Madison: Torch Relay Index

American Association of People With Disabilities Logo

Madison and the ADA A Great Place to Live, Work, and Play

By Jacqueline Kravetz

Madison, WI (July 7, 2000) - The message resonating from Madison was clear and strong as the disability community there welcomed the Spirit of ADA Torch Relay, "Madison and the ADA A Great Place to Live, Work, and Play!"

The day long celebration marking the tenth stop on the cross-country Relay opened with a ceremony at the Monona Terrace Community and Convention Center (designed by Frank Lloyd Wright) and continued with a relay covering a 10 mile course along Madison's bike paths and through the University of Wisconsin's Arboretum. Over 60 torch bearers participated and gathe red at the end of the course for a picnic at Vilas Park. Additional ADA related events included a job fair and "Return to Work" forum sponsored by the Social Security Administration at the Kohl Center and an adaptive sail free day sponsored by the University of Wisconsin Hoofers Sailing Club.

Madison's position as state capitol and as the city with the lowest unemployment rate in the country has given it an edge in helping residents with disabilities enter or re-enter the work force. Bob Monahan an Employment Support Representative with the Social Security Administration (SSA) in Madison described his town as "a great place for persons with disabilities to not only find employment, but be supported by employment and keep employment."

Monahan, who has worked as a technical expert and work incentive liaison for the SSA for over 15 years, explained that Madison is also a haven for supported employment for persons with developmental and cognitive disabilities. "We have one of the highest rates in the country of job coaching and supporting persons in jobs that way." It is no coincidence that Madison is home to the renowned Waisman Center on Mental Retardation and Human Development at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The Center focuses on research, strategies and support for people with developmental disabilities.

Madison also has many Wisconsin projects that are demonstration projects that help promote employment in the disability community, Monahan said. Madison was the site of one of twelve demonstration projects in the country to receive funds from the Social Security Administration to develop innovative projects for assisting people with disabilities in their efforts to re-enter the workforce. Madison piloted the Wisconsin Pathways to Independence Program, which was later introduced and passed into legislation by Governor Tommy Thompson last year.

Thompson said in his speech at the opening ceremony at Monona Terrace, "Our leadership goes back to 1964 when Wisconsin became the first state that had accessibility standards as part of the building code." That leadership has continued with the passage of the Wisconsin Pathways legislation, through which Thompson said, "everybody [in the disability community] would be able to continue on with Medicare coverage if they have a job."

Thompson went on to speculate, "the Wisconsin legislation was incentive, I believe, for the federal law that just passed," referring to President Clinton's Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act of 1999. Wisconsin Representative Tammy Baldwin was an early sponsor of the Work Incentives Act.

But Madison itself has a much longer history of providing employment incentives for its disability community. For example, in 1984, the city of Madison passed a supportive employment ordinance to allow a specially designed pay scale for city employees with disabilities. The ordinance pro-rates financial compensation so that persons with severe disabilities are not penalized financially for aspects of a job they are unable to perform explained Sherry Severson, an Occupational Accommodation Specialist with the City of Madison.

In addition to Thompson, speakers at the Monona Terrace event included State Representative Tammy Baldwin, the Deputy Commissioner of the Federal Social Security Administration William Halter, and the Director of the Office of Personnel Management Janice Lachance, among others.

William Halter said in his speech, "In this time of economic opportunity that the American people have created, we must assure that our country remains the land of opportunity for all. And so we come here today and gather in Wisconsin to celebrate greater access to the American dream for people with disabilities in the 20th century and a call for even greater opportunities in the 21st century."

Madison is well poised to meet that challenge.