My name is Jeff Moyer. I am a 71
year old disability rights advocate,

writer, and musician. I've been
involved with the ADA since before

it's inception when we were 
working to establish the

beginning of disability rights
through the 504 regulations

that were signed in 1977
following a 26 day sit in at

the San Francisco federal
building and I was a musician

during that, although I did not 
live there like those heroes did.

I came and went. I had a young child.
My involvement with the ADA began

when I heard Justin Dart speak in 1988
I was captivated by his soaring oratory,

and his unifying message.
I introduced myself and

asked if I might one day record 
his oratory, he said yes and that

began our friendship which led to 
him inviting me to perform my song

the ADA anthem at the U.S. senate 
at the evening reception following

the signing of the ADA at the white
house in the morning.

I then became involved as a member
of the ADA implementation network

and worked pro bono with people
all over the country.

Helping ensure that the rights created
by the ADA were realized in their lives.

I began to go blind the summer of 
1954, two weeks before my younger

brother was born with a severe 
cognitive disability and I think my

realization of exclusion and such 
occurred for me as I was trying to see

in first grade, to read and the
materials were not accessible,

but my teacher had to write out 
everything she wrote on the board

and hand it to me separately. 
So it was my first realization

of a need and also the human
intervention that met my needs.

For my brother it wasn't so easy
and he became the victim of

extreme thuggery, and childhood
violence and there were no schools

that would accept him, not even
the schools for kids with disabilities.

As a result, he was institutionalized
when he was 9 years old and that

opened a chapter in my life that 
continues about understanding

the needs of people with cognitive
disabilities that thanks to the mighty

Olmstead decision as part of the ADA
institutional life was considered a

violation of civil rights. There's so 
much to that story.

The ADA was a wonderful construct,
however in it's construction,

the decision was made by the 
senate to exclude blindness so

every intersection in the country had curb
cuts, but putting in accessible signals

for people with visual disabilities is
a local option and I'm afraid that

and I know that for a fact. A dear 
friend of mine who's since passed

was part of that whole process in 
Washington. Her name was

Mary Jane Owen. So the ADA is a 
great promise, but it's only realized

through individual action when 
people apply the skills of advocacy

to make sure that case by case,
it's realized.

I was invited to the white house for
the signing ceremony and I got

there early just by virtue of when
my plane landed so I was seated

in the front row of the public section.
There was a section for congress, and

the administration and then a 
section for the public.

When the president walked out 
crossing the platform that had

been constructed so that he could
be seen by the crowd, by the

audience rather, of course the 
congressional section rose as one

in applause and then there came 
people yelling, "We can't see, sit

down!" Senator Kennedy was 
sitting right in front of me

and the woman who I met who
was sitting next to me said that

he whipped around and realized
that they were blocking the

view of people in wheelchairs.
So there was this moment of

collision of protocol and accessibility

Of course people sat down. So it 
was the first time, as the ADA was

being signed, that accessibility was 
realized by virtue of personal action.

I think this is going to be a difficult
time for realization of anything new

concerning disability rights, 
because as our country is now

wrestling with the economic 
outcome due to being shut

down due to Coronavirus, I 
think we're going to be

working real hard just to 
maintain the ground we have.

If I could have anything I wanted
in terms of accessibility, it would

be to reopen the ADA's mighty
pages to include information

and orientation access and by 
that I mean if you're able to

ambulate and you're blind or 
you can't read by virtue of a

cognitive disability, simple things
like street crossings, bus numbers,

signs in buildings are difficult, 
impossible to read if you can't

see or can't read. This technology 
is called talking signs, and we came

very close. All of this is not 
required by the ADA, to see that

realized as part of the ADA. 
However, the republicans blocked

the highway bill because they
didn't want President Obama

to have any victories and we 
had a high priority amendment

to that, that would've made
Washington, D.C. the first

accessible city in the world for
people who can't see or can't read.

When that happened after 10 
years of effort to get to that

point, the little company went
under. I had been a volunteer

for it for 10 years and with it 
came really a crushing defeat

for that type of accessibility. 
Now, there certainly are many

types of access through one's 
cellphone if you're able to

do that, but so many people 
aren't able or can't afford it

that it makes accessibility 
something that requires money

and the responsibility that the 
ADA made clear is that the

responsibility for access is on 
behalf of the government.

People have disabilities,
situations create handicaps.

I think what the ADA did was 
open the possibility for people

that employment was going to be
open to them.

In fact we've lost ground since the
ADA was passed, because people

hid behind it in terms of their 
response to hiring.

We need to make greater progress
in terms of employment equity.

As well as orientation and 
information access.

The ADA, I just heard Robert 
Moses who is one of the great

heroes of the civil rights
movement, freedom summer 1964

and he said the Civil Act of 1964 
and the Voting Rights Act of 1965

are ideas, but they have yet to be 
fully realized.

The ADA, it's an idea, it's a 
construct, it's a mighty

accomplishment, but to see it
fully realized in our lives

requires accessibility and 
said decision addresses

what I consider to be the most 
extreme need we have.

That is safe and accessible 
housing for people with

cognitive disabilities.
Institutions still exist, and even

in the community it takes 
advocates to make sure that

people are able to live in safe and 
welcoming environments, even in

their own home. I saw this with 
my brother who died of lung cancer

because of being addicted to 
cigarettes in the institution

when he was a child.

But even in his last days there was 
thievery and violence in the home

which is of course what we 
expected we would be getting

away from when I was able to 
move him from the institution

into a supported living home.
So the greatest need is the

needs of the least among us.
Once again, we must listen to

our heart intelligence, know 
what is right and then find

the way that one's rights can
address that.

The ADA, IDEA, 504, the Voting 
Rights Act, or the Fair Housing

Act amendments. There are many 
laws in the quilted protections

we have, but each of them require
individual planning and each of

them require advocacy. 
So all of you advocates,

all of you young people there
that are reading this or

watching this, the torch is 
being passed and it's

important that younger 
generations now take on the

mantle of continuing to move 
forward with our beloved, hard

won disability rights, which are 
our civil rights.

I hope that people are able to think
more broadly about what we

need as a community and pull
as one in common direction,

common cause for possibly
the good of a few in the

community, but we all benefit
when we are lifted up through

accessibility.

I added music to our 
demonstration to the signing

of the ADA, to the commemoration
of it's 10th anniversary.

Throughout I've understood the 
power of music.

It communicates to the wider
community. It buoys us up as

advocates and it unites us.
Martin Luther King, Jr.'s

widow said it the day of national 
service, the Martin Luther King

holiday, that we have when we 
were involved in the civil rights

movement, the 60's the 
disability rights movement

in the 70's, it was music that
helped us create a community

because we sang together
as one and I do hope that

music is not lost as a means 
to pull us together.

If there's one thing we need 
now, it is to know that we are one

as people with disabilities, that we 
all share the same histories of

in different ways of discrimination
and exclusion and our rights

are protected by the same laws.
I do hope that culture continues

binding us together and giving 
voice through it's myriad ways

so that people are able to express 
the reality and hope.

Hope is what we need more 
than ever right now and

that is what the ADA provided,
was a great beacon of hope.