The dramatic change in my status that I have experienced over the last several years allows me to come before you today in a number of capacities, and with a unique set of experiences that enables me to appreciate the critical importance of the - legislation you are presently considering. First, I come to you as an American with a severe disability a capacity that has profoundly affected my outlook as well as the course and content of my life. Second. I come to you as former resident of a nursing home, a status that I was forced to endure as recently as 1980 by virtue of the inaccessibility of the community in which I was living. As such, I have a personal understanding of the unnecessary dependence and isolation wrought by the architectural and attitudinal barriers that exist in so many aspects of daily living for most Americans with disabilities. Third, I am here as a practicing attorney with a disability an honor that places upon me a profound sense of responsibility for improving the landscape of opportunities for other Americans with disabilities that will come after me. Fourth, as the Chair of the Disabled Lawyers Committee of the ABA/YLD. I appear as a representative of other practicing attorneys with disabilities, all of whom collectively and individually experience nightmarish conditions in their attempts to survive and advance in the profession due to the pervasiveness of architectural, attitudinal, and communication barriers. Fifth, I am here as an active member of among law school graduates who have disabilities. See N.Y. Times, Dec. 31. 1988. (Section on The Law). A copy of the cited article is attached to this statement. the party of Abraham Lincoln. well aware of the need for limited government. yet supportive of well-reasoned and crafted legislation designed to serve compelling federal interests in the causes of individual liberty, opportunity, and the recognition of human dignity. Finally, and most importantly, I am here as a citizen of the United States, entitled to the full enjoyment of the same rights and privileges that are enjoyed by able-bodied citizens. In every one of these capacities I strongly urge you to pass the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1989 (the "ADA") as it is composed in the compromise Senate Bill. The significance of the ADA to the population of Americans with disabilities, including myself. cannot be emphasized enough. My own experiences in fact paint a vivid picture of the need for this legislation. - It was only ten years ago in 1979, while engaged in my first year of teaching junior and senior high school science after graduating from college, that I was diagnosed as having multiple sclerosis. In 1980 I had to use the drive-through window at my neighborhood bank even in the rain and snow because I could not gain access to the front door of the building; in 1981. I was turned away from a movie theater without an attendant because of the architectural barriers that I would have had to overcome at the fire exit in case of fire: in 1982. I stayed in my van for days at a time as I attempted to tour the west coast because I could not find accessible bathrooms, restaurants, hotels, or retailers: in 1983, I had to transfer to a new law school because I was unable to climb aboard a municipal bus to get to and from school, and no comparable accessible service existed in the community in which I was attending school: in 1984. I was trapped for hours in a bathroom in a restaurant because the double set of doors were not far apart enough for me to get out without getting stuck: in 1985, I had to sit by myself on stage at my law school graduation instead of with my classmates in the gallery because I could not climb the stairs in the auditorium to receive my degree; in 1986 I was thrown out of a shopping mall because a security officer believed that my electric wheelchair was a safety hazard to other patrons: that same year. I was told by a clerk in a shoe store that I would have to take my developmentally disabled friend to another store to buy shoes because she "might scare other customers away"; in 1987 I was thrown off an airplane after boarding because the pilot believed that my lack of mobility exposed the airline to greater liability in the event of an emergency; in 1988, I was told that I was "lucky" because I was allowed to vote outside my inaccessible polling place; also in 1988, I was forced to invent a set of bathroom grab bars out of wooden chairs in an inaccessible hotel room that I had to occupy for a week while I was traveling on business; in 1989 I was excluded from a significant portion of the annual meeting of the American Bar Association even after I had traveled all the way to Honolulu, because the facilities in which the meetings, functions, and events were taking place were often inaccessible. Thus, inaccessibility in public accommodations has affected every aspect of my existence. public accommodations deprive me of social and recreational opportunities, but it has a very real and very negative impact on my ability to function as a practicing attorney. Among the larger problems I have experienced in that regard are those that arise when I am required to travel on client-related business' and those associated with attempting to participate in activities of the organized bar such as continuing legal education programs. and local, state, and national bar association meetings, functions, or events.' Because these difficulties are so 'In addition to the difficulties I encounter in air travel. the largest impediments I routinely experience in my attempts to travel are the lack of sufficient numbers of truly accessible hotel rooms, my inability to obtain a guaranteed accessible room reservation under hotel industry standard reservation practices, a complete lack of reasonably-priced and reliable demandresponsive accessible ground transportation in almost every major city in the country, and the general inaccessibility in restaurants and other public accommodations at many sites where business is being conducted. In fact, the effort necessary to determine in advance whether a particular location is physically accessible and to arrange adequate transportation is often extremely time-consuming and grueling, if not impossible. My need to investigate accessibility every time I have to attend a meeting away from the office results in a substantial increase in the number of hours I must work to achieve parity with my peers in overall productivity. 'The problems that disabled attorneys face in their attempts to become integrated into the organized bar are largely a result of vicarious inaccessibility: bar activities are generally inaccessible because they are reliant upon services and are conducted largely in facilities that are provided for the public at large. To the extent that these facilities and services are inaccessible, the adoption of them for use by the bar results in a lack of access for attorneys with disabilities. An unfortunate but necessary result of this pervasive pattern of vicarious inaccessibility in bar activities has been an inability for attorneys with disabilities to form an effective voice within the pervasive and enormous, and because they often engender humiliation, embarrassment, or stress on my part, when I am otherwise not required to patronize public accommodations for business reasons, I generally choose not to eat in restaurants, stay in hotels. fly on airplanes, ride on buses, shop in stores, visit museums. attend sporting or cultural events, or otherwise avail myself of the public accommodations in my own community. If the employment provisions of the ADA are to have meaning, the public accommodations provisions must be seen both as freestanding provisions designed to eliminate isolation and segregation among all of America's disabled citizenry, as well as provisions necessary to open and maintain meaningful employment and corollary associational opportunities for persons with disabilities who also want to work. To that end, it is important that the provisions in the ADA address the fact of inaccessibility rather than its cause. It is my firm belief that many, but not all of the inaccessibility problems that I have encountered are not so much the result of hostility or willful discrimination; rather, they are the result of benign neglect and a lack of understanding or concern about how particular policies or practices affect the disabled patrons profession. We are highly underrepresented in places of legal employment: we are, however, even more underrepresented in the policies. practices, and activities carried out by the organized bar, including those relating to the admission to practice law in the first instance. Consequently. I also hear scores of horror stories on an annual basis arising from the experiences of persons with disabilities who attempt to take bar examinations. |