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The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is the federal civil rights statute intended to end discrimination against all disabled persons, regardless of where they reside or the institutions in which they are placed. If the Supreme Court rules that the ADA does not apply to prisons, people with disabilities would be the only minority whose civil rights are parked at the prison gates. Unlike civil rights based on race, sex, or religion, disabled prisoners will continue to be discriminated against and devalued --because they are disabled.
According to General Counsel to Governor Tom Ridge, who will argue the case before the Supreme Court next month, "It's federal intrusion into what is probably the most core function of state government and that's running it's prisons". However, Steve Gold, Counsel of Record on the Amicus Brief, maintains that if states are allowed to ignore the ADA in their prisons, this will open up a Pandora's Box. "There is no question in my mind," explains Gold, "If states are allowed to forego their obligations under the ADA in their prisons, what will they declare exempt next? They will be allowed to chip away at the civil rights of people with disabilities."
The brief, which will be available at the press conference, names three Amici: two Pennsylvania organizations, PCCD, and Disabled in Action, Inc. of Philadelphia, and one national organization, American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today (ADAPT).
54 million Americans have some level of disability, 26 million people have a severe disability. [Current Population Reports. U.S. Department of Commerce - Census Bureau. Aug. 1997 p. 70-61]
ADAPT of Texas: (512) 442-0252
adapt@adapt.org
The Memphis Center for Independent Living
1633 Madison Avenue,
Memphis, TN 38104
(901) 726-6404 v/tty (901) 726-6521 fax
mcil@mcil.org
MCIL is a United Way of the Mid-South member Agency
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