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intended purposes. Use data should be developed on an industry by industry basis that will clearly show that the regulations that apply to such industry will actually result in more jobs for the disabled and increased use of public facilities by persons with such disabilities.

NATO supports the concept of elimination of all

discrimination.

NATO supports the concept of federal legislation

to specifically eliminate discrimination based on disability. NATO believes that antidiscrimination legislation should establish general guidelines but permit sufficient latitude to enable employers, employees, state and local officials, educators and the public, to work together to promote reasonable standards to eliminate job discrimination based on disability.

We will be glad to provide any additional information

requested.

Respecfully submitted,

Malcolm C. Green

Malcolm C. Green

Chairman

Prepared Statement of Robert L. Burgdorf, Jr.

My name is Robert L. Burgdorf Jr. I am currently Vice President for Project ACTION of the National Easter Seal Society. Prior to joining the National Easter Seal Society, I worked for the National Council on Disability, where I had the honor of drafting the original version of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) as it was introduced last year. For me this bill represents the culmination of more than fifteen years of work as a legal advocate for the rights of citizens with disabilities. appreciate this opportunity to appear before the Subcommittee to discuss the issue of discrimination against individuals with disabilities in public accommodations.

I

At the outset, let me say that as the author of last year's version of the bill I have no hesitation in heartily endorsing this year's bill. I believe the new and improved 1989 model of the ADA is fully consistent with the spirit and intent of the original proposal of the National Council on Disability that called for enactment of "a comprehensive law requiring equal opportunity for individuals with disabilities, with broad coverage and setting, clear, consistent and enforceable standards prohibiting discrimination on the basis of handicap" (Toward Independence, p. 18 (1986)). In my opinion, the revisions contained in this year's bill are well-conceived and welldrafted, and serve to fashion a bill that is as strong as, with potentially wider appeal than, the version introduced in the last Congress.

EXTENT AND EFFECTS OF DISCRIMINATION IN PUBLIC ACCOMMODATIONS

In the first ever nationwide poll of people with disabilities conducted in 1986, the Louis Harris organization asked a number of questions regarding the social integration and activities of Americans with disabilities. The pollsters discovered that people with disabilities are an extremely isolated segment of the population. As the National Council on Disability summarized the poll's results:

The survey results dealing with social life and leisure experiences paint a sobering picture of an isolated and secluded population of individuals with disabilities. The large majority of people with disabilities do not go to movies, do not go to the theater, do not go to see musical performances, and do not go to sports events. A substantial minority of persons with disabilities never go to a restaurant, never go to a grocery store, and never go to a church or synagogue.... While a decided majority of other Americans report that they are not active in religious, volunteer, and recreation groups, most persons with disabilities are not active in such groups. The extent of non-participation of individuals with disabilities in social and recreational activities is alarming.

(Implications for Federal Policy of the 1986 Harris Survey of Americans with Disabilities, p. 35 (1988))

Specific findings of the poll included the following:

Nearly two-thirds of all disabled Americans never went to a movie in the past year. In the full adult population, only 22% said that they had not gone to a movie in the past year. Three-fourths of all disabled persons did not see live theater or a live music performance in the past year. Among all adults, about 4 out of 10 had not done so.

Two-thirds of all disabled persons never went to a sports event in the past year, compared to 50% of all adults.

• Disabled people are three times more likely than are nondisabled people to never eat in restaurants. Seventeen percent of disabled people never eat in restaurants, compared to 5% of nondisabled people. Only 34% of disabled people eat at a restaurant once a week or more, compared to a 58% majority of nondisabled people.

(Louis Harris and Associates, The ICD Survey of Disabled mericans: Bringing Disabled Americans into the Mainstream, p. 3 (1986))

Another specific finding of the poll had to do with grocery shopping and similar activities:

Disability also has a negative impact on vital daily activities, like shopping for food. A much higher proportion of disabled persons than nondisabled persons never shop in a grocery store. Thirteen percent of disabled persons never shop in a grocery store, compared to only 2% of nondisabled persons. About 6 out of 10 disabled persons visit a grocery store at least once a week, while 90% of nondisabled adults shop for food this often.

(Id., p. 3)

Why don't people with disabilities frequent places of public accommodation and stores as often as other Americans? The Harris poll sheds some light on the reasons for this isolation and nonparticipation by persons with disabilities in the ordinary activities of life. Two of the major reasons have to do with not feeling welcome and inaccessibility.

The preeminent reason why people with disabilities do not participate in various aspects of commercial, social, and recreation activities that are a routine part of ordinary life for most other Americans is that they do not feel that they are welcome and can participate safely. Two of the major reasons most commonly identified by the Harris poll why the activities of people with disabilities are limited are fear and selfconsciousness about their disability. The Harris organization reported that "Fear is the barrier mentioned most frequently by disabled people as an important reason why their activities are limited," with nearly six out of ten (59%) of those reporting

activity limitations listing fear as an important reason (Id., p. 63). And self-consciousness about their disability was reported

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as an important factor by forty percent (Id., p. 64). disturbing degree, people with disabilities do not feel safe or welcome to attend or visit ordinary places open to the public for socializing, doing business, or engaging in recreation and other major activities in our society.

Another way in which people with disabilities are prevented from visiting social, commercial, and recreational establishments (and in which the lesson of not being welcome is underscored) is by the presence of physical barriers. Many people with mobility impairments, including in particular those who use wheelchairs, cannot get into or use a facility that has steps, narrow doorways, inaccessible bathrooms, and other architectural barriers that keep them out. People having visual and hearing impairments are often unable to make effective use or to participate safely in activities and services if the facility in which they occur has included no features for communication accessibility. According to the Harris poll, forty percent of individuals with disabilities reporting limitations on their activities say that an important reason why they are limited is inaccessibility of buildings and restrooms (Id., p. 64).

The Harris poll documents the social isolation of people with disabilities that results, in large part, from discrimination they encounter when they try to engage in the ordinary social and commercial transactions of daily life.

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