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So hi, I'm Catherine Blakemoore

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I'm the former Executive Director [br]of Disability Rights California,

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which is the[br]agency established under federal law

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as California's protection[br]and advocacy system.

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Our mandate is to assist people[br]with disabilities

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and protect their civil rights through a[br]variety of advocacy efforts.

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Um, and I had the really good fortune[br]of working at Disability Rights California

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or other similar organizations[br]for about 40 years

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and both as a lawyer representing people[br]and protecting their civil rights

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and their educational rights[br]and their housing rights,

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and then most recently[br]as the Executive Director.

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So the ADA to me is really[br]based on the foundations

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of other really important statutes

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and those include the Individuals [br]with Disabilities Education Act

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Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act

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and both of those laws helped ensure[br]inclusion and end discrimination.

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So when I was a very young lawyer in 1977,

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I did a lot of work[br]in the area of education

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and one of the very first cases I worked[br]on was representing a child, Jeremy

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who was in 1st grade and in the summer,

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he had been crossing a street[br]with his family

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and unfortunately was hit by a car and[br]became quadriplegic as a result of that

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and when his mother went to enroll him[br]in school for the next school year,

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she was told that because of[br]his disability,

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he could not[br]return to his neighborhood school.

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and instead would need to go to[br]a segregated special education program

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because that's where students[br]with disabilities went

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and his parents contacted us[br]and we agreed to take the case

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because that discrimination of saying

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you couldn't be with your neighborhood[br]peers was just fundamentally wrong

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and contrary to the very foundations

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of the Individuals[br]with Disabilities Education Act

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so we represented him in he hearing,[br]we went to court.

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When we went to court, I think[br]one of the most important things to me,

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was numbers of his classmates and[br]their parents came to court with us

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and the students,[br]they're 1st and 2nd graders,

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um, clearly enjoyed being with Jeremy

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but also more importantly,[br]talked to the news media that was there

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about how they couldn't understand why[br]Jeremy couldn't attend school with them

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and how important it was that their friend[br]be able to go to school

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and participate with them[br]just like he had in the years before.

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So that case to me, just represented[br]the fist opportunity

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to really challenge a discriminatory[br]practice and ensure that Jeremy

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could attend his neighborhood school

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and be included with his friends.

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So I think the first "aha" moment[br]of the ADA was our ability

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to use the ADA and to discuss[br]the United States Supreme Court decision

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called the "Olmstead Case" which said[br]that people with disabilities

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could not be[br]unnecessarily segregated in institutions

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and one of the most powerful ways we use[br]the ADA and that case holding

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was to challenge the budget cuts

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that were proposed when California[br]was deep in an economic recession in 2008

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and 2009. The state made the decision[br]that what it was going to do is

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significantly reduce community-based[br]supports like the

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in-home supportive services program

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Umm and our lawyers in[br]Disability Rights California

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decided that that violated the ADA and[br]would result in people needing to move

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into institutions, contrary to the[br]Olmstead Decision

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So twice we went into federal court.[br]Twice we were successful

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with the court holding that the ADA[br]prohibited the state from making decisions

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that would result in the unnecessary[br]institutionalization of people.

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So the ADA is an [br]extraordinarily powerful tool to

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protect people's civil rights and one[br]that we need to continue to use today.

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So I think what we've learned um[br]in the last few months is that

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there is always room for us to continue[br]to use the ADA as a tool to push further

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and the pandemic really[br]reminds us of the high risk

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that people with disabilities,[br]particularly those living in segregated

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and isolated settings[br]like nursing homes face.

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COVID, which disproportionately [br]impacted nursing home residents

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and it's in part because of the congregate[br]setting that they live in

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and the vulnerability of people with[br]disabilities to this particular disease.

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And so as we think about reopening[br]California and moving forward,

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we have to really remember the[br]importance of the ADA in saying

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that people need to live in the community.

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They need to be included.

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We have to be mindful of how do we[br]accommodate the needs of people with

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disabilities as part of our reopening.

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How do we redesign service systems so that[br]we no longer think of nursing homes as

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a primary place where people with[br]disabilities or seniors should be living

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How do we ensure that people with[br]disabilities, when they are participating

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in activities of the day aren't placed[br]in isolated day kinds of programs

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but instead given opportunities to[br]interact in the larger community

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So lots of work in that area to be done.

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I think the other part that's important[br]is to use this moment to

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engage in intersectional civil rights[br]advocacy.

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There's lots of energy now to looking[br]at issues of discrimination affecting

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black and brown people who are[br]also more disproportionately impacted

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by the pandemic and to use this as an[br]opportunity to come together as

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a larger civil rights community[br]to advance inclusion, integration,

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nondiscrimination for all people[br]including those with disabilities.