In the 30 years that Ande Kolb has worked with people with disabilities, he has seen great strides in the treatment and acceptance of them – and some not so great strides too.
“I’ve certainly seen how things have changed over the years,” said Kolb, now executive director of The Arc Maryland. “Sometimes it seems like progress is really going well, and then something environmental comes along that hampers progress.”
Her response was typical of advocates asked to assess whether progress has been made for people with disabilities since the Americans with Disabilities Act was enacted on July 26, 1990, 34 years ago Friday.
They say the law lives up to its promise in many ways, particularly in Maryland compared with other states, to ensuring equal access for people with disabilities, but there are also many areas where there is room for improvement, especially in providing needed services.
“There’s been a lot of effort and community work done to change what it means to be disabled, to identify, and to dispel the stigma,” said Randy Ames, executive attorney for the Maryland Disability Rights Coalition, “and it may be that more people are becoming comfortable identifying and self-identifying as disabled.”
And the law will become even more important as the number of people who identify as having a disability continues to grow, projected to reach nearly 1 in 4 Marylanders by 2022, according to the most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control. Advocates say that’s in part because people are living longer and because the success of the ADA has made people more likely to self-identify as disabled.
The ADA was groundbreaking for its time, guaranteeing civil rights protections for people with disabilities, which now include everything from physical disabilities to mental and emotional disabilities.
The law’s effects can be seen in parking lots across the country, where the familiar blue-and-white signs mark handicapped parking spaces and curbs and sidewalks have cut-ins and ramps for people in wheelchairs and those with other mobility issues. Most new buildings are now designed with ADA-compliant doors, elevators, hallways, and restrooms.
But intangible benefits, such as facilities in classrooms and public spaces, and non-discrimination in employment and housing, are just as important.
In many measures of ADA compliance, Maryland stands out above other states.
“Generally speaking, I pride myself on the fact that Maryland is a pretty progressive state when it comes to disability rights policies and how we accommodate our citizens with disabilities,” Kolb said.
She believes Maryland has a “reputation for treating people well and providing services to assist people with disabilities” and that this is what draws families to the state.
An April report from insurance broker organization Policygenius ranking the best states to live in for people with disabilities found Maryland to be third-best for health care among the 50 states and Washington, D.C., and eighth-best overall for people with disabilities.
Because the region is home to major medical centers such as the Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore, Kolb said many of the families he works with “want to flock to Maryland for the hospitals and services here.”
She also said Maryland is a pioneer in equal pay for people with disabilities after the state Legislature phased out 14(c) certification, which allowed employers to pay workers with disabilities less than the minimum wage, in 2016. Starting in 2020, employers must pay disabled and non-disabled workers the same minimum wage.
Maryland Commissioner for Disabilities Carol Beatty believes her state is a leader in supporting people with disabilities.
“While there is still much work to be done, I believe Maryland has long been a leader when it comes to support services for children and adults with disabilities,” she said at an event Tuesday where Gov. Wes Moore (D) signed an executive order directing state agencies to use “plain language” in documents and on their websites.
The move is expected to be especially beneficial for people with disabilities who have difficulty navigating state websites and accessing available assistance and services. But the transition to plain language on all state documents and sites likely won’t begin until early 2025, according to Information Technology Secretary Katie Savage.
State agencies will use “plain language” to help residents access state services and information online.
But these aren’t the only challenges facing people with disabilities in Maryland.
Last year, the U.S. Attorney’s Office notified the Maryland Transportation Authority that the state’s parapublic transportation service, known as Mobility Link, does not comply with ADA protections.
“MTA’s paratransit service fails to provide service comparable to the level of designated public transportation service provided to non-disabled individuals who use such systems,” U.S. Attorney Elec L. Barron and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jane E. Andersen for Maryland wrote in a June 29, 2023 letter.
The problem with Kolp is the long service delays.
“We’ve had people sitting alone in the cold for hours, with transportation arriving late or not arriving at all,” she said. “Through the ADA, we have an obligation to provide these services to people, and I think things are getting better, but we’re nowhere near where we need to be.”
Ames said people with disabilities “remain an underserved population” and some of the biggest obstacles for Marylanders with disabilities are wait lists to receive services and administrative processing times for services.
“There are a lot of services available, but there are also a lot of restrictions and limitations,” she said. “People can wait years to get services.”
“It’s a big challenge to change some of the processes within the Department of Health and streamline the system to improve access to services and the time it takes to review requests and applications,” Ames said. “Improving those administrative processes can be one way to free up capacity for both state and local agencies, and hopefully, in doing so, free up funding to expand programs and serve more people.”
Meanwhile, the percentage of Marylanders who report having a disability has increased in recent years.
More than 1.1 million Maryland adults, or 24% of the state’s adult population, had some kind of disability as of 2022, the most recent year for which data is available, according to the CDC, a higher number than in the previous six years.
One possible reason for the increase is the CDC’s addition of long COVID symptoms to its definition of the disorder in 2022. This includes a question about people experiencing long COVID, which the CDC describes as people “who have symptoms that were not present pre-COVID that continue for three months or more.”
“Some people with disabilities may be more likely to become seriously ill with COVID-19 or other respiratory viruses because of underlying medical conditions, congregate living settings, or systemic health and social inequities,” the CDC said in a statement.
Advocates speculate that there may be other factors at play.
Ames said people, including those with disabilities, are living longer, which could be contributing to the higher death rates among Marylanders.
“In our experience, people with disabilities are generally living longer because of improvements in health care and the expansion of home- and community-based services,” she said.
Rachel London, executive director of the Maryland Council on Developmental Disabilities, said the latest figures underscore the need for people with disabilities to get the support they need in society.
“Everything has to be inclusive for people with disabilities,” London said. “We have to make sure that people with disabilities always come first.”
Kolb agrees.
“There’s a lot more acceptance and pride in disability,” Kolb says. “Disability is now more normalized, and people are less hesitant to seek answers or get a diagnosis.”
“I think we’re going to see greater progress in the next few years than we did 20 years ago. A fair society is the best society. Fairness means getting everyone on the same starting point,” she said.