title
PROPOSED RESOLUTION
HONORING THE 30TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE SIGNING OF THE AMERICAN DISABILITIES ACT (ADA)
WHEREAS, our nation committed itself to the elimination of discrimination against people with disabilities on July 26, 1990 when the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was signed into law; and
WHEREAS, in 1986, the National Council on Disability (NCD) recommended enactment of an ADA, and drafted the first version of the bill which was introduced in the House and Senate in 1988; and
WHEREAS, after the spectacular Senate vote of 76 to 8 on September 7,1989, the Bill went to the House where it was considered by an unprecedented four Committees and later approved and signed as a law; and
WHEREAS, modeled after the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin - and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 -- the ADA is an "equal opportunity" law for people with disabilities; and
WHEREAS, the ADA is a wide-ranging civil rights law that prohibits discrimination based on disability and offers similar protections against discrimination to Americans with disabilities as the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which made discrimination based on race, religion, sex, national origin, and other characteristics illegal; and
WHEREAS, the ADA began with the establishment of the independent living movement which challenged the notion that people with disabilities needed to be institutionalized, and which fought for and provided services for people with disabilities to live in the community; and
WHEREAS, the hard work and the coalescing of lawyers and advocates, top level negotiators and policy analysts, disability organizations, lobbyers, protesters, witnesses, and many more groups from all areas of the Country formed the disability rights movement to help the passage of the ADA; and
WHEREAS, people with disabilities went to Washington D.C. to talk to members of Congress, to advocate for the Bill, and to explain why each provision was necessary while others wrote letters, attended town meetings, and made endless phone calls; and
WHEREAS, for the first time, the exclusion and segregation of people with disabilities was viewed as discrimination; and
WHEREAS, the ADA was the world's first comprehensive declaration of equality for people with disabilities and recognition that the surest path to America's continued vitality, strength and vibrancy is through the full realization of the contributions of all of its citizens. It was a collaborative effort of Democrats, Republicans, the legislative and the executive branches, federal and state agencies, and people with and without disabilities; and
WHEREAS, before the ADA, no federal law prohibited private sector discrimination against people with disabilities, absent a federal grant or contract; and
WHEREAS, the ADA protects people with both mental and physical disabilities regardless of the severity or permanency of such disability; and
WHEREAS, the ADA requires covered employers to provide reasonable accommodations to employees with disabilities, and imposes accessibility requirements on public accommodations; and
WHEREAS, the ADA was created on a basic presumption that people with disabilities want to, and are capable of contributing to their communities, and that exclusion and segregation cannot be tolerated; and
WHEREAS, the passage of the ADA has enhanced dignified treatment towards persons with a disability and enshrines their accommodations as a civil right.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Cook County Board of Commissioners does, hereby joins the rest of the Country in celebration of the 30th anniversary of the monumental signing of the American Disabilities Act (ADA); and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this text be spread upon the official proceedings of this Honorable Body.
end