Tom Harkin: “the ADA, of course, ultimately is about our children. They will be the first generation to grow up with the ADA--the…”

“the ADA, of course, ultimately is about our children. They will be the first generation to grow up with the ADA--the first generation in which children with and without disabilities play together on the playground, learn together in school, hang out together at the mall and the movie theater, and go out together for pizza. These children who will grow up as classmates and friends and neighbors will now see each other as neighbors and coworkers--no longer segregated. That is what the ADA is about. It has opened up new worlds for people with disabilities--where people with disabilities are participating more and more in their communities, living fuller lives as students, as coworkers, as taxpayers, as consumers, voters, and neighbors. But we must never forget that prohibiting discrimination is not the same as ensuring equal opportunity. President Johnson understood this when he said: ``[Y]ou cannot shackle men and women for centuries, then bring them to the starting line of a race and say, `You see, we're giving you an equal chance.'" That is why we all work so hard for the Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act because we had to set the stage to change the employment rate for people with disabilities. That is why we all work so hard to defend the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, because there is no equal opportunity without education.…”