Blog | Tag: Accessibility (P20)

November 11th is World Usability Day, an annual event intended to highlight the importance of technology as a way to help make our lives easier. Devices like cellphones, laptops, tablets, and public access kiosks — and the websites, applications and interfaces that run on these devices — have the potential to remove barriers, open up opportunities, and advance inclusion for people with disabilities.

Every year since 2016 the American Association of People with Disabilities has hosted National Disability Voter Registration Week in coordination with its REV UP campaign state chapters, including Florida’s REV UP Chapter, Access the Vote Florida. An estimated 38 million people with disabilities were eligible to vote nationwide during the 2020 elections making the disability community the largest minority voting bloc in the United States. Despite these large numbers, issues that affect the disability community are not usually discussed during elections or are discussed with no mention of the implications for people with disabilities.

In 1990, President Bush pulled the equality and inclusion bus up to the White House and invited People with Disabilities to climb onboard. He compared the act of signing the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) to the destruction of the Berlin Wall, a powerful symbol of Communist oppression that many of us feared, fought, and cheered when it finally fell. It was such a pivotal moment for that generation; how could we not cheer and applaud the fall of another wall of oppression a year later?

When President Ford signed the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (Public Law 94-142), later known as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), in 1975, all children were given access to the public school system to receive a free and appropriate education in the least restrictive environment. From that time forward, students with disabilities had the right to receive an education with their non-disabled peers with all the same resources, teachers, and classrooms.

While there are still times when a dedicated assistive technology (AT) device is necessary or recommended, the rise of the smartphone and tablet age has changed the way we look at AT. Often there is an app for less than $100 that can do the same or similar job as a multi-thousand-dollar dedicated device, which makes approvals and delays much less of a factor. And one device, such as a $500 tablet, can provide a number of functions that would have taken several dedicated devices to accomplish in the past.

I do not refer to employment as “the road less traveled” because I think that people with disabilities are intentionally not seeking employment. Nothing could be further from the truth, because people with disabilities want to work and seek work daily. Rather, it is the road less traveled due to low expectations, stigma, and systems that limit employment potential through arbitrary limits on income which can constitute a choice between working and literally living.

Olivia Babis discusses her personal connection with the ADA and how her life has changed over the years since its inception.

Disability Rights Florida staff member Victor Panoff shares his thoughts about the ADA on the eve of its 30th anniversary.