0:00:00.322,0:00:04.322 You'll see in the corner the record button 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So you should see that it's recording now, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and I am going to mute myself 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and you'll go ahead and do your intro. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Thank you Marcie. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Hi there, I'm Marcie Roth 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And I have been working in disability rights 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 For my whole adult life, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And actually, since I was a freshman in high school 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I am currently the executive director and CEO of the World Institute on Disability 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And I have been working over the years in services 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 for people living in residential programs early 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 in my career with people in, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Children in school settings, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 people in vocational rehabilitation, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and then people in community living environments, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that along the way, I became very involved in disability rights 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and very involved in the early days of advocacy 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 before the ADA was introduced. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And then I worked for disability advocacy organizations almost ever since. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 In addition to my own disability, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I'm also the parent of two now adults with 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 disabilities. My husband also has a disability, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and much of my family also happen to be people with disabilities 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 so disability rights is just a part of everything I am and most everything I do. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I did spend from 2001 and onward focusing very much 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 on what happens for people with disabilities 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 before, during, and after disasters. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And that's been a real particular laser focus of mine ever since, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and in fact, I've had the opportunity 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 as an appointee in the Obama administration 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 to spend just about 8 years at FEMA, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 establishing FEMA's Office of Disability Integration Coordination, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and building a cadre of disability experts 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 of the same pond, supporting governors 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and emergency managers and most particularly 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 engaging people with disabilities and disability organizations 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 in emergency preparedness 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and throughout disaster response recover and mitigation. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So one last piece since I've been with 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the World Institute on Disabilities since last September, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 my ongoing focus on global disability rights 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 has really been something that I've had 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 much more opportunity to be actively 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 involved in and I have spent the time since joining 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 with building a strategic planning process 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and supporting the organization to establish new priorities 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 taking a look at the organizations mission 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and very recently establishing four particular areas of focus 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 for the organization as we move forward. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Thank you Marcie. Excellent, okay 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I apologize that my neighbor is chipping a lot of brush today, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 so it's making extra sound whenever I unmute 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 but don't worry, it won't interfere with your recording. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Okay, so the first question is about the past. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So tell your first memory realizing that there were 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 accessibility issues, discrimination, or lack of inclusion. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 What is your personal story or connection 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 to the American's with Disabilities Act? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 What do you remember about the day that it was signed, if applicable? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And what was the impact on you and on others? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Remember to tap something that the camera shifts to you 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 before you start. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I first became aware of disability at a very young age. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I had a best friend in first grade, his name was Gregory, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and he and I were just wonderful friends 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 We spent a lot of time together, and then 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 all of the sudden one day, Gregory was gone, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and I didn't know what happened to him or where he went 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and it wasn't until many years later 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that I found out that Gregory had Down Syndrome, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and he had been removed from my Kindergarten class, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and first grade I think it was at that point, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and apparently he had been sent to some other school somewhere. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And the loss of his friendship was pretty surprising 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and I didn't understand, you know, where he went. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Looking back on it it's kind of peculiar that we didn't get to still be friends 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 cause he didn't move away, he just stopped going to my school. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 But, I... 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I remember just being confused and then over the next number of years, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I lived in a town that was also the home of Save the Children. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And I was always very interested in the work 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that Save the Children was doing, and I am 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 embarrassed to admit that my earliest 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 involvement in humanitarian work was from a, you know a very charity-model approach. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I spent a lot of my childhood raising 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 money for Save the Children, and getting 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 involved in other activities that were very 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 much following the charity-pity model and certainly not a model 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 of making space for and supporting and lifting up 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 other people with disabilities. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The on set of my disability wasn't until many years later, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 but when I was in high school, I had a 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 requirement to do community service and I 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 had an opportunity to do, had an obligation 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 to do community service and we started off. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 This was the year of the first Earth Day 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and I started crushing glass at the local 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 recycling center. It turned out that it 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 was really boring but lots of my classmates 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 were volunteering at a state institution 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 for people with disabilities and I joined them 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 once a week, looking back on it again it was 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 pretty shocking at 13 years old I was 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 assigned as the teacher of a classroom 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 of 30 adults who had never had the 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 opportunity to attend school and now had 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 a 13 year old teacher once a week. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Needless to say, I learned way more from them 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 then they learned from me, but we had a lot of fun 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and many of them became friends, you know, very much along the rest of my path. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Unfortunately, some of them are no longer alive 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 but there are a couple of people who are 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 still very much apart of my life, and 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 fortunately they were successful in 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 liberating themselves from that state 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 institution and so, they and many others 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 taught me a lot but the real pivotal 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 experience for me, I was working back at 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that state institution. This was my first paid job 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 in disability services and I had been 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 hired to work in what was called a cottage, for 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 40 women with intellectual disabilities. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 This cottage was on beautiful ground, but 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the women lived in a building with 20 on 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 one side and 20 on the other side. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 My responsibilities included assisting them 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 in bathing and getting dressed and eating 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 many of them were unable to feed themselves 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 some because they never been given 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the opportunity and others because of 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 their physical disability and a lack of any 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 supportive or adaptive utensils or other equipment, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 so as I was feeding people it was the same every day. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 A plate would come out and there were 3 mounds of food on the plate. One mound was always brown 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 One mound was always green 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 One mound was always white, you know the meat 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the vegetable, and the starch, and I know that 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 people like to eat their meals different ways, there would 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 also be a dessert everyday, a jello, ice cream again in a mound. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I would spend time with each of the individuals 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 who were having their meal, and would sort of be kind of working 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 together trying to figure out, did they 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 prefer to eat their desert first? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And people like to do that, did they prefer 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 a little bit of brown and a little bit of white 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 all on the same fork? Did they not want 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 them touching, and you know I would sort of 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 work back and forth with them to try to 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 figure out what their preference was and 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I got in trouble because I was spending 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 to much time and ultimately, I was moved 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 to a different position because I was taking 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 to much time giving people and 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 opportunity to make some choices and 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 express some preferences. That was extremely 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 pivotal and in many ways, you know, those early 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 early experiences, have really, totally driven who I am 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and what I believe all of these years later. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 In terms of the American's with Disabilities Act 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I had very close personal experience with 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 what was then called public law 94142: 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The Education of All Handicaps Act, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 later on renamed The Individuals with 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Disabilities Act, IDEA and I had a very personal 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 family experience with IDEA and became aware 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 of legislative initiatives, and how the IDEA had just been passed. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Then I started to become more aware of the work 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 being done, this was back int he 70's. Working 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 being done on some other legislative initatives, the 504 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The Passage of Rehabilitation Act, followed by the 504 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 sit-in in San Francisco to get the 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 regulations put in place. That really caught my attention, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 between the little bits of information I was getting there 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and the work I was doing and then becoming a full time 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 advocate, going to work for an independent 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 living center in 1982, I then became extremely 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 involved in systems change and how to develop 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 policy, how to organize, how to support 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the rights, voices and preferences of other 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 people and because I lived in Connecticut and the 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 original author of the American's with 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Disabilities Act, the first time the bill 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 was introduced was senator Will Weiker 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 of Connecticut and Senator Weiker, father 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 of a great young man who had Down Syndrome 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Senator Welker was very involved with 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the disability advocacy community in Connecticut 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and I then had the incredible opportunity to 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 go to Boston and testify and on of the 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Congressman Major Owens field of hearings 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 on the American's with Disabilities Act so 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 of course that first time around the bill 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 didn't pass. But boy oh boy, were we revved up 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 in the passage of the ADA, in the period of which 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 once the bill was reintroduced 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and folks were organizing, I remember that we had 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 stacks and stacks and stacks of bright pink 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 post cards, and we were organizing folks across the state 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 to develop, to sign those post cards supporting 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 passage of the ADA and then, this was sort 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 of a wonderful but maybe a miss leading experience 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 we actually were successful! The bill got 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 passed, I remember thinking oh well this wasn't that hard, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 we had to go at it twice but this wasn't so hard! 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Let's take on some more legislation. So 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 turns out it wasn't as easy as it looked to me 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It wasn't just about hot pink post cards, and meetings, and marches 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that all helped but even that sometimes 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 these days doesn't seem to be enough to change policy. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 That's my earliest journey to 1990. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Thank you Marcie, okay were going to present now 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 just so you know I do have another interview at 2 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 we are going to have three more sections. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The present, the future and the call to 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 action, so just to pace yourself within those 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So the present, has the ADA made a difference? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Tell us about your "Aha" moment that told you 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that the ADA is or is not making a difference 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and to what extent based on your passions 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and area of expertise, where you see or 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 not see the impact of the ADA. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So the ADA has had a huge and sweeping impact 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and I... Its important for me to begin as I talk about 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the present day as were embarking on ADA 30. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Its really important to start with, how 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 much things absolutely have changed, and certainly some 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 of the architectural barrier removal efforts 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 some of the significant improvements in 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 effective, equally effective communication 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 some of the requirements around programs 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 All of those have significantly changed 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 most, I can't even say most of the time... often. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 There have been many great initiatives 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 over the years, but we always had to 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 maintain a relentless battle to, to not let 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 anything slip, to not lose and sort of momentum, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 towards accessibility. If we look away for 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 a minute, our rights will be swept away 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 from us, I can certainly talk about the 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 very present day, and what I have to say 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 about where we are today, is not 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 great, so I do want to take a little bit 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 more time to call out the significant 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 progress in so many aspects of daily life, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 in which we can call out failures of ADA 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 compliance, enforcement of the law. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 But it is often times in comparison to 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the examples of where it's working. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So when transportation is not accessible 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 we're calling it out because we know the 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 good and the promising practices that have 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 been in place for transportation accesabilty 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Make the failures so much more egregious. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 In housing, in employment, in the kinds 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 of assistive devices that are available 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the universal design of places and things, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 all of that points to the examples of where 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 we are getting it right, In stark contrast 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the areas where we are getting it egreigously 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 getting it wrong. I have to say that 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 just very recently, I have lead my 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 organization involvement in a petition to 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the U.S Department of Health and Human 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Services, demanding that people with 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 disabilities be immediately located 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 out of nursing homes and other congregate 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 settings due to the horrific circumstances 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 in those congregate settings, to Covid-19 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and the failure to provide appropriate 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 protections for people with disabilities 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and institutional settings. The ADA back in 1990 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 very clearly gave people with disabilities 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 significant rights, and even when 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 challenged in 1999, the homestead case 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 which was a Georgia case, and two women 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 who Lois and Elaine, Lois Curtis an 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 incredible woman, I have had the 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 pleasure of being with on a number of 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 occasions. The two of them demanded that 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 they had a right to live in the most intergraded 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 setting appropriate to their needs. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The decision, the case went all the way to 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the Supreme Court, and I was among 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 those who slept out on the steps of 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the Supreme Court on the night before 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 their case was heard. I was among the 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 folks who celebrated out in front of the 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Supreme Court on the day that decision 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 came down in favor of Lois and Elaine 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 right and the rights of thousands, tens of 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 thousands, millions of people with 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 disabilities to be, to live in the most 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 intergraded setting appropriate to their 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 needs. Given that we are 21 years after 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that decision, yesterday the American 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Civil Liberties Union submitted a petition 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and the World Institute on Disability joined 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 a number of disability organizations 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 in a bringing that petition, demanding 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that people with disabilities be immediately 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 relocated out of these congregate settings. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Tens of thousands of people have died 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 in the last hundred days, the genocide of 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 people with disabilities because of the 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 failures of implementation of that 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 homestead decision and the failures of our 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 government to provide that kind of support 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and services that enable people with disabilities 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 to live safely and and with the support 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 they need in place in the community, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 very infuriatingly, our continued persistent 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 call for people with disabilities to be 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 adequately served in these disasters 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 have been ignored and the bottom line 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 has been that again, over the last hundred days 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 tens of thousands of people with disabilities 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 have died, and when I was called on 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 saying that those were people with disabilities 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I have had conversations with a number of 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 senior government officials who, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 "why are you saying people with disabilities" 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 these were old people with underlying conditions 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 living in nursing homes, and long term care 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 facilities, look you don't go to a nursing home 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 because you are old. You go to a nursing home because 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 you have a disability and the supports and 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 services you need to stay in the community 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 have not been given to you, and that majority 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 of some would say of all those deaths in 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 congregate facilites are people with disabilities. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Most of them black and brown and people 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 living in poverty, and the failures of 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 American's with Disabilities Act, the homestead decision and 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 our governments will to monitor and force 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 this law and the rehabilitation act have a 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 devastating impact on where we are today 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and the depth of many of our siblings, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Without out end in sight. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Thank you Marcie, okay so next onto the 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 future. With the work you have been doing 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 you have seen a lot in terms of progress and barriers. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 If you could pick one thing to change or that needs 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 to occur to have access and equality, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I know that is hard, one thing. To have 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 access and equality present in the lives 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 of people with disabilities, what would that be? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The one thing that must happen 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 people with disabilities have civil rights 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 protections by law. The one thing that must happen 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 is that their rights are monitored and enforced 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 without exception. Following the law is not 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 enough, we need universal designs to be 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the standard, we need accessibility 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and the accommodation to be readily available. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 But we must have monitoring and enforcement. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Every federal dollar is supposed to be 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 spent in compliance with the rehabilitation act 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and between the rehab act and what the ADA require. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 There should be no room for people with 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 those civil rights protections to be repeatedly denied 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and unable to fully participate in home 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and community life. Monitoring and enforcement 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 must be the floor, the ceiling. But enforcing 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 these civil rights laws is absolutely 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the floor. Thank you 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So what can we do? What steps can we as community members 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 take right now? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So what we can do right now is 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 one of my favorite sayings is 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 "never give up, never give in" 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 another favorites is 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 "nothing about us, without us" 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 We as disability community leaders, need 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 to stick together, we need to center our work 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 around people who are multiple marginalized 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 excluded, we need to be sure that 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 we are not wasting our time with in fighting 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and with the kind of divisive childish behavior 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that some folks are still stuck on engaging in. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 We absolutely must reach a hand forward, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 reach a hand back, stick together and 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 continue relentlessly to work towards 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the realization of the goal that the ADA 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 was written around and so many 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 of our siblings have fought so very hard 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 for, we've lost a bunch of those hard working 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 visionary leaders, many of them have been 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 lost in recent years, some have been lost 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 along the way. We have an incredible 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 legacy to care for, we have huge 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 opportunities to work towards. Technology 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 has the potential of leveling the 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 playing field if in fact people have real access 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and the World Institute on Disability 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and our commitment to work in partnership 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 with other disability lead organizations and our allies 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 to make communities stronger, more resilient for 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the whole community. When we get it right 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 for people with disabilities, I think the 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 whole community not only benefits is stronger 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 for our leadership, our contributions, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 our expertise in what it takes to make daily life 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 work for everybody. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Excellent thank you.