Process Paper
Our project began by brainstorming topic ideas and looking
through events that occurred in the 19th and 20th century. After thoroughly
investigating, we narrowed down our topics to the Manhattan Project, Gemini 7,
and Helen Keller. As we learned more about Helen Keller, we realized that
people with disabilities were discriminated against. While researching further,
we came upon the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990. The more we
read about this act, we learned about the significant impact it had on the
lives of the disabled today, preventing discrimination and improving their
everyday lives in a variety of sectors. Convinced that the ADA was a major
turning point in history, we decided this would be a great topic for our NHD
project.
To begin, we divided the topic into three different sections: pre-ADA, ADA, and post-ADA. Since there was an abundance of information, we created a timeline of events and limited to the most significant ones. For the website, we further organized the content into: Background, The Movement, ADA, Impact, and Moving Forward/Current Challenges. Various types of primary sources were collected such as oral histories, videos, letters, statistics, autobiographies and newspapers. Visiting the archives at President George H. W. Bush’s library gave us access to congressional documents and letters. In addition, we interviewed 18 prominent disability activists and political leaders. Some examples where Yoshiko Dart, Judith Heumann, Richard Thornburgh, and Senator Tom Harkin. We also attained a different perspective by speaking to disabled citizens who lived through the changes of ADA.
When we visited the LBJ workshop last year, we were fascinated by the website category. It would allow us to use all aspects of our creativity such as design, presentation, and give us an exposure to working with multimedia. Previously we had created an exhibit, so we felt by designing a website we would gain experience with a different presentation technique. Also, it would be convenient for all members of our group to work on it at the same time. Overall, it seemed like a fun and interesting way to display our knowledge of the ADA.
The Americans with Disability Act is appropriate for this year’s theme because it dramatically changed the lifestyle of the disabled and significantly helped them to become an integral part of the American society. Prior to this act, the disabled were denied of certain civil rights and excluded from participating in mainstream society. Even though they gained rights from the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, this law only applied to federally funded areas. The disabled community wanted rights in all aspects. Eventually, their persistent protests throughout the disabilities rights movement culminated to the signing of the ADA on July 26, 1990. Subsequently, after the ADA, disabled individuals received equal opportunity and treatment in employment, transportation, public accommodations, and telecommunications across both public and private sectors. While there are still issues that are being addressed today, the ADA has been an influential, turning point in history for the disabled.
Word Count - 494
To begin, we divided the topic into three different sections: pre-ADA, ADA, and post-ADA. Since there was an abundance of information, we created a timeline of events and limited to the most significant ones. For the website, we further organized the content into: Background, The Movement, ADA, Impact, and Moving Forward/Current Challenges. Various types of primary sources were collected such as oral histories, videos, letters, statistics, autobiographies and newspapers. Visiting the archives at President George H. W. Bush’s library gave us access to congressional documents and letters. In addition, we interviewed 18 prominent disability activists and political leaders. Some examples where Yoshiko Dart, Judith Heumann, Richard Thornburgh, and Senator Tom Harkin. We also attained a different perspective by speaking to disabled citizens who lived through the changes of ADA.
When we visited the LBJ workshop last year, we were fascinated by the website category. It would allow us to use all aspects of our creativity such as design, presentation, and give us an exposure to working with multimedia. Previously we had created an exhibit, so we felt by designing a website we would gain experience with a different presentation technique. Also, it would be convenient for all members of our group to work on it at the same time. Overall, it seemed like a fun and interesting way to display our knowledge of the ADA.
The Americans with Disability Act is appropriate for this year’s theme because it dramatically changed the lifestyle of the disabled and significantly helped them to become an integral part of the American society. Prior to this act, the disabled were denied of certain civil rights and excluded from participating in mainstream society. Even though they gained rights from the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, this law only applied to federally funded areas. The disabled community wanted rights in all aspects. Eventually, their persistent protests throughout the disabilities rights movement culminated to the signing of the ADA on July 26, 1990. Subsequently, after the ADA, disabled individuals received equal opportunity and treatment in employment, transportation, public accommodations, and telecommunications across both public and private sectors. While there are still issues that are being addressed today, the ADA has been an influential, turning point in history for the disabled.
Word Count - 494
