creasing millions of potentially productive Americans in unjust, unwanted dependency. As with the issues of drugs, competitive productivity and the national debt, we must summon the courage and the self-discipline of our pioneer forefathers. We must modify obsolete and self-indulgent practices. We must defer instant ratifications in favor of responsible maximally productive democracy. We must not, once again, by our refusal to fulfill our responsibilities pass unconscionable, social, and financial burdens to our children. The economic and moral greatness of America is based on providing equal opportunity to way after way of previous oppressed and dependent groups, providing such opportunity to Americans with disabilities will result in yet another period of dynamic growth in the productivity, prosperity, quality of life, and international moral leadership of this nation. Mr. Chairman, we have given you thousands of documents, but no document can express the impact of disability on the life, the self-image of a human being, of a family. My mother, my brother, and my niece lost their will to live and their lives to the horror of disability discrimination. My beloved daughter with MS lives in paralyzing terror of the rejection she faces every day and hundreds of thousands of other American families have their own experience of tragedy. A California woman, a mother, a TV director before becoming disabled speaks for unseen millions and I quote as she wrote to the Task Force. "We can go just so long, constantly reaching dead ends. I am broke, degraded and angry. I have attempted suicide three times. I know hundreds. Most of us tried, but which way and where can we go? What and who can we be? If I were understood, I would have something to live for." Mr. Chairman, distinguished members of the Congress, Mr. President, give us something to live for. We appeal to you not for more welfare, not for more segregation in nursing homes, but to be recognized as equal human beings, to have equal opportunity to succeed or to fail in the productive mainstream of society. Mr. Chairman, the eyes of history are upon us. Like the founders of our nation who launched a worldwide democratic revolution, we face a decision which will shape human cultural. We have a profound responsibility not only to 43 million Americans with disabilities, but also to hundreds of millions of the earth's most disadvantaged in this and in future generations. We cannot betray these people. Like our founding fathers, we must find the inspiration to rise above the traditional limitations of ego, personal animosities, in short range, economic and political expediency. We must unite Republicans, Democrats, Conservatives, Liberals to act, to act with responsibility to the foundational values of America and to the future of human being. Mr. Chairman, Congressman, I will do anything, literally anything, to cooperate with you to prevent my grandchildren and yours from being subjected to the purgatory of subhuman existence which my mother and my brother could not face. The Americans with Disabilities Act must be passed. Of course, in a form that does not impose unnecessary burdens on anyone, but certainly, in a form that lays the foundation for full equality because partial equality is not equality. Partial equality is simply guarantees more discrimination, more segregation, more social welfare, and more public and private debt. Now is the time for those who believe in the great moral and economic principles of American democracy to keep the sacred pledge of liberty and justice for all. I thank you. [The prepared statement of Justin Dart, Jr. follows:] TASK FORCE ON THE RIGHTS AND EMPOWERMENT OF AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES Appointed by Congressman Major R. Owens, Chairman, House Subcommittee on Select Education MEMBERS Justin Dart Elizabeth Boggs, Ph.D. Lex Frieden Coordinator Elmer Barrels Wade Blank David Bodenstein Philip B. Calkins, Ph.D. Susan Daniels, Ph.D. Ellot Dober Don Galloway Keith Gann James Havel 1. King Jordan, Ph.D. Paul Marchand Oral Miller Gary Olsen Mary Jane Owen Joseph Rogers Liz Savage William A. Spencer, M.D. Marilyn Price Spivack Ann Vinup Sylvia Walker, Ed.D. Tony Young VOLUNTEER STAFF Douglas Burleigh, Ph.D. Gwyneth Rochlin SUBCOMMITTEE LIAISONS Robert Tate Patricia Laird TESTIMONY PRESENTED BY JUSTIN DART, CHAIRPERSON OF THE MR. CHAIRMAN, IT IS AN HONOR TO APPEAR BEFORE THESE I SPEAK TODAY AS CHAIRPERSON OF THE TASK FORCE ON THE AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES SIGNIFICANT DISABILITIES. DISABILITY HAS BECOME A MAJOR FACTOR IN THE LIVES OF EQUAL ACCESS TO THE AMERICAN DREAM MUSCULAR DYSTROPHY, AIDS, AUTISM, ALLERGIES, AND MANY OTHER ESTIMATE THAT THE PROPORTION OF OUR POPULATION WITH DISABILITIES, NOW MORE THAN 15%, WILL DOUBLE WITHIN THE NEXT 30-50 YEARS. IT IS HIGHLY PROBABLE THAT ANY PERSON BORN IN 1989 WILL EXPERIENCE AT LEAST TEMPORARY DISABILITY DURING HIS OR HER LIFETIME. IT IS VIRTUALLY CERTAIN THAT ONE OR MORE MEMBERS OF ALMOST EVERY AMERICAN FAMILY WILL BECOME DISABLED. ALTHOUGH THIS DRAMATIC INCREASE IN THE LIFE SPAN REPRESENTS AN HISTORIC ENLARGEMENT OF THE HUMAN POTENTIAL, OUR CULTURE HAS NOT YET MODIFIED ITS PRACTICES TO FULFILL THAT POTENTIAL, OR EVEN TO MEET THE BASIC LIFE SUPPORT REQUIREMENTS CREATED BY THE NEW CHARACTERISTICS OF ITS MEMBERS. MAJOR PROBLEMS HAVE DEVELOPED. THE TASK FORCE IN THIS CONTEXT, THE TASK FORCE ON THE RIGHTS AND EMPOWERMENT OF AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES WAS ESTABLISHED ON MAY 2, 1988, BY CONGRESSMAN MAJOR R. OWENS, CHAIRMAN OF THE HOUSE SUBCOMMITTEE ON SELECT EDUCATION. COMPOSED OF 34 DISTINGUISHED REPRESENTATIVES OF MAJOR SEGMENTS OF THE DISABILITY COMMUNITY, THE TASK FORCE IS MANDATED TO COLLECT INFORMATION AND TO MAKE RECOMMENDATIONS WHICH WILL ASSIST CONGRESS AS IT CONSIDERS THE HISTORIC AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT, AND OTHER LEGISLATION DESIGNED TO IMPLEMENT THE RIGHTS OF AMERICA'S CITIZENS WITH DISABILITIES. THE TASK FORCE WISHES TO ACKNOWLEDGE THE MAGNIFICENT SUPPORT IT HAS RECEIVED FROM NUMEROUS MEMBERS OF CONGRESS, PARTICULARLY TASK FORCE FOUNDER CONGRESSMAN MAJOR OWENS AND THE MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE SUBCOMMITTEE ON SELECT EDUCATION, SENATORS TOM HARKIN AND LOWELL WEICKER AND THE MEMBERS OF THE SENATE SUBCOMMITTEE ON THE HANDICAPPED, AND ALL THE SPONSORS OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS RESTORATION ACT, THE FAIR HOUSING ACT AMENDMENTS OF 1988, THE TECHNOLOGYRELATED ASSISTANCE FOR INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES ACT AND THE AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT. THE TASK FORCE HAS NO PUBLIC FUNDING OR PRIVATE GRANTS. PARTICULAR RECOGNITION IS DUE TASK FORCE MEMBERS, STAFF AND VOLUNTEERS, AND THE LITERALLY THOUSANDS OF PATRIOTIC CITIZENS AND ORGANIZATIONS IN EVERY STATE AND TERRITORY WHO HAVE CONTRIBUTED SERVICES, MONEY AND TIME TO MAKE THE DEMOCRATIC SYSTEM WORK. FINDINGS THE MEMBERS OF THE TASK FORCE. THE ORGANIZATIONS WITH WHICH THEY OVERWHELMING VERBAL AND WRITTEN EVIDENCE THAT: ALTHOUGH AMERICA HAS RECORDED GREAT PROGRESS IN THE AREA OF DISABILITY DURING THE PAST FEW DECADES, OUR SOCIETY IS STILL INFECTED BY THE ANCIENT, NOW ALMOST SUBCONSCIOUS ASSUMPTION THAT PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES ARE LESS THAN FULLY HUMAN AND THEREFORE ARE NOT FULLY ELIGIBLE FOR THE OPPORTUNITIES, SERVICES AND SUPPORT SYSTEMS WHICH ARE AVAILABLE TO OTHER PEOPLE AS A MATTER OF RIGHT. THE RESULT IS MASSIVE, SOCIETY-WIDE DISCRIMINATION. - MILLIONS OF OUR CITIZENS WITH DISABILITIES SUFFER UNCONSCIONABLE INFRINGEMENT OF THEIR HUMAN RIGHTS. THEY ARE SUBJECTED TO DE FACTO GUARDIANSHIP, DETENTION, AND CONFISCATION OF PROPERTY WITHOUT DUE PROCESS OF LAW. THEY ARE OFTEN DENIED ESSENTIAL LIFE SUPPORT SERVICES. THEY SUFFER FREQUENT HUMILIATION AND REJECTION, AS WELL AS PHYSICAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL DEPRIVATION AND ABUSE. THEY ARE OFTEN UNREASONABLY EXCLUDED FROM SIGNIFICANT OPPORTUNITIES FOR SOCIAL PARTICIPATION, INCLUDING ACCESS ΤΟ PUBLIC AND PRIVATE FACILITIES, EDUCATION, EMPLOYMENT, HOUSING, TRANSPORTATION, COMMUNICATIONS AND RECREATION. - PIONEER MEDICAL, EDUCATIONAL, REHABILITATION AND INDEPENDENT MAJORITY OF PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES ARE NOT BEING MET. BLOCKED BY DISCRIMINATORY PRACTICES FROM FULFILLING THEIR PRODUCTIVE POTENTIAL. 43 MILLION AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES FORM THIS NATION'S MOST IMPOVERISHED LARGE MINORITY. THEY RECEIVE THE LEAST EDUCATION. THEY HAVE THE LOWEST INCOMES AND AMONG THE HIGHEST RATES OF UNEMPLOYMENT. SUBSTANDARD HOUSING, HOMELESSNESS, SUICIDE AND PREVENTABLE ILLNESS AND DEATH. - A CALIFORNIA WOMAN WITH A HEAD INJURY WRITES: "I HAD BEEN A CPA, AND WAS A PRODUCER & DIRECTOR FOR CNN AND PBS IN LONDON UP UNTIL ACCIDENT, JUNE 1987. NOW NOTHING. MY CHILDREN ARE HURT, FRUSTRATED AND CONFUSED. WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO THEIR MOTHER THAT WAS SUCCESSFUL, INTELLIGENT, HAPPY, LOVING, GIVING? I'VE BEEN FLOUNDERING AND SEARCHING LONG ENOUGH. WE CAN GO JUST |