The ADA 23 Years Later: Learning About the Past, and Looking Towards the Future
Happy ADA Day everyone!
I have a confession to make. I'm 22 years old, and this is the first time I've ever thought about July 26 as "ADA Day," or the ADA anniversary, or the birthday of the ADA, or whatever other labels we decide to give it. For most of my life, July 26 was just another day. I think the first time I even realized that July 26 was theanniversary of the ADA was on the 20th anniversary. I read some
friends' Facebook statuses about it, and I might have even posted myown, but that was it. The thought of celebrating the ADA in any real sense had never crossed my mind.
Today was a different story. Today, I got to really experience ADA Day for the first time. When I woke up this morning, my roommate wished mea happy ADA Day, and I wished her the same. I got to see new and longtime members of the movement be honored for their work. I got to see
and hear the stories from the beginning of the movement as the community honored a member who had recently passed away. I got to be a part of it. I got to really acknowledge it, and think about what it meant. For the first time, I saw July 26 as an opportunity to celebrate where we've been and think about where we are going.
As someone who's lived the entirety of my life with the protections of the ADA, it astonished me to realize how little I've thought about it up to this point. Sometimes I would think about things I wished weredifferent, but I never took the time to think about where we came from
and how we got to where we are now. I would think about change, but Inever took the time to realize that how we got change in the first place was by fighting for it. I rarely considered what it took to getus here, and what it will take to get us where we want to go.
I think that today, on the 23rd anniversary of the ADA, it is important to realize not only how far we've come over the past 23 years, and how much further we still want to go, but also to realize
that these things didn't just happen. I think it's important to remember the people who knew what was worth fighting for, and what they were not willing to compromise on. I think it's important to
honor where we are because of them, but I also think it's important, especially for people like me who have always had the ADA to seriously consider where we want to go, and what we are willing to fight for. In the 23 years since the ADA, the generation that has never known life without it has come of age. As we grow up and decide what we want to be, we must not take for granted we have, or forget what's still worth fighting for.
Lead on!
Check out this cool video featuring my fellow AAPD interns and I talking about how the ADA has affected our lives, and our hopes future of disability rights in America.
I have a confession to make. I'm 22 years old, and this is the first time I've ever thought about July 26 as "ADA Day," or the ADA anniversary, or the birthday of the ADA, or whatever other labels we decide to give it. For most of my life, July 26 was just another day. I think the first time I even realized that July 26 was theanniversary of the ADA was on the 20th anniversary. I read some
friends' Facebook statuses about it, and I might have even posted myown, but that was it. The thought of celebrating the ADA in any real sense had never crossed my mind.
Today was a different story. Today, I got to really experience ADA Day for the first time. When I woke up this morning, my roommate wished mea happy ADA Day, and I wished her the same. I got to see new and longtime members of the movement be honored for their work. I got to see
and hear the stories from the beginning of the movement as the community honored a member who had recently passed away. I got to be a part of it. I got to really acknowledge it, and think about what it meant. For the first time, I saw July 26 as an opportunity to celebrate where we've been and think about where we are going.
As someone who's lived the entirety of my life with the protections of the ADA, it astonished me to realize how little I've thought about it up to this point. Sometimes I would think about things I wished weredifferent, but I never took the time to think about where we came from
and how we got to where we are now. I would think about change, but Inever took the time to realize that how we got change in the first place was by fighting for it. I rarely considered what it took to getus here, and what it will take to get us where we want to go.
I think that today, on the 23rd anniversary of the ADA, it is important to realize not only how far we've come over the past 23 years, and how much further we still want to go, but also to realize
that these things didn't just happen. I think it's important to remember the people who knew what was worth fighting for, and what they were not willing to compromise on. I think it's important to
honor where we are because of them, but I also think it's important, especially for people like me who have always had the ADA to seriously consider where we want to go, and what we are willing to fight for. In the 23 years since the ADA, the generation that has never known life without it has come of age. As we grow up and decide what we want to be, we must not take for granted we have, or forget what's still worth fighting for.
Lead on!
Check out this cool video featuring my fellow AAPD interns and I talking about how the ADA has affected our lives, and our hopes future of disability rights in America.