In the United States, the disability policy is governed by central civil rights laws such as the Rehabilitation Act, section 504, proposed in 1973, vetoed by President Nixon. In 1984, it was strengthened by President Reagan and began to cover airports who receive federal funds. This law is an affirmative action and civil rights law that prohibits discrimination in employment or services by any entity that directly or indirectly receives federal funds, is a branch of the government or is a federal contractor. In 1984, expansions of vocational rehabilitation were also enhanced by President Reagan with the Client Assistance Program where receivers of state VR services can go if they are not getting the proper assistance. While CAP still has many problems, it is at least a start toward consumerism. In 1986, President Reagan and his Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger had increased the amount of supported employment for disabled defense workers, who either work for DOD or its many contractors. For NY State VR services click .
There are many minor disability laws that have been proposed and signed by the Reagan Administration and passed by Congress in the 1980s such as the Civil Rights Restoration Act giving disability a minority status, The Tech Act increasing access for assistive technology, The Fair Housing Act Amendment and the Air Carrier Access Act. For information on assistive technology from Microsoft, click here .
In 1988, Reagan proposed the Americans with Disabililities Act (ADA)to Congress with the support of many disability rights groups such as ADAPT, etc. Many people who were instrumental in designing the ADA were Even Kemp and Justin Dart, both who worked for both the Reagan and Bush Administrations, Senators Bob Dole and Tom Harkin and many others. President Bush signed the act July 26, 1990 on the front of the White House Lawn.
President Bush signed the ADA July 26, 1990 on the White House Front Lawn and this became the first piece of sweeping centralized civil rights protection for people with disabilities. The Americans with Disabilities Act is divided into five titles. Title I, discriminates against qualified people with disabilities in the area of private, non-government employment. It also requires employers to give reasonable accommodations. Employers and employees who wish to have assistance on what are appropriate work place accommodations can contact The Job Accommodation Network for assistance. Title II prohibits against qualified persons with disabilities in employment or receiving services from any state or local government entity. The employment regulations are the same as Title I. Title III requires places of public accommodation to give readilty achievalbe reasonable accommodations for customers or users of their facilities who have disabilities. Title IV deals with the issues of telecommunications and access to telephones and other communication devices. Title V is the miscellaneous title which deals with issues of employee insurance, etc. Title I is covered by the Equal Employment Opportunity Division. Titles II and III are covered under the Department of Justice where they have The ADA Homepage . In the United States, there has also been a recent trend toward self-advocacy of people with disabilities. For more information click the NY Self Advocacy Association . Also, if you wish to contact other self advocacy groups part of the People First Network in Europe, please contact People First Europe .
In France, disability policy is much more decentralized. There are many more laws on disability policy and in France they do not use the British Common Law System. All of their laws are by date.
For example the law for employment is called La Loi de Juillet 1987. The first french law for public research on disability was passed in 1901. Their laws are passed by the Parliament consisting of Le Senate et L'Assemblee. There are separate laws for discrimination and access in l'ecole publique including les premier (primary school), le college (junior high school) and the lycee (high school). In France, there are separate laws for higher education access and for funding. Many of the laws in France supporting the disabled, concentrate more on funding of programs, special education, social security and government assistance for people with disabilities, as opposed to accessibility. However, that is beginning to improve. When I was in France in March 1998, I lectured at L'Universite d'Orsay in Orsay, France at the ATHAREP (Association Travail et Handicap dans le Recherche Publique) Conference. The conference was designed to raise awareness of the problems, issues and needs of university students with disabilities. The conference concentrated more on access. In addition, in the same year in France, le cadre de Conseil National Consultatif aux Personnes Handicapees have been working to increase scholary integration of children and adolescents with disabilities. Recently, there has been a move througout the entire European Union to integrate persons with disabilities in all aspects of society. Here is a site on disability organizations in France . I had also toured the Il de France area and Paris and Versailles, the palace of Louis XIV, the Sun King. France is a wonderful caring culture, always willing to assist me, when needed. I hope to return to France and visit Lyon, France
One particular individual that I had the utmost priviledge of meeting and who was responsible for transporting me to France, was Professeur Claude Decoret who is a blind professor at l'Universite de Lyon1. He has founded an organization called Mission Handicap which has been instrumental in increasing access to students with disabilities in math and science. For information on French laws click here . The official government source is Legifrance, which gives the official laws from Le Journel de Officiel de Republique Francaise. Here is also information on international disability policy and peer support networks.
