Americans with Disabilities Act marks 23rd anniversary

July 26 will mark the 23rd anniversary of the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) which guarantees equal opportunity for people with disabilities in public accommodations, commercial facilities, employment, transportation, state and local government services and telecommunications. 

The Act was signed by President George H. W. Bush. "Let the shameful wall of exclusion finally come tumbling down," is what Bush is quoted as saying after the Act became law.

56.7 million people were living with a disability in the United States in 2010. They represented 19 percent of the civilian non-institutionalized population. Disabilities include, for instance, having difficulty seeing, hearing, having speech understood, walking, bathing, dressing, eating, preparing meals, going outside the home, or doing housework, having Alzheimer’s, dementia, autism, cerebral palsy, or dyslexia, and being frequently depressed or anxious.

Statistics by age categories:
• 8 percent of children under 15 had disabilities.
• 21 percent of people 15 and older had disabilities.
• 17 percent of people 21 to 64 had disabilities.
• 50 percent of adults 65 and older had disabilities.

Source: Americans with Disabilities: 2010 <www.census.gov/prod/2012pubs/p70-131.pdf