(Santa Fe, NM) – Today we celebrate the 30th Anniversary of the historic Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), one of this nation’s greatest accomplishments. The ADA transformed our nation’s disability policies by codifying key protections against discrimination based on disability. In the process, it expanded the freedom and rights of all Americans.
Bipartisan legislation was signed into law by President George Bush on July 26th, 1990. It established once and for all a clear, comprehensive national requirement for more inclusion, independence, and empowerment. As a legislator, I have always advocated as hard as I knew how for New Mexicans with disabilities. As a classroom teacher, I have tried to be a champion for all students in special education. But our work is far from done.
We must do much more to expand equality, access and opportunity for people living with disabilities in our state. Let’s use this anniversary to re-commit ourselves one and all to ending the stigma and discrimination that still confronts people with disabilities in our own communities. Let’s continue the incredible accomplishment of those disability advocates who delivered the ADA 30 years ago, by fighting for more equality in education, healthcare, transportation, housing and employment.
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