Recently, President Obama met with some youth with disabilities. He wanted to hear their thoughts about the future of disability policy. So, he sat down with participants from the American Association of People with Disabilities internship program. These future leaders spent their summer in DC, interning with various organizations. 

Today, we are pleased to release a video that recaps that meeting. Watch it on YouTube here.

These young people are passionate and strong representatives for millions of people with disabilities across the country. They represent a brighter future for America. President Obama is ready to stand and fight alongside them each and every day.

We will be answering questions on disability policy including employment, education, health care, transportation, housing, and other disability related areas.
 
Submit your questions before the event by emailing disability@who.eop.gov and be sure to watch live at Disability.gov or at WhiteHouse.gov/live.

Kareem Dale is Special Assistant to the President for Disability Policy and Associate Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement

President Obama, as only he can, delivered an eloquent, passionate and memorable speech that summed up this historic anniversary. Read the complete remarks here.

President Obama announced the signing of an Executive Order that will make the government a model employer for people with disabilities. He also announced the release of two new rules on the ADA that had not been updated since 1991, explaining that the rules will cover “more than 80,000 state and local government entities, and 7 million private businesses.” The President’s message about this law and our movement resonated with the audience, closing by stating, “[T]hat’s what we did with the ADA. That is what we do today. And that’s what we’re going to do tomorrow -- together.”

Notably, however, other observance activities were taking place elsewhere. The Department of Justice released the new regulations on its website. FEMA Administrator Fugate wrote a wonderful op-ed for CNN on the importance of emergency preparedness for people with disabilities. Education Secretary Duncan joined so many others throughout the administration by releasing a statement noting that this anniversary is a “cause for celebration and rededication to equal education opportunity for students with disabilities.” On a personal level, I discussed the impact of the Americans with Disabilities Act on Yahoo! Accessibility.

Also on Monday, the Ad Council launched a Public Service Announcement featuring a message from the President. The President also released a proclamation in commemoration of the 20th anniversary.

All and all, it was a truly historic day, once again illustrating it’s a new day for people with disabilities and the President is leading the way forward. I urge all to take time to remember those like Senator Kennedy, Justin Dart and so many more who made the ADA possible. Then reflect on the numerous steps forward we’ve taken and get ready for the work ahead because more remains to be done.

President Barack Obama delivers remarks before he signs an Executive Order increasing federal employment of individuals with disabilities, during an event commemorating the 20th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act on the South Lawn of the White House. July 26, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Samantha Appleton))

President Barack Obama signs Executive Order increasing federal employment of individuals with disabilities, during an event commemorating the 20th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act on the South Lawn of the White House. July 26, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy)

Kareem Dale is Special Assistant to the President for Disability Policy

So, stay tuned for more announcements and information in the upcoming weeks.

2010 International VSA Festival Opening Ceremony June 6, 2010
Valerie Jarrett Remarks

Thank you, David for that very kind and generous introduction and for your new chairmanship of this extraordinary Center. We know your tenure will be marked with many accomplishments, and the support of you and your wonderful wife Alice as the principal underwriters for this evening is a wonderful start. We thank you, David. Let's please give him a round of applause.

What an exciting night. I am having so much fun already, and it's just beginning. It's always an honor for me to be able to represent the President and First Lady of the United States who bring you greetings and wish they could be here with you this evening, and I can't wait to report what a treat this has been. David recognized Soula Antoniou who-and I know she is up in the box, and I want to say just your passionate advocacy for people with disabilities and all that this conference stands for is just tremendous. So, one more round of applause for Soula, please.

David also mentioned Vicky, you grace us with your presence, and of course we want to recognize the contribution of Senator Edward M. Kennedy and the critical role that he played in the enactment of the Americans with Disabilities Act into law. And throughout the course of his long career was a steadfast champion for people with disabilities, and we miss him dearly, and his impressive legacy and good works and service certainly continue, and he is here with us tonight.

I am honored to represent the White House and the President who is so deeply committed to honoring and enforcing the rights of all people with disabilities. But disability rights are human rights, and to be recognized and promoted from both here at home and certainly around the world and we should lead by example.

That's why the President was so proud to add America to the list of 140 countries that signed onto the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
This was the first new human rights treaty of the 21st Century.

It's also why president Obama lifted the ban on stem cell research.

It's why he provided more than $12 billion in funding in the Recovery Act for individuals with disabilities education act.

It's why he signed into law the Christopher and Dana Reeves Paralysis Act. And it's why the President launched the Year of Community Living, to affirm the fundamental right of people with disabilities to live with dignity and respect wherever they choose, and we're just beginning. This is just the beginning.

We will celebrate our successes, but we will not stop, and we will know that there is still lots of hard work ahead.
But tonight, I am so pleased to be able to kick off the administration's recognition of the 20th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The ADA was a landmark civil rights legislation.  It was a bill of rights for persons with disabilities, a formal acknowledgement that Americans with disabilities are Americans first and that they're entitled to the same rights and freedoms as everybody else.

So over the course of the upcoming weeks we will honor this commitment across the country, senior White House officials, cabinet members, members of our administration, and of course the general public will commemorate this historic anniversary through various events, new policy announcements, and other recognitions.

This festival and the ADA's 20th anniversary are both an opportunity to recommit ourselves to making sure that we see those with disabilities for what they can do rather than for what they cannot. And that everyone has the right to pursue the American dream, everyone, just like everyone else.

And of course this has been the life's work of tonight's honoree, Ambassador Jean Kennedy Smith, VSA's founder, and you will be hearing from her in a moment. But I would like to add our congratulations to the very important work that she's done over the course of her lifetime for people with disabilities, people with intellectual disabilities, and her commitment to VSA. So thank you, Ambassador, for your hard work.

For more than 35 years, VSA has made the arts both accessible and enjoyable to people with disabilities.  And in so doing, VSA has changed social attitudes and just as important, it has changed the lives of those it seeks to serve. Tonight we celebrate this incredible organization's legacy, and just as important, we celebrate the artists, those who show us that with passion and hard work and incredible talent, absolutely anything is possible.

Although you will not be seeing me on that skateboard, I will say, we have already enjoyed the wonderful performance so far this evening, and I look forward to the rest of the evening and the duration of the festival.  And again, we want to thank you for coming tonight for the support that you give this organization and this cause each and every day, and for being a part of this extraordinary celebration.

Thank you all, and enjoy the night.

Kareem Dale is Special Assistant to the President for Disability Policy

Our visit to Vancouver was an extraordinary experience with an outstanding group of individuals representing the President and the United States of America.  The head of the delegation was Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki and he was joined by administration officials including Administrator Lisa Jackson of the EPA, US Ambassador to Canada David Jacobson, and me.  The delegation also included 4 former Paralympic medal winning athletes including Jim Martinson, Mike May, Bonnie St. John and Melissa Stockwell.  The delegation was supported by staff from the EPA, VA and Department of State Protocol office, all of whom were outstanding and extremely supportive of the US Paralympic athletes.  Our traveling party, including guests, totaled about 25 people.

Opening Ceremonies at the 2010 Paralympics.

Day 1

By 1:00 on Friday, March 12, the entire delegation had arrived and we were ready to take Vancouver by storm.  We kicked off the festivities with a reception with USOC members and supporters. Secretary Shinseki delivered some inspiring remarks.  We had a chance to meet some outstanding athletes and young people who will be Paralympic athletes of the future.  And, something that would become a theme of our entire weekend, we were served food.

We next attended an IPC hosted reception prior to opening ceremonies where we were again served something to eat.  The opening ceremonies were mind blowing.  Imagine 60,000 people flashing lights, waving their hands, standing, singing, dancing and roaring their approval and satisfaction for two hours and 45 minutes of outstanding entertainment.  The thing that kept going through my mind was that people with disabilities really have come a long way in the last 25 years.  The ceremony featured musical performances, hundreds of children dancing, speeches by Canadian and IPC officials, introduction of the athletes and of course lighting of the torch.  For someone like me that has attended championship sporting events in professional basketball and baseball, I have never been in a louder arena than this one when they announced the US and Canadian Paralympic athletes.  The spirit of the Canadians supporting their Paralympic athletes was something to behold.  They chanted slogans, stomped their feet and generally rocked the house!

We concluded day 1 with another reception with members of the USOC Board of Directors, and yes, for the third time in a little over 4 hours, we were served more food.  Needless to say, no one needed to order room service.

Day 2

We started with a drive to Whistler which I’m told is one of the most beautiful drives but for this blind guy, it was an opportunity to read a good book—I’m taking the sighted folks word that it’s beautiful.  We first watched skiing and then the biathlon.  We saw an athlete in the biathlon with no arms shoot his gun with his teeth.  True athletic brilliance.  Because we were getting hungry, we proceeded to the next event of downhill skiing, but it was postponed due to fog.  Never fear though, we were able to pass the time in the hospitality room where, you guessed it, plenty of food was being served.  

Before proceeding to the next event, we took a short break to visit the Paralympic public village for shopping.  Oh yeah, and we had lunch too. 

