Supporters had balloons, cake, and a live band to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the act that prohibits discrimination because of physical or mental disability.
Singing happy birthday
Tony Sauer was paralyzed from the waist down when he was a teenager. Now he heads up California’s Department of Rehabilitation. He says a disability shouldn’t stand in the way of a career or family.
“We need to see more people with disabilities in the work force because that is independence, relying on social security is not independence.”
Democratic Assemblyman Jim Beall was at the event. He has a developmentally disabled step son, and is pushing a resolution establishing Disability History Week.
“Educating people about the history of the civil rights movement for disabilities is a start, looking back at the history, and then talking about what needs to be done in the future.”
Beall says he’s optimistic the Governor will sign the resolution. If passed, the first Disability History Week would take place this coming October. At the state capitol, I’m Ida Lieszkovszky.