wisconsin. Good morning. Caller good morning. I am calling because i am a caregiver for Mental Health. I work in a group home and have been doing it for six years. Prior to that, i have a son who is severely autistic. My husband worked so i could stay home and attend to him for 23 years before i placed him in a group home, because i will not live forever so i have to rely on another system to take care of his needs. During his education process, i had to fight diligently for his Educational Rights to make sure things were being met. At one point, when he turned 18, they wanted to stop his special schooling and put him in a special ed program at the high school which i did not do, because of interrupting his environment, his consistency, everything would make it really hard on him. When i speak of the level of severity of his autism, he is nonverbal. I could never get him potty trained. He just finally learned to drink from a cup. We are still struggling with eating utensils through the group home. When i get him here once a month for four days for a visit. When i take my residence into the community to do shopping and other things, we did get quite a bit of looks because of their behaviors and stuff. Once other people start giving them looks, more anxiety comes on. Therefore, you know, our community is still not being well educated on people who suffer from mental illness. If they do not have a physical disability, people just assume they are ok and their behaviors can be controlled, which is not true. Host jump in here with what michelle said. Has americans attitudes changed since the passage of the ada . Or is it a work in progress . Guest it is a work in progress. Overall, a lot of the attitudes have changed. Youve got to understand, we are talking about centuries of discrimination of people with disabilities being pitied, being set aside. Even the major religions of the world for people with disabilities is welfare, something that should not be in society. You have to take care of them. It was based on pity. That is centuries old. Now, we are trying to break that down into say, wait a minute. People with disabilities have a right to be integrated, a right to function in society. They should not be set gated segregated outward pitied. The old saying, no more pity, but pride. Take pride in our disability. Is there still discrimination . Yes. People, especially against people with intellectual disabilities or developmental disabilities, it is still there. I think because of more integration of people with disabilities, you see people in stores, restaurants, even tv ads. Things like that. It is breaking down. We still have a ways to go. Host i want to jump in real quick, we are going to run out of time. What is the next legal step . What is the next legislative step after ada, or is that it . Should there be more legislation . Guest let me get back to michelle and relationship to your question. In relationship to your question. One area separate from the ada is the need for what we called home and communitybased services. Money to enable people to hire personal assistance, i do not use the word caregiver, so people can be living in their own home. If they wish to have a roommate, they would have a roommate. Including people with autism, Mental Health disabilities, etc. That is one of the big areas. It was part of the build back better legislation, which unfortunately did not pass. But i raise this is a very important issue, because personal Assistance Services are not only important to people like myself. They are important for you. They are important for your grandmother, your mother or father. Anybody who may need assistance as they are getting older, because they may not be able to do things by themselves and do not want to wind up in an institution. I call Nursing Homes and other facilities institutions. Why are many of these People Living there . The houses they lived and were not accessible, there is not money available to make them accessible. People may need Different Levels of support in their home. The money is not there, people have not been taught about what it is. I want to thank michelle for what he said about her child. I also want to say, please go look at this. There is a section that looks at an institution that is no longer around, but you can see how people with intellectual disabilities were treated, tied down, segregated. That is no longer true in most cases. That is the result of ada and other laws, that we finally have been able to demonstrate that, with appropriate education and support services, people can make major contributions. Even with the most significant disability. Host one more collar, that is fred from vermont. Caller good morning. I will try to do this quick, i could go on all day. Ive been living everything youve been talking about. I was around before pl 94 142, thank god i grew up and attend a let me go to school. I want to adjust the sports thing real quick, i could talk about all of the issues. I was born with severe rheumatoid arthritis, diagnosed at six months. Definitely physical, so people can look at me and know that i am disabled. Ive been coaching basketball for almost 38 years now, plus i am a tutor and trained teacher. I felt the sting of that big time. I bet colored people could say the same thing, you cannot do as well as your ablebodied counterparts to move up. From third grade to jv, every time a varsity job comes open, one time i did not get interviewed all. Even though i was recommended by the varsity coach. A second time, they hired some kid out of college, who had no experience over me. Then, i got fired by that guy after a glowing evaluation. I am going in tomorrow because i am feeling undervalued. I will not go into details. But i feel almost like, in order for us to move up, we have to outperform, or at least double outperform ablebodied counterparts. Sometimes that is not good enough. Very frustrating. Host i am sorry, we are going to run out of time. Final words. Guest i hope you file a complaint. Title i of the ada, if you believe you have been discriminated against in employment, your message is important. But we talk about, has the 80 did everything we wanted to do, is the same thing he would ask with the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Obviously, racism, agism, homophobia continue. But they are moving forward, these laws are so very important. They allow us to see that we are recognized and partly, it is our responsibility to know what our rights are into pushback. Host final words . Guest there are three more things in the ada we need. Guest we are not looking at amending the ada. Guest oh, yeah. But personal services. Right after i gave that speech, the next step is personal attendant services, which does not have it. Second, housing. We are still building housing and apartments and condos that are not accessible and we are getting an aging population that wants to live at home and age in place. We have the mandate, just like buildings. Every new building in america has to be accessible. We should have the same for housing and condominiums and apartments. Third, no discrimination in Health Insurance for people with disabilities. Three things we need to do. Host i would like to think the senator and judy for being with us today and talking about cspan has unfiltered coverage of the january 6 hearings. Go tore cspan. Org january 6 to watch the latest videos of the hearings, briefings and our coverage on the attack and subsequent are investigation since january 6, 2021 and reaction from members of the house and senate. Go to cspan. Org are january6 for a fast and easy way to watch when you captain see it live. This week on the cspan network, thursday night, january 6 committee holds its eighth hearing. Also on capitol hill, tuesday, transportation secretary testifying before the House Transportation Committee on the implementation of the 1. 9 trial yop infrastructure bill. On wednesday morning, hearings on guns and gun violence. D. M. Anand military assault weapons and c. E. O. Oomplet from gun manufacturers have been invited on the profits of gun makers. Cspan, your unfiltered view of government. Celebrate christmas in july by shopping at cspanshop. Org. Save up to 25 . There is something for every cspan fan and hell president s support us. Now through july 19 only at cspan shop dorgan start shopping now. There are a lot of places to get political information but om at cspan do you get it straight from the source, no matter where you are from or stand on the issues, c spap is unfiltered, unbiasedf it happens here or here or here or anywhere that matters, america is watching on cspan, powered by cable. Senatorial chris murphy of connecticut talks about efforts to negotiate and pass antigun violence legislation known as the bipartisan Safer Communities act. The bill was signed into law by President Biden at the end of june. The center for American Progress hosted this discussion