President marks 13th anniversary of disabilities act

WASHINGTON -- Marking the 13th anniversary of Americans with Disabilities Act, President Bush on Saturday said the landmark law, which the Supreme Court has narrowed in recent years, had improved people's lives.

The civil rights law, passed with overwhelming bipartisan support in 1990, prohibits on-the-job discrimination against the disabled and mandates access to most public places such as restaurants, stores and businesses. It requires public buildings to have wheelchair ramps and restrooms equipped for use by the handicapped.

"People with disabilities now have more freedom to do productive work and live independent lives," Bush said in his weekly radio broadcast. He taped the speech on Friday before heading to Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland for the weekend.

Recent Supreme Court decisions have shortened the law's reach, strengthening employers' hands while making it more difficult or impossible for some workers to claim the law gives them special protection.

In his own statement, Democratic presidential hopeful Howard Dean said conservative justices "have severely limited the employment protections in the act, dismissing cases brought by qualified disabled people, and interpreting the Constitution to shield state governments from lawsuits seeking to enforce rights" under the law, Dean said.

Before taping the address, the president signed an executive order that changes the name of the President's Committee on Mental Retardation to the President's Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities. Attending the taping were 17 members of the federal advisory committee.

"With changes in old ways of thinking, the development of new technologies and the federal government's firm commitment to equality, more and more people with disabilities continue to become full participants in the American life," Bush said.

A commission that Bush created recommended last week a campaign to bring the mentally ill more into the mainstream of American society. The President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health said in its final report that care for the mentally ill must go beyond medication and managing symptoms to helping people find jobs and live productive lives.

"There is much more we can do to assure that Americans with disabilities are treated with dignity and respect," Bush said.

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On the Net:

The President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health: http://www.mentalhealthcommission.gov

President's Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities: http://www.acf.dhhs.gov/programs/pcmr/