This morning I’m heading to Washington to cover the 20th anniversary of the Americans With Disabilities Act . The event will be held at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which also rang in its 45th birthday this month. While the ADA has transformed our nation by opening up doors for many disabled individuals in the workplace, almost everyone I’ve spoken with in these past few weeks leading up to today, even the strongest advocates of the ADA, say we are no where near creating a level playing field for people with disabilities in the workplace. I put out a request for my friends and connections on Twitter and Facebook to offer there thoughts on the ADA. Most there there was a long way to go. Career Coach Meg Montford asked on Twitter whether there was “any way to put more teeth into it? What has ADA done lately to help anyone?” She also pointed out that the rate of unemployment among this group is high. The latest figures from the Department of Labor show that more than 14 percent of disabled workers are jobless, and those numbers don’t tell the whole story. There are large numbers of people with disabilities that don’t even try to find work because so many employers are unable or unwilling to accommodate their needs. I also got a note from one of my old friends from Tampa, Stephani Busansky, whose young daughter Sarah is disabled and uses a wheelchair. The two, and her younger daughter, did a PSA for the Act recently, but even she doesn’t think the legislation was enough. She wrote me the following on Facebook: Sarah and I did a PSA for the 20th Anniversary of the American with Disabilities Act recently and I have to say though we’ve come a long way in 20 years, there is still so much fighting and advocating for basic rights and accomodations that we need to be mindful of. The ADA is a benchmark, a baseline, a foundation for ensuring the rights of people with disabilities, it is not a GUARANTEE that those rights will not be violated, ignored or passed over by people in your everyday life. Kind of like the 10 Commandments, laws that were made to be broken etc. I emailed her asking if she thought Sarah would find it easy to pursue her career dreams

Original Source of Rights of disabled workers still hampered