2500 Wilson Blvd.
Arlington, VA 22201
703-907-7500
www.eia.org
Job Accommodation Network
PO Box 6080
Morgantown, WV 26506
800-526-7234
www.jan.wvu.edu
Office of Disability Employment Policy
US Department of Labor
200 Constitution Ave NW
Washington, DC 20210
1-866-633-7365
www.dol.gov/odep
President’s Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities
1331 F St., NW, Suite 300
Washington, DC 20004
202-376-6200
U.S. Small Business Administration
800-827-5722
www.sba.gov
Travel
Access-Able Travel Source, LLC
PO Box 1796
Wheat Ridge, CO 80034
303-232-2979
www.access-able.com
Accessible Vans of America, LLC
888-AVA-VANS
www.accessiblevans.com
Hosteling International USA
National Administrative Office
8401 Colesville Rd., Suite 600
Silver Spring, MD 20910
301-495-1240
www.hiusa.org
Wheelchair Getaways
PO Box 1098
Mukilteo, WA 98275
800-536-5518
www.wheelchairgetaways.com
Disability Magazines
Accent on Living
PO Box 700
Bloomington, IL 61702
800-787-8444
Emerging Horizons
C & C Creative Concepts
PO Box 278
Ripon, CA 95366
emerginghorizons.com
Exceptional Parent Magazine
551 Main St.
Johnstown, PA 15901
814-361-3860
www.eparent.com
Mouth Magazine
Free Hand Press, Inc.
4201 SW 30th St.
Topeka, KS 66614
www.mouthmag.org
New Mobility
No Limits Communications Inc.
PO Box 220
Horsham, PA 19044
888-850-0344
www.newmobility.com
Paralegia News
PVA Publications
2111 E. Highland Ave., Suite 180
Phoenix, AZ 85016
888-888-2201
www.pvamagazines.compnnews/
Quest Magazine
PO Box 3602
Glendale, CA 91221
www.questmagazine.com
Sports ’N Spokes
PVA Publications
2111 E. Highland Ave., Suite 180
Phoenix, AZ 85016
888-888-2201
www.pvamagazines.comsns/
The Ragged Edge
www.raggededgemagazine.com
Disability Books
101 Accessible Vacations: Travel Ideas for Wheelers and Slow Walkers
Candy B. Harrington
Demos Medical Publishing
ISBN 1932603433 / 9781932603439
$24.95
www.demosmedpub.com
Barrier-Free Travel: A Nuts and Bolts Guide For Wheelers and Slow Walkers, 2nd Edition
Candy B. Harrington
Demos Medical Publishing
ISBN 1932603093 / 9781932603095
$19.95
www.demosmedpub.com
Health Insurance Resources
Dorothy E. Northrop
Demos Medical Publishing
ISBN 1932603344 / 9781932603347
$26.95
www.demosmedpub.com
The Disabled Woman’s Guide to Pregnancy and Birth
Judith Rogers
Demos Medical Publishing
ISBN 1932603085 / 9781932603088
$24.95
www.demosmedpub.com
The Personal Care Attendant Guide
Katie Rodriguez Banister
Demos Medical Publishing
ISBN 193260328X / 9781932603286
$16.95
www.demosmedpub.com
There is Room at the Inn: Inns and B&Bs for Wheelers and Slow Walkers
Candy B. Harrington
Demos Medical Publishing
ISBN 1932603611 / 9781932603613
$21.95
www.demosmedpub.com
Online Disability Product Sites
Allegro Medical
800-861-3211
www.allegromedical.com
Care Medical Equipment
800-741-2282
www.caremedicalequipment.com
Sammons Preston—Rehabilitation products
800-323-5547
www.sammonspreston.com
SpinLife.com—Wheelchairs and accessories
800-850-0335
www.spinlife.com
SportAid—Wheelchairs and accessories
800-743-7203
www.sportaid.com
Web sites
360 magazine
www.360usainc.com
ABLEDATA
www.abledata.com
Apparelyzed
Disability discussion forums
www.apparelyzed.com
Care/Cure Community
SpineWire
sci.rutgers.edu/forum/index.php
Cure Paralysis Now
www.cureparalysisnow.org
Disability Benefits 101
www.disabilitybenefits101.org
Disability History Museum
www.disabilitymuseum.org
Disability Information and Resources
www.makoa.org/index.htm
Independent Living Research Utilization Program
www.ilru.org/
MyPleasure.com
www.mypleasure.com/education/sexe d/disabilitylist.asp
National Rehabilitation Information Center
www.naric.com
Sexual Health Network
www.sexualhealth.com
Society for Disability Studies
www.uic.edu/orgs/sds
Spinal Cord Injury, Stroke, and Paralysis Guide to Support Organizations
neurosurgery.mgh.harvard.edu/Trau ma/paral-r.htm
Spinal Cord Injury Information Network
www.spinalcord.uab.edu
The Wheelchair Junkie
www.wheelchairjunkie.com
WheelchairNet
www.wheelchairnet.org
Appendix
Disability Advocacy
In 1977, a group of protestors occupied the San Francisco offices of the US Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, an action that was to last for 25 days. As of publication of this book, this protest remains the longest occupation of federal property on record. The protestors were people with disabilities and, in some cases, their attendants.
Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 had been passed in the US Congress. It included a simple statement that no federal agency, public university, federal contractor, or entity that received federal funding could discriminate “solely by reason of handicap.”
Afraid that the Act would commit the government and its contractors to billions of dollars of expense for access, the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, who was responsible for implementation of the legislation, resisted signing the accompanying regulations into action. By the end of the San Francisco occupation, the regulations were signed into law, unchanged.
This was a tremendous victory, achieved by people with disabilities on their own behalf. It emboldened a modern disability movement for independence and inclusion that has since only grown in its power and sophistication. Although there has been tremendous progress made, the maldistribution of disability spending toward care rather than independence continues, and some rights and coverage have been lost.
Every one of us with a disability, those who care about us, and those who want to see our tax dollars spent wisely have a direct interest in disability advocacy issues. And every one of us can at any time find ourselves members of the family of people with disabilities—or facing higher levels of disability impairment. Disability advocacy is a universal political and social issue that continues to be viewed through the lens of caretaking and charity. It is, rather, a lens itself into the core values of democracy and principles of how to assert the power of government for the broader good, both for quality of life and for fiscal responsibility.
If you have a recent disability, you are the beneficiary of an incredible historic saga of modern advocacy. And your awareness and participation are needed in the ongoing process of removing obstacles and opening possibilities that will allow you to have the same immense potential available to you that exists for any other person, taking into account your authentic objective abilities and limitations, unimpeded by artificial external barriers.
Someday the only barrier will be your own choice to go for it or not.
With the above in mind,
Life On Wheels
offers a brief timeline on advocacy accomplishments of the modern disability movement and a list of legislative and policy issues at hand as of this publication.
The Americans with Disabilities Restoration Act of 2007
The US Supreme Court has not been kind to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). In a number of significant decisions, it has dramatically narrowed the range of who qualifies as having a disability.
With the ADA being diluted to the point of near meaninglessness for many people clearly at risk of discrimination, the disability community recognized the need for the original intent of the US Congress to be restored in the view of the judicial system. Thus, the ADA Restoration Act of 2007, which, as Representative F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr., Republican of Wisconsin, a cosponsor of the bill in the House of Representatives, said:
… will force courts to focus on whether a person has experienced discrimination “on the basis of disability,” rather than require individuals to demonstrate that they fall within the scope of the law’s protection.
Representative Steny Hoyer, Democrat of Maryland, introduced the ADA Restoration Act in the House along with 235 cosponsors, including Representative James Langevin, Democrat of Rhode Island, who also happens to be a man with quadriplegia.
On October 4, 2007, Representative Hoyer testified before the House Judiciary Committee, saying:
When we wrote the ADA, we intentionally used a definition of disability that was broad, borrowing from an existing definition from the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. We thought using established language would help us avoid a potentially divisive
political debate over the definition of “disabled.” Therefore, we could not have fathomed that people with diabetes, epilepsy, heart conditions, cancer, and mental illnesses would have their ADA claims kicked out of court.