URL: http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/jan2000/nf00105a.htm


   BUSINESSWEEK ONLINE:   DAILY BRIEFING

   ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY by John Williams January 5, 2000
   Q&A with Al Gore: Using Technology to Connect the Disabled
   As President, he would expand rights and opportunities for people with
   disabilities and strengthen the ADA
   By now, most people have their own views and impressions of
   Vice-President Al Gore. He's locked in a spirited campaign with former
   New Jersey Senator Bill Bradley for the 2000 Democratic Presidential
   nomination to succeed Bill Clinton in the White House come November.
   Few people realize that Gore -- first as a U.S. representative and
   senator from Tennessee, and later as Veep -- has been an outspoken
   advocate for the rights of people with disabilities. He and his wife
   Tipper have been part of a national effort to improve care and
   treatment for mental illnesses. And he has an intimate knowledge of
   many assistive technologies and their benefits for people with
   disabilities.
   While he took a lot of ribbing for claiming to be one of the creators
   of the Internet, Gore has been a leading supporter of government
   funding for the Internet and making it more accessible to the
   disabled. It doesn't end there. His campaign manager, former House
   Democratic Whip and Wall Street exec Tony Coelho, is an epileptic --
   and a passionate champion for the rights of the disabled.
   Gore displayed his considerable knowledge on the afternoon of New
   Year's Eve, when he spoke by telephone with me and Douglas Harbrecht,
   news director for Business Week Online. During the interview, he
   paused briefly to check on Tipper, who had an operation to remove a
   benign growth from her thyroid two days prior to the interview. They
   were home by themselves. Gore seemed to be relaxed during the
   interview, and he was exceptionally well-versed on these issues. And
   he pulls no punches. Here are edited excerpts from our conversation:
   Q: What role do you see assistive technology playing in the new
   millennium for people with disabilities?
   A: Assistive technology promises breakthroughs for millions of
   Americans with disabilities by making it possible for them to make a
   connection between their minds and the minds of other people, and to
   the workplace.
   Our [White House] budget initiative this year included $35 million
   that would have doubled the investment in the development and use of
   assistive technology to help people with disabilities work. That
   funding unfortunately was cut by the Republican majority in Congress,
   but I will fight to support such investments. I believe I can make a
   case to the Congress in a way that will convince them to support the
   investment.
   My view is the federal government should provide accessible technology
   and information. We recommended and Congress enacted changes to
   section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act that strengthens the obligations
   of federal agencies to provide assistive technology. [The
   Administration] is [now] working on the regulations.
   With these changes, the federal government can use its purchasing
   power to influence private companies toward developing universally
   designed technology that is accessible to almost everyone.
   Telecommunications services and equipment represent a special case.
   That is why I am pleased that the Federal Communications Commission
   under the leadership of Bill Kennard announced it will make
   telecommunications equipment and services available to people with
   disabilities. And the FCC has also required closed-captioning for
   video for the 27 million Americans with hearing disabilities.
   I think the key [for business] is to be flexible in the employment
   area. [They should not ask] "What's wrong," or "What is your
   disability?", but "What's going to work for you?" And then, provide
   the assistive technology that will make the connection.
   Q: Recently the Supreme Court narrowed the definition of a workplace
   disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Are you familiar
   with the decisions? While business cheered, many in the disability
   community were outraged.
   A: There were several cases. One of them is Sutton v. United Airlines
   and another is Murphy v. United Parcel Service (see BW Online,
   6/23/99, "A Grand Slam for the Disabled"). I believe the court
   inappropriately narrowed the scope of the ADA by excluding persons
   simply because they are able to mitigate their disability through
   medication or the use of a medical appliance.
   The problem is employers may conclude that a person is too disabled to
   work, even though under the law they are not covered by the ADA,
   according to the decisions. The result is a Catch-22 for persons with
   disabilities. These decisions could seriously undermine the goals of
   the ADA by excluding from the Act's coverage many people who are
   discriminated against by employers because of a physical or mental
   impairment.
   I believe that Sutton and Murphy shouldn't be applied to reach unfair
   results that are inconsistent with the original intent [of Congress].
   If courts interpret these cases to exclude many people with
   disabilities who deserve protection under the ADA, I am committed to
   working with the next Congress, which I hope will be a Democratic
   Congress, to amend the ADA. But we can not risk opening up the ADA in
   a Congress that is hostile to the ADA, such as the current [GOP]
   Congress. That would open it up to destructive amendments that can
   eliminate the important progress that we have made. Also, I think we
   ought to strengthen the Hate Crimes Law to include people with
   disabilities.
   Q: Will the enforcement of federal laws guaranteeing the rights of
   people with disabilities be a major priority for a Gore
   Administration? And if so, how?
   A: Yes. I feel very strongly about the enforcement of the ADA, the
   civil-rights laws, and all laws that are designed to remove barriers
