Thirty Years After Passage of the Americans With Disabilities Act: Has the Medical Community Done Enough?
Authors: Tom Harkin, Lyndi Buckingham-Schutt
Journal: Annals of Internal Medicine (2020)

Ideas and Opinions3 November 2020Thirty Years After Passage of the Americans With Disabilities Act: Has the Medical Community Done Enough?Tom Harkin and Lyndi Buckingham-Schutt, PhD, RDN, LDTom HarkinThe Harkin Institute for Public Policy & Citizen Engagement, Drake University, Des Moines, Iowa (T.H., L.B.)Search for more papers by this author and Lyndi Buckingham-Schutt, PhD, RDN, LDThe Harkin Institute for Public Policy & Citizen Engagement, Drake University, Des Moines, Iowa (T.H., L.B.)Search for more papers by this authorAuthor, Article, and Disclosure Informationhttps://doi.org/10.7326/M20-4554 SectionsAboutFull TextPDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissions ShareFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail As the 30th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) (1) approaches, it is important to reflect on how far we have come and how far we have left to go. Throughout history, persons with disabilities have been looked on as something less than human. If they were permitted to live beyond childhood, they were ostracized, institutionalized, and relegated to the dark passageways of life. It was dehumanizing.For example, my brother, Frank Harkin, became deaf at a young age and was taken away from our home and sent across the state to a school for deaf people. At ...References1. Americans with Disabilities Act, Pub L No. 101-336, 104 Stat 328 (1990). Google Scholar2. National Council on Disability. The Current State of Health Care for People with Disabilities. National Council on Disability; 2009. Google Scholar3. Holmes OW, Supreme Court of the United States. U.S. Reports: Buck v. Bell, 274 U.S. 200 (1927). Accessed at www.loc.gov/item/usrep274200/ on 1 March 2020. Google Scholar4. U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, Harkin T. Separate and Unequal: States Fail to Fulfill the Community Living Promise of the Americans with Disabilities Act. U.S. Senate; 2013. Accessed at www.disabilityintegrationact.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Olmstead-Report-July-18-2013.pdf on 1 March 2020. Google Scholar5. Farre A, Rapley T. The new old (and old new) medical model: four decades navigating the biomedical and psychosocial understandings of health and illness. Healthcare (Basel). 2017;5:88-96. [PMID: 29156540] doi:10.3390/healthcare5040088 CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar6. American Medical Association. AMA Code of Medical Ethics. American Medical Association; 2016. Google Scholar7. U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP). Current population survey, Bureau of Labor Statistics. Accessed at www.bls.gov/webapps/legacy/cpsatab6.htm on 23 March 2020. Google Scholar Author, Article, and Disclosure InformationAffiliations: The Harkin Institute for Public Policy & Citizen Engagement, Drake University, Des Moines, Iowa (T.H., L.B.)Disclosures: Authors have disclosed no conflicts of interest. Forms can be viewed at www.acponline.org/authors/icmje/ConflictOfInterestForms.do?msNum=M20-4554.Corresponding Author: Senator Tom Harkin, The Harkin Institute for Public Policy & Citizen Engagement, Drake University, 2429 University Avenue, Des Moines, IA 50311; e-mail, Senator.[email protected]edu.Current Author Addresses: Senator Harkin and Dr. Buckingham-Schutt: The Harkin Institute for Public Policy & Citizen Engagement, Drake University, 2429 University Avenue, Des Moines, IA 50311.Author Contributions: Analysis and interpretation of the data: T. Harkin.Drafting of the article: T. Harkin, L. Buckingham-Schutt.Final approval of the article: T. Harkin, L. Buckingham-Schutt.Administrative, technical, or logistic support: L. Buckingham-Schutt.Collection and assembly of data: T. Harkin.This article was published at Annals.org on 28 July 2020. PreviousarticleNextarticle Advertisement FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Metrics Cited byUtilisation willingness for institutional care by the disabled elderly and its influencing factors based on Andersen’s model: a cross-sectional survey of Henan, ChinaThe Reply 3 November 2020Volume 173, Issue 9Page: 756-757KeywordsDisabilitiesHealth careMedical ethicsMedical staffMedicareNursing homesPatientsPhysiciansPublic policyQuality of life ePublished: 28 July 2020 Issue Published: 3 November 2020 Copyright & PermissionsCopyright © 2020 by American College of Physicians. All Rights Reserved.PDF downloadLoading ...