On the recordJuly 28, 2010
I rise to highlight the significance of the many events and announcements occurring around the country to celebrate the enactment of the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act. This week in Wisconsin, disability advocates are holding multiple events around the State to commemorate the signing of the law on July 26, 1990, at a White House ceremony by President George H.W. Bush. Disability advocates, employers, State and local officials, and policymakers are speaking about and reflecting on how they have worked together and joined forces during the last two decades to make major changes in housing, in transportation, and in health and social services. There is much discussion in the news and online about the ADA as well. In an online video entitled 'We Came Together: Wisconsin Reflects on the ADA's 20th Anniversary,' one Wisconsin disability rights advocate, Dick Pomo, observes that 'disability today is simply a fact of life--not a way of life.' This statement is testament to the hard work of millions of Americans who have come together over the last several decades, and who have journeyed to State capitals and Washington, DC, to deliver the message that they wanted to participate fully in society. Simply put, they did not take 'no' for an answer. I am also reminded that in the Senate the ADA is one of the legacies of the late Senator Edward Kennedy, with whom I worked to see that this civil rights bill became the law of the land.
