What is the Housing Disability Act of 1972?
- A disability is an inability to perform a task relating to activities of daily living. Some of these tasks are the very things we take for granted. Walking, talking, seeing and hearing are activities we perform without even thinking about them, but not everyone is as lucky. The Housing Act of 1972 was designed to assure a physical disability did not constitute a loss of housing.
- Through congressional action any and all dwellings receiving any federal financial assistance were required to provide access for individuals with disabilities. Wheel chair ramps had to be installed for those unable to walk. Individuals legally blind were provided with braille numbering on elevators buttons and bell systems. Provisions had to be made for the hearing impaired. These early laws later evolved into the Americans with Disabilities Act. It did not come to pass without resistance, as the Nixon Administration nixed Congressional approval of the expansion of what was then called the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.
- In the 1990s President George H. Bush signed into law the Americans With Disabilities Act, harking back to a phrase first uttered by Thomas Jefferson and perhaps the most powerful ideal of the American Constitution: "We hold these truths to be self evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."
- In 2004, in an effort to expand the rights of those with disabilities even further, the government issued an advanced notice of proposed rules. This is an attempt to revise the process of Provisions I and III regarding consistent standards with respect to architectural barriers and transportation barriers in a post 911 nation where security concerns sometimes inhibit mobility.
- The Housing Act of 1972 is the American's with Disabilities Act and prevents any form of discrimination against any person with a disability. Persons with disabilities unfairly discriminated against have a wide variety of actions they can take to assure access is not denied. On state, local and federal levels, forms of complaint can be downloaded from the Internet, filled out and forwarded to the proper authorities. www.ada.gov is a wealth of information for those in need of guidance or assistance.
