Hoyer Remarks at Press Conference on the 25th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act

WASHINGTON, DC – House Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer (MD) joined Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT), former Senators Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Bob Dole (R-KS), former Rep. Steve Bartlett (R-TX), and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) Commissioner Chai Feldblum at a press conference today celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which was signed into law on July 26, 1990, and which they all played a leading role in enacting. Below is a transcript of his opening remarks.

“Thank you very much for being here. We’re so honored to have you here, and I am honored to stand here with some extraordinary leaders in the Congress of the United States and in our country. No one more distinguished or more revered than the gentleman to my left, Senator Bob Dole, one of the great leaders with whom all of us have served. I am pleased to be here as well with Senator Tom Harkin, who was the principal – sort-of chief bottle washer – in getting this through the Senate. A lot of people played a role.

“Senator Kennedy, obviously, is not here. [Rep.] Jim Sensenbrenner and Cheryl ought to be here. Jim Sensenbrenner wanted to be here, but he called this morning and said he could not be here. [Former Senator] Lowell Weicker was with us at the White House – Lowell Weicker, Republican from Connecticut, who was the first author in the Senate of the ADA. And Tony Coelho, who is not here either – Tony could not be with us today, but Tony Coelho, who was the principal author, he was not in the Congress when we passed the ADA, but he was as responsible as any Member in the House for passage through the House of Representatives.

“My dear colleague, Steve Bartlett – from the State of Texas, served here [in the House] and then became the Mayor of Dallas – who was my partner in passage of the ADA [is here]. And then we have Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Commissioner Chai Feldblum, who was Steve’s and my lawyer. She gave [former Senator] Tom [Harkin] a lot of advice too, and [Senator] Orrin [Hatch] a lot of advice.

“And I want to say particularly about Orrin Hatch: not only was Orrin Hatch a Member of the Senate when the ADA passed and was a critical component of that, but Orrin was my partner, along with Tom’s partner, in passing the amendments so that we could, in 2008, say to the Supreme Court, ‘No, you limited the ADA far beyond what any of us had in intent. It is a civil rights bill.’  It is intent as well as operations, and this had to do with impairing significant life activities but is also directed at the discrimination, because people thought you couldn’t perform those activities.

“So, let me start because, we’re going to let Senator Harkin start.  He rearranged his schedule [in a] very short-time frame to be here. Let me mention before I start, though, two people. One is not here. Her name is Melissa Shulman. Melissa Shulman is an extraordinary young woman who says, ‘I didn’t know anything about the ADA until I was in charge of getting it passed,’ and she did an extraordinary job. And her partner is here. As Tom was my partner and Orrin was my partner and Steve Bartlett was my partner and Bob Dole was our leader, Bobby Silverstein was Melissa’s counterpart – or she was Bobby’s counterpart – and they worked together as an extraordinary team. Bobby, thank you very much.

“I’m honored, as I said, to be here today with these great legislators, and I use that term advisedly, and with Commissioner Feldblum to celebrate a milestone anniversary in the history of civil rights for Americans with abilities. We call it the [Americans with] Disabilities Act, but really what the Act was all about was abilities, focused on what people can do, not what they can’t do. As I say, all of us can’t do some things, but the Americas with Disabilities Act was really focused not on the ‘dis-’ but on the abilities.  

“For generations, those with differing abilities were pushed to the margins of society, denied the equal opportunity to participate in the workforce, and excluded from the full measure of the American Dream. The ADA changed all that. And, literally, thousands of people, Justin Dart being the drum major, if you will, and his wife Yoshiko.  But so many other thousands of people who came to Capitol Hill and said: ‘I am being shut out of the American Dream and the opportunity to pursue happiness.’ The ADA changed that, and when it was signed by President George H. W. Bush – and Boyden Gray, his counsel, has been mentioned on numerous occasions as a critical component in the passage of this – it represented a major bipartisan achievement. Now to some degree, the amount of votes we got in the Senate and the amount of votes we got in the House masked the great difficulty of resolving some of the concerns that people had. Senator Dole knows that as well, because he is a master at resolving conflict. We need more Bob Doles in the Congress of the United States.

“The ADA is an example of what Democrats and Republicans can do together when we recognize that our greatest challenge demands that we set partisanship aside. Today, we’re standing together to celebrate this bipartisan achievement and what it’s meant for millions of Americans with differing abilities. The ADA did more than build ramps and widen doors, it broadened America’s understanding of the accessibility challenges that those with disabilities faced. It changed attitudes as well, as Americans with differing abilities became more visible in our economy and society. The stigma they carried has been significantly reduced, but not eliminated. There is work yet to be done.

“Twenty-five years ago, as Congress was debating the ADA, a ten-year-old named Alicia Epstein, who was hearing impaired, wrote to me and said this, and I quote from her letter, this was 25 plus years ago:  ‘I really want to have a good future’ – this is a ten year old – ‘as well as equal rights for all handicapped people. When I was two years younger’ – that was when she was eight – ‘than I am now, I began to worry about my future.’ During the debate on that bill in May 1990, I quoted Alicia’s letter on the House Floor, and her powerful words – like so many other thousands of Americans who came to Capitol Hill and wrote to Capitol Hill and called Capitol Hill, who said let me tell you what is happening to me, let me tell you the discrimination I am subjected to – Alicia’s letter, like thousands and thousands of other brave and courageous people, made a difference. Worried for her future at eight, helping to pass the ADA at ten, at 35 – I’m okay to say that? – Alicia is here with us today to celebrate that now-historic legislation. Alicia, why don’t you stand up.

“Last week, she wrote me a letter saying, and I quote: ‘The ADA has indeed made a life-long impact on my journey from a ten year old to an adult. Throughout these years, the ADA ensured that I received sign language interpreting services,’ – otherwise known as a reasonable accommodation. I was at an ADA event yesterday, and I was introduced by someone who was [hearing] impaired, and he did it in sign language, and we hearing-folks had a reasonable accommodation – that is, somebody articulated what he was signing. And I told everybody: you have just experienced a reasonable accommodation, because you didn’t understand sign language, and so you got to hear what the person who introduced me had to say. Alicia went on to say: ‘[ADA] ensured I received sign language interpreting services in college, grad school, job interviews, and a reasonable accommodation at my work place.’ Aren’t we proud of the role that we played in making sure that Alicia and tens of millions of others here and around the world benefited from the work so many of us did?

“I am so honored to be here with some of my heroes, some people who have made such a difference in so many different ways. Now I want to recognize my partner, who did such an extraordinary job, Senator Tom Harkin.”