Achieving Independence - the Challenge for the 21st Century
Achieving Independence - the Challenge for the 21st Century

Author: Linda Toms-Barker

Publisher: DIANE Publishing

Published: 1997-09

Total Pages: 200

ISBN-13: 0788146262

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This report calls for real change by & for real people. It is the result of recommendations developed by a diverse group of 300 participants at a National Summit on Disability Policy. At this historic gathering, people with disabilities representing the grassroots & national leaders alike, developed recommendations that build on two major accomplishments of the last decade -- the passage of ADA & the empowerment of people with disabilities, both of which embody the principles of inclusion, independence, & empowerment. Covers: civil rights, education, employment, technology, housing & much more.

Promises To Keep
Promises To Keep

Author: National Council on Disability, Washington, DC.

Publisher:

Published: 2000

Total Pages: 544

ISBN-13:

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This report is the third in a series of independent analyses by the National Council on Disability on federal enforcement of civil rights laws. This report looks at the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) enforcement activities from 1990 to 1999 of four key federal agencies: the Department of Justice, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the Department of Transportation, and the Federal Communications Commission. Findings indicate that while the Clinton Administration has consistently asserted its strong support for the civil rights of people with disabilities, the federal agencies charged with enforcement and policy development under ADA have been underfunded, overly cautious, reactive, and lacking any coherent and unifying national strategy. In addition, it is found that enforcement agencies have not consistently taken leadership roles in emergent issues. The following recommendations are made: (1) the Department of Justice should provide assertive leadership for ADA implementation and develop a strategic vision and plan for ADA enforcement across the federal government; and (2) the Departments of Justice and Transportation, the EEOC, and the Title II referral agencies should strengthen methods for the timely and effective enforcement of ADA. Appendices include a summary of the ADA. (CR)

Disabling Interpretations
Disabling Interpretations

Author: Susan Gluck Mezey

Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Pre

Published: 2005-07-24

Total Pages: 248

ISBN-13: 0822972794

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The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 was intended to send a clear message to society that discrimination on the basis of disability is unacceptable. As with most civil rights laws, the courts were given primary responsibility for implementing disability rights policy.Mezey argues that the act has not fulfilled its potential primarily because of the judiciary's "disabling interpretations" in adjudicating ADA claims. In the decade of litigation following the enactment of the ADA, judicial interpretation of the law has largely constricted the parameters of disability rights and excluded large numbers of claimants from the reach of the law. The Supreme Court has not interpreted the act broadly, as was intended by Congress, and this method of decision making was for the most part mirrored by the courts below. The high court's rulings to expand state sovereign immunity and insulate states from liability in damage suits has also caused claimants to become enmeshed in litigation and has encouraged defendants to challenge other laws affecting disability rights. Despite the law's strong civil rights rhetoric, disability rights remain an imperfectly realized goal.

Independence Movements and Their Aftermath
Independence Movements and Their Aftermath

Author: Jon B. Alterman

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2018-11-23

Total Pages: 226

ISBN-13: 1442280816

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This volume explores the varied outcomes that self-determination movements around the world have achieved, and in particular seeks to understand what factors promote better outcomes and what factors promote worse ones. Rather than focusing on the metric of achieving independence, the project evaluates the quality of societies after independence, including such elements as economic strength and political resilience, and it analyzes what factors contribute to different outcomes. The study finds that the single most determinative factor in the success of any independence movement is frequently beyond the control of such a movement, often relating to the global and historical contexts in which the movement finds itself. However, a whole host of factors are within the control of such a movement, but movements do not always seek to act on many of them. Activists become so convinced in the justness of the independence cause that they do not focus on actions that would contribute to greater success after independence.

New Directions in Special Education
New Directions in Special Education

Author: Thomas Hehir

Publisher: Harvard Education Press

Published: 2005-11-01

Total Pages: 175

ISBN-13: 1612500064

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A comprehensive study that is also practical and realistic, New Directions in Special Education outlines principles for decisionmaking about special education at every level—from the family to the classroom, school, and district—and for state and federal policy. With this volume, leading scholar and disability advocate Thomas Hehir opens a new round of debate on the future of special education. Extending the conceptual framework developed in his seminal 2002 article in the Harvard Educational Review, "Eliminating Ableism in Education," Hehir examines the ways that cultural attitudes about disability systematically distort the education of children with special needs and uses this analysis to lay out a fresh approach to special education policy and practice. Hehir traces the roots of "ableism"—the pervasive devaluation of people with disabilities—and shows how negative attitudes continue to shape debates in the field. He assesses recent trends in special education policy, particularly the shift of emphasis from compliance to outcomes, and discusses in depth the successes and limitations of the inclusion movement. He also investigates the impact of standards-based reforms on children with disabilities and critically examines the promise of Universal Design for Learning.