As we approach the 32nd anniversary of the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), we celebrate the removal of barriers that excluded people with disabilities from everyday life. We are also reminded that we still have much work to do to make our society fully accessible.
The COVID-19 pandemic revealed some of that work by highlighting existing access problems and creating new ones. A recent report from the U.S. Administration for Community Living (ACL), “Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on People with Disabilities,” says that people with disabilities were affected more than other groups by the hardships of COVID-19.
Disability Rights Texas (DRTx) has seen this impact based on the calls we've received from you. During the pandemic, we advocated for:
- Access to the COVID-19 vaccine
- Hospital critical care guidelines that prohibit discrimination based on disability
- Compensatory (make-up) services for students with disabilities who lost progress because of virtual education
- Tenants with disabilities to remain in their housing per the CDC moratorium on evictions
- Workplace accommodations for people with disabilities who were at high risk of death if they were to contract COVID-19
Your support of our mission has enabled us to do all these things and more.
The words of George H.W. Bush at the signing of the ADA hold as true today as they did that day: "Together, we must remove the physical barriers we have created and the social barriers that we have accepted. For ours will never be a truly prosperous nation until all within it prosper."
