The Americans with Disabilities Act 25th Anniversary Legacy Project

The Events Committee, the Communications Committee and the Employment Survey Committee are all staffed, appropriately Chaired, and are effectively making progress on their respective responsibilities.
a. The selection of a Committee Leadership Consultant has been especially effective in keeping the committees on track, and communicating with one another.
b. The formation of a Full Planning Committee has been an effective tool in keeping all committee leaders and the most active members apprised of the relationship between all the project’s moving parts. This has been most effective in ensuring various committees are not duplicating efforts or inadvertently working at cross purposes.
c. MSCOD’s Board of Directors has a new Chair who also Chairs our Survey Committee. As a result, the work of the committees has gained more attention, recognition and involvement by board members.
d. We are confident that we now have the appropriate staff that will see this project to completion. Previous staff changes had let to a series of fits and starts, but we believe our staff is now set.
e. The major section of our Employment Survey is in the field.
f. The History Day of July 26th event is in the relative final stages of planning.
g. Shooting begins in November for the tpt documentary.
h. The final details of our State-wide conference on July 9th are being addressed.
i. We have recently trained our new Grant Specialist on maintaining the ADA tab on the MSCOD website. This allows us to keep information flowing to that website in an efficient and timely manner.

1. ADA Employment and Research Study

A total of 611 complete surveys were collected, with a breakdown of 304 (50%) surveys from people with a disability who are employed, 134 (22%) from people who have a disability and are seeking employment, and from 173 (28%) employers.

2. a. ADA 25th Anniversary Documentary with Twin Cities Public Television (tpt)
b. Live televised noon-hour program “ADA: The next 25 years”
Work was completed on the documentary The ADA at 25: Disability Rights in MN and was introduced at the MN History Center on July 26th, and aired for the first time on tpt the evening of July 26th

In addition, MSCOD, in partnership with tpt, produced a live show entitled “ADA: The next 25 years” which aired over the noon hour during our October 28th conference. That show remains on the tpt website as well as this project’s website at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmy8KLMED_A&feature=youtu.be

3. 25th Anniversary of the ADA Conference and Career Fair
On October 28, 2015 MSCOD had its long-awaited conference. While there were a great number of highlights for the day, certainly having Senator Tom Harkin, the Senate sponsor of the ADA address the conference and participate in the live tpt show was chief among them. The conference, as planned, brought together Minnesotans from across the state under the banner of disability culture with a focus on the creation, impact and future of the ADA, especially as they relate to employment for people with disabilities.

4. 25th Anniversary of the ADA Family Day at the Minnesota History Center
On Sunday, July 26th MSCOD held its 25th Anniversary of the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act Family Day celebration. More than 1,000 people attended the Family Day event at the Minnesota History Center. This success would not have been possible without the outreach opportunities arranged by our consultants Sarah Parker (Parker Communications) and Carol Schuler (Schuler Publicity).