Video: https://youtu.be/qe9jQrpg6G4
Hello and welcome. Today I want to discuss a bill that Congress is trying to get through right now, HR 620. I’m not going to go into great detail about this, since Annie Elainey made a video explaining it a bit more in depth.
But basically, this bill wants to roll back protections afforded to disabled people under the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act). This act improved accessibility for a wide range of disabled people, including deaf people. What HR 620 will do is actually make it much more difficult for disabled people to get their accessibility, and essentially let businesses off the hook (re: protecting them) for not being accommodating. This is just unacceptable. Businesses have had 27 whole years to comply with the ADA, and have we seen substantial change? Not really. Sure, in newer buildings, they follow ADA code…For now. If HR 620 passes, who knows what will happen then? Oh, and I’d like to add this — even in buildings that are up to ADA code, they’re frequently barely up to code. They meet the bare minimums of universal accessibility and call it good enough. So many businesses genuinely do not care if disabled people are not able to access them and their services. This makes me angry.
The fact that Congress is trying to get this through right now makes me angry. We have already put up with abled people discriminating against us for so long, and ADA was finally a big step in the right direction. Now Congress wants us to take a step back? On top of rolling back LGBTQ+ protections, civil rights, health care? This is just not acceptable. If you’re able, PLEASE get in touch with your representatives and tell them what you think. Many have the option to call, text, or email them. There’s also a RESIST bot that you can text that will do the work for you. I’ll leave links below, they’re in Annie’s video as well. Please do what you can to make sure our voices are heard and that this bill does NOT pass.
H.R. 620 information and summary:
https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/115/hr620
https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/115/hr620/summary
Find your representative using your zip code: https://www.house.gov/htbin/findrep
Text RESIST to 50409
https://resistbot.io/about.html
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