NEED RESPONSES FOR THE STUDENT’S POSTS

STUDENT’S POST #1

Jennifer Buckner,

The journey of passing the ADA, and the struggle following its signing, is similar to the fights for rights of many other minority groups, but particularly for people of color. Like for people of color, the signing of the ADA meant freedoms, accessibility and education for a whole group of people who had been struggling to be seen as equal members of society and treated as separate. The signing of the ADA meant people with disabilities could work and be educated alongside able-bodied individuals similar to how the Civil Rights Act of 1964 did for African Americans. Like the struggle for African Americans to gain equal rights, the fight for equality was/is not over with the passing of the ADA. Implementation took time and those rights were put to the test in court, as businesses, schools and states, resisted change or simply did not adjust fast enough. Like other minorities fighting for human rights, the journey took time, and the legal struggles did not end with the signing of the ADA.

The struggle with treating those with disabilities as a unified minority group, especially when it comes for forming legislation, is that there are many groups and individuals within the disability community with specific needs. Because the nature of the disability that a person has can greatly alter their day-to-day functions, which in turn affects the accommodations and type of accessibility that they need. Creating laws that will protect them all, while not placing undue hardship on small businesses, is a challenge that was part of the struggle leading up to the passing Section 504 and the ADA. This is one of the reasons there have been many legal battles and frustrations since protective legislation was passed: each individual must be treated, protected and accommodated as an individual and the wording and enforcement of laws can only go so far to see this happens. Much of the actual implementation and responsibility is left to the business, program, state, school etc., to see it actually happens.

STUDENT’S POST #2

Lyndi Phillips

The ADA law is similar to other laws protecting marginalized minority groups in the sense that they all are going for the same thing, equality among society. The ADA law was signed into affect on July 26, 1990 which was a huge thing for our country, but even thought it was signed and implemented big changes still had to be made. Yes, there was now a law protecting disabled people in our community but they still needed to make changes so that they were able to go into the court house or movie theaters. To compare it now to a more recent law that was put into affect in November of 2012 was when same sex marriage was legalized but not all states allowed it at first. Later on though in June 26, 2015 same sex marriage was legalized all over the US, before it was legal in all 50 states from 2012 to 2015 only 37 states allowed it.

What is at stake is the right for everyone to feel equally as important as their neighbors and friends in society. When we don't make everything equally accessible to our society as a whole people began to feel left our and mistreated. It also can lead to bullying and harassment as when minority groups come out into society and people who aren't use to seeing these groups began to poke fun at them because they don't know how to act. It's not that the minority groups don't know how to act, its us as a society not being accepting of all people even when they don't look like us or act like us. One of the biggest challenges when looking at minority groups and trying to be an advocate for them is that some pool may say they are getting special treatment or that we are trying to fight a battle that isn't ours. As an advocate though, we are trying to be there and help support them and fight for a cause that needs more recognition because, even though a law is made, not everyone tends to accept it.