The June 25 vote of 402-17 in the House and the reintroduction of a Senate bill with 67 Senators signing on as co-sponsors just before the August recess certainly give the bill some momentum going into September.

We would not be where we are now without the coordinated advocacy of disability, civil rights and employer groups. To see who is helping to lead the effort to pass the ADA Amendments Act, go to www.adabill.com and you will see a truly diverse and powerful coalition. I am hoping that we can reunite this coalition to work on other disability, employment, and civil rights policy issues once we have this victory under our belt.

So, for purposes of this message, I am going to focus on what happens after the ADA Amendments Act is signed into law, either by President Bush or his successor (in the event we are not successful in getting it passed in this Congress).

I was recently one of three speakers on a national teleconference, organized by the Great Lakes region’s Disability Business Technical Assistance Center, about the ADA Amendments Act. Commissioner Christine Griffin from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) was one of my co-panelists. Commissioner Griffin made the good point that once this bill passes, there will be the need for the EEOC and the U.S. Department of Justice to do another round of training so that people know how the new bill affects their civil rights.

The passage and implementation of the ADA Amendments Act creates an opportunity for us to go out and reeducate our communities at the local, state and national levels about why there is still a need for a civil rights law like the ADA 18 years after its original enactment. What are the access and attitudinal barriers that still exist in our communities, and what can community leaders do in partnership with disability leaders and organizations to remove those barriers once and for all? Why do we have to protest the offensive portrayal of people with intellectual disabilities in Hollywood blockbusters like Tropic Thunder?  Why are politicians, including Senators Obama and McCain, failing to mention their disability agendas in their campaign stump speeches? Why has it been so difficult to increase the employment rate for people with significant disabilities, and why is our nation’s largest employer, the Federal Government, moving backwards on this issue? Why do hot new gadgets like the iPhone come out without adequate accessibility? Why has it been so difficult to implement the accessibility requirements in the Help America Vote Act? We should be raising all of these issues and many more as we begin a dialogue with America around the implementation of the restorative amendments to this critical civil rights law.

The bottom line is that implementation of the ADA Amendments Act is an opportunity for all of us to refocus America on the benefits of full inclusion, full participation, and full citizenship for our more than 50 million Americans with disabilities. For the implementation to be successful, we will need to engage the very broad coalition that is now working to pass the bill, and then reach out even more broadly to include more groups who can really help change attitudes and improve access.

At AAPD, we want disability to be THE social justice issue of our time. We see implementation of the ADA Amendments Act, coupled with the global implementation of the U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, as a great opportunity to put our issues front and center. Let's work hard in September to get the bill enacted into law. Then, let's work even harder to implement the bill in a manner that truly elevates the visibility and quality of life of all people with disabilities in the United States and reestablishes our country's role as a model of inclusion for the rest of the world.