ADA25: #1 of 25 -- The NAD and the ADA (02:01)

NAD CEO Howard A. Rosenblum introduces the #ADA25 Video Series in honor of the 25th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). You can view the entire #ADA25 series at www.nad.org/ADA25.

Video begins with an off white vintage background. Three black and white photos appear. First photo shows a group of people marching, one holds a NAD poster. Second photo shows another group of people marching, one holds a poster "We Shall Overcome." Third photo shows President Bush signing the Americans with Disabilities Act. Text appears "ADA25 -- Americans with Disabilities Act". Video flashes to white then to Howard A. Rosenblum inside NAD Headquarters. On bottom left corner, "#ADA25" appears as a light watermark. On bottom right corner, the NAD logo appears, also as a light watermark. 

HOWARD: Today, we celebrate the Americans with Disabilities Act. The ADA will be 25 years old this month! To understand how far we have come as a country, we should look back to our legal rights before the ADA and compare with where we are today. Prior to the ADA, there was the Rehabilitation Act enacted in 1973. It was a great step forward but limited in that it only applies to federal agencies, or private entities receiving federal funding. If those agencies or entities discriminated against deaf or hard of hearing or other disabled individuals they could be sued under the Rehab Act. But private entities not receiving federal money were not liable for discrimination. With the passing of the ADA, the Rebab Act's anti-discrimination rules were expanded to almost all places. This was a great improvement. Also, some of you may remember, before the ADA there was no national relay service. Relay service was only available in a few states and the service in those states was very limited. Some limited the length of calls, some had limited hours, interstate calls were not permitted, and often there was a long wait for an available relay operator. At that time, we only had TTYs. The NAD worked hard to persuade Congress to make a nationwide relay program part of the ADA. Today, we can call anyone, anytime, and anywhere! The nationwide relay program allowed for various devices to use relay such as TTY, VP, Captel, and so on. So, this is the first of 25 videos. The ADA25 series will cover every aspect of the ADA. We hope you'll enjoy and learn a thing or two -- especially why and how the ADA is so important for many of us.

Video fades to a gradient background with dark blue to light blue, a grey National Association of the Deaf (NAD) logo is centered. White text below the logo appears, "A production of the National Association of the Deaf (copyright) 2015 All Rights Reserved" with four teal social media icons, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram.