ADA: 'Fifteen years of freedom'
By Andrew J. Manuse / Daily News Staff
Wednesday, July 27, 2005

Americans with disabilities celebrated "15 years of freedom" yesterday, according to Steven Higgins, coordinator for the Massachusetts Statewide Independent Living Council, which has its base in Framingham.
 

     On July 26, 1990, the first President Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act into law following a bi-partisan effort. He called for "the shameful wall of exclusion" to come tumbling down.
 
     "The act was one of the most important pieces of civil rights legislation," said Higgins, who suffers from the "hidden disabilities" of a "serious back injury" and diabetes. As of yesterday, "we're not where we want to be, but thank God we're not where we used to be," he said.
 
     Overall, the ADA has "done some great things," said Chris Griffin, executive director of the Disability Law Center, in Boston. "It has made society in general aware of issues that people with disabilities face."
 
     While Massachusetts had access laws on the books prior to 1990, it was the ADA that really increased public awareness, she said.
 
     Curb cuts have helped people with wheelchairs as well as mothers and fathers with baby strollers, she said. More buildings have elevators and accessible bathrooms; retail stores have added handicapped parking spaces and made their aisles wider, Griffin added.
 
     But employment of people with disabilities has been "disappointing," she said.
 
     "Although the law was never meant to be an affirmative action or quota law, the hope was that when employers found out that accommodations are not costly and people with disabilities are good employees, there would be more of a demand for this large population of people who are woefully underemployed, but that has not happened," said Griffin.
 
     Oce Harrison, director of the New England ADA & Accessible IT Center in Boston, said reasonable accommodations cost U.S. businesses no more than $200 per person on average.
 
     Harrison's group offers information, training and technical assistance to employers and people with disabilities. It is one of 10 regional centers nationwide, and helps direct people to smaller groups, such as the MetroWest Center for Independent Living located in Framingham. Members of that organization, which helps people with disabilities live on their own, were at a picnic celebrating the law's anniversary yesterday and could not be reached.
 
     Most of the accommodations disabled employees need don't cost money, Harrison continued. For instance, businesses can offer employees flexible schedules so they can go see their doctor a few times a week, she said. Sometimes people just need a quieter place to work so they can concentrate. Other times they just need low-cost help, such as a headset because they can't hold their telephone, she said.
 
     Other times they need more help, from personal care attendants or employment coaches, said Leo Sarkissian, executive director of The Arc of Massachusetts, a disability advocacy organization.
 
     That scares employers and could explain why 60 percent of disabled people are unemployed nationwide, several sources said. Some of them live on Social Security income, others receive disability income, some live at home, some have part-time jobs.
 
     Sarkissian, citing a 2004 National Organization on Disability/Harris Survey on Americans with Disabilities, said 35 percent of people with disabilities were employed full- or part-time.
 
     He said the problem should be addressed in the school systems, where people with disabilities could be trained for employment readiness. Additionally, students with disabilities should be taught how to make transitions from one job to another.
 
     "It's a complex issue, because everybody isn't equal if they have a disability," he said.
 
     Some people have great cognitive abilities but need help with physical disabilities, others have intellectual disabilities but might be OK physically, he said.
 
     There are several MetroWest organizations that help people with all kinds of disabilities make it into a job, help them at the job and help them live in their own home, he said.
 
     Advocates Inc., of Framingham, is one of them. The organization provides residential, employment and other kinds of "day programs" to 800 people with disabilities in MetroWest, said Jeff Keilson, vice president for strategic planning at the organization.
 
     Keilson said there are always going to be things that any person can't do, whether they have a disability or not. But there's something out there for everyone, he said.
 
     "What we've found is that, with support, there are a lot of things people can do and a lot of opportunities and jobs for people," said Keilson. "There's a range of jobs. We don't want people to perceive that people with disabilities can only do A or B, we want them to work in a whole range of jobs."
 
     Keilson said his company's clients are employed at hotels, doctors' offices, cleaning and landscaping companies, retail stores and catering businesses, among other places of work. He said the TJX Cos. Inc. headquarters, Home Depot, and Pizza Hut in Natick, the Southboro Medical Group and the Holiday Manufacturing Group in Framingham employ disabled workers through Advocates.
 
     "Clearly work is something that's valued in our culture, and people with disabilities feel more valued when they're working," said Keilson. "Even though they might need more support when they're doing that, at least they're doing something that's needed."
 
     A person who needs help with toileting will need a personal assistant with or without a job, said Keilson. The fact that they're working is better for them and society, he added.
 
     Higgins, who is with the Statewide Independent Living Council, a board appointed by the governor, said increasing employment for people with disabilities is only one thing that needs to be addressed, and the problem is related to other issues.
 
     Statewide, people with disabilities face a lack of accessible housing and transportation that connects key towns so they can get around, he said.
 
     "Without a place to live and a way to get there, you don't have a way to get a job," said Higgins. "That doesn't just have to do with the disabled community, but with everyone when you think about it. It just affects the disabled community more so.
 
     "All we're looking for is inclusion," Higgins said. "Let us participate and we'll show you how good we are."
 
     The key is getting the right supports and services in place, and independent living centers can help with that, he said.

(Andrew J. Manuse can be reached at 508-626-3964 or amanuse@cnc.com.)