even near

standard? Why are the new drinking fountains in our State Why were the

House erected out of reach of Persons in wheelchairs?

curb cuts at the Indianapolis Airport filled in with concrete?

All of these examples could have been avoided had anyone bothered to consult someone with a disability, and the cost, if any, would have been nominal. An article in last month's Indianapolis Business

Journal quotes the National Federation of

Independent Business

in.

saying that the ADA Will require nearly every business in the nation to make costly alterations and Purchase special equipment..." This is simply not true. The Journal of American Insurance/First Quarter 1986, in an article "Hiring the Handicapped; Overcoming Physical and Psychological Barriers in The Job Market stated that "Most of the myths concerning the Problems of employing the handicapped originate as a result of (these) attitudinal barriers." "Study after study shows that the majority of employed disabled Persons received accommodations that cost employers much less than the employer originally anticipated." In fact the majority were

under $100 for each person.

Because society is being assaulted with the fallacy that People with disabilities are less than able and that the cost to allow us to Participate is, to quote the NFIB "beyond the reasonable bounds of common sense", the Americans with Disabilities Act IS necessary. It is necessary

discrimination.

to

Provide US freedom from the bondage of

It is, therefore, the reason why I am before you today; to urge you to encourage your Peers in the House to support this Act, as it is without further compromising amendments.

Again, Thank you for the opportunity to speak.

Mr. OWENS. Thank you. Mr. Myers.

STATEMENT OF JEFF MYERS, FORMER POLICE OFFICER,

INDIANAPOLIS

Mr. MYERS. Mr. Chairman, Mr. Jontz, I would like to thank you for this opportunity and I would like to give you some of my personal situations, views, and what I have observed on public accommodations over the past several years.

There are buildings what they call accessible and this ADA Bill will help them make really accessible. The guidelines, I think people need to be given to show them exactly what it takes to get in.

I called a lot of places in advance to find out, you know, if it is accessible. I am told it is. And when you get there, you have got an eight inch curb that you cannot even get up to the building.

I found a few places and ways to get up to these buildings and when I get there, there are ramps that I cannot even be pushed up even though I have a power wheelchair.

There are numerous places that follow the same guidelines that go over and over and these places need some kind of a guideline. And I feel like the ADA Bill will cover these.

There are numerous sports arenas in this city of ours that go at it at the same way. This is a big problem I have is, we are handicapped and it is like we are not expected to have family or friends and that is not the case anymore.

Now, there are a lot of family members that go along with handicapped people. We have families now. And they allow you to have one person with you at most of these places and your family members and friends, they have to go somewhere else.

I would just like to see the ADA Bill go through and get the road paved like the Civil Rights Act of '64. Thank you.

[The prepared statement of Jeff Myers follows:]

THE CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1964 BLAZED A PATH AND SET PRCEDENCE FOR THE BLACK MINORITIES OF THIS COUNTRY. IT'S TIME FOR ANOTHER ACT TO BLAZE A PATH FOR ANOTHER MINORITY, PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES!

IT TOOK THE PEOPLE OF THIS COUNTRY TWO CENTURIES TO ALLOW BLACK
CITIZENS TO COME OUT FROM THE BACK OF THE BUS. IT IS NOW TIME
TO GET PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES OUT FROM THE BACK OF THE BUS TOO!
IT IS TIME TO MAKE OUR COUNTRY, OUR STATES, OUR CITIES RURAL AND
SUBURBAN ACCESSIBLE FOR PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES.

THE STORES, RESTAURANTS, THEATRES, SPORTS FACILITIES AND OFFICES NEED TO BE ACCESSIBLE FOR ALL. IF THIS IS SO IT WILL ENABLE PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES TO WORK, TO SHOP, TO EAT OUT, TO WATCH SPORTING EVENTS AND IN RETURN TO SOCIETY THIS CLASS OF PEOPLE WILL BE SPENDING MONEY, PAYING INCOME TAXES, PAYING SALES AND EXISE TAXES AND OVERALL BE A PRODUCTIVE, SELF SUPPORTING MEMBER OF SOCIETY.

PUBLIC ACCOMODATIONS MUST BE ACCESSIBLE TO ALL PERSONS. I HAVE

CALLED A VARIETY OF ESTABLISHMENTS WHERE I WAS PLANNING ON GOING AND
THEY STATED THAT, "YES, WE ARE HANDICAPPED ACCESSIBLE." AND WHEN
I ARRIVED I FOUND OUT THAT THEY WERE IN FACT NOT ACCESSIBLE. I HAVE
LEARNED THAT I WAS NOT BEING TRICKED OR LIED TO, IT'S THAT THE
MAJORITY OF PEOPLE DON'T HAVE ANY IDEA OF WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE
TO BE "ACCESSIBLE". THERE NEEDS TO BE BUILDING GUIDELINES FOR CURB
CUTS, DOORWAYS, RESTROOMS ETC. SO THAT THIS GAP IS FILLED WITH
HELPFUL AND USEFUL AIDS FOR THE EVER INCREASING MINORITY OF PERSONS

WITH DISABILITIES.

