CWA 1180 - News

Why we need the ADA

December 2006

While many of us may think that cell phone text messaging or the closed-captioned text on a widescreen TV are luxuries, to a visually or hearing impaired person these are everyday necessities. This point came across loud and clear at Local 1180’s third annual workshop on the Americans with Disabilities Act, sponsored by the union’s Committee on People with Disabilities, on October 21.

Some 30 Local 1180 members attended the workshop, all eager to learn about protections under the 1996 law. The workshop covered the history of the act and its requirements and prohibitions. It featured presentations by Edith
Prentice, vice president of the 504 Democratic Club, the first such club in the country to focus on disability rights, and Wendy Brennan, director of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill-New York City, which offers free services to those requiring assistance in handling mental illness.

Brennan spoke about her organization’s fight to get legislation passed that would require insurance companies to cover most mental illnesses and conditions, especially those affecting children, such as attention deficit disorder. Click here to reach the group.

The 504 Democratic Club, founded in 1983 by disability rights advocates,
works closely with elected officials to push for ADA compliance and equality for people with disabilities. Prentice, who is herself disabled, addressed the group from her wheelchair. She spoke about her organization’s work to encourage companies to make buildings accessible by installing wheelchair ramps, lower door handles, and lower elevator buttons. The organization is
currently fighting for taxi cabs with wheelchair ramps. For more information,
click here.

One Local 1180 member in attendance was David Bowrin, who works at MISCA in the Medicaid Division. He came because he has a disability himself and wants to be able to solve any problem he may experience at his work site.

Another member, Juanita Crockett, who works for 311, said she attended because she recently overheard co-workers discussing work place compliance and began to wonder which illnesses are considered a disability. “I’m a diabetic,” she says, “and I wanted to learn my rights.” Both Bowrin and Crockett came away feeling that they now have a better understanding of the
ADA and are prepared to defend themselves if needed.

–Carmen Carter

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