BARRIERS FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES

Our mission is to remove the barriers that deny people with disabilities equal access and opportunity.

Removing barriers requires change.

One in five people have some sort of disability and that number goes up as we get older.

Barriers come in all forms depending on the disability.

The World is filled with barriers, some natural and some man made.

There are attitudinal barriers, environmental barriers, and institutional barriers.

Ableism (discrimination in favor of able-bodied people.) is a concept long too ignored.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was created in 1990 to remove and prevent barriers that deny people with disabilities equal opportunity in life.

Sadly, the passing of laws does not necessarily result in the implementation of change. Thirty years later there are still barriers everywhere. Unfortunately, the ADA provides for enforcement through only two methods: by the United States Department of Justice, and by civil suit from an aggrieved party. Unlike other civil rights laws such as the Fair Housing Act, no national network of nonprofit organizations was set up and funded by the Federal government to educate businesses and the public about the need to, and ways to comply.

Because state and local governments are prohibited from enforcing ADA compliance on a local level, pressure for compliance on a local level has been left to underfunded groups and volunteers like EEDG.