People With Disabilities in the Mainstream

by
Susan K. Balling

Recently it seems that every time a commercial comes on the television, there is a person in a wheelchair answering a phone, drinking a cola or doing any number of "everyday" things. The major advertising firms which use the television media obviously recognize an important trend in our society. The question is, do we?

Over the last year we have all been bombarded with information related to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Results from a 1991 Harris Poll revealed the following valuable insights into how Americans without disabilities view their fellow citizens with disabilities.

The study showed that:

• 96% support making public places accessible.

• 92% believe that society will benefit economically if people with disabilities are fully assimilated.

• 98% believe that everyone, including people with disabilities, should have equal opportunities to participate in American society.

Results of the survey also revealed that most Americans had not yet heard of the ADA, but when informed of the law, most people strongly supported its key provisions. The general public is rapidly becoming sensitized to the needs of people with disabilities. More importantly, the increased visibility, particularly through the television media, is taking the "novelty or oddity" out of having a disability. Television shows such as LA. Law and Life Goes On portray people with disabilities dealing with the same daily life decisions and problems as everyone else.

Closer to home, Chicago Station WLS-TV, Channel 7 has hired Karen Meyer, who is deaf, as a member of the station's Eyewitness NewsTeam. Meyer is a contributing editor for issues pertaining to people with disabilities and is featured at 4 p.m. every Monday. In the February issue of Access USA News, Meyer states, "Channel 7 has really gone out of the way to represent all individuals. I hope nationwide other stations will follow suit."

The same trend toward integration and increased visibility is occurring throughout Illinois in the school system where children with disabilities are being placed into regular home schools as early as the preschool years. Rene Christen Leininger, deputy director of the Illinois Planning Council on Developmental Disabilities, said, "Parents and families and kids who have had early, integrated experiences do not accept segregated elementary school placements." The same will hold true for our park and recreation programs. Participating in recreation programs alongside one's same-aged, neighborhood friends will be the norm, not the exception in the years ahead.

Park and recreation professionals provide valuable services to people during their leisure time, a time when they are usually more relaxed and receptive to change. We can be the catalysts for actively promoting the provisions and philosophies behind the ADA.

We can welcome program participants as well as employees with disabilities into our agencies. We can embrace this trend and begin to educate our staff and constituents on how to interact with people with disabilities. We can actively pursue increased accessibility in all parks, playgrounds, buildings, trips and programs. We can commit ourselves to serving all residents equally.

A trend is not the same as a fad. Some may regard all of the emphasis currently being placed on the ADA as a fad which will fade by this time next year. They may be right. But the underlying and more important trend—that of increasing numbers of people with disabilities living, working and recreating in the mainstream of every day life—will not fade. It is an important trend for the park and recreation field as a whole, and one which should greatly impact the way we plan for the future.

About the Author

Susan K. Balling is the Assistant to the Director for the Northeast DuPage Special Recreation Association.