Church's work on disabilities helped bring about law marking 20th year

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WASHINGTON (CNS) – When the Americans with Disabilities Act was being debated in the U.S. Senate 20 years ago, excerpts from the pastoral statement on people with disabilities issued by the U.S. bishops 12 years earlier were read on the Senate floor in support of its passage.

“It is not enough merely to affirm the rights of people with disabilities,” the document says. “We must actively work to make them real in the fabric of modern society. Recognizing that individuals with disabilities have a claim to our respect because they are persons, because they share in the one redemption of Christ, and because they contribute to our society by their activity within it, the church must become an advocate for and with them.”

catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1003026.htm

I was not Catholic 20 years ago. Nor was I disabled 20 years ago. However, I am still thankful for the work that the Catholic Church did 20 years ago to bring about this law because now I am disabled and now I have had my rights affirmed by this law which the Church helped to bring about.