STATEMENT OF GREG HLIBOK, PRESIDENT OF THE STUDENT BODY GOVERNMENT AT GALLAUDET UNIVERSITY, BEFORE THE SENATE SUBCOMMITTEE ON THE HANDICAPPED ON THE AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT OF 1988 My name is Greg Hlibok and I am President of the Student Body Government at Gallaudet University. Our victory at Gallaudet last March resulting in the appointment of our first deaf president sent the world a message. Focus on what deaf people can do not what we can't do. As Dr. King Jordan said "Deaf People Can Do Anything...Except Hear". How can we prove ourselves that we are capable if we are not being given an equal opportunity. that has created barriers. Its society Many of us confront discrimination every day. We have experienced the disappointment of being turned down for a job or promotion because we were told the communication barriers were too great. My own deaf brother was told he had to pay for his own interpreter on his job. We have been denied medical treatment at hospitals because the staff could not understand us and refused to provide qualified interpreters. We have tried to call the police for help using our telecommunications devices for the deaf, but the police hang up on us, because they had no TDDS. I remember when I was fifteen I left school without money to take the bus home. I had no way to call my parents or the police. I had to walk the 3 miles home in the snow. In one case in San Diego, a deaf woman died of a heart attack because the police did not respond when her husband called 911. We have waited for 124 years to have a deaf President chosen at Gallaudet. But we were told we were not ready, and that we could not work with Congress and the hearing world. In the past we felt there - 2 was nothing we could do but accept these false excuses and discrimination and keep patiently plodding on. But, as we showed vividly last March, our patience has run out. I said last March, "we want a deaf president who can show the world a deaf person can lead a major university. We want one now". And we got it! President King's appointment shows that deaf people are capable of holding responsible jobs and of leadership. King Jordan has shown for 6 months that he is successful. Now we want our civil rights. The Americans with Disabilities Act will give us the legal tools to fight discrimination, the legal rights woman and minorities already have. This bill would require removal of communication barriers and "reasonable accommodation to assure effective communication." The kinds of accommodations listed in the Act such as captioning, TDDS, qualified interpreters and note takers, and visual aids like flashing alarms would greatly reduce communication barriers. With simple accommodations, we can participate equally. We can be effective. We will not be excluded or ignored. We don't need any pity, we need your support. can help ourselves only if things are accessible for us! that the Communication Barriers Section identify the kinds of situations where specific accommodations are required. Our example last March has inspired deaf people and all disabled people everywhere to fight against discrimination of any kind. We will no longer wait. We want our civil rights now. Because we I would urge Senator HARKIN. Thank you very much. I am going to take the opportunity to introduce to you first about whom Greg spoke, who has really showed us that there are no barriers that deaf people cannot overcome. The new president of Gallaudet University, Dr. King Jordan. Stand up, will you please. [Applause.] Thank you very much. Next, W Mitchell from Denver, CO. Mr. Mitchell, welcome to the subcommittee and again, please proceed as you so desire. Mr. MITCHELL. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Good morning, Congressman. It is a pleasure being in front of you today. I am W Mitchell. I am the former mayor of Crested Butte, CO, a very beautiful town high in the mountains of Colorado. Do not get confused with Mount Crested Butte. That is the town that Bo Calloway owns. No, we are Crested Butte. We have a lot of Democrats in Crested Butte. It is a little town that is nestled in the mountains of Colorado, about 9,000 feet above sea level. We are kind of at the end of a paved road, surrounded by all these 14,000 foot mountains. One of the things that is often said in Crested Butte is that you cannot get there from here. It is very tough to get to other places in Colorado. Aspen is just 30 miles across the mountains, and yet it is about a 250 mile drive to get around all those mountains. You cannot get there from here. That's the challenge for millions of disabled Americans todaythey can't get there from here. In 1984, I ran for Congress. I was the Democratic nominee for the Third Congressional District in Colorado and I had to adopt a campaign that said "Oh yes, he can." In a lot of people's minds, a man who has been burned and who is in a wheelchair may not be able to represent them very well. In fact, one of the charges that was first leveled at me was yes, Mitchell is a nice guy and perhaps speaks well, but what is he going to do to get to vote? How is he going to get to vote for our issues? How is he going to get to the floor of the House of Representatives in time? He will not even make the votes to stand up for our issues. Well, having been back to Washington a number of times, I explained to those good people that most freshmen Congressmen wind up in the Cannon House Office Building. Between the Cannon House Office Building and the House of Representatives is a tunnel. The tunnel is mostly downhill going toward the House. I explained to them that the only Member of Congress that was going to beat me to vote for their interests was one on a skateboard. [Laughter.] I did not get the