Texas State University recognizes 25 years of the Americans with Disabilities Act

By Andrew Saenz

Texas State University has declared October Disability History and Awareness Month in honor of the 25^th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The ADA was made law by Congress in 1990 and was set to prohibit discrimination, provide reasonable accommodations and public accessibility to people living with disabilities.

According to the UN, the world’s largest minority are the 650 million people who live with a disability. They represent 10 percent of the world’s population and inevitably represent a substantial portion of the Bobcat Community.



Emily Parma, special education major.
Photo by Holly Henrichsen

“Texas State has a very large student population with disabilities and I feel like before (the ADA) maybe it would have been hard for people,” said Emily Parma, special education major at Texas State.

Without the implementation of the act, it’s hard to imagine what life on campus would be like for students. However, with the ADA in place, students can now easily find their way around the large and rough terrain that campus was built on.



Donevan Gonzales, freshman computer science major.

Photo by Dezmond Jarboe-Moore

“I assume it was harder for people living with disabilities to navigate around campus with the various amounts of hills," said Donevan Gonzales, freshman computer science major. “The campus is now wheelchair friendly with an elevator in every building and ramps by or around staircases.”



Since the enactment, the Office of Disability Services at the university has made a variety of resources and accommodations available to the campus community. ODS provides the support that students and faculty may need in order to optimize the college experience.

Kevin Talley, a master’s student at the university, thinks it’s important to have a challenging curriculum on campus but that a student’s disability should not hold them back in the classroom.



Kevin Talley, masters student of dramatic writing.
Photo by Josh Szczeblewski

“As a lecturer I’ve had students with disabilities. I’ve had deaf students and the university will provide accommodations for them such as people who come in and type out my lecture for them to read,” said Talley.



The Office of Disability Services will host a number of events for the duration of the month in support of disability awareness. Students can get involved and engage in events like “Stand Against Stigma Pledge Day” where they will learn about common misconceptions regarding mental illnesses and invisible disabilities.



The ADA has brought about change in the way that we live together by stressing its core value of equality for all. This was recognized by President Barack Obama during the 25^th anniversary ADA white House celebration.

“Thanks to the ADA, the places that comprise our shared American life – schools, workplaces, movie theaters, courthouses, buses, baseball stadiums, national parks – they truly belong to everyone,” said President Obama in White House Blog.