GLOBAL HEALTH | Addressing the world’s health challenges
11 April 2008
New Freedom Initiative
Announced by President George W. Bush on February 1, 2001, the New Freedom Initiative (NFI) is part of a nationwide effort to remove barriers to community living for the more than 54 million Americans with disabilities, some 20 percent of the U.S. population. Almost half of these individuals have a severe disability affecting their ability to see, hear, walk, or perform other basic functions of life. In addition, there are more than 25 million family caregivers and millions more who provide aid and assistance to people with disabilities.
The NFI was enacted in order to address inequities that persisted more than a decade after the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) made it a violation of federal law to discriminate against a person with a disability. For example, when compared to their compatriots without disabilities, in the United States, individuals with disabilities are often less educated, poorer and more often unemployed, less likely to own their own homes, less likely to vote, and less likely to own a computer and have Internet access.
The New Freedom Initiative is a comprehensive plan that represents an important step in working to ensure that all Americans have the opportunity to learn and develop skills, engage in productive work, make choices about their daily lives, and participate fully in community life. The NFI's goals are to:
- increase access to helpful technologies;
- expand educational opportunities;
- promote home ownership;
- integrate people with disabilities into the workforce;
- expand transportation options;
- promote full access to community life and improved access to health care.
Following is a more detailed explanation of some of these goals and just a few of the related accomplishments as of 2004 (from the initiative's 2004 progress report).
Increase Access Through Technology. Assistive and universally designed technology (products and environments that can be used by all people, without the need for adaptation or specialized design) offers people with disabilities better access than ever before to education, the workplace, and community life. Specific accomplishments include:
- securing funding to promote the development of assistive and universally designed technology and to fund alternative financing programs, such as low-interest, long-term loans to put technology into the hands of more people with disabilities;
- creating a working group of federal agencies to develop strategies for improving access to assistive technology mobility devices (i.e., wheelchairs and scooters);
- establishing DisabilityInfo.gov, a Web portal providing information about the array of federal programs that affect people with disabilities.
Expand Educational Opportunities for Youth with Disabilities. A quality education is critical to ensure that individuals with disabilities can work and fully participate in their communities. Specific accomplishments include:
- securing additional annual funding for a state grant program to implement the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
- establishing the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education, which issued a report in July 2002 emphasizing, among other things, the importance of accountability under the No Child Left Behind Act for the educational outcomes of students with disabilities.
Promote Home Ownership. The following steps have been taken to make it easier for people with disabilities to own their own homes.
- During FY 2003, the Department of Housing and Urban Development trained more than 1,500 housingprofessionals under its Fair Housing Accessibility FIRST initiative, which helps architects and builders designand construct apartments and condominiums with legally required accessibility features.
- The Department of Housing and Urban Development has funded grants to enable older individuals and individuals with disabilities to remain in their homes and live independently in their communities.
- The Department of Justice has vigorously enforced the Fair Housing Act, filing lawsuits against developers, architects, and civil engineers who designed inaccessible multi-family housing, and resolving other cases throughconsent decrees.
Integrate Americans with Disabilities into the Workforce. More than a decade after passage of the ADA, the unemployment rate of people with severe disabilities remains stubbornly high. To bring more people with disabilities into the workplace, the president has:
- secured $20 million for a fund to help individuals with disabilities purchase technology needed to telework (work from home);
- supported a proposal that would exclude from an employee's taxable income the value of computers, software, and other equipment provided for teleworking;
- ensured implementation of the landmark Ticket to Work program, which modernized the employment services system for people with disabilities.
Promote Full Access to Community Life. A 1999 Supreme Court decision said that, wherever possible, people with disabilities should be provided services in the community, rather than in institutions. For the promise of full integration into the community to become a reality, people with disabilities need safe and affordable housing, access to transportation, access to the political process, and the right to enjoy whatever services, programs, and activities are offered to all members of the community at both public and private facilities. The president has done the following to promote full integration of individuals with disabilities into the community:
- issued an executive order calling for swift implementation of the court decision, which resulted in a report identifying barriers to full integration that exist in federal programs and proposing more than 400 solutions for removal of these barriers;
- established the New Freedom Commission on Mental Health, which issued a report recommending ways to improve America's mental health care delivery system;
- secured $15 million under the Help America Vote Act to improve access to voting for people with disabilities.
