1 00:00:01,400 --> 00:00:02,650 So, 2 00:00:02,760 --> 00:00:04,560 My name is Michelle ..... 3 00:00:04,680 --> 00:00:06,320 I am a social psychologist and 4 00:00:06,370 --> 00:00:08,380 teach at .......... College 5 00:00:08,519 --> 00:00:11,404 in psychology and biomedical humanities program 6 00:00:11,437 --> 00:00:15,727 and I just wrote a book on Abilism the causes and consequences 7 00:00:15,727 --> 00:00:18,967 of disability prejudice. My first memory 8 00:00:18,967 --> 00:00:21,267 and I'll just back up and say in 1990, 9 00:00:21,267 --> 00:00:23,730 when the ADA passed I was in graduate school, 10 00:00:23,769 --> 00:00:33,134 in Kansas, and disability prejudice, the ADA or anything 11 00:00:33,134 --> 00:00:38,954 related to disability issues were completely off my radar, 12 00:00:38,954 --> 00:00:43,578 and I worked at a place where one of the pioneers 13 00:00:43,578 --> 00:00:46,756 of disability studies worked, Beatrice Wright, 14 00:00:46,756 --> 00:00:50,396 and I had yet to have a class with her. 15 00:00:50,396 --> 00:00:53,876 It really wasn't until 1995, which was five years later, 16 00:00:53,876 --> 00:00:58,566 when my daughter was born, Sierra, with spina bifoda, 17 00:00:58,566 --> 00:01:03,394 that I became aware of disability and found the work 18 00:01:03,394 --> 00:01:08,862 of Carol Gill and Simi Litton and began to educate myself 19 00:01:08,862 --> 00:01:15,348 on disability studies and its scope, and the first memory I have of 20 00:01:15,348 --> 00:01:22,571 confronting inaccessible spaces was a few years later, when we enrolled 21 00:01:22,571 --> 00:01:26,520 my daughter Sierra in a preschool, at a Catholic preschool, 22 00:01:26,520 --> 00:01:31,915 right down the road; and it just didn't even dawn on me that we would have to 23 00:01:31,915 --> 00:01:36,388 work so hard for her to be accommodated as a preschooler, 24 00:01:36,472 --> 00:01:41,209 and it was really a function of the fact that the building was older, 25 00:01:41,252 --> 00:01:47,109 there were steps, and they really didn't know, nor did they need to legally know, 26 00:01:47,142 --> 00:01:52,554 about reasonable accommodations and civil rights of their students, 27 00:01:52,554 --> 00:01:59,595 because they were a private facility and weren't subject to the ADA's rules. 28 00:01:59,622 --> 00:02:05,803 So it became clear to me that we needed to find a new preschool, and luckily 29 00:02:05,851 --> 00:02:10,461 we found another private place - it wasn't a public school - 30 00:02:10,512 --> 00:02:14,346 but it was a music school settlement and they had resources 31 00:02:14,369 --> 00:02:18,947 and they were already operating under a sort of set of presumptions 32 00:02:18,989 --> 00:02:23,216 about the value of diversity and diverse perspectives, 33 00:02:23,263 --> 00:02:28,998 and we didn't really have to ask for much, because they bent over backwards 34 00:02:29,030 --> 00:02:34,284 to include my daughter in a typical classroom, with her peers, 35 00:02:34,324 --> 00:02:38,987 her preschool peers, music classes, there were so many eclectic-- 36 00:02:39,023 --> 00:02:44,557 movement classes, and they even purchased equipment 37 00:02:44,599 --> 00:02:52,269 for their exercise room and movement room that would be useful to her among others, 38 00:02:52,335 --> 00:02:59,368 and she has since grown up to become this teacher and has applied to work there 39 00:02:59,437 --> 00:03:02,457 as a preschool teacher, so I think it would be really amazing 40 00:03:02,457 --> 00:03:08,531 if she came full circle, but I guess to answer the broader question 41 00:03:08,531 --> 00:03:14,820 about being frustrated and aware of inaccessibility and lack of inclusion, 42 00:03:15,538 --> 00:03:20,904 we were in a district that, when she then was about to move to preschool, 43 00:03:21,020 --> 00:03:25,272 I knew that she probably wouldn't be able to go to a private school, 44 00:03:25,337 --> 00:03:30,479 not only because of the financial cost but also because they would not have to 45 00:03:30,524 --> 00:03:34,471 think about best practices and the law when it came to 46 00:03:34,568 --> 00:03:37,441 accommodating their students with disabilities, 47 00:03:37,500 --> 00:03:41,293 and so I knew we would be looking at the public school, 48 00:03:41,323 --> 00:03:45,201 and the public school in our neigbourhood was not accessible. 49 00:03:45,401 --> 00:03:49,384 We went to visit it, the playground had a little house 50 00:03:49,694 --> 00:03:52,046 that she wouldn't have been able to get into, 51 00:03:52,254 --> 00:03:55,876 and it was really disheartening and so it came at a time 52 00:03:55,876 --> 00:03:58,340 when we were already looking for other opportunities, 53 00:03:58,393 --> 00:04:01,573 and my husband got an opportunity to move us as a family 54 00:04:01,660 --> 00:04:04,079 to the West Coast of Portland of Oregon, 55 00:04:04,162 --> 00:04:10,507 so the way I-- so the way we had to navigate her early educational experiences 56 00:04:10,574 --> 00:04:17,591 was to only look at spaces and schools that were in districts that were new, 57 00:04:17,647 --> 00:04:23,109 so that had buildings and had training in terms of 58 00:04:23,178 --> 00:04:26,311 accommodating their diverse students and their disabled students, 59 00:04:26,369 --> 00:04:31,262 because just having the brief experiences that I did with the preschool 60 00:04:31,319 --> 00:04:38,810 and IEP meetings that were going to require me to fight at every juncture 61 00:04:38,868 --> 00:04:42,941 for her basic rights to show what she knows 62 00:04:42,976 --> 00:04:47,312 and participate and recognize herself as a valuable contributor 63 00:04:47,360 --> 00:04:50,910 to the school community. We're not going to be forthcoming 64 00:04:50,943 --> 00:04:54,411 without a fight, and so we narrowed our search 65 00:04:54,454 --> 00:04:57,194 to a district, and thank God we had the opportunity 66 00:04:57,221 --> 00:05:02,445 and the resources to do this, that was pretty known for their 67 00:05:02,513 --> 00:05:04,012 inclusivity. 68 00:05:04,095 --> 00:05:07,731 We did that also when we came back to the Cleveland, Ohio area. 69 00:05:07,806 --> 00:05:12,346 We were able to avoid all districts that weren't at the cutting edge 70 00:05:12,412 --> 00:05:16,514 of full inclusion and proof of excellence and had newer buildings 71 00:05:16,583 --> 00:05:19,333 that could accommodate those with disabilities, 72 00:05:19,373 --> 00:05:25,867 but I guess that that was my earliest memory of how, 'Oh, we have a road 73 00:05:25,918 --> 00:05:32,402 ahead of us and we have to take it upon ourselves to either continue to fight 74 00:05:32,468 --> 00:05:40,316 battles that had already been won, legislatively, or, finds spaces, places 75 00:05:40,379 --> 00:05:42,932 and organizations that were ahead of the curve 76 00:05:42,982 --> 00:05:50,434 in terms of implementing, monitoring and just execute the basic civil rights 77 00:05:50,484 --> 00:05:52,938 of their various constituents 78 00:05:53,016 --> 00:05:58,568 The impact that all of that has had on me is to just be able to communicate 79 00:05:58,640 --> 00:06:02,284 with other parents and students with disabilities 80 00:06:02,334 --> 00:06:09,035 about not only knowing their rights but knowing how to get those rights 81 00:06:09,086 --> 00:06:17,342 how to advocate for ensuring that those rights are addressed, are met. 82 00:06:17,408 --> 00:06:21,139 I think the ADA has made a huge difference 83 00:06:21,202 --> 00:06:24,755 and the 'ah ha' moment was even when I was collating information for this book 84 00:06:24,807 --> 00:06:28,922 on disability prejudice, I realised that when I was a kid, 85 00:06:28,956 --> 00:06:33,641 when I was growing up in the 60s and 70s, people with disabilities weren't able to 86 00:06:33,693 --> 00:06:39,357 do any of the things that we took for granted as kids- go to the movies 87 00:06:39,432 --> 00:06:44,474 go to restaurants, go to visit a friend, at a friend's house, or invite 88 00:06:44,546 --> 00:06:46,725 others to your birthday parties. 89 00:06:46,779 --> 00:06:54,992 Since the ADA passed in 1990, it wasn't an immediate set of changes, 90 00:06:55,011 --> 00:07:01,842 as, there has been significant progress made, particularly in public spaces 91 00:07:01,927 --> 00:07:07,910 and in employment settings, where there are even employers 92 00:07:07,959 --> 00:07:13,827 who are part of an organization of inclusive excellence, who 93 00:07:13,876 --> 00:07:18,677 recognize that disabled employees are actually more reliable and 94 00:07:18,724 --> 00:07:23,145 have less turnover and are worth investing in and promoting. 95 00:07:23,229 --> 00:07:28,810 But, there are still so many places, small businesses, educational institutions 96 00:07:28,937 --> 00:07:41,383 that are not carrying out basic gains and practices that the ADA has made possible 97 00:07:41,458 --> 00:07:45,131 there's just way too much variation, and I think part of that 98 00:07:45,232 --> 00:07:48,983 is just a lack of education in terms what 99 00:07:49,135 --> 00:07:54,635 is reasonable and what is necessary 100 00:07:54,711 --> 00:07:56,933 in terms of accommodating your citizenry 101 00:07:57,008 --> 00:08:01,185 and lack of resources in some cases but 102 00:08:01,260 --> 00:08:03,633 also a lot of misinformation about whether 103 00:08:03,734 --> 00:08:08,236 or not it's worth it. The ADA is going to 104 00:08:08,293 --> 00:08:12,462 be 30 here in July. We're celebrating all 105 00:08:12,544 --> 00:08:15,543 over the country and we are still fighting 106 00:08:15,638 --> 00:08:19,813 for businesses to do what they should have 107 00:08:19,914 --> 00:08:22,316 done 30 years ago, those that have been 108 00:08:22,392 --> 00:08:25,493 around this long. They have not, they have 109 00:08:25,563 --> 00:08:27,769 have waited for complaints or they have 110 00:08:27,846 --> 00:08:31,416 failed to do but the bare minimum in 111 00:08:31,466 --> 00:08:34,871 terms of recruiting the largest minority 112 00:08:34,922 --> 00:08:37,693 I work in the education sphere and to me, 113 00:08:37,792 --> 00:08:40,220 we could be doing so much more with 114 00:08:40,318 --> 00:08:42,820 advertising and recruiting for those kinds 115 00:08:42,943 --> 00:08:45,621 of students that we tend to really, at 116 00:08:45,697 --> 00:08:49,244 least my institution, do well to retain 117 00:08:49,395 --> 00:08:52,944 because we're a small, intimate college 118 00:08:53,019 --> 00:08:55,847 Hiram College. For years I've tried to 119 00:08:55,922 --> 00:08:59,624 encourage us to consider more universally 120 00:08:59,723 --> 00:09:02,348 designed approaches but also approaches 121 00:09:02,451 --> 00:09:06,949 that do more when it comes to housing and 122 00:09:07,022 --> 00:09:09,600 extracurricular accommodations for 123 00:09:09,678 --> 00:09:12,398 students to who use mobility devices. For 124 00:09:12,525 --> 00:09:15,424 example, my daughter ended up having to be 125 00:09:15,577 --> 00:09:18,251 carried in her chair, to various club 126 00:09:18,449 --> 00:09:20,556 meetings while she was on the Hiram 127 00:09:20,653 --> 00:09:24,503 College campus. She was told that, during the 128 00:09:24,554 --> 00:09:28,102 winter, when the ice storms came, that 129 00:09:28,141 --> 00:09:30,561 they couldn't transport her up the long 130 00:09:30,561 --> 00:09:33,172 hill, while they were telling everyone 131 00:09:33,192 --> 00:09:37,324 else to walk like a penguin, and we had 132 00:09:37,324 --> 00:09:41,271 vans to do this. We had to file with the 133 00:09:41,271 --> 00:09:45,332 Ohio Disability Rights Commission and 134 00:09:45,408 --> 00:09:48,242 request that the school thinks about other 135 00:09:48,242 --> 00:09:50,506 ways of accommodating her should there 136 00:09:50,506 --> 00:09:52,558 be a storm, an ice storm, and she can't 137 00:09:52,633 --> 00:09:55,177 get up to campus. And the solution 138 00:09:55,177 --> 00:09:57,787 was to have her move to a new dorm. 139 00:09:57,787 --> 00:10:00,012 You can't just do that over night. 140 00:10:00,012 --> 00:10:01,862 You can't just move all your bedding 141 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and all your bathroom supplies 142 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and your whole... you know at the moment's 143 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 notice, when the weather changes 144 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and so it has been my experience that 145 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 still a lot of places have done the bare minimum approach 146 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and think that that's all they need to do 147 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 when instead, they could be following more 148 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 of the latest practices and implementation's science 149 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and making it easier for people to register 150 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 register concerns or complaints.