Opening Remarks of Lex Frieden
Chairperson
National Council on Disability
on the
14th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act
and the
20th Anniversary of the National Council on Disability
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Washington, DC

July 24, 2004

It is my pleasure to welcome you to this celebration of the 14th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the 20th anniversary of the National Council on Disability (NCD) as an independent federal agency, and the presentation of the Justin Dart Freedom Award.

In its 1986 report Toward Independence, NCD first proposed that Congress should enact a civil rights law for people with disabilities. The ADA was signed into law on July 26, 1990. The ADA was landmark legislation that broke down barriers that stood in the way of people with disabilities in the areas of employment, public service, public accommodations, and telecommunications. It promoted an America in which all people have the right to reap the benefits of and contribute to our society.

As we observe the 14th anniversary of the ADA, we in fact are honoring the many thousands of people who sacrificed their time and talents to the creation and passage of the ADA. Their actions established a firm foundation so that the ADA would become a reality.

In observing the 20th anniversary of NCD as an independent federal agency, we salute current and former members, staff, fellows, and interns who have worked to achieve the intent of Congress for NCD to promote policies, programs, practices, and procedures that guarantee equal opportunity for all individuals with disabilities, regardless of the nature or severity of the disability; and to empower individuals with disabilities to achieve economic self-sufficiency, independent living, and inclusion and integration into all aspects of society.

Today, we honor one of those extraordinary individuals—former Governor of Connecticut and U.S. Senator Lowell P. Weicker, Jr.—for his preeminent role in helping make the ADA a reality and for making NCD an independent federal agency. We do this by presenting Senator Weicker with an award named after another great leader—Justin Dart, Jr. In doing so, we also honor the millions of people with disabilities who struggle to fulfill the American dream.

I hope that you will enjoy this evening’s activities. Happy Anniversary ADA and NCD.

Introduction of Lowell P. Weicker, Jr.
by
Sandra Swift Parrino
at the
14th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act
and the
20th Anniversary of the National Council on Disability
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Washington, DC

July 24, 2004

Good Evening

It is such a great pleasure to be with so many old friends and colleagues. Thank you my good friend, Lex Frieden, for your great leadership of this Council and allowing me to make this introduction.

It is a special privilege for me to introduce our guest speaker, the Honorable Lowell P. Weicker, former US Senator and former Governor of the great state of Connecticut.

Before welcoming him to the podium I would like to share a few things with you about the Council's unique relationship with him.

When I first came to Washington, I was terrified of Senator Weicker. I was familiar with him because I was born and raised in Connecticut. I knew that he was very tall and imposing, very out spoken, very smart and didn't suffer fools gladly.

When I became the Chairperson of the Council, I learned that one of my duties would be to go before Senator Weicker on a regular basis to defend our budget so now I was really terrified.

Well, I could have saved myself all that stress and worry because every time I went before Senator Weicker's Senate subcommittee he was very kind and complimentary to the Council and highly approved of the work we were doing.

In the early '80s the Council was in the Department of Education and we had a one room office in the basement of the Switzer Building with one staff person and few recognizable advocates in Washington.

It was Senator Weicker along with John Doyle who changed all that.

Senator Weicker spearheaded the initiative to make the Council an independent federal agency.

He then lent John Doyle to the Council as our director for six months while we made the transition from tiny basement committee to independent federal agency.

And this evening we celebrate what Senator Weicker did for us 20 years ago.

This evening we are also celebrating the 14th Anniversary of the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act and Senator Weicker was at the heart of that as well.

As many of you know, in 1985, the Council wrote a report called Toward Independence. The members of the Council determined "Equal Opportunity Law" would be their top priority in the report and Kent Waldrep titled it "The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1986."

The Council members proudly handed a copy of the report the Administration and a copy to the Leadership of the Congress. And what happened? Nothing.

So, we decided to take action. It was then that we asked for a meeting with Senator Weicker.

At this meeting with the Senator we asked him to be the chief sponsor of our proposed legislation called the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1986. And he agreed!

Many of us firmly believe that the National Council might never have conceived and written the ADA if we hadn't become an independent federal agency.

We are celebrating two very important happenings this evening thanks in part to our guest speaker, Senator Weicker.

So now please join me in welcoming a man who everyone here wants to pay loving tribute to, the Honorable Lowell P. Weicker, Jr.

Remarks of Lowell Weicker, Jr.

on the 14th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act
and the
20th Anniversary of the National Council on Disability
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Washington, DC

July 24, 2004

Good evening on this night of vision and courage.

In celebrating the 14th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the 20th anniversary of the National Council on Disability, we acknowledge the work of thousands who made these institutions come to pass and we reaffirm our commitment to seeing the intent if these acts made reality for all the disabled of America.

Especially, I want to thank Sandy Parrino and Lex Frieden who guided the Council through its infancy and , even now, in maturity. Also, a heartfelt thanks to John Doyle whose idea it was to take an advisory body in the Department of Education and make it into today’s independent federal agency.

And, of course, no acknowledgments would be complete without expressing gratitude to those persons who along the way made disabilities their life’s work — Justin Dart, Tom Harkin, Eunice Kennedy Shriver.

Thanks as well to my special heroes from Connecticut: Bob Williams and Phyllis Zlotnick.

Anyway, enough well deserved praise and onto a very short speech.

We as Americans stand in awe of the creativity of artists from all over the world — true beauty achieved across centuries — whether in painting, sculpture, music, literature. We travel thousands of miles off shore to see and hear the works of the great masters: Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Renoir, Monet, Gauguin, Rodin, Dickens, Dostoevsky, Verdi, Wagner, Tchaikovsky. The list is endless — the figures towering.

Even to the pont disregarding our own rich treasure of authors, composers sculptors and painters, too often we feel as onlookers to the flights of beauty and creativity that emanate from the human soul. We tend to forget that as Americans we are fully the match of the most creative artists but in an entirely unique and different way.

We have written laws that articulate the best of human aspirations starting with the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States. — Not bad artistry that! — Like nothing written anywhere else in the world and what ensuing government!

Have you looked upon the disabilities laws of the United States as art? What about the human beings they have taken out of the confines of institutions into the freedom of community? Maybe our activities abroad do not make for a pretty canvas insofar as the rest of the world is concerned, but then, the rest of the world can’t even come close to the United States when it comes to the status of the disabled in society.

The ADA is as much a work of art as the Mona Lisa. The Education of All Handicapped Children Act and amendments is as beautiful as a Tchaikovsky ballet.

No one is to say that implementation of these laws doesn’t have a long way to go especially as to Federal funding and state implementation of Medicaid community services. But, the beauty of the concept of independence and community has been indelibly drawn as the law of the land. That’s the creative part. Implementation is the courage part. Money.

Instead of using disability funding to cover shortfalls in other parts of the federal budget, how about living up to our word and the law and funding it with money rather than a pat on the head?

When Sonny Weicker — a Downs child — was born in 1978 we were advised to let him go to an institution. Didn’t happen. He was educated under the Education of All Handicapped Children Act. He lives independently with three other young men in Chester, Connecticut. He goes to work at a law firm every day, gets a pay check and pays taxes. And, he’s so darn independent I have to make appointments to see him for lunch or dinner! I love what the law has done for him and I hate what its done to me. Where’s my bear? You know the answer. Where any 26 year old ought to be: independent, working and happy. Now that’s a work of art thanks to the lawmakers and citizens of the United States.

The Council and the ADA are one small snapshot of what has happened in America a thousand times over. It’s our art. In defining the best, I told Claudia before going to a ballet on a recent trip to Russia, “We play baseball. They dance.”

No. You don’t find our best art in museums. You find it in our lives. I don’t want America to redefine the image it has of itself. Nor the image the world has had of us. Life, not death is our business and no one does it better than America.

Souvenir Program Booklet: (HTML) (PDF)

Photographs from the Celebration