I lecture on disability policy and studies and here is a great website for students and professionals looking for resources on disability policy and studies, including international studies.. Mobility International is an organization dedicated to assisting disabled students, travelers and professionals in accessing information on independent living and access for people with mobility disabilities in different parts of the world. They were very helpful to me when I went to France. When I was in France, lecturing at l"universite d'Orsay en March 1998, I found the tourist areas to be accessible, such as La Louvre et La Tour Eiffel, but there were many places that were not accessible. However, because of the gentle culture of France, I always received the mobility assistance I needed. People in France do not see assistance as a lack of independence. They are a caring and helpful culture. Here is the website of another disabled traveller in France.
Here is some great information to learn more about Disability etiquette, sensitivity and awareness training of disability and different needs and how to assist people with disabilities.
History of Sterlization of Disabled Persons During Holocaust
The Holocaust eliminated disabled people first, before Jews or any other targeted group. There were 275,000 adults and children with disabilities killed at the hands of Hitler between the years of 1931 and 1944 (when beloved France was liberated by the Allied forces at Normandy). Also there were 400,000 forced sterlizations of people with disabilities during these years.
Also eugenics was considered a state issue in the United States, until President Ronald Reagan, outraged by this uncivilized practice, issued an executive order in 1985 to stop all forms of eugenics and forced sterlizations in the United States. Here is a site that helps advocate for the legal and civil rightsand full integration of people with disabilities through disability rights advocacy and more information on disabled and the Holocaust.
The text of this data was originally published by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum as a pamphlet titled "Handicapped". It is used here with permission.
United States Holocaust Memorial
Museum,
100 Raoul Walenberg PlaceSW,
Washington D.C. 20024-2150.
This brochure describes the Nazi treatment of disabled people from 1933-1945. Soon after Hiltler took power, the Nazis formulatedpolicy based on their vision of biologically "pure"
population, to create an "Aryan master race." The
"Law for the Prevention of Progeny with Hereditary
Diseases," proclaimed July 14, 1933, forced the
sterilization of all persons who suffered from diseases
considered hereditary, such as mental illness
(schizophfrenia and manic depression), retardation, physical
epilepsy, blindness, deafness, and severe alcoholism.
Nazi Germany was not the first or only country to sterilize people considered "abnormal." Before Hitler, the United States led the world in forced sterilizations. Between 1907 and 1939, more than 30,000 people in twentynine states were sterilized, many of them unknowingly or against their will, while they were
incarcerated in prisons or institutions for the mentally
ill. Nearly half the operations were carried out in
California. Advocates of sterilization policies in both Germany and the United States were influenced by eugenics. This sociobiological theory took Charles Darwin's principle of natural selection and applied it to society. Eugenicists believed the human race could be improved by controlled breeding.
Still, no nation carried sterilization as far as Hitler's
Germany. The forced sterilizations began in January
1934, and altogether an estimated 300,000 to 400,000
people were sterilized under the law. A diagnosis of
"feeblemindedness" provided the grounds in the
majority of cases, followed by schizophrenia and
epilepsy. The usual method of sterilization was vasectomy and ligation of ovarian tubes of women.Irradiation (xrays or radium) was used in a small number of cases. Several thousand people died as a result of the operations, women disproportionately
because of the greater risks of tubal ligation. Most of the persons targeted by the law were patients in mental hospitals and other institutions. The majority of those sterilized were between the ages of twenty and forty, about equally divided between men
and women. Most were "Aryan" Germans. The "Sterilization Law" did not target socalled racial groups, such as Jews and Gypsies, although Gypsies were sterilized as deviant "asocials," as were some homosexuals. Also, about 500 teenagers of mixed African and German parentage (the offspring of French colonial troops stationed in the Rhineland in the early 1920s, see Hitler always tried to hurt disabled, people of colour and even people from France) were sterilized because of their race,by secret order, outside the provisions of the law.
Although the "Sterilization Law" sometimes functioned arbitrarily, the semblance of legality underpinning it was important to the Nazi regime. More than 200 Hereditary Health Courts were set up across Germany and later, annexed territories. Each was made up of two physicians and one district judge. Doctors were required to register with these courts every known case of hereditary illness. Appeals courts were also established, but few decisions were ever reversed. Exemptions were sometimes given artists or other talented persons afflicted with mental illnesses.
The "Sterilization Law" was followed by the Marriage Law of 1935, which required for all marriages proof that any offspring from the union would not be afflicted with a disabling hereditary disease.Only the Roman Catholic Church, for doctrinal reasons, opposed the sterilization program consistently; most German Protestant Churches accepted and often cooperated with the policy. Popular films such as Das Erbe ("Inheritance") helped
build public support for government policies by stigmatizing the mentally ill and the handicapped and highlighting the costs of care. School mathematics books posed such questions as: "The construction of a lunatic asylum costs 6 million marks. How many
houses at 15,000 marks each could have been built for
that amount?"
Eugenics was legal in the United States as a states right until President Reagan advocated against eugenics and issued an executive order making the practice illegal in the US in 1985.
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