Law day in disability world

* Subway settles with the Justice Department in an accessibility case. Subway will have to renovate its 20,000 restaurants to make them accessible to people with disabilities. The company had been charged with violating the ADA.

* The Justice Department has launched a wide-ranging investigation of New York’s transit authority for “allegedly violating federal laws meant to help wheelchair-bound commuters get around underground,” reports the New York Post.

* A San Francisco surgeon is charged with hastening the death of a patient with disabilities in order to harvest his organs for transplant. Hootan Roozrokh is facing three felony charges in connection with the death of Ruben Navarro of San Luis Obispo. Roozrokh’s attorney says his client is the subject of a witch hunt.

* Six Medicaid patients sue the state of Florida to try to block cuts to in-home services for the developmentally disabled that are scheduled to begin on Wednesday.

* Parent feud divides Special Olympics organization in Texas. The Dallas Morning News shows us the documents.

ADA anniversary, continued

Just 17 years ago, our family was so preoccupied with Margaret's medical and educational needs that we didn't even notice the passage of the ADA. Similarly, any improvements that the ADA may have made to Margaret's life were certainly not obvious to us, as we struggled to get her a decent education in a largely unresponsive local school district.

With luck, this blog will help me catch up on what I missed, about the ADA as well as other disability-related developments. Stay tuned.

Meanwhile, here are a few more documents relating to the act's anniversary.
-- Proclamation from President Bush
-- Statement from Hillary Clinton, pledging to expand economic opportunity for individuals with disabilities
-- Statement from John Edwards, calling for Congress to strengthen the ADA

On the 17th anniversary of the ADA ...

-- From the National Council on Disability: "two reports on the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ... show that ADA implementation is not only possible and practicable, it is also good for business."

-- From Radio Iowa: Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin intends to introduce language to "restore the intent" of the ADA, which he says no longer offers protections to people with epilepsy, diabetes and cancer.

-- From WUSA-TV in Washington, D.C. -- Legal advocates say courts have eroded the rights of people by allowing employers to say a person is too disabled to do the job, but not disabled enough to be protected. Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) and Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) say they will co-sponsor new legislation to restore the ADA to its previous mission.