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I was in Washington, D.C. the last week of July for the National Summit on Disability Policy, sponsored by the National Council on Disability. The event was designed to do two primary things: commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and to hammer out disability policy recommendations for the decade to come.
As with any event of this magnitude and importance, the range of subjects and policies was expansive. I had the opportunity to speak with a number of attendees during the four days of the summit, and we agreed that while perhaps more time could have been spent on ways to move disability policy forward, valuable lessons and ideas were nevertheless uncovered regarding where we are and where we need to go.
Hundreds attend WebExtra on disabilitiesThe NFPA Journal WebExtra presentation on July 22, which featured Allan Fraser, senior building code specialist at NFPA, was attended by more than 300 participants.
Fraser's presentation, "We Have Seen the Enemy and He Is Us: Including People With Disabilities In All We Do," examined the variety of ways that NFPA codes and standards contribute to the safety of people with disabilities, as well as emerging disability issues that promise to shape future versions of the codes.
To see an archived version of Fraser's presentation, along with other archived WebExtras, and for information on upcoming WebExtras, visit nfpa.org/webextra.
AUDIO
A Q&A with NFPA senior building code specialist Allan FraserThe definition of "disability"?
The full name of the event offered a lot of appeal for attendees: "National Summit on Disability Policy 2010: ADA 1990-2010 Retrospective and Future Policy Directions - A comprehensive dialogue to shape the national disability agenda." There were more than 475 attendees, representing an incredibly wide range of interests and experiences, not to mention 48 states and the whole spectrum of disabilities. The formal program began on Monday, July 26, with hundreds of attendees applauding the opening ceremony that included the U.S. Marine Color Guard and Band playing the national anthem. In his opening remarks, NCD Chair Jonathan Young said that the dialogue and recommendations of what we all need to do for, and within, the disability community to address inclusiveness in all aspects of society have been on the table since 1996. This summit isn't necessarily about generating new recommendations on what to do, he told the crowd; we know what to do. Now it's time to decide how we get them done.
Full story:
http://www.nfpa.org/publicJournalDetail.asp?categoryID=1344&itemID=48424
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