Accessibility

“ Gains have also been made in education, training, housing, transportation and accessibility. We need to make the 1980s years in which disabled individuals achieve the greatest possible access to our society, maximum independence, and full opportunity to develop and use their capabilities. ”

“ Accessibility to Cities.—In deciding upon the location of a farm, methods of transportation that are available are as important as nearness to cities. A location near a railroad station offers the possibility of low commutation rates to a point of industrial or commercial employment. ”

“ This Administration has taken steps to improve the access of handicapped citizens by issuing regulations under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act which require recipients of federal financial assistance to improve the accessibility of their programs to the disabled. ”

“ The cost of providing accessible over-the-road buses and bus service to individuals with disabilities, including consideration of recent technological and cost saving developments in equipment and devices. (5) Possible design changes in over-the-road buses that could enhance accessibility, including the installation of accessible restrooms which do not result in a loss of seating capacity. (6) The impact of accessibility requirements on the continuation of over-the-road bus service, with particular consideration of the impact of such requirements on such service to rural communities. ”

“ The head of each agency shall take steps to implement or increase the availability and use of diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility training programs for employees, managers, and leadership. ”

“ Convenient distance, then, from railway, post office, shops, and other evidences of civilisation, is the first point upon which the prospective purchaser must satisfy himself. Carrying the question of accessibility a step further, it becomes necessary to ensure that the property shall be approached by a convenient road. ”

“ Foresight must be exercised and generous provision made for the probable growth of towns, and the number of volumes changed as changes in the size of population or other considerations demand. Supposing a mistake has been made, the weeding has been made with the accessibility in view of large and special libraries in towns and cities near by. ”

“ New ideas in education, housing, jobs, and transportation are adding to the opportunities for handicapped people to be independent, to lead fuller lives and to contribute to society. In support of these goals, I have asked the heads of Executive departments and agencies to set an example for fair employment practices by demonstrating what can be done to make the fullest possible use of the abilities of qualified handicapped people. ”

“ Public and private sector efforts such as these are not only helping to create more accessible housing for persons with disabilities but also facilitating their full participation in the social and economic life of our country. ”

“ Handicapped workers have made great progress in entering the job market, and those already in the labor force are moving up to better jobs. More of our Nation's buildings and public transportation systems are being made accessible. Many handicapped individuals have been moving out of institutions into homes, apartments, and community facilities which facilitate independent living. As handicapped individuals move into the mainstream of society, more and more of their fellow citizens are overcoming their prejudices and seeing handicapped individuals as people. ”

“ The reasons for this welcome development are not hard to find: enhanced enforcement of laws that prohibit discrimination against the handicapped; actions by employers to provide more accessible work places and transportation; improved education and training; more innovative job accommodations; and better attitudes toward the disabled. The most important reason of all is the outstanding work record people with disabilities are achieving at their jobs. ”

“ The ADA, which prohibits discrimination in employment, public accommodations, government services, transportation, and communications, provides a practical model for people everywhere to ensure that individuals with disabilities will not be excluded from the social, cultural, and economic mainstream. ”

“ He believes that all large factories should employ a certain percentage of handicapped workers, as its contribution to the rehabilitation movement, and it is to be hoped his example may be followed by employers all over the country. The Light-House for the Blind in New York City, the Cleveland Association for the Blind in Ohio, and other similar associations are doing splendid work in arousing the interest of the public, and in finding employment for blind men and women, both in their homes, and in shops with sighted persons. ”

“ The enactment of the historic Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 offered additional evidence of our commitment to removing the physical, attitudinal, and statutory barriers that have too often prevented these individuals from enjoying the same opportunities as other Americans. This legislation, the world's first comprehensive declaration of equality for persons with disabilities, prohibits discrimination in employment, transportation, and public accommodations. ”

“ We also gained vast new insights into the significant impact that access to education, rehabilitation, and employment have on their lives.
The progress we have made is a tribute to the courage and determination of our disabled people, to innovative research and development both in technology and training techniques to assist the disabled, and to those-whether in the private or public sectors-who have given so generously of their time and energies to help enrich the lives of disabled persons. ”

“ I urge all Governors, Mayors, other public officials, leaders in business and labor, and private citizens at all levels of responsibility to help remove the barriers to equal opportunity for handicapped individuals and to help them in their search for productive employment. ”

“ Promote the establishment of institutions for providing the blind on leaving the schools with regular employment, and for teaching trades to persons ineligible for admission to the schools, which is the case, as a rule, with those above twenty-one years of age.
3d. When practicable, supply blind persons with regular employment at their own homes, and encourage them to do anything they can on their own account independently of any institution. ”

“ A decade ago, when we were debating the Americans with Disabilities Act, critics said that making workplaces, public transportation, public facilities, and telecommunications more accessible would be too costly and burdensome. But they have been proved wrong. Since passage of the ADA in 1990, more than a million men and women with disabilities have entered the labor force and, as taxpayers, consumers, and workers, they are contributing to a period of unprecedented prosperity and record employment in our country. ”

“ And all Americans can take pride in the changes the ADA has brought into the lives of millions of citizens with disabilities. Because of that law, Americans with disabilities have gained greater access to public places. They have more options in choosing their homes, using public transportation, traveling and staying in hotels. ”

“ Each year we remove more barriers that have prevented people with disabilities from taking jobs. New technology, job training and placement programs, an increasingly accessible working environment, and greater public understanding all contribute to disabled people's competitiveness in the job market. ”

“ No individual shall be discriminated against on the basis of disability in the full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, or accommodations of any place of public accommodation by any person who...operates a place of public accommodation. ”

“ These physical and other kinds of barriers deny daily access for millions of America's elderly and handicapped citizens to jobs, transportation, recreation and public service. Attitudes and customs contribute to this problem.
Physical access often determines whether people can enjoy their rights and freedoms and exercise their responsibilities. Most of us take such access for granted. However, many disabled and disabled elderly cannot. ”

“ The great idea which encourages the establishment and support of all such institutions by the several States is the preparation of the blind for future usefulness and happiness, by self-dependence. Their misfortune unfits them for the large number of industrial and professional pursuits open to the seeing; but there are mechanical arts in which they become good, if not rapid workers. The difficulty with many, [Pg 230] especially those without friends and homes, is in securing employment, and in earning fully enough for their support. ”

“ That the more immediate objects of this Association shall be to afford employment to those blind persons who, for want of work, have been compelled to solicit alms, or who may be likely to be tempted to do so. To cause those unacquainted with a trade to be [Pg 124] instructed in some industrial art, and to introduce trades hitherto unpractised by the blind. To support a Circulating Library consisting of books in various systems of relief printing, to the advantages of which the indigent blind shall be admitted free of charge, and others by paying the subscription required by the Committee. ”

“ That many blind persons after leaving the schools are, although instructed in some trade, reduced to begging or driven to the workhouse, not through their own fault, but simply for the want of any regular employment in their trade. ”

“ The State shall secure the establishment of the institutions and organisations necessary for the education, rehabilitation, employment and social assistance of the mentally and physically handicapped persons in order to enable their adapting to the society. ”

“ Policy recommendations may cover such areas as discrimination, reasonable accommodations, inadequate access to health care, lack of consumer-driven, long-term supports and services, transportation, accessible and integrated housing, telecommunications, assistive technology, community services, child care, education, vocational rehabilitation, training services, job retention, on-the-job supports, and economic incentives to work. ”

“ Reasonable accommodation.— The term "reasonable accommodation" may include— (A) making existing facilities used by employees readily accessible to and usable by individuals with disabilities; and (B) job restructuring, part-time or modified work schedules, reassignment to a vacant position, acquisition or modification of equipment or devices, appropriate adjustment or modifications of examinations, training materials or policies, the provision of qualified readers or interpreters, and other similar accommodations for individuals with disabilities. ”