The National Council on Disability (NCD) held the first National Summit on Disability Policy in Washington, D.C. for several days around July 26.
More than 500 people from 48 states attended the summit, including stakeholders in the federal government and the disability community. The summit aimed to identify opportunities around the theme of “Living, Learning and Earning” for people with disabilities.
Jonathan Young, chairman of the NCD, said the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) provided a catalyst to end the social exclusion of people with disabilities, and that it promised the same opportunities for risk, success and failure to all people.
“Today we celebrate the 20th anniversary of the ADA at the summit by beginning substantive discussions about the future of disability policies and programs, and promoting extensive collaboration at all levels of government and amongst all stakeholders,” Young said.
“We have shattered many barriers and set high expectations that integration and civil rights for people with disabilities are the new norm. We expect more from the world around us and are working to bring the dreams of access and opportunity into concrete, measurable reality,” he added.
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Administrator Craig Fugate also spoke at the summit, highlighting the ways the agency has incorporated people with disabilities into policy discussions about disaster preparedness, response and recovery.
"The ADA was a critical milestone in our civil rights history, but we still have a lot of work to do to live up to the law's promise of equal opportunities for all Americans," Fugate said.
"At FEMA, we're working to transform the way emergency managers at all levels - federal, state and local - plan for disasters, to include all members of the community. If we continue to only plan for the easy part of the community, we will never be truly resilient as a nation,” he added.
FEMA has established the Office of Disability Integration and Coordination, and is currently placing Disability Coordinators in the agency's ten regions.
This article was published in the September 2010 issue of Able News.
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