People with disabilities are still fighting for equality and inclusion

The signing of the Civil Rights Act on July 2, 1964, and the death of George Floyd on May 20 are signs of how far social justice has advanced for racial minorities and how far it has to go.

Running parallel to and taking inspiration from the civil rights movement is the crusade for greater inclusion of people with disabilities into the mainstream society. Both reached their zenith with congressional action, although a generation apart. Sadly, both have recently experienced setbacks in federal protection, and members of both groups have died at the hands off on- or off-duty law enforcement officers.

The Civil Rights Act became law on August 2, 1964. A year later, the Voting Rights Act was passed.

A generation later, George H.W. Bush signed the American with Disabilities Act, the last major civil rights legislation enacted by Congress.

At the time of their passage, all three measures enjoyed enjoyed bipartisan support. Regrettably, the idea that expanding minority rights doesn’t shrink majority ones is increasingly only held by one major party.

In the past decade, the GOP has failed to renew the Voting Rights Act after the Supreme Court severely curtailed it in 2012. The next year, the GOP-led Senate rejected the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, even after former senator and Republican stalwart Bob Dole lobbied for it.

That same year Ethan Saylor, a 26-year-old with Down syndrome went to see a movie with his caregiver. While she went to the car, Saylor attempted to watch the film again. Theater employees prevented this, he became angry, and off-duty police officers acting as security guards wrestled him to the ground and inadvertently caused his death by asphyxia. (In 2018, Saylor’s mother settled a lawsuit against the deputies involved for $1.9 million.)

This May, the world saw Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin place his knee on George Floyd’s neck for nine minutes.

Floyd died the same way Saylor did. His death was recorded, though. Another difference was the racial aspect surrounding Chauvin’s actions.

I can’t say the men who were responsible hated the disabled. (Regardless, they were fired.) Nor am I saying they should have been charged, as the Minneapolis cops were.

I believe both were viewed as the “other” by the people involved in their deaths.

The horrors caused by bigotry experienced by African-Americans are unique, and many disabled people live their entire lives free from the cruelty and indignity that too many racial minorities live with.

Yet many disabled people have been institutionalized, beaten, shocked, raped and starved, and it continues to happen.

Because of the pandemic, no mass celebrations marked the ADA’s 30th anniversary. But with voting rights under attack — I vote by mail — parties can wait.

Instead, all rights activists should vow to create a more just nation, an America greater than ever.