The Making of the ADA - Justin Dart

From "The Disability Leadership Series" 1999 - 2000 "Here's this delinquent kid sitting up there next to the President of the United States and…they're playing the Battle Hymn of the Republic. It's just like the end of a 1930's movie, you know? And then it occurred to me that it is not the end…Here are all these millions of people in the United States and half a billion people around the world whose futures will be determined by whether this law is successful or not." - Justin Dart Justin Whitlock Dart Jr was an American activist and advocate for people with disabilities. He helped to pass the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, co-founded the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD), and is regarded as the "Godfather of the ADA". During his time at the University of Houston, which was then segregated, Dart organized the first student group to oppose racism. After graduating, Dart was a successful entrepreneur who founded three Japanese corporations, but in 1967 he gave up the corporate life to devote himself to the rights of people with disabilities, working in Texas and Washington, D.C. as a member of various state and federal disability commissions.In 1972, Dart switched from identifying as a Democrat to become a Republican. He opposed the efforts of President Ronald Reagan, a personal friend of the Dart family, to revise the 1973 Rehabilitation Act, and in 1981 accepted an appointment from President Reagan to be the vice-chair of the National Council on Disability. On Capitol Hill, Dart worked closely with both Democratic and Republican Members of Congress to advance the rights of disabled people, including U.S. Congressman Major Owens of New York City, who served as chairman of the Subcommittee on Select Education in the U.S. House of Representatives during the late 1980s and early 1990s as well as during the early crafting of the legislative language and the fierce debates on the Americans' With Disability Act (ADA) before its eventual passage in the House of Representatives. Sourced from: Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund https://youtu.be/ywTVusm_WAo Public Access America PublicAccessPod Productions #America #History #Podcast #Education #Not4Profit Footage downloaded and edited by PublicAccessPod Podcast Link Review us Stitcher: http://goo.gl/XpKHWB Review us iTunes: https://goo.gl/soc7KG Subscribe GooglePlay: https://goo.gl/gPEDbf YouTube https://goo.gl/xrKbJbAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy