Spirit of ADA Torch Relay Makes Its Final Stop in New York

By Jacqueline Kravetz

New York, NY (August 7, 2000) - The Spirit of ADA Torch Relay made the final stop on its 24-city tour of the United States in New York. Hundreds of people throughout New York City's five boroughs participated in two days of relay events to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the 25th anniversary of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

The goal of the New York leg of the relay, which ended at Dag Hammarskjold Plaza across the street from the United Nations, was to issue an international call for accessible societies throughout the world.

At an opening ceremony in the Bronx at the Veterans Administration Medical Center Judy Heumann, Assistant Secretary, U.S. Department of Education Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, --herself a native New Yorker-- welcomed the crowd of close to 100 people. "We're here to celebrate all of the work that everyone around the United States and around the world has been doing in order to advance the civil and human rights of disabled individuals," Heumann said.

Heumann, a pioneer in establishing civil rights for people with disabilities in the United States, has traveled extensively abroad as a de-facto international ambassador for America's disabled community.

"We have much to take from New York and from the United States to bring to other countries to allow disabled individuals to recognize that if we have a vision and if we work collectively together with other disabled people and friends, we can in fact change the world," Heumann stated.

"I think there are a number of things that we do in the U.S. which would be beneficial for other countries," Heumann said in an interview following the closing ceremony.

In addition to U.S. civil rights laws, the government provides money for technical assistance, she explained. "It's a way of working with schools or with employers or with private industry to help them learn about not only what the law says but how to implement the law. I've always found that one of the most important parts of our legislation is the ability not just to pass the law but to provide the training and the tools that people need to be able to learn how to implement the law," Heumann stated.

Other countries are also interested in learning about U.S. education laws, Heumann said.

"The fact that we have not only laws, but we have protection and we have provisions in our laws to monitor state and local agencies, to receive information about individual complaints to investigate those complaints and to take action where discrimination is verified. That doesn't exist in many countries ¦ and that's something where we have a real contribution to make," Heumann said.

From her travels abroad, which have included recent visits to Ireland, Canada and Mexico, Heumann said "we're leaning a lot about the culture and the way people live in other countries and that's very important for us in the United States as we're becoming a continually more culturally diverse country."

"We need to understand issues from a Latin American perspective from an African perspective from an Asian perspective," she added.

Heumann also said that the United States could learn about national health insurance from other countries, ensuring that all people gain access to health insurance.

Heumann's Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services manages the Office of Special Education Programs, the Rehabilitation Services Administration, and the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research. Together these units coordinate and fund programs that impact America's over 50 million disabled citizens and directly serve millions of disabled children, youth and adults in every community in America.

Richard Holbrooke, United States Ambassador to the United Nations closed the New York ceremony echoing the words of many of the speakers along the New York relay route, "There is much more work that needs to be done at home and abroad. The effort to promote equal rights, equal access, and equal opportunity for people with disabilities must reach well beyond our boarders. People with disabilities no matter where they live, must have basic civil rights, particularly the right to reach their full god given potential," he said.

In addition to stops in Bronx and Manhattan, the torch relay visited the Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. State Office Building in Harlem, the Playground for All Children in Queens, the boardwalk of South Beach in Staten island and MetroTech Center in downtown Brooklyn.

Additional speakers at the events included U.S. Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley and New York State Senator David A. Paterson, among others. The New York relay was coordinated by the New York City Consortium for Independent Living.

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