The principles of integration and inclusion enumerated in the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) are at the heart of everything we do at ACL. They are embedded in our culture and reflected in our staff, which includes many people with a wide variety of disabilities — more than a quarter of ACL employees, in fact. Their personal experiences inform their work and help ensure that our programs meet the needs of the people they serve. As part of our celebration of the anniversary of the ADA, we asked Ed Ahern, team leader in ACL’s Office of Independent Living Programs who uses a wheelchair, to share his story.
Impact of the ADA: A Guest Blog by Ed Ahern
I began using a wheelchair after a car accident in 1991, when I was 28 years old. I was full-grown and long past the youth milestones of life that teach us how to live as independent adults. Now I had to repeat some of them and learn how to live independently as a disabled adult. Before my accident, I really hadn’t given a lot of thought to disability issues. I don’t remember hearing about, or celebrating, the ADA when it was signed on the South Lawn of the White House on July 26, 1990, and I didn’t necessarily recognize it for what it was — the biggest piece of civil rights legislation to impact the lives of people with disabilities across the country. But now it would shape my future.
After nearly a year of recovery following my accident, I needed to figure out what I was going to do with the rest of my life. What would I — could I — do now? What I did know is the world around me looked different now. What had previously been a world without restriction, open to everything that I wanted to do and be, had suddenly become significantly less ‘open.’ For instance, I’d go out with my family to a restaurant, a doctor’s office, or other public places, and they’d say, ‘Where would he like to sit?’ or ‘How is he doing today?’ People didn’t talk to me — didn’t look at me — they talked to others I was with — even when I tried to engage them myself. Many people seemed generally uncomfortable interacting with me. Physical access was really bad. One memorable time was when my nana died, and we had to go to the local funeral home for the viewing. We got there and there was no ramp. The funeral director told my parents to push me up the ramp in the back alley they use for the caskets.
The ADA had created new requirements for accessibility, but the world didn’t change overnight. Change happened over time because of relentless advocacy by the same disabled leaders who fought to pass the ADA (and the Rehabilitation Act that preceded it). Those same advocates launched the Independent Living (IL) movement, which began to change expectations about disability rights and what people with disabilities are capable of. And it was because of the IL movement that the country began to develop the systems to support disabled people to live independently, in the community.
I began working with my local vocational rehabilitation program to try and figure out what I was going to do with the rest of my life. I had a wonderful counselor who saw great promise in me. I returned to college, which I had abandoned nearly a decade earlier due to financial issues (aka ‘life’). During one of my social work classes, we were having a guest speaker from a local human services organization to talk about the services they provided in the community. I didn’t know it at the time, but that visit would change my life yet again — that’s when I became a part of the IL movement.
I’ll never forget that night. Just after the class started, a woman in a power wheelchair appeared at the classroom door near the back of the class. The desks were too close together for her to make her way to the front of the class, so without missing a beat, she powered her chair forward as she unapologetically pushed desks on the left and the right to clear her path to the head of the class. The instructor went on to introduce her as the executive director of the local center for independent living (CIL). She was larger than life and definitely in charge of the situation (something I had yet to experience as a newly disabled person).
She told us about how the IL movement was born out of people with disabilities fighting for their rights. She introduced us to the lives of disability civil rights icons Ed Roberts and Judy Heumann, among others. She went on to talk about the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and how that legislation established a network of community-based organizations, run BY and FOR people with disabilities, with the purpose of supporting community living and independence for all people with disabilities. Founded on the belief that all people can live with dignity, make their own choices, and participate fully in society, she told us that IL was both a movement and a philosophy. She went on to tell us about the recent passage of the ADA and how that legislation created a blueprint for making society more open and accessible for people with disabilities like me. Her passion and enthusiasm were unmatched.
After class she came to talk to me. She invited me to the CIL office to meet some of her staff and learn about their program and services. I would later go on to become a consumer — a person who received services from the CIL — then a volunteer, and then a member of the board of directors. Later, I left the board to join the CIL staff as an independent living specialist. I left to work for other CILs and CIL programs but returned to serve as the executive director upon her retirement.
In 2012, I was working for the California Health and Human Services Agency as the options counseling program manager under an aging and disability resource center (ADRC) grant. I read with great enthusiasm about the creation of the Administration for Community Living (ACL): an agency built around the fundamental principle that older adults and people of all ages with disabilities should be able to live where they choose, with the people they choose, and with the ability to participate fully in their communities. And two years later, I was happy to see the IL programs move to ACL with the passage of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act. I thought how exciting it would be to be part of that organization!
As life would have it, 10 years after the formation of ACL, I got that opportunity. I joined the team in the Office of Independent Living Programs within ACL’s Administration on Disabilities. The office focuses on promoting the philosophy of independent living — including consumer control, peer support, self-help, self-determination, equal access, and individual and system advocacy — to maximize the leadership, empowerment, independence, and productivity of individuals with disabilities. I had finally found my career home! The past two years with ACL have proven to be some of the most fulfilling of my professional career. Every day, I have had the opportunity to provide tools and guidance to support and strengthen the IL network across the country, and work with them to make IL services available to more people, just like they were made available to me more than 30 years ago. It doesn’t get much better than that!
As we celebrate the anniversary of the ADA, I also celebrate ACL, the good fortune to have been part of the IL movement, and the fundamental rights of people with disabilities to live, work, and play in their communities of choice.
To access additional information and resources about the ADA, visit: ACL.gov.