EFE Celebrates 20 Years

U.S. Senator Obama is featured speaker; The Daleys receive honors

This fall, on October 7th, Equip for Equality will recognize its two-decade mission of advancing the rights of people with disabilities in Illinois by hosting a special 20th Anniversary Celebration in downtown Chicago. U.S. Senator Barack Obama, a champion of human and civil rights, is the event's featured speaker, and Mayor Richard M. Daley and Mrs. Maggie Daley will be presented Equip for Equality's Civic Leadership Award for their combined work in making Chicago a national model of inclusiveness and equity for people with disabilities. The event has also invited Curt Decker, director of the National Disability Rights Network in Washington, DC, to speak about the national impact Equip for Equality and the Protection & Advocacy System has had on disability rights over the last 20 years. Equip for Equality welcomes back WBBM Channel 2 investigative reporter Dave Savini as master of ceremonies.

While the Celebration is the year's most significant fundraiser, expected to bring in enough resources to sustain and build many of the organization's programs that rely on private support, it is also an opportunity to reflect on how far we have come in establishing a truly civil society for people with disabilities.

In 1985, when Equip for Equality (then Protection & Advocacy, Inc.) was established as the state's independent agent for the federal Protection & Advocacy System, its charge was to advance the rights of people with only developmental disabilities. Within a few years, however, the organization's mandate included people with mental illness, and by the end of the first decade encompassed all disabilities. These program expansions established resources for attorneys and advocates to provide recourse for individuals who were experiencing discrimination, segregation, or abusive practices and policies.

By the time Equip for Equality celebrated its 10th anniversary, it had successfully resolved one of the first ADA cases in the country, against Deerfield Public Library for preventing access and services to a person with hearing and mental disabilities. Equip for Equality also developed a Public Policy program that provides key decision makers and community leaders with analyses of legislation affecting people with disabilities; it had witnessed the prohibition of capital punishment for people with mental illness; and it put out a highly visible, groundbreaking report on abuse in Illinois state institutions. Equip for Equality's services had begun to reflect the complexity and vastness of issues faced by the disability community, from policy decisions and statewide systemic concerns to individual cases of rights infringement, from discrimination in the workplace to inappropriate healthcare and education supports.

Beginning its second decade, Equip for Equality established another nationally recognized initiative, the Training Institute on Disability Rights, which would transform how the organization met many of the needs of the disability community. Equip for Equality recognized that people who sought advocacy support were those who already understood that they actually had rights to protect. (In the nineties, less than half of the disability community was aware of the ADA or its protections.) The Institute pursued a strategy of proactive outreach, providing disability-rights seminars and workshops across the state in locations of high need – such as in psychiatric wards, social service agencies, and schools. Because the Institute fell outside the organization's federally supported priorities, it became Equip for Equality's first program to rely on non-federal funding. The Chicago Community Trust, Equip for Equality's first private supporter, invested seed funds that have since been joined by those of several foundations and a state agency. To date, these funds have supported the education and empowerment of over 20,000 individuals with disabilities and their families.

Equip for Equality closed the 20th century with improvements to legislation that protects adults with mental illness subjected to forced medication, precedent-setting litigation for protecting people with mental illnesses in the workplace, and protecting people against unwarranted institutionalization. Equip for Equality also evaluated and recommended changes to restraint practices and policies in state-run institutions, established a national demonstration project for abuse investigations, and sought a major reform of the guardianship system in Illinois.

With ongoing community support, Equip for Equality has entered the 21st century continually redefining and refining its programs. In response to public input, it has made inroads to Latino communities that severely need localized bilingual, bicultural advocacy services. It is embarking on an ambitious special-education initiative to address the overwhelming need for advocacy support among parents of children with disabilities who are struggling to navigate Illinois school systems.

These last 20 years have been truly transformative in some respects. Today, for instance, a major settlement lead by Equip for Equality has made Chicago public transportation more accessible so that more people with disabilities can travel, live and work independently in integrated environments. But not all victories are complete. Enactment of the ADA has not always translated into change. This summer, Equip for Equality, in partnership with other advocacy groups, has brought a class action suit against the state for maintaining its abysmal policy of segregation of and discrimination against people with developmental disabilities who are forced to live in large institutional settings.

The path to equity for more than two million Illinois residents with disabilities has seen a good number of successes and still faces as many obstacles. At various times, the special guests of this year's Celebration have joined Equip for Equality on this 20-year journey. Senator Obama, as an attorney, successfully litigated for Equip for Equality when it sought state enforcement of "Motor Voter" legislation. Mayor Daley invited Equip for Equality to perform a key role on the city's Employment Taskforce. And Dave Savini utilized Equip for Equality for a nationally publicized investigative news series on the abusive practices of Illinois schools that locked students in closet-sized rooms. This year's 20th Anniversary Celebration invites all people to join these leaders on Equip for Equality's journey towards realizing the human and civil rights of individuals with disabilities. For more information on how to attend or support Equip for Equality, see the cover page ad in this issue of the Equalizer.

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