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Indiana gets poor grades in achieving ADA goals
Jul 27, 2010 (Herald-Times - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --
Despite the celebrations to mark the 20th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, Indiana ranks as only average in its implementation of the landmark legislation.
Less than average, actually. Indiana's overall GPA in a statewide survey comes out to a 2.10, with respondents giving the state a D-plus mark for employment opportunities and education about filing ADA complaints and C-minus ranks for job accommodations, communication and support, accessible transportation, website accessibility and education of businesses and government about the provisions of the ADA.
The Indiana Institute on Disability and Community used its Center for Planning and Policy Studies to conduct the survey of people with disabilities, their family members and advocates. The Indiana University-based center analyzed the data and provided the results.
"We should never be satisfied with a C," said Betty Williams, president of Self-Advocates of Indiana, a statewide organization run by and for people with developmental disabilities. "If our average is C, that means there are people who are not being accommodated and are not getting the access to their communities that they deserve."
Williams said in her experience, jobs are the top priority for people with disabilities, even more than access to buildings and services. "It's important for people with disabilities to be able to work. It's important to everyone's self-esteem to be able to work and work at a job you like. I want to be able to go home tired after a day at work, like everybody else."
Nancy Smith, an adviser for Self-Advocates of Monroe County, said, "Actually, Bloomington is pretty good on accessibility and we have some really good advocates here. We're pretty good with transportation and Bloomington Transit is really pretty good, although we have had some issues lately about Sunday transportation.
"I would agree that C is not a good grade," Smith went on. "And while I do think we do better than a lot of communities, we have our problems. One of them is that, in this college community, affordable housing is a real problem."
Vicki Pappas, director of the Center for Planning and Policy Studies, said awareness of the provisions of the ADA remains a primary obstacle to compliance, in her experience. "A lot of things could be improved without spending a lot of money," she said. "One of the things we constantly encounter is what happens when a new business comes into an existing building and they do renovations but they don't take into account some really simple things they can do to make their business accessible."
Pappas also agreed that Bloomington seems to do better than most communities when it comes to curb cuts, audible signals and enforcement of ADA regulations in new building construction. "As we celebrate 20 years of ADA, there have been some remarkable changes and I don't want to minimize how far we've come," she said. "At the same time, there is still resistance to some pretty easy steps that people can take to make their businesses and services accessible to people with disabilities."
Looking forward, the ADA Report Card came up with four "most important" priorities for progress:
--Making more employment opportunities available for people with disabilities
--Providing accessible transportation
--Educating businesses and government officials about their rights and responsibilities under the ADA
--Providing accommodations for employment
To see more of the Herald-Times or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to
http://www.heraldtimesonline.com/. Copyright (c) 2010, Herald-Times,
Bloomington, Ind. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For
more information about the content services offered by McClatchy-Tribune
Information Services (MCT), visit www.mctinfoservices.com, e-mail
services@mctinfoservices.com, or call 866-280-5210 (outside the United States,
call +1 312-222-4544).
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