Book Description

In this paper the author offers a reprint of "Equality of Opportunity: The Making of the Americans with Disabilities Act" (July 26, 1997). This personal story is part and parcel of the ADA's (Americans with Disabilities Act) significance in the society. The ADA is a nondiscrimination law. It is a clarion call for transforming attitudes about disability. The ADA proclaims that all people, including people with disabilities, should participate fully in all aspects of communities and have opportunities to take risks, to succeed, and--yes--to fail. Equality of opportunity means having a chance to live independently and become financially secure, but it is not a guarantee. Understanding the history of the ADA is every bit as important as when "Equality of Opportunity" was first published in 1997. Arguably, the urgency is even greater now. Achieving equality of opportunity for people with disabilities depends in large measure on individual transformative experiences like the one the author had through writing the history of the ADA. Thus, the author hopes that this reprint of "Equality of Opportunity" enables more people to understand the ADA and the outmoded structural and attitudinal barriers it was meant to tear down. A glossary of included. List of Interviews is appended. (Contain 443 notes.).