most votes that year, my opponent did, a very worthy fellow. Fortunately, he was retired in the next election and now we have a good Democrat back there again. Senator HARKIN. This is a nonpartisan hearing. Mr. MITCHELL. Very nonpartisan, Senator. And if Senator Weicker and some of the other Republicans were still here, I would be singing a different tune, you can be sure of it. I talk today to groups all over the country. I speak about the fact that it is not what happens to you, it is what you do in life. It is not the circumstances of birth or the accidents or injuries or ill nesses that we contract in life, it is what we do with the equipment that is given us, with the opportunities that are given us. But unfortunately, I am one of the lucky ones. Fortunately for me, and fortunately for so many others, I had role models when I was growing up, of other people in wheelchairs. I knew you could become successful and be in a wheelchair. I had education and training before I was burned in 1971 and, as a result of an insurance settlement, was able to start a very successful business. So that when I was paralyzed, in 1975, I had wealth and I had income and I had opportunities already available to me. But what about all of those who were not blessed with the good fortune that I have had in my life? What happens to all of those who do not have the luxury of a vehicle or an airplane or a business or means of support? What happens to those who, like the young man in Phoenix, AZ, who I visited recently, who was paralyzed on the day of his graduation from high school. But having no insurance and no money, is now in a nursing home instead of a spinal cord injury rehab hospital? What happens to him? Where does he get his education? Where does he get the tools and equipment that he will need to make himself a taxpayer, as we heard earlier, and not a tax receiver for the rest of his life? What about all of those who, because of the absence of transportation or the absence of communication facilities, cannot even find the employer to present themselves as a qualified candidate for a job? How do they function in our society? So I come today, Mr. Chairman, to speak for the Americans With Disabilities Act legislation. I cannot speak more eloquently than the witnesses who have proceeded me. All of them are more qualified, more capable of stating the case that all of us need to hear today. But I would like to say to you that, while the 1970's were very much the age of the me-too-ism, of I've got mine, of all of the conflicts in this country, and while the 1980's are very much an era of great change in our society, with new technologies and new opportunities, the 1990's will be the era of creativity. We must be creative as a society, creative in taking full use of all of our citizens and their great capabilities. As you and the Congressman have seen today, we have been presented with probably more talent than you were faced with in almost any other hearing that you may preside over. How are we going to use that talent and how are we going to realize that talent? Mr. Chairman, I will remind you today, in my closing remark, the quote of Albert Schweitzer, who said to all humanity, "We do not live in a world all alone. Our brothers are here, too." Please carry to your colleagues in the Senate and your colleagues in the House the message that we do not want a handout. We do not want a free ride. We just want to act normal in an amazing situation. Thank you, sir. [Applause.] [The prepared statement of Mr. Mitchell follows:] W MITCHELL Statement to the Senate Subcommittee on the Handicapped, and September 27, 1988 It is often said that you can't get there from here. That seems to be the situation facing millions of Americans with disabilities. It isn't that once they get there they can't do the job. Often a lack of adequate training, transportation, communications or other factors discrimination being one of them perfectly capable and talented, but disabled, people are unable to get to a place from which they can lead productive lives. I count myself as one of the fortunate ones. While growing up in a suburb of Philadelphia, two of my neighbors were war veterans with disabilities. One was a First World War veteran who had had both his legs amputated; the other was a man who had served in the Korean war and who had become paralyzed. Both had the benefit of training, vehicles, and accessible housing provided to them by their government. Both were able to go on to lead constructive and productive lives, contributing to their communities, and acting as role models to people like me so that later when I became disabled, I knew what could be done; I knew of the potentials and possibilities still open to me from having watched my neighbors all those years; I knew I had not come to a dead end. When my disabilities occurred, I was able to overcome them through a combination of insurance, previous education and training, family and social support and success in business. Many others are not so lucky. Without the tools that I was equipped with, today I could very well be without adequate legislation to guarantee my civil rights--- among those who are tax receivers instead of tax payers. In 1984 I ran for and won the Democratic nomination for Colorado's third congressional district. My campaign slogan was "Oh yes he can!" It was a statement to those who observed my campaign that my physical limitations were in fact, not a hindrance to my ability to represent the voters were they to send me to Washington. While my opponent received more votes than me that November, it was clear to me that both those voting for me and for my opponent did so not as a statement of my physical disability. In 1984 I asked people not to vote for me (or not to |