College Celebrates 25 Years of Disabilities Act

01/27/2015 

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) officially was signed into law by President George H. W. Bush on July 26, 1990, but the rights for which it stands were backed by SUNY Cortland decades earlier.

The College, for instance, admitted its first student who was blind during the early 1950s, at a time when other institutions turned him away. SUNY Cortland faculty members stood out as trailblazing pioneers, securing competitive federal funding for programs that benefitted children with disabilities. And nearly a half-century ago, the campus’ adapted physical education program existed as a model for other institutions to follow, just as it does today.

ADA, the civil rights act that prohibits discrimination based on a disability, celebrates its 25-year anniversary in 2015. The historic legislation will be recognized nationally throughout the year by the ADA Legacy Project, a program the College has endorsed. And given SUNY Cortland’s role as an educator of advocates as well as its longstanding commitment to people of all abilities, it would only be right for the College to join in that celebration.

The yearlong efforts will highlight the many projects that take place both on and off the campus, the daily work that’s done across several departments, and the many people who make all of it happen — students, faculty and staff members, alumni and countless others.

They’re tireless special education and adapted physical education teachers who find their greatest rewards in students who need the most assistance. They’re speech and language pathologists committed to teaching life’s basic skills. They’re therapeutic recreation specialists who educate through the outdoors.

They’re institutional movers and shakers who, for a quarter of a century, have ensured the steady removal of pre-existing physical barriers to full campus community participation in both academic and campus life settings. Since passage of the facilities requirements of the ADA law, campus leaders and facilities managers have designed for universal access whenever an existing building underwent a major renovation or a new structure was erected.

“All people, all abilities.” That’s the theme that ties together SUNY Cortland’s celebration in 2015.

You can see it online, through a webpage detailing the College’s academic programs related to ADA. You’ll see it in print, specifically in the Winter edition of Columns, the SUNY Cortland alumni magazine, where y about inspiring graduates who change lives every day.

And most importantly, you’ll continue to see it in the College’s progress in the future.