1995: Happy Birthday, ADA
What NM Readers Said Five Years After Passage
“It hasn’t made a difference in my life yet, but it’s given me hope. Maybe we’ll end up with just a couple more curb cuts on Main Street and a couple more ramps to public buildings and nothing else. But you’ve got to give it a good-faith effort. You’ve got to work with them.”
—Larry Quintana, C4-6, retired urban planner
“The ADA has done a couple of things for me. It has enriched my life because it is an affirmation of our identity as a community. It has let me dream that the disabled will be included as equal partners who can speak for ourselves, us saying what we need. It’s also frustrated my life because we’ve got so far to go to make the dream a reality.”
— Anthony Tussler, L1-2, disability services director
“Structurally, the ADA has changed things for the better, but is it going to change attitudes? It’s going to take a while. But I still have my goals and dreams, and I’m going to chase them whether society believes I can or not.”
— David Barron, CMT, business communications graduate
“Legal protection is really important. It’s scary to be at the mercy of people’s good will. I had to be dependent on luck for people to accommodate me before the ADA.”
— Anne Keehnen, T9, special education counselor
** This post was originally published on https://www.newmobility.com/2020/01/our-ada-coverage-the-early-years/
