Approved by the NCIL membership May, 2006
WHEREAS, There has been a history of bias to exclude or limit the participation of individuals with disabilities in American society;
WHEREAS, This bias continues to permeate American society in the form of limited seating options, limited features or accessible areas, and an overwhelming tendency for providing separate entrances for individuals with disabilities;
WHEREAS, Such limitations and restrictions constitute the provision of separate, segregated – not equal – access to society;
WHEREAS, The remedies for barriers to access to society have not adequately addressed the issue of segregation but have allowed an undesirable bias for separate, segregated access to continue;
WHEREAS, The Independent Living Movement holds the Civil Rights Movement of the ‘60’s and Rosa Parks up as a model for the fight against the discrimination and segregation;
WHEREAS, Rosa Parks had an issue not with access (to the bus system), but rather with segregation in our society, much like the segregation individuals with disabilities now face;
WHEREAS, Many individuals with disabilities believe that separate, segregated access to society is all that can be expected and is acceptable, when it is not;
WHEREAS, The U.S. constitution asserts that all men (and women) are created equal and have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness;
WHEREAS, Limited access and segregation constitutes a limitation to life, an obstruction to liberty, and a barrier to pursuit of happiness;
WHEREAS, Such limitations on the right of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness constitute an unconstitutional, unwritten assumption by society that individuals with disabilities are not created equal;
BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED: That the National Council on Independent Living will take the position that simply having access to society is not enough; and,
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED: That the National Council on Independent Living will take the position that the segregation of individuals with disabilities includes the provision of only limited seating options, limited features or accessible areas, and separate entrances for individuals with disabilities; and,
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED: That the National Council on Independent living will take the position that only when all areas of society, including all seating areas, all features (such as public address systems, printed materials, etc.) and every entrance to every building, are fully accessible, will society be fully integrated and without segregation; and
BE IT LASTLY RESOLVED: That the National Council on Independent Living will incorporate into its’ advocacy, legislative, and other efforts the philosophy that separate, segregated access for individuals with disabilities, like that given to people back in the 60’s is not acceptable, but rather that only full and complete, comprehensive, unsegregated access is acceptable.
