Independence. Countless wars have been waged over this concept for centuries, but what does independence mean for an American with a disability?
I don’t know what it means for the nearly 50 million Americans living with disabilities in the United States – everyone has their own version of what it means, so I can only speak for myself. For me, it is the ability to live a productive life without any help from another person.
Thankfully, there are so many laws in the United States that allow a person with disabilities to do just that. As a person who is not only hard-of-hearing, but has cerebral palsy as well as vision impairments, the Americans with Disability Act is responsible for so many tools that allow me to live my daily life.
A landmark law that was passed in 1990, it was responsible for prohibiting discrimination and ensuring equal opportunities for people with disabilities “in employment, state and local government services, public accommodations, commercial facilities and transportation.” It is also responsible for the establishment of telephone relay services for the deaf/hard-of-hearing.
There is also Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act that prevents discrimination of qualified individuals based on their disability, and specifically applies to “employers and organizations that receive financial assistance from any Federal department or agency.”
The law that protected me while attending both primary and secondary school (in the U.S., that includes grades K-12) – the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act – was also responsible for ensuring that I receive services that allowed for a child with disabilities to be placed in the least restrictive environment, according to his or her Individualized Education Plan. It serves as an agreement between the school district and the child’s parents as to the services and accommodations that the school district will provide.
For me, it was – amongst others – a FM unit, an aide, a teacher of the hard-of-hearing, and a teacher for the visually impaired. Without these services, I wouldn’t have realized my true potential as a student. In fact, I wouldn’t have gone so far beyond the expectations of the naysayers that I often encountered in school.
As a result of the services that were provided for me in the primary and secondary schools, I was accepted to a school that realized the potential of all deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals. At Rochester Institute of Technology (which houses the National Technical Institute of the Deaf), there were so many accommodations aimed at the deaf/hard-of-hearing – real-time captioning, interpreting and notetaking – which allowed me to continue to succeed in the world of academics.
The two laws – the ADA and Section 504 – continue to play an instrumental role in my daily life as an adult with disabilities. Real-time captioning allows me to communicate via telephone, just as video relay services help other deaf individuals. However, as it stands, being independent is not as easy as a person without disabilities would care to admit – so imagine how it is for a person with disabilities. There’s the job search, the housing search and affordability factor – how can all of us cope with it all?
As a job and housing seeker, I have come to the conclusion there are some limitations to laws already enacted. The laws mentioned before allow for Americans with disabilities to get jobs. However, you need housing to get a job, but you need a job to get housing. For people with disabilities that have aspirations of living and working in New York City – like myself – this vicious cycle makes it difficult for some to realize that dream.
Living in the suburbs outside of New York City, it should take only 45 minutes to get to the city. However, on bad days, in which traffic is bumper-to-bumper, it can take over three hours. I can’t drive, because of my cerebral palsy and visual impairment and the nearest public transportation depot requires someone to drive me there. As a result, it is impossible for me to consider living at home and commuting into the city.
Although there are accommodations for people with disabilities to get housing in many of the cities, they are nearly impossible to get for an out-of-towner. To get this type of housing in New York City, you must be low-income (check), have one or more disability (check) and be a resident living the city (not checked). According to housing officials, I would easily been able to get housing if I had lived in the city.
While at RIT/NTID, I was independent – having worked, cooked, and lived in numerous dorm rooms and on-campus apartments. While interning in New York City over the past two summers (I lived in student housing), this was my taste of true independence.
I wasn’t relying on others for rides to the stores or for money – I was able to live my life the way I wanted to. Access to excellent public transportation and having everything in easy walking distance allowed for that. New York City certainly has its charms, but for a person with multiple disabilities, it is a mecca of what it means to be independent.
As a person with disabilities, I am grateful for the laws that protect me. Stressing inclusion and having employers looking past what I can’t do and focusing on what I can do, it is what has allowed me to live a productive and successful life thus far. I will keep you all posted on how my housing/job search is going, but who knows where life will take me?
Michael Roppolo is a writer, researcher and social media enthusiast, who graduated from Rochester Institute of Technology in Dec 2013 with a Bachelor of Science in Journalism and a minor in American History. You can find him at his website and blog and can look forward to future articles from him here on our website.
A landmark law that was passed in 1990, it was responsible for prohibiting discrimination and ensuring equal opportunities for people with disabilities “in employment, state and local government services, public accommodations, commercial facilities and transportation.”