The American Disability Association, A Review

Reviews of Disability organizations and websites is something I have done before through Disabled World, yet for some reason I have unfortunately not encountered the American Disability Association before today. The organization is a magnificent one that is highly worth notice, with an exceptional mission, history, goals, and programs.

The mission of the American Disability Association is to meet the informational needs of Americans, whether those Americans are anywhere from Uruguay to Alaska, who experience diverse forms of disabilities. The organization seeks to promote awareness of disability culture through the creation of bridges of understanding among all people, and to enhance the collective quality of life and access to freedom for all. Their mission is a profound and very worthwhile one.
 
The American Disability Association believes that working with one another to identify issues, while strengthening resources, enables individual communities. The organization works to interconnect the community at large, something which not only connects people with each other, but one that connects like-minded organizations as well. The American Disability Association envisions a strong, culturally diverse and multi-disciplined perspective as being critical in the shaping of national policies which promote and sustain the disability community.
 
Encouragement of the free-sharing of information, to include the active sharing of access to information resources and the development of ethical, enlightened disability social policy is something the American Disability Association believes in. They want to encourage an increase in the overall quality of people's lives via diverse employment opportunities, educational and skills development, as well as both arts and recreation.
 
The programs offered through the American Disability Association are tied to the history of the organization and tell of it's involvement in the disability community. They are committed to working on local, regional, national, and international levels as an information and knowledge resource with the intention of assisting people with disabilities to develop and deliver our unified message.
  • In 1992, the American Disability Association deployed ADAnet, an international distributed computer network serving the interests of people with disabilities. The organization created many of the disability newsgroups which are still in use today.
  • In 1993, their sister organization, the Disability Law Foundation, was given an award for, "heroic achievement in information technology," for the deployment of ADAnet, an international computer network which predated the Internet, serving people in over 32 countries, and leading to many of the disability-centric newsgroups still in use today. Before ADAnet, there were very few newsgroups with a disability theme.  ADAnet created over one hundred such newsgroups for people with disabilities.
  • In 1993, the American Disability Association was honored by the Computerworld Smithsonian for heroic achievement in information technology. In 1999, they were partners with the U.S. Census and helped to ensure that people with disabilities were not under-counted in the census.
  • In 1997, their original project became so large that they decentralized their operation and began concentrating on the Internet as a unifying technology.
  • In 2010, the American Disability Organization plans to change the face of disability in America by telling the story of disability on the American continent in their documentary, “Disability in the Americas,” and yes, they will need your help.
Strategy And Goals
 
The American Disability Association has a number of strategies and goals involving people with disabilities and the community, education, as well as employers. I find myself in awe over the ongoing positive and constructive energy on the parts of the people involved in this organization. The organization's website has stated the following as their strategies and goals:
  • Help people locate disability information and resources.
  • Help employees with disabilities find employers who are looking for them.
  • Help foster the development of new and useful resources for people with disabilities.
  • Help develop and broadcast disability education for our global community.
  • Help establish greater cross-disability awareness.
  • Help people discuss sometimes difficult disability issues.
Employment issues are one of the strategies the American Disability Association continues to have in mind, as are housing and financial issues. The organization functions as a resources to assist people in finding additional resources, and they work very hard to help people in society to develop forward-thinking disability policies. 
 
Membership in the American Disability Association
 
The American Disability Association is currently planning their Disability2010 Membership campaign. You may become a charter member through a one-time $25 donation. Corporate memberships and advertisement on their site are available at a special rate.