An Act that changed America forever 

• ·          Loneliness is something I experience a lot. My spouse has middle stage alzheimer's and over the past 3 years I have lost not only his companionship but loss of friends, social outings and involvement in community offerings. We've been married 56 years and his apathy and lack of speech has been the most difficult challenge I've had to deal with; he is just there. I won't complain because he is complacent, does everything I ask (if asked the right way) and is not hostile or aggressive. He requires more and more verbal prompting to get out of bed, get dressed, to eat, etc. He goes to day care twice a week so he can have outside structure and involvement and give me a break. I've gotten to the point where I just want to go to sleep when he is gone. Our 3 sons give me verbal and emotional support but are unable to help me with day to day care. I have to use a walker and have my own physical limits so it is challenging. I recently have begun having bath help and housekeeping help; this is so great - really relieves me. How do others deal with loneliness? I've lost contact with lots of internet buddies due to their own personal problems.
• ·       This act is noble. However, I haven't figured out how with all my responsibilities of my 76 yo Mom and 46 yo special needs Brother. He is functional. I do total care of my mom. I retired from 27 yrs with the company and am permanently disabled. I am facing serious lumbar surgery of which I have no alternative. I am beside myself as to how I am going to do that. I am getting worse by the day and the pain especially at the end of every day is excruciating. I do not sleep well. Less than 4hrs and not all together. I have a sister and brother. I will just say they are not help and will not show up. Live less than a few feet of Mom's home (where I moved in to help) and got stuck. I just want to feel normal and alive again. Really lonely. Thanks for this
• ·         Used to be I had friendships that were on an equal footing. No time or mental energy for those relationships any more. Barely enough time to care for 3 needy people and the resultant financial responsibilities. Others tend to see me as a resource, not a friend. Like they say in Washington DC, if you want a friend, get a (companion-type) dog. Yes, more responsibility, but at least they live in the 'now' and love to cuddle.
• ·       I agree that caregiving can cause us to feel lonely. I have not had time in this past year to hang out with friends or even talk to them on the phone. My husband and I don't go out much either. We used to go out with friends, have friends over and go visit friends. Since my mom is getting worse, we rarely do anything. I always feel guilty doing for myself and my family because she is alone. Even though she has a caregiver that comes in a few days a week, I still feel guilty. Therefore, making myself lonely and isolated from my life. I am missing my time with my friends and starting to feel depressed. My mom depends way too much on me. She is planning on moving to an ALF and now is having reserves about it. I have to turn off my phone sometimes because she will call me 5x in a row. then I feel guilty doing that. I am tired of the isolation. I want my life back before my health starts going down.
• ·       For millennia, humans relied on the collective intelligence and strength of a group to defend against predators and forage for food. Just as low blood sugar triggers a hunger response and tissue damage trigger a pain response, so too does loneliness trigger an unconscious biochemical response, compelling us to sate our "hunger" for human connection.
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• Disabled does not mean he/she is not smart New York has largest paratransit system in US followed
• by Los Angeles and Chicago. Los Angeles just took over Chicago in that regard.

THE DISABILITY ACT

On January 23, 1990, the 101st Congress passed the "Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990" (ADA), which was then signed by President George Bush. It established comprehensive protection for people with a variety of disabilities in many aspects of public life. The impetus for the ADA grew out of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960's. Federal legislation to protect civil rights initially focused on the prevention of racial discrimination. Having seen the federal government involve itself in protecting racial minorities, advocates for the disabled began to agitate for protection for their constituency as well. Their first success came when, in 1988, the Fair Housing Act was amended to add people with disabilities and families with children for the classes of persons covered. Then in 1973, the Rehabilitation Act prohibited discrimination against someone with a disability by anyone receiving federal assistance, but it did not cover discrimination by employers, public accommodations in the private sector, publicly funded programs or those providing federal financial assistance. Coverage for all disabilities did not take place until the passage of the ADA. Findings and purposes of the Congress (1) Some 43,000,000 Americans have one or more physical or mental disabilities, and that number is increasing as the population as a whole grows older. (2) Historically, society has tended to isolate and segregate individuals with disabilities, and, despite some improvements, such forms of discrimination against individuals with disabilities continue to be a serious and pervasive social problem. (3) Discrimination against individuals with disabilities persists in such critical areas as employment, housing, public accommodations, education, transportation, communication, recreation, institutionalization, health services, voting, and access to public services. (4) Unlike individuals who have experienced discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, national origin, religion, or age, individuals who have experienced discrimination on the basis of disability have often had no legal recourse to redress such discrimination. (5) Individuals with disabilities continually encounter various forms of discrimination, including outright intentional exclusion, the discriminatory effects of architectural, transportation, and communication barriers, overprotective rules and policies, failure to make modifications to existing facilities and practices, exclusionary qualification standards and criteria, segregation, and relegation to lesser services, programs, activities, benefits, jobs, or other opportunities. (6) Census data, national polls, and other studies have documented that people with disabilities, as a group, occupy an inferior status in the society, and are severely disadvantaged socially, vocationally, economically, and educationally. (7) individuals with disabilities are a discrete and insular minority who have been faced with restrictions and limitations, subjected to a history of purposeful unequal treatment, and relegated to a position of political powerlessness in the society, based on characteristics that are beyond the control of such individuals and resulting from stereotypic assumptions not truly indicative of the individual ability of such individuals to participate in, and contribute to, society. (8) the nation's proper goals regarding individuals with disabilities are to assure equality of opportunity, full participation, independent living, and economic self-sufficiency for such individuals. (9) the continuing existence of unfair and unnecessary discrimination and prejudice denies people with disabilities the opportunity to compete on an equal basis and to pursue those opportunities for which the free society is justifiably famous, and costs the United States billions of dollars in unnecessary expenses resulting from dependency and nonproductivity. Purposes (1) To provide a clear and comprehensive national mandate for the elimination of discrimination against individuals with disabilities. (2) To provide clear, strong, consistent, enforceable standards addressing discrimination against individuals with disabilities. (3) To ensure that the federal government plays a central role in enforcing the standards established in this chapter on behalf of individuals with disabilities. (4) To invoke the sweep of congressional authority, including the power to enforce the Fourteenth Amendment and to regulate commerce, in order to address the major areas of discrimination faced day to day by people with disabilities.