Changes in the law, in attitudes, in self-awareness and in society in general across the United States have had an impact on individuals from all sectors of the populace. A selection of "voices" reflects those developments:

My new set of worries ranged from how Bekah would be aware of a fire alarm to how she would have access to popular culture.... So the passage of the Americans With Disabilities Act in 1990...brought us much-needed relief. The ADA's major emphasis was on accessibility and safety issues, and for us this meant that flashing lights were finally installed in her classroom and in the school bathrooms so the deaf children could know when the fire alarm rang. It meant that Bekah was able to attend a summer science program when she was 10 because the museum, funded by the state, was required to provide a sign language interpreter. It also meant that printed words began showing up on our television screen just about the same time that Bekah was becoming a skilled reader. More programs started offering closed-captioned dialogue, and, under the ADA, after 1993, all televisions were built so the viewer could turn on the captioning without having to buy an external device.

Wendy Lichtman, mother of a deaf child. From The Washington Post Magazine, November 22, 1998.

The Inn on the Park is doing everything it can to make its services as accessible to guests with disabilities as to everyone else. The first time a group came to the hotel and needed equipment for the hearing impaired, the Inn rented the equipment from another hotel. Then we purchased our own equipment, with the input of some consumers with hearing impairments. Today the Inn on the Park is equipped with TDDs [typewriter-like machines through which telephone conversations are transmitted and received as text instead of sound], bed shakers, close captioned TV, menus in Braille, emergency evacuation procedures, and a range of wheelchair accessible rooms. Whenever we book a meeting for an organization, we acquire whatever adaptive equipment is needed, if we don't already have it. Front desk staff are trained in the use of adaptive equipment.... And our business has even increased a little as a result of working with disabilities groups.

Gary Tidmore, at a 1995 town hall meeting on the ADA in Wisconsin.

I see the world in a different way than I saw it before. I was a very conceited, cocky guy. I paid attention to nothing that anybody else said except for what I thought and did. And now I'm in a wheelchair and I see things from a different perspective. And I have empathy for people I didn't even notice before. I appreciate what I had. I had perfect hands, just perfect hands. I didn't think there were hands that could be better.... But now I can teach people to do what I could do, and they become my hands, and then they do what I want, but they learn something that I know. So they get something and I get something. My gift is being given to other people and so my gift is growing. Before it wasn't being shared, and now it is, so that's the prize.

William Newman, a Washington, D.C., artist, who has maintained his full teaching schedule at the Corcoran School of Art since being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis more than 20 years ago.

When I first went to [Actor's] Equity on an open [audition] call, about a week out of rehabilitation, I remember waiting my turn to go in and do my monologue. The casting person at the audition thought my wheelchair was a prop. On learning it wasn't, with a great amount of disgust, she asked me what did I expect her to do with that. I became an activist as a result of that. I told her I expected her to listen to my audition.... We still have miles and miles and miles to go, in terms of changing societal attitudes toward PWDs [Performers With Disabilities] in general. There's still the perception that, if you're disabled, you're an invalid that couldn't possibly do anything.

Actress Kitty Lunn, chair of the Actor's Equity Association's PWD committee, who plays a disabled character on daytime television's drama, "As the World Turns."

Last August [1998], with the support of the South Dakota Rehabilitation Services, Easter Seals of South Dakota and several other agencies, I secured full-time employment as a dispatcher for River Cities Transit System, my first job since raising my daughter. It is a new accessible coordinated community transit system. I have worked hard to learn everything they have asked of me, from voice recognition technology software which helps me use my computer and type just as fast as everyone else to scheduling of clients. I am good at what I do and love my job. Interestingly, since going to work full-time, I find I need less medical care. I am making friends and acquaintances, and even my relationship with my family has improved. I feel better about myself while contributing to my community. I have reduced [my] Social Security Disability Income benefits, helping to save the trust fund that everyone agrees is so important to our children's futures.

