I'm Art Blaser in Orange, California
South of Los Angeles.
And the first question had to do with
my background and how I became aware
of the ADA, a disability association.
In my case, although I had some knowledge before,
not a lot less than most people,
til I became disabled,
which was in 1983, I had a brain stem stroke
and became disabled and a full time
wheelchair user today.
And I would say that
the issues of disability accommodations
I confronted.
A big one was access to my home
and a simple one was access to my job.
That although curb cuts were in theory
supposed to be in place
by 1995, in practice, they weren't.
They are today, which I think is
emblematic of the impact of the ADA.
As of now we've got things
to the time, but,
the spirit of the ADA
was the confrontation of
people being public about their needs.
And eventually, Orange, where I live,
had curb cuts at the corners, which meant
it was possible for me to live
about five blocks from campus.
I had improvements also and accommodations
which included a computerized voice
that makes it possible to teach.
The kinds of things that
wouldn't have existed decades ago.
Fortunately, in California as a professor,
I was able to take advantage of
good state laws.
But I think they're being forced by
the spirit of the ADA.
We see the ADA's effect for good
point of the spirit
and some things that don't work
just about every day that they
try to get access to different buildings.
And quite often, the experience
of other people say
this shouldn't be happening,
but in fact it is.
But the big difference is
is that were people motivated,
eventually things change and adapt.
I've noticed it most
in education
that I teach
at Chapman University, since 1981,
so before the ADA.
And, when I was not disabled,
I teach today
I noticed a lot of the effects through
teaching disabilities at least.
And, I've had students
who actually grew up knowing
that the ADA existed
and they're the so-called "ADA generation"
which makes a big difference.
People are claiming disability and trying
to make the world a better place.
And, in many cases, they're successful,
and in some cases, not.
But there are reasons for it
and I think there's a desire
to understand the reasons.
I think they want us to
prioritize and recognize separated people,
the association of where
and how people live,
and the contrast between nursing homes
and lacks of the community
or congregate settings.
And we're experiencing through COVID-19,
the current crisis,
a lot of death in nursing homes worldwide.
And, we also have the coordinance of the
Unites States fills decades, which Friday
the interpretations of it, but
it will threat of the right of people
to live in the community
guaranteed by the
Americans with Disabilities Act.
I think one of the
unfortunate things we are seeing
is the lack of forward movement
toward nursing home reforms
or eStatements.
We can't continue to live in congregate
settings and a number of people are
active big of what that thing is,
the independent living centers
and independent living movement,
some things that I feel privileged
in a lot of ways to be involved in
with a center for independent living
for Orange county and LA.
And a major issue has been
transitions from nursing homes.
And, that will continue to be a major
issue including interpretations of cores,
which I think is very important
not only in the United States,
but also elsewhere as well.
England has noticed roughly
the same thing happening
that about half of the deaths
are people in nursing homes.
They can tell that a bit of the issue
is that now we're seeing a lot
of people who've had COVID-19
tested positive and recovered,
but a lot of indications that they
haven't recovered perfectly.
That many of them like me have stroke,
some things that are similar to
multiple sclerosis,
and a lot of people haven't thought
of themselves as disabled, but in fact
have many of the conditions of disability.
And an important factor
in the coming years
I think will be that people
claim disability
and discover that it's actually a part
of the way a lot of us live.
And that's something that's
going to go away because
to people like me
is we can make the world a lot better
by acknowledging the rights
that should come along with disability.
The most important step that
we as community members can take
is education while they can see that
all of us are involved
in through their lifespan
because they can see inside there.
And considering people to both
dimensions of disability
some with pride and positive atitudes
towards human differences continue
through their lifespans and
know religious organizations
at first, might find it difficult to
deal with disabilities through politics
like the Americans with Disability Act
and Vocabularies Right,
but that's very necessary.
And at the colleges and universities
I know we have to graduate disabilities
to this program.
But as a community,
I think everything affects the media.
Sometimes we see things differently,
but an increase in disability
of disability is important.
Fortunately, we have projects like
the disability and visibility project,
a number of instances
of involvement of the media,
foundations like the Rotherham Foundation.
But a number of indications that
in the future disability will be something
that people are likely to talk about
and deal with in a positive way.