Interviews

Mary Lou Breslin
Co-Founder of the Disability Rights Education, and Defense Fund

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 Phone Interview - March 11, 2013

"The reason the trainings were important, and the impact that the trainings had on the Disability Movement in the US I think came from a couple of places."
                                  ...read more
                                

Robert Burgdorf
Drafter of the original ADA bill

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 Email Interview - March 8, 2013

"The ADA has accomplished many, but certainly not all, of the things we hoped it would when I wrote the original draft of the law for the National Council on Disability in 1987."
                                             
                            ...read more
                       

Yoshiko Dart
Spouse of Justin Dart (Father of the ADA)

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Phone Interview - March 20, 2013

"Prejudice and ignorance about the disabled still exist, that is deeply rooted in our sub consciousness over centuries and has resulted in the social perception.  But prior to the ADA, they were worse." 
                                     ...read more
                                       

Senator Tom Harkin
Iowa Senator who introduced the ADA into Senate 

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Email Interview - March 5, 2013

"Before the ADA, millions of Americans were denied access to their own communities – and to the American dream."

                                 
 ...read more

Judith Heumann
Disability Rights Advocate & Special Advisor for International Disability Rights

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Phone Interview - December 7, 2012

"...so it was very important that we get the ADA because we needed to be able to cover the private sector. So the ADA basically pulls together the public and private sector and makes it illegal to discriminate based on disability." 
                                      ...read more
 

Stephanie Thomas & Bob Kafka
Co-founders of ADAPT of Texas

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Personal Interview - 
December 5, 2012

"ADA is a floor. That’s just the lowest accessibility that we think people should have, and if businesses want to do more we always encourage them."
                                                                
                                      ...read more 

Arlene Mayerson
 Directing Attorney of DREDF

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Email Interview - February 22, 2013

"The ADA not only requires the removal of physical barriers, but also the removal of attitudinal and communication barriers." 

                                    ...read more

Richard Thornburgh
Former U.S Attorney General 1988 - 1991

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Phone Interview - March 22, 2013

"I think the ADA was a major accomplishment in the area of civil rights and human rights..."

                      
                                        ...read more

Jonathan M. Young
Chairman of National Council on Disability (2009 - 2012)

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Phone Interview - March 6, 2013

"I would absolutely describe it [the ADA] as a turning point in history..."

     ...read more

Josie Badger 
Ms. Wheelchair America 2012

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Phone Interview - March 14, 2013

"I think the ADA was more than just legislation, it was a change in culture, recognizing that people with disabilities are also a minority group, not just people with barriers."

Andrew Card
U.S. Secretary of Transportation under President George H. W. Bush & White House Chief of Staff under George W. Bush

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Skype Interview - February 25, 2013

"The Americans with Disabilities Act dramatically changed their [disabled people's] lives for the better. It has had a significant impact on individuals, but it also had a great impact on our nation as a whole."

John Harmatz
Administrative Assistant of American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD)

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Email Interview - March 13, 2013

"The first pre-school that my parents considered for me first enrolled me, then refunded my tuition and denied me admission because my disability... If the ADA had been adopted, it is likely this would not have happened..."

John D. Kemp
Activist during disabilities rights movement

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Skype Interview - March 18, 2013

"What we really have is a very balanced piece of legislation that has survived 20 some years now..."

Christopher Kuczynski
Assistant Legal Counsel and Director of the Policy Division at the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)

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Phone Interview - May 9, 2013

"In the course of the year, we may get about 25000 charges of discrimination under just the ADA...and that number of charges has gone up in the past several years."

Mark Johnson
Disability Rights Activist for ADAPT

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Phone Interview - May 10, 2013

"It [the ADA] gave us another tool to fight discrimination and create inclusion."

William Roper
Director of the White House Office of Policy Development 1989 - 1990

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Email Interview - March 19, 2013

"The ADA was major civil rights legislation - which has moved our nation for all of us, but especially for the millions of Americans with Disabilities."

Rachel Sartin
Disabled citizen, Member of Mayor Committee for Disabled Rights

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 Personal Interview - January 6, 2013

"... there was this path that I always used to go on and it was accessible, and after the construction it wasn't accessible anymore. So I went and protested that and wrote a letter and they changed it for me."

Susan Schweik
Author of "Ugly Laws", Professor at Berkeley University

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Skype Interview - March 12, 2013

"So I think that we just can't rest with the ADA at all and we have to think very creatively about what we have to do...The ADA isn't going to be the final answer, and in some cases, it's the negative answer."