   and allow full participation of Americans with disabilities in our
   society. That is true with regard to special education. It's true with
   the Fair Housing Act. It's true across the board.
   I will appoint Supreme Court justices who will uphold the ADA. I will
   enforce the Transportation Dept.'s regulations to make [all public]
   buses accessible. I do not agree with the recent decision by the 8th
   Circuit on the ADA [which narrows the rights of individuals to sue
   state governments for job discrimination under the ADA]. The Justice
   Dept. has filed a petition with the Supreme Court disagreeing with
   that decision.
   One of our priorities must be increased funding for enforcement of our
   civil-rights laws and a reduction of the backlog of private-sector
   discrimination complaints at the Equal Employment Opportunity
   Commission. This means giving [federal regulators] the resources they
   need to investigate complaints under the ADA.
   Q: How should America's public schools implement the Individuals with
   Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), which extends and guarantees to
   children with disabilities the same educational resources as other
   students? And do you see a stronger federal role?
   A: I am committed to strong enforcement of IDEA. I have proposed a
   tripling of the funding under the new law. We have made some progress,
   and this Administration has successfully opposed two amendments to
   IDEA that could have led to the unfair expulsions of students with
   disabilities.
   I think the IDEA has to be much more actively enforced. We enacted a
   stronger IDEA in 1997. In the year 2000, it will serve 6.2 million
   children with disabilities. We need to meet the needs of children with
   special needs in a way that works for all of our children, that does
   not cause school boards to pit the needs of some students against the
   needs of other students, and parents against parents in a battle of
   limited resources. That means starting with a substantial down
   payment, the largest-ever increase in special education.
   I have proposed a special pool for funding for [those] few children
   who require particularly costly services. We can reduce the cost of
   special education by reducing the numbers of children unnecessarily
   referred to special-education services in the first place. That means
   we ought to identify learning disabilities earlier and intervene more
   quickly to help all children get a strong educational start. Finally,
   I think we need to offer both special-education teachers and regular
   classroom teachers more training on how to deal effectively with
   students with disabilities.
   Q: How do you respond to parents of able-bodied children who say "If
   you put children with disabilities into class with my kids, you will
   slow down the learning process for my children"?
   A: I would say the federal government should provide the teachers with
   the training to educate children with disabilities. If we implement
   this law correctly, there is simply no justification for fearing a
   negative impact on the other children. There are, of course,
   significant advantages for other children, because it prepares them
   for life in a society where Americans with disabilities have equal
   access to all jobs and institutions, and I think that's good for all
   of us.
   Q: Will a Gore Administration employ people with disabilities in areas
   other than special education and rehabilitation?
   A: I am completely supportive of the principal of inclusion and
   diversity. I have worked hard in this Administration to expand
   employment opportunities for people with disabilities and to encourage
   the appointment of Americans with disabilities. I intend to make that
   policy a goal of a Gore Administration if I am entrusted with the
   Presidency.
   Q: Besides providing telecommunications devices for the deaf and
   hard-of-hearing so they can contact your campaign staff, what else has
   the Gore campaign done to make itself communications-accessible to
   disabled people?
   A: Our headquarters is accessible to people using wheelchairs [and
   with] other mobility disabilities. We have paid particular attention
   to the use of sign-language interpreters and other accessibility
   requirements at all of our campaign events. We have made certain that
   our communications are accessible to everyone. We are developing
   campaign materials in Braille. Tony Coelho, my campaign manager, can
   tell you about others. He and I have talked about making our campaign
   accessible to people with disabilities, and we both share an all-out
   commitment to making this campaign a model of accessibility.
   Q: How would you get states to buy into the Work Improvement
   Incentives Act so more people with disabilities can go to work?
   A: I'm glad that we just got the legislation passed. I'm a strong
   supporter of it. I want to go a lot farther. The day after it was
   enacted, I unveiled a campaign proposal based on the highly successful
   Welfare to Work Program that I call the Disabilities to Work Program.
   This program is designed to use assistive technology aggressively to
   connect people to the workplace. It's designed to encourage
   private-sector employers to hire Americans with disabilities and to
   make the federal government much more of a role model in expanding
   employment opportunities for Americans with disabilities.
   Q: Mr. Vice-President, thank you for your time, and Happy New Year.
   A: It's been my pleasure. Thank you very much. Happy New Year.
   As assistive technology columnist for Business Week Online, I have
   also approached the campaigns of George W. Bush, Bill Bradley, and
   John McCain for interviews on disability issues. Stay tuned.
   Williams writes a weekly column for Business Week Online on assistive
   technology. For information on assistive technology, write to him at
   [log in to unmask] You can also discuss these issues on BW Online's
   Assistive Tech Forum
   EDITED BY DOUGLAS HARBRECHT _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _


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