Impressions of the ADA: Victor Panoff

Thursday, July 23, 2020

My name is Victor, I am a member of the disability community and work as a disability advocate at Disability Rights Florida. In recognition of the 30th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, I am taking the opportunity to reflect on what the ADA has accomplished and share my personal experience.

Thirty years ago, children with disabilities were routinely segregated from other children without disabilities at school. People with disabilities routinely encountered discrimination and barriers in housing, or worse were sent to an institution. We were routinely excluded from places of public accommodation. We consistently encountered employment discrimination. People with mobility disabilities could not access public transportation. The list goes on and on. Thirty years represents a whole generation of people who grew up benefiting from this groundbreaking civil rights legislation for people with disabilities. A generation has benefited from curb cuts and ramps, closed captioning, accessible websites, accessible buildings not to mention accessible bathrooms, integrated educational settings, reduced discrimination and barriers in employment -- simply put the right to live, work and participate in the world.

The ADA impacted my professional life before it impacted my personal life. The first employment discrimination case based on disability I prosecuted was before the ADA was enacted – let’s just say it did not go well. The ADA was a game-changer for my next disability-based employment discrimination case. Winning that case profoundly improved the quality of my client’s life. In the years that have passed since that first ADA case, I have seen how the ADA has improved the quality of the lives of countless individuals with disabilities. In the three decades that have passed, I have watched the theory of the ADA law develop through court decisions such as Olmstead v. L.C., which stands for the principle that individuals with disabilities have the right to live in the community rather than in institutions. I have watched the ADA Amendments Act of 2008 expand ADA’s definition of “disability” to broaden the scope of coverage under the ADA.

As a blind person, the ADA has impacted my life in many ways, from having curb cuts that assist in my ability to travel safely, to website accommodations that allow me to “read” and have access to information. The ADA has afforded me the ability to bank through talking ATM machines and even use a cellphone independently. The ADA afforded me accommodations in my home and protection when using a service animal. My workplace is accessible, and my employer provides accommodations that allow me to be a productive employee.

As to the future of the ADA, I would like to see upfront accessibility. Right now, accessibility and accommodations are an afterthought or added on later to comply with the ADA. We must integrate people with disabilities when designing buildings, products, services, and in the workplace.