Then, it was off to the athletes living quarters for a tour.  It was amazing to meet and witness this incredible operation that includes doctors, physical therapists, a hospital, full gym, office facilities and that’s right, a full cafeteria.  And, well, there was a cafeteria, so we had to stop and eat dinner.  But, we had a good excuse. We had dinner with some of the US athletes.  It really was a highlight to meet the athletes and let them know that the President and US were supporting them.  You could sense their excitement that we had such a large delegation with senior officials. I provided some tips on skiing but let’s hope they ignored them. 

The Presidential Delegation at the Paralympics.

We drove back to Vancouver (I didn’t drive), day 2 concluded and thankfully, there was no more food.

Day 3

We started the day with a visit to the Vancouver athletes’ living quarters (there was a location in both Vancouver and Whistler).  We took a tour and this, like Whistler, was an amazing campus.  Keeping with our theme, they fed us a light snack consisting of cold cut sandwiches, fruit, crackers and all the healthy vitamin water you could drink.  We then visited with some of our US sled hockey athletes before completing the tour. 

After completing the tour, we checked out the cafeteria just to see how it compared to the Whistler cafeteria.  It was hard to compare the two without tasting the food, so we decided to have lunch to complete our analysis.  These were not your ordinary cafeterias—they had chefs cooking fresh made to order stir fry, fresh fish, and numerous other options to satisfy anyone’s pallet.  It really was a first class operation in support of the US Paralympic athletes.

We were then off to curling, in which our US Ambassador to Canada is an expert and burgeoning superstar.  Look for him in the next Olympics.  This is a difficult game to follow and understand, but there was a nice hospitality room with some food to provide some sustenance while I puzzled over the game’s complexities. 

Despite the difficulty for someone who can’t see to understand the game, the enthusiasm in the arena was electric.  In particular, the hometown Canada fans were attempting to bring down the house with their stomping and chanting.  It really brought chills to me that folks were so enthusiastic about the excellence of athletes with disabilities.

The curling competition at the 2010 Paralympics.

And, let me pause for a second to drive home the point that for those who may not be familiar with these games or these athletes, they are truly extraordinary athletes performing at extraordinary levels, reflecting the very best in the World.  This, above all, became crystal clear for those of us that didn’t have lots of experience with the Paralympic games.  It wasn’t about their disability—it was about phenomenal athletic achievement.

After a short break in the action, we attended the highlight for me, sled hockey.  As stated earlier, I am not a hockey fan.  But, with the play by play audio description, I was able to follow the game.  It was unbelievably exciting end to end action.  It was especially great, considering the US pitched a shutout and dominated their opponents 3-0.  We were frequently on our feet and numerous chants of USA broke out and reverberated through the arena.  We roared our approval with every goal and every stop. Thankfully, there was a nice hospitality room where we were able to fuel up with food during the game given the energy we expended while cheering. 
 
We had a chance to meet the athletes following the game. Just like the other times, meeting, visiting and letting the athletes personally know their country was behind them, was the highlight.  They were very excited that we were there cheering for them.

Hockey at the 2010 Paralympics.

We finished up day 3 with, what else, a nice delegation dinner.  Our head of delegation, Secretary Shinseki and Mrs. Shinseki, were extremely gracious and led us with great dignity.  The remaining delegation members were equally outstanding.  I was honored to be a part of this delegation and represent the President.

Here’s to our outstanding US Paralympic athletes.

Well, I’m off to hit the gym and work off all that food!

Kareem Dale is an Associate Director in the White House Office of Public Engagement and Special Assistant to the President for Disability Policy

The Preventing Harmful Restraint and Seclusion in Schools Act, introduced by House Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller, Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers, and Senator Chris Dodd, will protect all children from harmful and improper types of restraint and seclusion. We applaud Senator Dodd, Chairman Miller, and Representative McMorris Rodgers for their hard work and their commitment to protecting children.  

Working in collaboration with these members of Congress, President Obama's Administration is committed to ending harmful restraint and seclusion. On July 31, after Congressional hearings on the subject, Education Secretary Arne Duncan wrote to all Chief State School Officers, urging them to review their current policies and guidelines regarding the use of restraint and seclusion techniques in schools and, if appropriate, develop or revise them to ensure student safety

On Tuesday, Secretary Duncan wrote to Senator Dodd, Chairman Miller and Representative McMorris Rodgers, applauding them for identifying key legislative principles and committing to work with Congress. Secretary Duncan's recommendations align well with the legislation they have introduced, and provide an important blueprint for the Administration, Congress and advocates to work together to protect America's children.

This much-needed legislation illustrates that, when we work together to find common ground, we can overcome any hurdle. We look forward to working with Congress, advocates, teachers, and education professionals to ensure that all of America's children can learn in a safe, secure environment.

Kareem Dale is an Associate Director in the White House Office of Public Engagement and Special Assistant to the President for Disability Policy