STATEMENT OF DAVID REYNOLDS, INDIANA SCHOOL FOR THE DEAF, VIA INTERPRETER

Mr. REYNOLDS. Good afternoon. My name is David Reynolds. I am a teacher at the Indiana School for the Deaf and I am a thirdgeneration deaf person. My three children are fourth-generation deaf.

I attended the Illinois School for the Deaf and I attended Galludet University. As you know, where Galludet had the protest recently.

I got my Bachelor's Degree there and I got it in English. I also went to the Western Maryland College and received my Master's Degree there.

I have been very, very active in the State of Indiana in various deaf organizations. We have the Indiana School for the Deaf Alumni Association. And we have the Indiana Association of the Deaf.

And we also have many, many other organizations that I am actively involved with.

A year ago on March 1, I was very actively involved when we protested because we were not getting quality education in the State of Indiana. And I was the chair person of that committee that organized that protest.

I am currently the co-chair person of the communications curriculum committee at the Indiana School for the Deaf where we are trying to change the philosophy of the school to a more bilingual, bicultural program because we recognize that deaf children's native language is American sign language.

As you all know, at the Galludet protest there was a very deep purpose there. And that purpose is that deaf people want to be independent and take control of decision making.

We do not want to be controlled by hearing people. That has happened for more than 150 years. Hearing people have continued to try to tell us what to do and we do not want that anymore,

We must take control of our educational system. Our educational system in the United States must give children the opportunity to learn and we must lead our educational system.

And that means that we must have more deaf people in administrative positions. We must have more deaf teachers because that gives us access to our language.

And what that means is that we will have role models. And this is where we see that ADA can help us because you can help us get that access to communication.

Our language is different and that is very important. That is the issue. We do not have much access to communication.

Also when you are talking about hiring processes, currently there are a majority of hearing administrators. Currently, there are a majority of hearing teachers. Their view is very different from a deaf person's viewpoint.

But up until now, we have not been able to voice our concerns and our views. Here in the State of Indiana, we currently have tests that teachers must take and those tests are geared for English-speaking people.

Those tests do not give many opportunities for deaf people. A deaf person needs more access. They need more choices. They need maybe to use a video tape so that they can take these tests through American sign language.

So they need more access and more choices. Like the person or Dr. Lewis or someone just said on the panel talking about attitudes, attitude is very important.

We have been oppressed by hearing people for many years. We know that hearing people can work with us. We want them to work with us but their attitude has been very oppressive toward the deaf community.

We have not been allowed to have access to our communication system and our language. We do not have many devices where we need to have them. For example, we do not have a lot of TDD's and TTY's at the School for the Deaf. We do not have an emergency alarm system at the School for the Deaf. There are no flashing lights.

And it is so sarcastic. They just put in an intercom system at the School for the Deaf and how crazy is that? I mean it makes no sense to have that.

Also we do not have enough interpreters. And that is another lack of access. We do not have enough captions in the school. We need more television sets even in the school itself that are captioned.

I am very concerned myself because I am thinking of the future of deaf children in this country. I am thinking of my own deaf children, my own three deaf children at home. I want all deaf children in this country to have equal access to what they need.

I think ADA can really help us. I think that we can have less discrimination in the schools and less discrimination in the workplace.

We need to be in control of our educational system. That is very crucial. Also related to deaf offices in the State of Indiana, they are currently looking for people to run those offices and it is very important to have deaf people that are involved in the screening process and we do not have that currently.

Deaf people are very unique. We are a very unique, "handicap." It separates us from all of the people here in this room.

The only thing that is different about us is our communications. Our language is different. We are not physically impaired but our communication and our language is very important and we do not have access to that.

We need support and we need help. Thank you very much.
Mr. OWENS. Thank you. Janna Shishler.

STATEMENT OF JANNA SHISHLER, LAW CLERK, INDIANAPOLIS Ms. SHISHLER. I am pleased to be here and unlike most of the rest of the people that have been on the panels, I have not been involved with the disability movement much at all.

I have been in school for the past eight years and just got out last year. And so I feel as though my testimony is going to be much more personal about my own experiences rather than on a more general level.

On a crisp fall evening 10 years ago I became one of the continually expanding number of Americans with disabilities.

My admission to the group took only a matter of seconds but the result has altered my life dramatically. That evening, the hay wagon upon which I was a passenger suddenly lurched off the side of the road, throwing myself and several of my companions into the air.

My subsequent impact with the ground caused two of my cervical vertebrate to sublex, thereby placing enormous pressure on my spinal cord.

Since that night I have been a quadriplegic with no muscular function below my biceps. I was a 19 year old sophomore at Indiana University.

What I believe is particularly significant for others about the circumstances surrounding my injury is the relative ease with which it occurred. It was completely unforeseen and was not accompanied by any overtly dangerous activity.

Similar opportunities for traumatic injury are present in the every day lives of most citizens of this country. Consequently, the possibility of joining the population of disabled Americans is ever present.

This fact is compounded by the greying of the American population and the accompanying physical deterioration often associated with the aging process.

While considering this bill, I hope the Congressmen voting upon it and those parties opposing its passage focus on its benefits rather than the initial expense often necessary for opening opportunities for the disabled segment of our society.

The Americans With Disabilities Act should be viewed as an investment in the future of a substantial number of American citizens, perhaps even their own future.

The years immediately following my injury were spent trying to determine the most efficient method of accomplishing every day tasks such as dressing, eating, and studying.

