30 years later, Americans with Disabilities Act still lauded but 'work is never done' - TribLIVE

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When Dick Thornburgh witnessed the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act 30 years ago, he knew his son’s life would be changed forever.

The Pittsburgh native and former Republican Pennsylvania governor was the U.S. attorney general at the time. Leading the Justice Department, he was integral in working out regulatory measures for the legislation that bans discrimination against people with disabilities and creates reasonable accommodations in schools and work places as well as with transportation.

“Issues of the rights of people with disabilities have always been important issues for my family,” said David Thornburgh, one of his sons. “I have a brother with a disability, so his circumstances and our need to make sure he enjoys the full rights of citizenship have always, I think, motivated particularly my mom and dad.”

After years of work largely inspired by his son, Peter, who at 4 months old suffered a severe brain injury in a 1960 car crash that killed his mother, Dick Thornburgh saw President George H.W. Bush sign the Americans with Disabilities Act into law on July 26, 1990.

Thirty years later, the act is lauded as one of the most sweeping pieces of legislation in the 20th century, affecting more than 40 million Americans — or nearly 13% of the population. Its impacts are seen through wheelchair lifts on buses, curb cuts, pedestrian walk signs with audio and flashing lights, handicapped parking spots and ramps into businesses.

This week, Dick Thornburgh will be presented a leatherbound book filled with about 30 notes from people in the disabled community, former Gov. Tom Corbett, previous colleagues and others thanking him for the work he did on the ADA. The honor is being coordinated by Achieva, a Pittsburgh-based nonprofit aimed at helping people with disabilities, spokeswoman Lisa Razza said.

‘World of change’

The act forever changed the lives of millions of people with disabilities, including retired Pittsburgh lawyer Paul O’Hanlon, who uses a wheelchair. Prior to ADA, O’Hanlon remembers being unable to easily access public transportation because of a lack of accommodations, and if he did, finding a slew of barriers when he arrived at his destination.

“Every kind of trip became a real challenge as far as just the logistics of getting there and doing what you needed to do when you got there,” O’Hanlon said. “All of that, you just couldn’t count on any of that working in the past. Today it’s pretty routine. So, in many respects, there’s been a world of change.”

Pittsburgh employment lawyer Sam Cordes added, “It’s opened up doors for a lot of people who would not otherwise be able to work or not be able to work in their best capacity.”

Cordes works to uphold the ADA since he filed the first federal lawsuit in Western Pennsylvania in 1995. A jury awarded his client $70,000 in punitive damages after an employer asked questions about a lazy eye during a job interview.

But, despite many changes over the past three decades, Cordes noted there are still several ADA-related cases in the courts. He said those cases tend to stem from someone being inconvenienced by the need to provide accommodations.

Last year, there were 24,238 disability discrimination complaints filed with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. In 2018, there were 24,605 complaints. In Pennsylvania, there were 1,679 disability-related complaints in 2019 and 1,665 in 2018.

“Things have improved significantly for people with disabilities, but there’s still a long way to go in terms of access to employment, access to education, the rights of citizenship, public accommodations and so forth and so on,” said David Thornburgh, 61, president and CEO of the Committee of Seventy, a Philadelphia-based government reform group. “The work is never done.”

Providing a voice

Melissa Allen of Butler County never expected to be an advocate for the disabled community. But Allen faced hurdle after hurdle when she enrolled her now 18-year-old son, Mason, into school, stating that his 22q Deletion Syndrome diagnosis was not properly accommodated. The syndrome caused slight development delays for Mason, she said.

“I felt like to speak up I needed to come from an educated perspective. … There are probably a lot of families out there who don’t have the ability to do the learning and to understand, so I want to help them,” Allen said. “I want to help them understand there’s a pathway and there’s a way to get your own voice.”

Allen is the director of Disability Options Network, which serves seven counties including Allegheny and Westmoreland. The grassroots advocacy organization works to empower people with disabilities to live independently.

In her position, Allen strives to overcome obstacles hindering the disabled community, like revamping the Medical Assistance for Workers with Disabilities program, which provides health care to those who qualify.

“You have a disability and you need this, you need this physical support just to do your daily living,” Allen said of the program. “We’ll give it to you, but then we’re going to keep you in poverty and keep you from being a maximum taxpayer and a maximum earner because you need this little crutch.”

Other issues, she said, include difficulties finding accommodating housing, which accounts for about 65% of calls to her organization.

O’Hanlon, who also is an advocate, said struggles he often faces range from cluttered sidewalks filled with sandwich boards, newspaper boxes and increased outdoor dining to inaccessible buildings.

“It’s kind of frustrating that here we are 30 years later and yet I can’t get into a lot of the places I would like to go, and many are neighborhood business districts,” he said, noting particular problems in Pittsburgh neighborhoods like Bloomfield and the South Side. “There’s been progress, but it’s not universal or uniform. There are parts of our society that are largely operating the way they used to.”

Laws can make a difference, but they don’t change attitudes, David Thornburgh said.

“We’ve seen that in the larger civil rights struggle and in lots of areas,” he said. “Laws, and you could say court cases, sort of establish a threshold, but the long-term goal takes a much more persistent and comprehensive effort.”

Despite some cancellations due to the coronavirus pandemic, those vying for the rights of people with disabilities found ways to celebrate the ADA’s 30th anniversary with virtual events like films and town hall meetings that taught the history and discussed the future of the act.

“Whether it’s a funeral or an anniversary, it’s an important occasion to reflect not only on the difference that in this case a piece of legislation made but also it should renew your commitment to persisting over time to the best you can to get it right,” David Thornburgh said.

Megan Tomasic is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Megan at 724-850-1203, mtomasic@triblive.com or via Twitter .

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