Tell the GOP: Don't Mess with Americans with Disabilities

Did they listen? Read the 2004 National Republican Plaform (PDF) 2004 Texas GOP Platform (PDF) President Bush's Statement on the 14th Anniversary of the ADA ADA Watch Bazelon Center Issues Page on Civil Rights and the Americans with Disabilities Act Get Involved... Support the Bazelon Center. Your tax-deductible donation helps the Bazelon Center keep you informed on important developments in mental health law and policy. Not a Subscriber? Sign up now to receive action alerts and updates from the Bazelon Center.

(Aug. 5, 2004)-The Bazelon Center and ADA Watch need your help to defeat an outrageous assault on the civil rights of people with disabilities that is being proposed from deep in the heart of Texas.

The Texas Republican Party has adopted a platform calling for exclusion of people with behavior disorders and others in the Americans with Disabilities Act
(ADA)-radical alterations that are inconsistent with the historic leadership of Republicans like President George H.W. Bush, Attorney General Richard Thornburgh and Senator Robert Dole in championing enactment of the ADA. The platform also runs counter to President George W. Bush's stated support for the ADA and the ongoing work of his New Freedom Initiative.

Page 14 of the 2004 Texas State Republican Party Platform reads:

"Americans with Disabilities Act - The Party supports amendment of the Americans with Disabilities Act to exclude from its definition those persons with infectious diseases, substance addiction, learning disabilities, behavior disorders, homosexual practices and mental stress, thereby reducing abuse of the Act."

Before the ADA was enacted, Congress considered and rejected measures that would have excluded or reduced coverage of people with mental disabilities, infectious diseases and substance addiction. Homosexuality and abuse of illegal substances are not considered disabilities under the ADA, but
lawmakers found good cause to ensure that the law's protections were extended to people with mental disabilities and others—cause that still exists today.

If Congress were to eliminate protection for people with mental or behavioral disorders against disability-based discrimination, millions would lose:

• Their hard-won right not to be unnecessarily warehoused in hospitals, nursing homes, residential treatment centers, and other institutions;

• Their protection against being denied employment or facing other discrimination on the job; and

• Their right to reasonable accommodations to help them succeed at school, vote, keep their families together, and participate in civic duties and community activities.

The ADA has brought profound and much-needed changes to the lives of adults and children with mental disabilities. Much remains to be done, but cutting a hole in the ADA to exclude people with mental disabilities would reverse course on important gains for people with disabilities.

The Texas GOP's stance on the ADA is out of step with the national Republican Party's stated support for civil rights protections for people with disabilities. Help us send a message to the Republican Party: Don't abandon civil rights protections for people with disabilities!

Take Action Now

As the Republican Party prepares to meet for its national convention in New York later this month, Texas Republicans have adopted a party platform calling for exclusion of people with behavior disorders and others from protection under the ADA.

Urge Republican leaders to reject Texas’ discriminatory platform and to strongly support the ADA’s protections for people with mental disabilities in their national party platform. You can also contact the Texas GOP to voice your disappointment in their platform.

• Who to Contact
• Tips on What You Can Say

Who to Contact

• National Republican Party
• Texas GOP

National Republican Party...

The GOP is currently soliciting input on its 2004 national party platform. Urge the party to re-commit to the ADA's protections for people with mental disabilities now!

• Tell the GOP to re-commit to the ADA's protections for people with mental disabilities now!

Update (9/3/04): Did the GOP listen? Read the 2004 National Republican Plaform
(PDF)

You can also make your voice heard by contacting national party leaders:

President George Bush
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, US 20500
Phone: (202) 456-1414
Fax: (202) 456-2461
E-mail: president@whitehouse.gov

Republican National Committee
Office of the Chairman
310 First Street, SE
Washington, DC 20003
Phone: (202) 863-8700
Fax: (202) 863-8774
E-mail: Chairman@gop.com

Texas GOP

Let the Texas GOP know how you feel about their discriminatory platform!

Republican Party of Texas
900 Congress, Suite 300
Austin, Texas 78701
Phone: (512) 477-9821
Fax: (512) 480-0709
E-mail: info@texasgop.org

Tips on What You Can Say

You can use the message points below to help draft your message, but you should personalize your letter, e-mail or call to highlight the specific reasons why this issue is important to you.

• Excluding people with mental disabilities from the ADA—as the Texas GOP platform urges—is inconsistent with the Republican party’s support for people with disabilities and people with mental illness, in particular. Republicans like President George H.W. Bush, Attorney General Richard Thornburgh and Senator Robert Dole showed great leadership in championing enactment of the ADA. President George W. Bush's continues their work today—supporting the for the ADA and the ongoing work of his New Freedom Initiative.

• Congress considered and rejected measures to exclude people with mental disabilities, but found good cause to extend the ADA’s protections to people with mental disabilities—cause that still exists today.

• The ADA has brought profound and much-needed changes to the lives of adults and children with mental disabilities.

  • The ADA offers millions of Americans with mental or behavioral disorders protection from disability-based discrimination on the job, in schools and in the community.

  • The ADA helps prevent unnecessary segregation in hospitals, nursing homes, residential treatment centers, and other institutions. The law also helps guarantee reasonable accommodations for people with mental disabilities to help them succeed at school, keep their families together, vote and participate in other civic duties and community activities.

• The Republican party should use its 2004 platform to reject limitations on the ADA’s protections for Americans with mental disabilities and make a strong statement about the party’s commitment to fairness and access to opportunity.