New Yorkers with Disabilities Battered by Recession as ADA Turns 20
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July 29, 2010
NEW YORK - The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is 20 years old this week. That's a cause for celebration for millions of New Yorkers, but that celebration is tempered by harsh economic times.
On the plus side, the ADA is credited with better access to buildings, transit and employment for more than two million New Yorkers with disabilities, according to Susan Dooha, executive director of the Center for the Independence of the Disabled in New York (CIDNY). However, Dooha adds, the downside is that those same New Yorkers have been hit earlier and harder by the recession, suffering greater job losses and having a harder time getting back into the workforce.
"People with disabilities are three times more likely than people without disabilities to be living in poverty - deep poverty - on a long term-basis."
Looking to the future, Dooha says more needs to be done to achieve better housing, health outcomes and access to employment.
CIDNY is marking the anniversary of the ADA by taking part in a pair of lawsuits that focus on access in New York State, Dooha says.
"One is to create equal access to the court system for people with disabilities, and the other is to remove barriers to polling places on election day."
The nation has been at war for about half of the life of the ADA. Dooha says the nation owes a great debt to, and has learned much from, returning veterans with disabilities.
"Right now, we are learning a lot about traumatic brain injury because of veterans coming back with brain injuries from blasts they experienced while serving in Afghanistan and Iraq."
CIDNY celebrates the ADA tonight at 7 p.m. with the stars and filmmakers of "Tales of the ADA." The event takes place at the LGBT Center; information is available at 646-442-4156.