3 adequately or appropriately by themselves, etc. - and more or Her less learned to live with it, mostly by ignoring it. discrimination in many ways and venues, but perhaps the most even absent! expectations of some of her teachers, the very people society has charged with the development of our children. Too often her presence was simply tolerated because the law required that she be served. - I do not mean to condemn the teaching profession for poor attitudes, but their attitudes toward students have been proven to be vital to the success of their students. They are reflective of society at large, but have a far more serious impact on children. Many teachers simply told me not to worry about her, that she was very smart and "got everything." They failed to understand that we were at odds with their stereotypical thinking, that we had great expectations for all of our children. The inevitable result of these side effects of mainstreaming, the downside, was a perfectly dismal performance these dynamics herself, she is doing well and fully expects to graduate this June. Margaret is among the earliest graduates to have benefitted from Public Law 94-142, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, which became effective when she was in grade school. Soon she will be seeking employment and she expects to find access and accommodation in the adult world at least to the degree that she has experienced it during her education. Millions of children with disabilities have benefitted directly from the services, therapies, transportation, etc., provided to them and their families by PL 94-142. These kids have been integrated into the school with their nondisabled peers, as the Act intended; they will of course expect to be integrated into the community and the adult world in the same nondiscriminatory manner. Now they expect to become employed, to work as hard as everyone else, to benefit from being employed, and to pursue in the their own independent lifestyle just as you and I do community. As her parents, we also have the same expectations that with her talents and skills, she will be able to find and keep a good job and enjoy all that her community has to offer. However, barriers do exist. There is an enormous need for barrier-free public accommodations; these are the barriers that 5 impact most heavily on the family unit and prevent families from participating in normal public events, civic activities, voting, community affairs, and other regular activities like shopping, movies, entertainment, sports, etc. Our family has fared better than most, in many ways because we live in a state with strong laws on the books. Margaret was able to get a summer job when In addition, many public she was 16; she was well accommodated on the job. Many businesses, both small and large, have made these simple accommodations without going bankrupt! accommodations have removed architectural barriers without great cost. As an advocate, however, I am aware that in too many other states families do not share our experiences. The ADA would cure this inequity for families. Margaret has been extremely fortunate in many, many ways not the least of which is her father's financial success, but our family is by no means typical. According to "Toward Independence", the Census Bureau reports that a household/family that includes a person with a disability is twice as likely to fall at or below the poverty level as a household/family without a person with a disability. Margaret has been fortunate to survive. Although the condition itself is nonfatal, its complications often are. Margaret is fortunate to have a 6 written and oral. Margaret is fortunate to have grown up in a stable family unit with siblings and two parents. Indeed, Margaret is uniquely fortunate to have been born with so many advantages with or without the disability. Even so, she still must endure the physical and attitudinal barriers of our society. She may always be stared at, rebuffed, ignored, and otherwise mistreated by the general public. We cannot legislate good manners or sensitivity to others, but we can insure that she and all other people with disabilities are given equal treatment and the opportunity to participate in the workaday world. On behalf of all parents, I implore you to consider the future of our children: give them an equal chance to succeed; remove these barriers to their success. On behalf of my daughter and of all those individuals with disabilities who do not have her advantages, I urge you to pass the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1989 so that they may each have a better chance to achieve equal participation in society and independence with dignity. Thank you for this opportunity to present these views on behalf of our community who seek their own empowerment, their equal opportunity to participate, their own place in the sun to contribute to a better future for all of us. Mr. EDWARDS. Now we will hear from Prof. Robert Burgdorf of the District of Columbia School of Law. Professor Burgdorf formerly served on the staff of the National Council on Disability and while there drafted the original version of ADA introduced last year. We look forward to hearing more from him and learning from his expertise. We welcome you, Professor Burgdorf. STATEMENT OF ROBERT L. BURGDORF, JR., ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF LAW, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA SCHOOL OF LAW Mr. BURGDORF. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, Representative Sensenbrenner, I am honored to be here. Let me begin by saying that as the drafter of the original version of the Americans with Disabilities Act, as it was introduced last year, I have no hesitation in endorsing this year's bill as achieving the goal of the National Council on Disability which set out to enact a clear and comprehensive law to prohibit discrimination against people with disabilities. I wanted to begin by talking a little bit about the scope of the problem, particularly in the area of accommodations that we are addressing. In 1986, the Louis Harris organization conducted a poll, a nationwide poll of people with disabilities and the pollsters discovered that people with disability were an extremely isolated segment of the population. The National Council on Disability took a look at the results of the Louis Harris Poll and stated the following: The survey results dealing with social life and leisure experiences paint a sobering picture of an isolated and excluded population of individuals with disabilities. The large majority of people with disabilities do not go to movies, do not go to the theater, to musical performances and do not go to sports events. A substantial minority of persons with disabilities never go to a restaurant, a grocery store and never go to a church or synagogue. Specifically, the Harris Poll found that nearly two-thirds of all disabled Americans never went to a movie in the last year, that is compared to 22 percent of the general population. Three-fourths of all people with disabilities did not see live theater or live music performances in the past year as opposed to only 40 percent of the general population. Disabled people are three times more likely than nondisabled people to never eat in restaurants. They are also much less likely to go to grocery stores. Thirteen percent of disabled persons never shop in a grocery store compared with only 2 percent of people without disabilities. Why is this true? Why do we have an isolated and excluded population? The Harris Poll went further and asked these people why aren't you getting out, why aren't you doing things. The two major reasons were fear and barriers, fear of how people were going to be treated. Six out of 10 of the people whose activities were limited said that is one of the major reasons why they are limited. Forty percent said physical barriers kept them from going places |