The former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives discusses how
adaptive technology will empower people with disabilities to participate
in the community and end their dependency on the liberal welfare state.
Unfortunately, he is high on concepts and low on concrete policy
proposals.
kelly
URL: http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/aug1999/nf90811b.htm
BUSINESSWEEK ONLINE: DAILY BRIEFING
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ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY by John M. Williams August 11, 1999
A Talk With Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich
In his first interview since resigning, the Georgian speaks of his
newfound passion: Empowering people with disabilities
As Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1995 to 1998,
Newt Gingrich of Georgia left an indelible mark on the American
political landscape. Espousing a "Contract for America" that called
for tax cuts, smaller government, and more individual freedom, he led
a revolution that gave the GOP control of the House for the first time
in 40 years. Even his enemies acknowledged him as a visionary. But his
polarizing personality and sharp partisanship eventually led to his
downfall. Battered by a lengthy House Ethics Committee investigation
into his financial dealings and a failed coup attempt by his own
Republican leadership team, Gingrich resigned last year in the wake of
unexpected House losses for the GOP. Still, many of his ideas remain
bulwarks of Republican thinking and policymaking.
Since leaving the House, Gingrich has been developing ideas on 21st
century health-care policy at the American Enterprise Institute, a
Washington think tank. Soon, he will host his own radio program. And
he has found a new passion: empowering people with disabilities
through assistive technology. I spoke with Gingrich recently at his
Washington office. It is the first interview he has granted since
leaving the House. I have heard many horror stories about Newt
Gingrich. I found him to be brilliant, loquacious, witty, and a good
listener. He clearly sees disabled people as people first, and as
citizens who can contribute to society. Here are excerpts from our
conversation:
Q: What motivated you to become involved in the disability arena?
A: Three very different reasons. First, I believe in the commitment of
the Declaration of Independence, that we are all endowed by our
creator with the right to pursue happiness. That right has to include
everybody, and so there is a moral imperative to truly include
everyone in America's goals of liberty and opportunity.
Second, as a science-fiction fan and as a student of science, I really
do not see why we can't use the most advanced science and technology
to liberate and to empower people, including people with disabilities,
to become fully integrated into society.
Third, because in 1980, a couple in Fayette County, Ga., in the
district that I represented at the time, challenged me to spend 24
hours in a wheelchair. I accepted so I could learn how many ways
people with disabilities have been locked out from having access to
your community, and how difficult and inconvenient it was for people
using wheelchairs to get around. It was a remarkable 24 hours. After
that experience, I was convinced that we have the opportunity to
dramatically enhance the quality of life and to pursue happiness for
people with disabilities.
Q: Did you support the Americans with Disabilities Act?
A: I did. I was involved with its passage, working with former U.S.
House of Representatives members Steve Gunderson and Tony Coelho, who
were in many ways the driving forces. Everything I have seen to date
in the disability field has convinced me that we need to rethink
government policies toward disabled people. We also need to rethink
empowering disabled people and then optimize their ability to live
with independence, pride, and dignity.
Q: You were also involved in the disability movement as Speaker,
correct?
A: After I became Speaker of the House, we had local parents and
citizens who were directly involved in the disability field provide us
with input on the problems people with disabilities face daily. We had
town hall meetings for people with disabilities. Because some of these
people had educational and financial assets, they led dramatically
fuller lives than they would have if they had been treated as wards of
the state.
Q: Do you have family members who have disabilities?
A: I have family members who have disabilities in terms of mental
illness. My mother has had a bipolar disease (a form of manic
depression) for 30 years. I have a schizophrenic relative who has been
regularly hospitalized for at least 25 years. These experiences have
created a real awareness for me of the challenges disabled people
face. I also have several friends whose children have Down's syndrome.
So I know we have an obligation to think about, not just that we need
to sustain someone so they live as long as possible, but also to
empower them and strengthen them so they live the best quality of
life. For me, empowerment means making their own decisions and using
the resources at their disposal.
Q: I am seeing a different Newt Gingrich than the one that came across
in the media when you were Speaker of the House. What happened to the
Scrooge Gingrich who was going to do horrible things to children?
A: All I can tell you is I have given speeches on this topic since
1980. To the degree you have not seen this side of me in the news
media, I'm not sure its the failure of my speeches.
After I won the Speakership, Time magazine did a cover at
Christmastime in 1994 that showed me as Scrooge holding Tiny Tim's
broken crutch. I always thought that broken crutch [in the
illustration] was given to you as an extra reminder, in case you did
not get it. The title of the cover was "How Mean Will Gingrich's
America Be to the Poor?" Yet, when I was Speaker, I introduced a bill
that said no one could be forced into a nursing home.
Q: Now that you have left Congress, what about the future?
A: Science and technology are moving at an extraordinary rate and are
making possible the unthinkable, particularly when it comes to
advancing opportunities for disabled people. That's why we doubled the
federal science budget [while I was Speaker]. You cannot talk about
helping [paralyzed actor] Christopher Reeve without talking about the
National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health and the
basic research that makes assistive technology possible.
