By Cyndi Jones, Publisher
This month I'm going to share with you a few hopeful glimpses into the future.
When I met Andy Berk, he was a mainstreamed kindergartner. Last week, Andy called eager to share with us his good news: he had been accepted to the University of California at Berkeley, with a full Regents Scholarship. This type of progress makes me smile.
I've enjoyed watching Andy grow up. He is sort of the plumb line by which I measure our progress. I know that his parents have done a great job, and that Andy has studied hard to achieve, but I also know that Andy is standing firm on the foundation laid by the previous generation of individuals with disabilities -- the people who got IDEA (then called the Education of All Handicapped Children's Act) passed in 1975 and implemented. This law gave Andy, and all other students with disabilities, the right to a quality education.
Without a quality education, no one can succeed, especially if you have a disability. I'm very proud of Andy, and all the students with disabilities graduating this year. They are the hope and promise of the ADA.
Another area where we are seeing progress is in sports arenas and stadiums. It wasn't too long ago that allowing us to sit in the back made ushers nervous, not to mention all the smokers who stood around the back row blowing smoke our way. Now we might even get the opportunity to see what's happening on the field. The ADA has forced this enlightenment by requiring "line of sight." And architects and stadium operators are being pushed along by the Department of Justice. But even so, progress is being made. The fact that sports arena and stadium operators around the country are beginning to even think about "line of sight" for wheelchair users is amazing.
We are seeing more awareness concerning access. For this issue of MAINSTREAM, we called several hotels trying to set up a photo shoot for the cover. Under normal circumstances a hotel would be fairly enthusiastic about being on the cover of a magazine. This time however, some were slow to return our calls, (like a week later!) and others "weren't quite ready for us to photograph their accessible pool areas." (Perhaps because their pool areas weren't quite accessible?) I viewed this as progress; at least they knew that the pool areas were supposed to be accessible.
And then the other day, when I was running errands, I needed to find a restroom. The clerk in the store that I was in apologized because their bathroom was not accessible. This may not sound like progress, but 10 years ago she wouldn't have known that they didn't have an accessible bathroom, and I probably would not have asked.
Just as planting precedes harvest, understanding precedes action. It gives me great hope for the future seeing business beginning to hear the message.
Cyndi Jones is Publisher of MAINSTREAM.
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