I WAS TO ATTEND A FUNCTION AT THE HOLIDAY INN'S HOLIDOME IN THEIR BANQUET ROOM AND WHEN I ARRIVED THEIR IDEA OF ACCESSIBLITY WAS TO CARRY ME AND MY WHEELCHAIR UPSTAIRS TO THE BANQUET ROOM. I WAS ALSO TOLD OVER THE PHONE THAT ILLUSIONS RESTAURANT IN CARMEL WAS ACCESSIBLE AND WHEN I ARRIVED I COULDN'T EVEN GET UP ON THE CURB TO LOOK AT THE FRONT DOOR. I TOOK A RAMP TO GET ON THE SIDEWALK AND THEN I ATTEMPTED TO GO UP THE RAMP WITH THE MANAGER PUSHING ME AND THE RAMP WAS TO STEEP TO EVEN BE PUSHED UP. I HAVE GONE THROUGH THE KITCHEN AT THE

GROUND ROUND TO GET TO A TABLE BECAUSE OF STEPS. THIS WAS DANGEROUS IN THAT A MINOR ACCIDENT COULD LEAVE MYSELF VERY SERIOUSLY INJURED AND POSSIBLY OFF OF WORK FOR A LONG PERIOD OF TIME.

IN THEIR OPINION THEY THOUGHT THEY WERE ACCESSIBLE UNTIL CONFRONTED WITH A REAL SITUATION. THIS IS WHY THERE NEEDS TO BE SPECIFIC GUIDELINES SO THAT "ACCESSIBLE" HAS A NATIONAL STANDARD MEETING. SPORTS FACILITIES IN INDIANAPOLIS HAVE MADE A MINOR STEP IN THIS DIRECTION BUT THERE IS A NEED FOR IMPROVEMENT. A PERSON WITH A PHYSICAL DISABILITY CAN ATTEND SPORTING EVENTS HOWEVER, YOU ARE NOT EXPECTED TO HAVE A FAMILY OR MORE THAN ONE FRIEND. YOU CAN ATTEND

AND SPECTATE BUT ONLY ONE PERSON IS PERMITTED TO SIT WITH YOU.
THIS MENTALITY IS ERRONEOUS. PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES ARE MEMBERS

OF FAMILIES, HAVE FAMILIES OF OUR OWN AND YES WE DO POSSESS MORE
THAN ONE FRIEND. A SPORTING ARENA WITH A SEATING CAPACITY OF 20
TO 60 THOUSAND PEOPLE NEEDS TO HAVE INTEGRATED SEATING FOR PERSONS
WITH DISABILITIES AND THEIR FAMILIES OR GROUP OF FRIENDS.

I WOULD LIKE TO THANK AND CONGRATULATE PRESIDENT BUSH AND THE

MEMBERS OF CONGRESS WHO ENDORSE AND SUPPORT THIS BILL.

Mr. OWENS. Thank you. Marchell Hunt.

STATEMENT OF MARCHELL HUNT, CHAIRPERSON, COMMON CONCERNS, THE DISABILITY ADVOCACY ORGANIZATION

Ms. HUNT. Thank you. Mr. Chairman, Mr. Jontz, I am Marchell Hunt, Chairperson for Common Concerns, a disability advocacy organization in Indianapolis.

May I begin by quoting John Fitzgerald Kennedy who once said, "It is in the American tradition to stand up for ones right even if the new way to stand up for ones rights is to sit down."

Because the lack of transportation is the primary barrier to community participation, education, employment, recreation, adequate medical care, and independent living for people with disabilities, I am sitting here before you today standing up for those civil rights of disabled persons to have access to mainline public transportation.

The crippled state of accessible public transportation in Indianapolis is an embarrassment. Currently, Metro, Indianapolis' public transportation system has only six wheelchair accessible busses. As a result, there is no flexibility in scheduling and consumers are forced to schedule their activities at least two weeks in ad

vance.

Scheduling however does not necessarily guarantee service. The day I was released from the hospital, Metro called to say that they could not pick me up even though I had scheduled my ride three weeks in advance.

Currently, there are more than 100 persons on a waiting list to utilize this very limited form of accessible public transportation.

Metro has stated that it simply costs too much to equip new busses or if such busses were available, smooth scheduling operations would be interrupted because of the extra three to five minutes needed to board disabled passengers.

In short, it would appear that Metro's financial experts have manipulated their data by including and excluding costs of variables to advance their particular positions.

Considering that cost has become such a critical factor in the debates over accessibility, it would appear that Metro's accounting maneuvers represent yet another embarrassing blow to the disability community.

In response to these and other concerns associated with the current transportation system, Paratransit has been proposed as a possible solution.

However, if solely implemented such a system will serve only to further segregate the disabled from the non-disabled thereby speeding stereotyped public attitudes and beliefs concerning persons with disabilities.

Such stereotypes include misplaced safety concerns, notions that disabled people need to be protected and cared for, a lack of understanding as to why persons with disabilities would even want to leave their home and the personal discomfort that some may feel when coming in contact with people who are physically different. In short, accessible mainline public transportation can help change attitudes through interaction. For attitudinal barriers can