The first time I was at Georgia Tech and saw Dragon Dictate (a
voice-recognition system), I realized that Dragon Dictate is the baby
step of a revolution. Looking ahead, I have zero doubt that sensors
more powerful than those sensors used the cochlear implant [allowing
deaf people to hear] will be planted directly into people's brains in
the next decade. As a result, we will redefine assistive technology
and disabilities.
These technology breakthroughs will raise new questions: How do you
make capital investments [in empowering people with disabilities]
instead of maintenance? I would favor some kind of loan grant program,
similar to a Federal Housing Administration program that allows people
to have the best access to technology. That would ensure the best
quality of life and an opportunity to achieve their potential. They
also could live decently without the stigma of disability being
attached to them.
We must redesign all federal and state programs. Maintenance is a slow
death. Empowerment is reattaching you to life. They are totally
different models.
Q: What do you see as the role of Congress in making these changes?
A: Congress should start with the question: What will science make
possible within the next 15 years? Then, what do we have to do to make
it implementable? Then Congress must change obsolete federal laws that
restrain and cripple people with disabilities.
The way the rules work now are very destructive. We have this sad case
of a young woman in San Diego who died a few months ago. She was Holly
Caudell. She had been in a car wreck and became a quadriplegic. She
had graduated from law school and had been an assistant district
attorney. But she was running out of her personal savings, and the way
the disabilities law works, if she stayed active as an assistant
district attorney, she was earning too much money to get government
assistance. So she had to give up what she loved to get the assistance
she needed.
My challenge to Congress is to form joint task forces among the
various committees. Don't allow jurisdictional problems to slow you
down. Start with the science, go to opportunity, and then rewrite the
laws.
Q: What role can private industry play?
A: We are in a full-employment economy. And when you are in an
Information Age where more and more it's your ability to think that is
most effective, you'll find more and more willingness [by
corporations] to employ people. The Information Age is creating a
one-to-one society. People will shape jobs around characteristics.
I have a daughter who is expecting in October, and so I will have my
first grandchild. She is considering changing her career track and
looking for job sharing. She does not have a disability. She just
wants to spend more time with her child. She is saying to her
employer: "If you really want my talents, my experience, and my
institutional memory, we need a new contract." She may only work three
days a week. Meanwhile she is looking for someone who will work the
rest of the time. This is the type of tailoring one-to-one careers
that I see as the future.
So every person must think about what they want to do in life. If you
don't like your job, get one you do like, because you will never do a
job well that you dislike. And all the successful people I have ever
spoken with attribute success to stubbornly following their own path.
This has sometimes been harder, but in the long run, they have been
happier. That's true for people with disabilities.
Q: You're talking about a formula for life's success for disabled
people?
A: Yes. You start with the idea: What is it you like doing? Second:
What are your enhanced and empowered skills? I think that's a very
important component of this formula because we have the ability to
match technologies to enhance people's abilities and to empower them.
This is one of the ideas you have to get across to employers: Do not
think about any person in isolation.
I find it amazing that the Welfare State will be cheerful about paying
you a lot if you do nothing, but it cannot figure out how to develop a
sliding scale to subsidize a little bit, say training or assistive
technology, so individuals can do a lot. Businesses must say to
government, you provide these pieces and a person can become fully
employable. In some cases, it may mean being able to contract into
Medicaid.
Q: What are the benefits of telecommuting to people with disabilities?
A: I see immense opportunities in telecommuting for disabled people.
The government needs to have a philosophy that says we are prepared to
invest in work-support systems.
I believe that free childhood computers will be the 21st century
version of free textbooks. Providing free textbooks was a big fight as
late as the 1930s. People were saying: "How can you give free
textbooks to every child? Their parents ought to pay for them?" Well a
decision was made. This is what we need to do with computers.
Pregnant women should also receive a prenatal-care package. An awful
lot of what happens to a child's development really happens at
pregnancy, when you start looking at I.Q. and health. One of my major
projects at AEI is looking at health and health care. This project
will have a disability component to it. We are talking about health
care for everybody, starting with conception and going through
pregnancy, birth, and the early formative years. There are so many
frontiers we can get to within a short time, and those frontiers mean
better health, better jobs, and a better quality of life, a better
environment, and virtually no disabilities.
Q: What about technology?
A: Let me tell you about the Health Buddy. It is developed by a
company called Health Heroes in California. Health Buddy is a utility
that will sit next to your coffeepot. It will remind you in the
morning on a screen to check your blood sugar. It can send a message
to the doctor's office, and it will remind you to order your
medicines. This is only one example, but it's an example of technology
at its best.
Q: What parting message do you have for disabled people?
A: People with disabilities need to come in and say: "I want this
dream. I want you to fund the science of this dream. I want you to
change the rules of work. I want you to figure out how to make capital
investments rather than to maintain me. I want to be fully integrated
into my community." That's empowerment.
(John Williams writes a weekly column for Business Week Online on
assistive technology. If you have any questions on assistive
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