Karen Moore, a Fort Pierre, South Dakota, polio survivor, in her opening remarks at a White House ceremony on new initiatives for people with disabilities, where she was recognized for her work to eliminate employment barriers for people with disabilities.

The ADA [Americans with Disabilities Act] says you have to consider hiring people with disabilities, but it doesn't tell an employer or manager how to work with a person with disabilities. You need someone to bridge the gap; otherwise it falls apart if the workplace is not disability friendly.

Geri Jewell, who performed for several years on the television situation comedy, "The Facts of Life." Considered the first person with a disability to be a regular performer on a U.S. network television program, she consults with executives and managers, educating them on the realities of working with the physically disabled.

While the ADA does guarantee access, it doesn't eliminate one of the greatest barriers faced by people with disabilities negative images and stereotypes. The way to change attitudes and perceptions about people with disabilities is through education. ... Negative images and stereotypes are also fought through proximity getting to know each other as friends and neighbors. People are only "strange" when they are strangers; when we work together, go to the same schools, attend the same churches and serve in the same community organizations, we recognize what we have in common. Whether we can see or hear or walk or talk the same way becomes less important than the fact that we share the same interests, ideas and values. Through education and proximity we create access and opportunities for all people, building a nation that values what we have in common and celebrates what we have that is unique.

Justin Dart, corporate executive and pioneer of civil rights for people with disabilities.

The failure to provide an accessible entrance to Torres and her children exacerbated the serious difficulties she faced getting in and out of the building daily.... This award tells landlords in the five boroughs [of New York City] that this disability-based discrimination is absolutely illegal under the Americans with Disabilities Act and the city's Human Rights Law.

New York State Supreme Court Justice Franklin R. Weissberg, in a decision upholding a 1998 ruling by the New York City Commission on Human Rights that ordered a [borough of The] Bronx landlord to provide access for a tenant and her two disabled children. For two years Minerva Torres requested that the landlord make improvements to a basement ramp entrance she and her children regularly used to enter and exit the building, but the request was completely ignored.

When I saw the blind community locked out of the Internet because of the graphics and could see the deaf community could also be locked out by videostreaming and video clips, I knew if we're not careful with all of the audio excitement, I could be locked out of the Internet.

Cynthia Waddell, a disability access coordinator for the city of San Jose, California, who drafted the city of San Jose Web Page Disability Access Standard, aimed at enabling persons with hearing, visual and learning disabilities to navigate the Web. Santa Clara County has adopted San Jose's standards, and the initiative has been adopted by the World Wide Web Consortium. Waddell, who was born with a hearing disability, surfs the Web as easily as she changes stations on her television set.

The benefits that Title IV's [of the ADA] requirement for relay services has brought are undisputed. Integration of deaf, hard of hearing, and speech impaired individuals through the telecommunication network brought these individuals increased freedom, independence, and privacy.

Michael Zeledon, at a town meeting on the ADA in Minnesota, commenting on the benefits of the establishment of telephone relay systems across the United States.

We are installing ramps and curb cuts at 15 voting sites in Davidson County [Tennessee]. Since budgets are tight, the Elections Commission has arranged with students at Vanderbilt University to do the construction during their spring break. Architects have donated their time to develop the plans. The cost to the county? Just the price of materials. We have installed TDD in the elections office and are trying to educate all elections officials and pollworkers about disabilities.

Michael McDonald, at a 1995 town meeting on the ADA in Tennessee.

The word "culture" usually means our ideas, our art, our customs and traditions as a society. The word "cult" means a small group of people not the majority devoted to an idea or lifestyle... If we keep our experiences to ourselves, that's disability cult. If we share them, not only with ourselves but with the whole world, that's disability culture.

Greg Smith, host of "On A Roll," a radio talk show broadcast live each week on 200 local stations across the United States.

Dependency increases the costs of entitlements, lowers our gross national product, and reduces revenue to the Federal government.... People with disabilities want to work ... to be productive, self-supporting and tax paying participants in society. The Americans with Disabilities Act grants us that dignity and that right.

Former U.S. Congressman Tony Coelho, Chairman, President's Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities.