USA Today, Wednesday, March 14, 1990 * 3A

CLOSE-UP: RIGHTS OF DISABLED

House panel passes landmark bill.

As wheelchair-bound activists demonstrated at the Capitol, a sweeping civil rights bill for the disabled survived a key House vote.

The Energy and Commerce Committee, successfully fending off an attempt to exclude people with AIDS or the HIV virus from the bill's protection, recommended the measure 40-3.

Passed by the Senate last year, the bill gives the disabled the same civil rights and job protections that minorities won two decades ago. It also calls for public places and public transportation to be made accessible to people in wheelchairs and requires telecommunications systems to accommodate the deaf.

"Ensuring equal rights for the disabled will result in greater productivity and responsibility for a significant portion of our population,” said Rep. Thomas Luken, D-Ohio. An estimated 43 million disabled could be affected.

Meanwhile, police arrested 104 disabled demonstrators who confronted House Speaker Thomas Foley, D-Wash., in the Capitol Rotunda on the second day of intense lobbying by disabled people seeking quick passage of the bill.

Foley reassured the demonstrators he is “absolutely satisfied” the measure “will become law.”

Earlier, Rep. William Dannemeyer, R-Calif., was rebuffed in attempts to exclude people with contagious diseases or behavioral disorders from coverage. “When the people of this country realize just how far-reaching (the bill) is, they will rise up in opposition,” he predicted.

But Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., said the bill does not protect people with diseases that can be transmitted through the air: “If someone poses a threat, they can be discriminated against." (Help sought for AIDS victims, 2D)

PHOTO (AP): Close-up of a man's face with large glasses, large ears and dark hair. He has a look of urgency on his face.
Caption reads: Luken: Cites 'productivity'

Created on

Friday 12 July 2013

Posted on

Friday 3 July 2015

Tags

ADA, business, civil rights, disability, Rotunda, weakening amendments

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