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Hi, my name is Andy Imparato and I am the [br]Executive Director of Disability Rights California

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I can think back to a lot of different [br]interactions I had with people with

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disabilities growing up,[br]But I would say, that the most,

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that the thing that had the biggest impact[br]on me is when I was starting my career

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as a lawyer I ended up being diagnosed [br]with bi-polar disorder.

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I was working in an organization that was [br]advocating for the rights of people with disabilities

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and I learned the idea that shows up [br]in a lot of federal disability laws

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the idea that disability is a natural [br]part of the human experience

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and I found that statement [br]to be very powerful

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as I was trying to deal with a [br]new diagnosis of bipolar disorder

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I think the message I was getting [br]from the mental health world

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was that my diagnosis was not natural [br]and it was kind of a long term problem

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that I was going to have to address and

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I didn't get any sense that the experience[br]of living with bipolar disorder

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could actually benefit me and [br]could actually help me in my career

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and what I got from being around [br]disability rights advocates people

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with lived experience with lots of [br]different kinds of disabilities

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I was living in Boston at the time

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was the idea that my lived [br]experience was a actually

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a strength and a source of credibility [br]for the work I was doing

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and if I wanted to be effective as a [br]disability advocate I needed to learn

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to see my disability as an[br]asset and a strength.

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So I kinda feel like the[br]American's with Disabilities Act

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is reflecting the values of the [br]disabilities right movement

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and one of those most important values[br]is that disability is natural

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your life with a disability is a natural[br]part of the human experience

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and that it should not prevent you from [br]doing anything that you want to do

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and when you are prevented from [br]doing those things

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it's discrimination it's not natural

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the idea that discrimination is [br]unnatural and disabilities are natural

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that was a powerful thing for me and[br]helped frame my experience

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as a person with a long term disability[br]that I acquired as an adult

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the most important thing that disability [br]movement got from the

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Americans with Disability Act was the fra ming [br]of disability issues as civil rights issues

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if you look at kinda the history of [br]disability policy in the United States

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and in other countries, people often saw[br]disability through a social welfare frame,

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through a poverty frame, [br]through kinda the "worthy" poor frame

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and the idea was if you want to address[br]problem people with disabilities have

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you just need to provide the right services

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but there wasn't a concept of discrimination, [br]there wasn't a concept of human and civil rights around that

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we have earlier laws, the "Rehabilitation [br]Act" that had a piece of the law that

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tried to deal with disability discrimination

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but the ADA was the first law, where the [br]whole law was about addressing discrimination

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and I think for a lot of us who live with disabilities

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the civil rights frame is a very empowering[br]frame because it stops if something bad happens

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to you as a person with a disability it stops [br]being about what did you do wrong

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or what services do you need to avoid doing [br]that again and it starts being around well maybe

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the system was designed to exclude you [br]and that's discrimination.

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So don't just look at the person as the source [br]of the problem but look at the environment

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and that concept I think has been a [br]really important concept to help us reframe

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why bad things happen to people with disabilities, [br]why exclusion happens,

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why segregation happens, [br]why poverty happens

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and it helps us have higher expectations for ourselves, [br]and higher expectations for the environment around us.

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So there are a lot of vary concrete things the ADA has done

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like make the buses dramatically more accessible[br]for people with a wide range of disabilities

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make, the built environment dramatically more accessible

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but I think almost spiritually framing our issues[br]as civil rights issues, as justice issues

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as human rights issues, I think that was as [br]important as any specific requirements in the law

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so it's hard to pick one issue that would be [br]the big thing that I would like to see changed moving forward

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as we think about the next 30 years of [br]the American's with Disabilities Act.

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But I will say the one thing I think is critical

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for us to change is what we require people [br]to prove in order to get support from the government

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through our largest programs.

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So if you look at our four biggest programs [br]that serve people with disabilities:

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Social Security disability insurance, [br]supplemental security income, Medicaid, and medicare

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those programs require you to prove you have a disability

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and the way you prove that is with medical evidence

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that shows, that you, [br]because of your physical or mental disability

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you're unable to engage in substantial gainful activity

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most people understand that to mean that [br]because of their disability they can't work

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and that frame for trying to decide who [br]deserves to have support from the government

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that frame dates back to 1956

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that's when that definition was written [br]in the Federal statute originally

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and our thinking about what's possible for [br]people with disabilities to achieve

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in the labor market has[br]evolved hugely since 1956

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we know people with very significant disabilities [br]can achieve success in a competitive labor market

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if they have the right supports.

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And...but yet we still require people to produce [br]medical evidence that their disability prevents

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them from working in order to get supports [br]to live independently and to work

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and it's just a backwards system

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We've tried over the years to build work [br]incentives into the Social Securities disability programs

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we've got a medicaid buy-in program

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we've done a lot of things on the margins [br]to try and make it easier for people with

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disabilities to work and get benefits but [br]we haven't dealt with that fundamental

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definition of who is eligible for benefits.

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So one of the things I'm hoping to see as[br]we move forward is to align the definition

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of disability in the Social Security and in [br]the Disability Benefits laws with the vision

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of disability in the American with Disabilities Act.

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Instead of asking people to prove that [br]their disability prevents them from engaging

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in substantial gainful activity, we should [br]be asking them what supports do they need

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to be able to participate fully in the community

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and we can decide if you need a certain level [br]of support, then you are eligible for income supports

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it could be a whole other thing for health [br]care or other long term services and supports

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but under no circumstance should we require [br]an 18 year old who is just starting out as an adult

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to provide medical evidence that their disability [br]prevents them from working, and that is our policy

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and has been our policy since 1956 [br]and we spend hundreds of billions of Federal dollars

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through programs that require people to make initial showing.

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So I feel like that is a very important thing [br]for us to change if we really want to realize

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the vision of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

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We've been thinking a lot at Disabilities [br]Rights California about how can we respond

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to the three crisis that are playing out[br]in our state and around the country.

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One is the pandemic, another is the economic downturn [br]that is connected to the pandemic

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with lots of people losing their jobs,

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and the third is this national conversation [br]we are having around racial justice.

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The pandemic disproportionally affects[br]communities of color in California,

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the economic downturn disproportionally [br]affects communities of color,

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and police violence and all of these [br]structural barriers which exist in every program

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that serves children and adults with disabilities[br]again disproportionally affect in a negative way,

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black children and adults, LatinX children[br]and adults, and others from diverse communities in California.

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So when we think about a call to action, [br]I feel like one of the most important things

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we can do as we celebrate the 30th anniversary of the ADA

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is really shine a spotlight on which populations[br]in California and around the country have had the

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least positive benefit from the [br]Americans with Disabilities Act

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and what can we do to extend the [br]vision and impact of that law to communities

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that have not felt the impact to the same degree

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as middle class families who have been[br]the primary beneficiaries of the law.

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So what does that mean?

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It means in the school system doing more[br]to not have disproportionate discipline

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fall on children of color with disabilities [br]trying to get police out of the schools

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to me is part of that conversation.

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In our regional center system across California,[br]addressing the disparity

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so that families from low income backgrounds[br]diverse families have the same access to

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services and supports as wealthier familes.

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In the context of vocational rehability system,[br]again applying equity analysis

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and making sure that the population served[br]by that system looks like the population of California.

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And I feel like this is a national conversation, [br]but California can be a leader in the country

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Because we are leader in so many other ways.

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We are one of the most diverse states[br]in the country.

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We have a progressive state government [br]that cares about diversity, that cares about inclusion,

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that cares about equity.

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We have a Governor who created [br]a task force to rebuild the economy

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and included my predecessor Catherine Blakemore[br]the former Executive Director of Disabilities Rights California

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on that task force along with CEO of Apple.

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We have the Tech Industry which has [br]kinda changing the world, literally

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in terms of how people interact with the world.

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And there is a huge opportunity for us to[br]make sure that people with disabilities

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from diverse backgrounds have [br]opportunities to work in the technology industry

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and to shape the technology that we all are [br]going to be using day-to-day in the future

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So I feel like one of the most important messages[br]for this anniversary is

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Let's make sure the vision of the ADA reaches[br]ALL of the populations who could benefit from it

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Let's address structural racism, [br]let's address disparity

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let's address inequities, [br]that exist in every system that serves people with disabilities.

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So that the vision, [br]the inclusive, the radical inclusive vision

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of the American's with Disabilities act is one that

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can be experienced and that our [br]whole community can benefit from.

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That was awesome. That was... [br][speechless]

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Thank you so much![br]Thank you, thank you, thank you!