Advocates meet on Capitol Hill for Jewish Disability Advocacy Day

WASHINGTON, D.C. – “People with disabilities belong in the center of the room, not the back. This is especially so in our synagogues,” said Janet Livingston, co-chair of the Jewish Federations of North America Disability Committee.

On Feb.  25, more than 80 people attended the Jewish Disability Advocacy Day in Washington to learn about issues important to people living with disabilities. Later, many visited congressional delegations to advocate on behalf of individual communities. February was Jewish Disability Awareness Month. Throughout the month the Jewish community, locally and nationally, focused on disabilities issues.

This year marked the 25th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Prior to the passage of the act, a significant number of restaurants, movie theaters and other public places were not accessible to people with physical disabilities.

Places of worship and other religious institutions were exempt from the ADA. “One person’s accessibility is not always another person’s accessibility, “said Katy Neas, executive vice president for public affairs for Easter Seals.

The ADA did not solve all problems associated with disabilities both physical and behavioral. There is currently a need to authorize additional funding for the Social Security Disabilities Insurance (SSDI) program. SSDI will become insolvent sometime in 2016. In the past SSDI and the Old Age and Survivors Insurance program (OASI) moved funds from one to another to keep the both programs solvent.  During our meetings with elected officials we asked them to support legislation to once again borrow funds from OASI to keep SSDI solvent through and beyond 2016.

A second issue of concern was the reauthorization of funds for transportation for people with disabilities. Access to public transportation is a key component to help assure independence and full community participation for people with disabilities. Without reauthorization, funding will run out on May 31.

The United States still has a way to go toward understanding and accepting people with disabilities.  Ari Ne’eman, president of Autistic Self Advocacy, said “our culture is still discriminatory in regard to people with disabilities.”

Congresswomen Tammy Duckworth of Illinois perhaps summed up the need to do what it takes to assist people with disabilities when she said, “We are all only one misfortune away from being disabled. Falling is just one part of getting up.”

MARTY COOPER is the Community Relations Director for the Jewish Alliance.