Activities which had formerly required no conscious thought were now an effort. I believe the two things that made the adjustment possible were the support of my family and my immediate return to school.

In the fall of 1980, I transferred my credits from Indiana University's Bloomington campus to the Indianapolis campus.

After four years of hard work, I graduated with honors in 1984. Upon the conclusion of my undergraduate work I was admitted to the Indiana University, Indianapolis School of Law.

In 1988, I completed my legal education again receiving awards for my academic performance. I am currently employed as a judicial law clerk with United States Magistrate, John Paul Godich.

Discrimination never seemed to have hindered my progress until I began seeking employment in the private sector.

While in law school, I participated in the placement program offered by the university. The procedure permitted potential employers to select those they wanted to interview initially from resumes submitted to the placement office.

I received initial interviews with several local law firms based upon my academic record since in most instances I did not inform them of my disability.

Not only did I fail to receive any offers of employment but I, unlike many of my friends with comparable resumes was not asked to participate in any second interviews.

It is difficult for me to admit or believe that I may have been the subject of intentional discrimination. I am more apt to focus on my own real or imagined shortcomings or to appreciate the hesitancy reflected in employers' attitudes as a justifiable emphasis on the bottom line.

Generally, I have been one of those who have allowed others to lead the fight for disability rights while I sit on the sidelines and enjoy the fruits of their labors.

However, having been confronted with the unequal access on a personal level, I have finally recognized the necessity of broad based participation in the movement for equal participation in the American dream.

Although the presence of Civil Rights legislation does not guarantee the elimination of discrimination, it at least may provide the impetus to changing stereotypical beliefs that the disabled are slow, disruptive, and incapable.

The only sure remedy is exposing the general public to capable disabled persons and the workplace is the perfect venue.

The existence of such laws have positively affected employment in Federal and state Government by persons with disabilities.

During summer breaks from law school, I worked in the legal division of the Indiana Department on Aging and Community Services with Barry Chambers who you met earlier and for the State Attorney General's office.

A number of my co-workers were also disabled. None of my employers had to expend additional sums merely to meet my employment needs.

The computers which are a necessary part of my work were purchased with my own funds or with the assistance of the Indiana Department of Vocational Rehabilitation.

Vocational Rehabilitation also provided the funds for a specially built desk, speaker telephone, and the mouth sticks I use for typing.

Accessible bathrooms, a one-time expense, were already in place. My current position with the Federal Government has allowed me to become a self-supporting, tax paying member of society.

I no longer receive a regular Social Security check or assistance for vocational rehabilitation. My salary is sufficient to permit me to hire and pay the personal attendant who assists me each morning.

I believe that I am not an exception to the rule. The majority of persons with disabilities do not relish the thought of sitting day after day in a bedroom or nursing home.

The expense of maintaining nursing care for the disabled may be drastically reduced by implementing job training and opening access to employment for the Americans With Disabilities Act.

The Act will allow many of the disabled who have heretofore been ostracized from society to become contributing members.

Finally, I do not believe that it is unduly burdensome to place the obligations of the Act on employers with 15 or more employees who engage in interstate commerce.

First, modifications such as ramps or accessible bathrooms are a one-time expense which may be reimbursed through the dedicated work of disabled employees and the business of new customers or clients who were previously barred from access.

Second, if it is necessary to a persons' equipment for the disabled employee, it will typically benefit the business as a whole.

Thirdly, as alluded to earlier, a disabled individual who makes the effort to seek training and performing a particular type of work will in all likelihood prove to be an excellent employment risk.

I will be returning to the job market soon myself. I look forward to the Act as promised by the passage of the Americans With Disabilities Act. Thank you for your consideration.

Mr. OWENS. I want to thank all of you for your testimony and assure you that personal testimony and the process of sensitizing legislators to this particular piece of legislation is very important. Mr. Reynolds, I want you to know that the uprising-and I call it an uprising-at Galludet University played a major role in accelerating the movement of this legislation.

The bill would be probably two or three years behind schedule if it had not been for that dramatic uprising, the statement that was made at Galludet University.

So the spirit of your testimony is very much the spirit of the Galludet movement. I have no questions. I yield to Mr. Jontz.

Mr. JONTZ. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The statements that each of you gave were very eloquent. All Americans want to accomplish with their lives what you have accomplished.

And I think that those accomplishments are testimony equally eloquent to the need for the Americans With Disabilities Act so that all citizens can make those accomplishments. I want to thank you for your statements and express my appreciation for your being with us this afternoon. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. OWENS. Thank you again. Our next panel consists of Nanette Bowling, the Staff Liaison to the Mayor's Advisory Council for Handicapped Individuals, the Office of Mayor Bob Sargent, Kokomo, Indiana; John Turney who is a member of the Mayor's Advisory Council for Handicapped Individuals; and Michael Williams, the vice president for Ancillary Services, St. Joseph's Hospital in Kokomo, also the Kokomo employer of the year.

Mr. JONTZ. Mr. Chairman, while the members of the next panel are taking their seats, I want to take just a minute to welcome them. We are very proud of all of the citizens of Kokomo.

And I am very appreciative of their appearance here today. I know a number of people had a distance to come. I know the road between Kokomo and Indianapolis very well and appreciate the effort that this panel has made to be with us. I want to personally welcome them as my constituents from the Fifth Congressional District.

Mr. OWENS. Again, your written statement will be entered into the record. You have five minutes for your oral testimony but will be free to elaborate during the questioning period on any points