WEBVTT 00:00:01.219 --> 00:00:05.599 My name is Jeff Moyer. I am a 71 year old disability rights advocate, 00:00:05.599 --> 00:00:10.109 writer, and musician. I've been involved with the ADA since before 00:00:10.109 --> 00:00:14.209 it's inception when we were working to establish the 00:00:14.209 --> 00:00:20.579 beginning of disability rights through the 504 regulations 00:00:20.579 --> 00:00:28.079 that were signed in 1977 following a 26 day sit in at 00:00:28.079 --> 00:00:32.079 the San Francisco federal building and I was a musician 00:00:32.079 --> 00:00:35.439 during that, although I did not live there like those heroes did. 00:00:35.439 --> 00:00:41.219 I came and went. I had a young child. My involvement with the ADA began 00:00:41.219 --> 00:00:49.189 when I heard Justin Dart speak in 1988 I was captivated by his soaring oratory, 00:00:49.189 --> 00:00:53.189 and his unifying message. I introduced myself and 00:00:53.189 --> 00:00:57.999 asked if I might one day record his oratory, he said yes and that 00:00:57.999 --> 00:01:04.059 began our friendship which led to him inviting me to perform my song 00:01:04.059 --> 00:01:10.099 the ADA anthem at the U.S. senate at the evening reception following 00:01:10.099 --> 00:01:14.099 the signing of the ADA at the white house in the morning. 00:01:14.099 --> 00:01:20.499 I then became involved as a member of the ADA implementation network 00:01:20.499 --> 00:01:25.169 and worked pro bono with people all over the country. 00:01:25.169 --> 00:01:31.119 Helping ensure that the rights created by the ADA were realized in their lives. 00:01:33.907 --> 00:01:40.057 I began to go blind the summer of 1954, two weeks before my younger 00:01:40.057 --> 00:01:44.967 brother was born with a severe cognitive disability and I think my 00:01:44.967 --> 00:01:53.197 realization of exclusion and such occurred for me as I was trying to see 00:01:53.197 --> 00:01:59.117 in first grade, to read and the materials were not accessible, 00:01:59.757 --> 00:02:03.757 but my teacher had to write out everything she wrote on the board 00:02:03.757 --> 00:02:07.757 and hand it to me separately. So it was my first realization 00:02:07.757 --> 00:02:11.757 of a need and also the human intervention that met my needs. 00:02:11.758 --> 00:02:18.298 For my brother it wasn't so easy and he became the victim of 00:02:18.298 --> 00:02:24.748 extreme thuggery, and childhood violence and there were no schools 00:02:24.785 --> 00:02:28.785 that would accept him, not even the schools for kids with disabilities. 00:02:28.852 --> 00:02:34.322 As a result, he was institutionalized when he was 9 years old and that 00:02:34.891 --> 00:02:41.141 opened a chapter in my life that continues about understanding 00:02:41.141 --> 00:02:48.151 the needs of people with cognitive disabilities that thanks to the mighty 00:02:48.151 --> 00:02:54.121 Olmstead decision as part of the ADA institutional life was considered a 00:02:54.121 --> 00:02:58.371 violation of civil rights. There's so much to that story. 00:02:58.772 --> 00:03:09.702 The ADA was a wonderful construct, however in it's construction, 00:03:09.711 --> 00:03:16.321 the decision was made by the senate to exclude blindness so 00:03:16.321 --> 00:03:25.017 every intersection in the country had curb cuts, but putting in accessible signals 00:03:25.017 --> 00:03:32.147 for people with visual disabilities is a local option and I'm afraid that 00:03:32.147 --> 00:03:38.127 and I know that for a fact. A dear friend of mine who's since passed 00:03:38.127 --> 00:03:42.807 was part of that whole process in Washington. Her name was 00:03:42.807 --> 00:03:51.237 Mary Jane Owen. So the ADA is a great promise, but it's only realized 00:03:51.237 --> 00:04:01.155 through individual action when people apply the skills of advocacy 00:04:01.155 --> 00:04:05.155 to make sure that case by case, it's realized. 00:04:05.808 --> 00:04:12.318 I was invited to the white house for the signing ceremony and I got 00:04:12.318 --> 00:04:16.318 there early just by virtue of when my plane landed so I was seated 00:04:16.318 --> 00:04:20.938 in the front row of the public section. There was a section for congress, and 00:04:20.938 --> 00:04:24.058 the administration and then a section for the public. 00:04:24.058 --> 00:04:28.058 When the president walked out crossing the platform that had 00:04:28.058 --> 00:04:31.628 been constructed so that he could be seen by the crowd, by the 00:04:31.628 --> 00:04:36.219 audience rather, of course the congressional section rose as one 00:04:36.219 --> 00:04:41.099 in applause and then there came people yelling, "We can't see, sit 00:04:41.099 --> 00:04:47.129 down!" Senator Kennedy was sitting right in front of me 00:04:47.129 --> 00:04:50.369 and the woman who I met who was sitting next to me said that 00:04:50.369 --> 00:04:55.819 he whipped around and realized that they were blocking the 00:04:55.819 --> 00:04:59.819 view of people in wheelchairs. So there was this moment of 00:04:59.819 --> 00:05:03.819 collision of protocol and accessibility 00:05:04.527 --> 00:05:11.067 Of course people sat down. So it was the first time, as the ADA was 00:05:11.067 --> 00:05:17.077 being signed, that accessibility was realized by virtue of personal action. 00:05:19.632 --> 00:05:26.637 I think this is going to be a difficult time for realization of anything new 00:05:26.687 --> 00:05:31.342 concerning disability rights, because as our country is now 00:05:31.342 --> 00:05:37.016 wrestling with the economic outcome due to being shut 00:05:37.016 --> 00:05:43.392 down due to Coronavirus, I think we're going to be 00:05:43.392 --> 00:05:47.741 working real hard just to maintain the ground we have. 00:05:47.790 --> 00:05:54.849 If I could have anything I wanted in terms of accessibility, it would 00:05:54.879 --> 00:06:01.175 be to reopen the ADA's mighty pages to include information 00:06:01.220 --> 00:06:07.396 and orientation access and by that I mean if you're able to 00:06:07.396 --> 00:06:13.678 ambulate and you're blind or you can't read by virtue of a 00:06:13.678 --> 00:06:18.798 cognitive disability, simple things like street crossings, bus numbers, 00:06:18.798 --> 00:06:25.325 signs in buildings are difficult, impossible to read if you can't 00:06:25.373 --> 00:06:33.726 see or can't read. This technology is called talking signs, and we came 00:06:33.752 --> 00:06:40.002 very close. All of this is not required by the ADA, to see that 00:06:40.031 --> 00:06:47.031 realized as part of the ADA. However, the republicans blocked 00:06:47.068 --> 00:06:50.657 the highway bill because they didn't want President Obama 00:06:50.657 --> 00:06:55.060 to have any victories and we had a high priority amendment 00:06:55.060 --> 00:06:58.805 to that, that would've made Washington, D.C. the first 00:06:58.805 --> 00:07:03.381 accessible city in the world for people who can't see or can't read. 00:07:03.425 --> 00:07:07.258 When that happened after 10 years of effort to get to that 00:07:07.286 --> 00:07:11.608 point, the little company went under. I had been a volunteer 00:07:11.608 --> 00:07:18.462 for it for 10 years and with it came really a crushing defeat 00:07:18.462 --> 00:07:24.165 for that type of accessibility. Now, there certainly are many 00:07:24.177 --> 00:07:29.936 types of access through one's cellphone if you're able to 00:07:29.986 --> 00:07:35.715 do that, but so many people aren't able or can't afford it 00:07:35.756 --> 00:07:42.985 that it makes accessibility something that requires money 00:07:43.030 --> 00:07:49.393 and the responsibility that the ADA made clear is that the 00:07:49.393 --> 00:07:54.241 responsibility for access is on behalf of the government. 00:07:54.269 --> 00:07:59.071 People have disabilities, situations create handicaps. 00:07:59.117 --> 00:08:05.293 I think what the ADA did was open the possibility for people 00:08:05.347 --> 00:08:09.204 that employment was going to be open to them. 00:08:09.254 --> 00:08:14.598 In fact we've lost ground since the ADA was passed, because people 00:08:14.598 --> 00:08:18.897 hid behind it in terms of their response to hiring. 00:08:18.897 --> 00:08:26.349 We need to make greater progress in terms of employment equity. 00:08:26.380 --> 00:08:30.650 As well as orientation and information access. 00:08:30.650 --> 00:08:37.250 The ADA, I just heard Robert Moses who is one of the great 00:08:37.280 --> 00:08:44.731 heroes of the civil rights movement, freedom summer 1964 00:08:44.731 --> 00:08:52.553 and he said the Civil Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 00:08:52.606 --> 00:08:58.981 are ideas, but they have yet to be fully realized. 00:08:59.023 --> 00:09:06.206 The ADA, it's an idea, it's a construct, it's a mighty 00:09:06.206 --> 00:09:11.109 accomplishment, but to see it fully realized in our lives 00:09:11.109 --> 00:09:16.759 requires accessibility and said decision addresses 00:09:16.788 --> 00:09:23.037 what I consider to be the most extreme need we have. 00:09:23.037 --> 00:09:28.311 That is safe and accessible housing for people with 00:09:28.311 --> 00:09:33.614 cognitive disabilities. Institutions still exist, and even 00:09:33.652 --> 00:09:36.937 in the community it takes advocates to make sure that 00:09:36.973 --> 00:09:43.289 people are able to live in safe and welcoming environments, even in 00:09:43.316 --> 00:09:47.714 their own home. I saw this with my brother who died of lung cancer 00:09:47.746 --> 00:09:50.939 because of being addicted to cigarettes in the institution 00:09:50.939 --> 00:09:52.567 when he was a child. 00:09:52.596 --> 00:09:59.497 But even in his last days there was thievery and violence in the home 00:09:59.497 --> 00:10:04.144 which is of course what we expected we would be getting 00:10:04.219 --> 00:10:08.070 away from when I was able to move him from the institution 00:10:08.070 --> 00:10:13.645 into a supported living home. So the greatest need is the 00:10:13.679 --> 00:10:21.598 needs of the least among us. Once again, we must listen to 00:10:21.598 --> 00:10:27.497 our heart intelligence, know what is right and then find 00:10:27.497 --> 00:10:31.576 the way that one's rights can address that. 00:10:31.576 --> 00:10:39.577 The ADA, IDEA, 504, the Voting Rights Act, or the Fair Housing 00:10:39.577 --> 00:10:44.626 Act amendments. There are many laws in the quilted protections 00:10:44.626 --> 00:10:49.831 we have, but each of them require individual planning and each of 00:10:49.831 --> 00:10:54.634 them require advocacy. So all of you advocates, 00:10:54.634 --> 00:10:59.056 all of you young people there that are reading this or 00:10:59.095 --> 00:11:03.306 watching this, the torch is being passed and it's 00:11:03.306 --> 00:11:08.032 important that younger generations now take on the 00:11:08.063 --> 00:11:13.606 mantle of continuing to move forward with our beloved, hard 00:11:13.606 --> 00:11:18.359 won disability rights, which are our civil rights. 00:11:18.359 --> 00:11:24.886 I hope that people are able to think more broadly about what we 00:11:24.886 --> 00:11:29.927 need as a community and pull as one in common direction, 00:11:29.927 --> 00:11:35.055 common cause for possibly the good of a few in the 00:11:35.055 --> 00:11:39.026 community, but we all benefit when we are lifted up through 00:11:39.026 --> 00:11:40.678 accessibility. 00:11:40.704 --> 00:11:47.930 I added music to our demonstration to the signing 00:11:47.930 --> 00:11:51.956 of the ADA, to the commemoration of it's 10th anniversary. 00:11:51.992 --> 00:11:56.006 Throughout I've understood the power of music. 00:11:56.006 --> 00:12:00.881 It communicates to the wider community. It buoys us up as 00:12:00.911 --> 00:12:05.655 advocates and it unites us. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s 00:12:05.655 --> 00:12:11.609 widow said it the day of national service, the Martin Luther King 00:12:11.636 --> 00:12:17.063 holiday, that we have when we were involved in the civil rights 00:12:17.092 --> 00:12:20.110 movement, the 60's the disability rights movement 00:12:20.110 --> 00:12:24.783 in the 70's, it was music that helped us create a community 00:12:24.813 --> 00:12:29.785 because we sang together as one and I do hope that 00:12:29.815 --> 00:12:34.325 music is not lost as a means to pull us together. 00:12:34.325 --> 00:12:39.661 If there's one thing we need now, it is to know that we are one 00:12:39.736 --> 00:12:46.387 as people with disabilities, that we all share the same histories of 00:12:46.416 --> 00:12:51.765 in different ways of discrimination and exclusion and our rights 00:12:51.765 --> 00:12:58.477 are protected by the same laws. I do hope that culture continues 00:12:58.477 --> 00:13:04.348 binding us together and giving voice through it's myriad ways 00:13:04.348 --> 00:13:10.630 so that people are able to express the reality and hope. 00:13:10.630 --> 00:13:15.546 Hope is what we need more than ever right now and 00:13:15.574 --> 00:13:19.920 that is what the ADA provided, was a great beacon of hope.