Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990

So at one point we did have control.

This was a change based on the Americans with Disabilities Act.

And I should note as well, first responders or elevator mechanics can get those buttons to work with their like magic key.

But for all of us, we're just mashing that button with zero results.

So there are all these intersectionality elements as well.

So When it comes to accessibility, what do people need to think about? Because I think we do take the ADA for granted.

Yes, great point.

I know.

And I refer to the ADA as something that America has actually done right, which is we don't talk about very, very much lately.

But so that is definitely something to take into account is what sort of local, both national and also like state or province-wide accessibility laws are there? And then like I mentioned earlier, actually, how are they enforced? Is this something that's just written? Is this something that's more punitive, like you'll have to deal with not having access to an elevator, but if you go through this long process, they'll finally fix it? Or is it something that's more proactive and they're really trying to work towards more accessibility in general without having to do reports and things like that of issues of accessibility? Some other big things you mentioned.

So if you're on disability, we need to look at if you're getting SSDI through the U.S., what countries have totalization agreements with the U.S.? So quite a few countries do have that agreement.

Accessibility.

Because I think that when the Americans with Disabilities Act passed in the early 90s, it kind of defined accessibility as like it mandated that there were like curb cuts and elevators and things like that.

And so I think people think of that when they think of accessibility.

They think of a wheelchair user probably.

However, there are a lot of other good resources I'll talk about.

So what is a service animal? The Americans with Disabilities Act, I'll refer to it as ADA, they qualify a service animal as a dog that is individually trained to do work or perform tasks for an individual with a physical, sensory, psychiatric, intellectual, or other mental health disability.

So that is the definition of what ADA qualifies as a service animal.

The language that they use doesn't necessarily specify how a dog should be trained or who should train that animal so that other individuals that don't necessarily have the resources to go to an organization like I did, they are able to train their own dog to meet whatever task or whatever goal to meet that disability and however they need help.

And so ADA is very gray in that sense.

So dogs automatically come to mind.

What is interesting about ADA is back when they first started this kind of policy, they were allowing miniature horses to be used.

Now, I did a little digging before this episode because I remember there being some changes within ADA.

And I think that also stems from there not being enough education and enough space to talk about disability when we're younger.

I don't remember talking about disability or ableism or the ADA or Judy Heumann or anyone that's important to our community when we were younger.

You know, I feel like we talked a lot about sexism and racism and all the other isms in high school and middle school.

But I do not remember at all ableism coming up.

Oh.

You know...

I think for me, and I know this is gonna seem like such a cliche answer because being human is coming out, but over time, really getting to appreciate Judy Heumann's work and the badass that she is, I've really grown to sort of look up to her and her legacy that she's left and everything that she's done with the formation of the ADA and how she fought so hard for her rights it at a time where things were so uncertain and so I think really diving into disability history as I've gotten older and as I've sort of come into my own understanding of my own disability and sort of diving into that I mean it wasn't like I watched Crip Camp like maybe like a year or two ago like it wasn't even that long ago so I've kind of just been diving into I love that.

You know, really appreciating the history and all the leaders that have sort of made that impact and that change.

and the movie was a sensation, and it became part of the experience for a lot of young people, a lot of young Americans who were looking to plug into what was then the, I think we'd call it the Jesus people, the resurgence, the third great awakening that was happening in the United States, and she became a fixture in that.

She was appointed by President Reagan, to a council that ultimately resulted in the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

So she did advocacy, but ministry has been her major focus.

Wheels for the World, which she's been doing since 1994, collects used wheelchairs and uses, by the way, US prison inmates.

I don't know how to put these two stories together.

Yeah, no, this is helpful.

yeah but when i was appointed to the national council on disability and our first council my council was responsibility for the original drafting of the americans with disabilities act did not pass congress in 1988 they called it the world is flat bill what is the matter with you disabled people you're asking for the world to be flat and so you know we got the help of other disability rights advocates to assist us and um My job was to just simply, you know, wheel the hallways of Congress and talk to congressmen, senators, anybody who would be listening about the ADA.

And eventually it did pass.

The thing is that what it really boils down to is how does whatever it is your issue is, how does it affect your parenting? So a diagnosis of anything is not going to make a difference unless somebody can show the visible impact on your children.

If let's say your ex was diagnosed with narcissistic personality disorder during a custody evaluation, they're protected with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

So that's that doesn't mean that they're going to lose their children or that they would be on supervised visitation.

However, if their behavior showed like extreme negligence or something like that, which is I mean, I won't even get into like the terrible things that people do, but you can imagine that makes an impact.

We still have a couple of questions about some of the details that we'll be working through.

But from what it sounds like, they're looking to make sure people have language access and that Americans with Disabilities Act is being followed and people who need a provisional ballot won't be turned away.

Lieutenant Governor Henderson says she believes voters should be fine with the monitors, but still urge people to get their ballots in early and sign up for the state's tracking service, which can notify you when your ballot is received.

And