[nfbmi-talk] i think nfb should protest this too

[joe harcz Comcast]

Disability Activists Claim They're Left Out Of Austin Civil Rights Summit

 

 Updated: Tuesday, April 1 2014, 08:40 PM CDT

 

It's less than one week until four U.S. Presidents help mark the 50th anniversary of the 1964 Civil Rights Act in Austin. But one group says they have been

left out.

 

ADAPT, a national grass-roots organization of disability rights activists, claims there is no panel at the summit discussing people with disabilities.

 

Almost 25 years ago the Americans with Disabilities Act was signed into law to protect 49 million.

 

Organizer Bob Kafka wonders why the summit is not discussing their civil right at the LBJ Library.

 

"The American act on disabilities is directly linked to the civil rights act of 1964 and we are not represented," Kafka said.

 

What he wants is an equal opportunity, saying President George H.W. Bush who signed the act into law is an honorary co-chair of the event.

 

"We really feel that disability rights have not been considered a civil right in the same as women's rights, people of color and gay and lesbian," Kafka

said.

 

KEYE TV reached out to director Mark Updegrove of the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum. He released this statement:

 

"I appreciate the concerns of ADAPT and respect all they do for Americans with disabilities.

 

The Americans With Disabilities Act, while an extraordinarily important milestone, will be touched upon during the upcoming LBJ Civil Rights Summit but

is not the focus of a specific panel. The ADA law was signed by President George H.W. Bush in 1990. There is little lingering legislative debate about

ADA --it is unquestionably the law of the land.

 

The Summit is tackling the issues that are directly relevant to the bills signed by LBJ or that are still open civil rights issues legislatively. This focus

is important because, otherwise, the scope of our Summit becomes much too broad and thus does not result in targeted discussion on the few issues we are

addressing."

 

Kafka says he respectfully disagrees with the response. He explains if there is not a panel on disabilities, ADAPT will protest on the first day of the

summit.

 

"Immigrants' rights, very important, but it's not linked to the civil rights act of 1964," Kafka said.

 

The

LBJ Presidential Library

will host a Civil Rights Summit April 8-10, 2014.

 

President Obama will be joined by three former Presidents who will also deliver remarks at the Civil Rights Summit: Jimmy Carter will speak on April 8;

Bill Clinton will speak on April 9; and George W. Bush will speak on the evening of April 10.

 

By Christie Post

 

Source:

http://www.keyetv.com/news/features/top-stories/stories/disability-activists-claim-theyre-left-out-austin-civil-rights-summit-17151.shtml