Loebsack Tours Oskaloosa Center For Independent Living
Randy Davis (left) shakes hands with Congressman Dave Loebsack (right) on Friday, as the Congressman prepares to tour the center.
Oskaloosa, Iowa – The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) helped to change the lives of many Americans. It was signed into law on July 26th, 1990.
The ADA is a wide-ranging civil rights law that prohibits discrimination based on disability. It affords similar protections against discrimination to Americans with disabilities as the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
The ADA bill was authored and primary sponsored by former Iowa Senator Tom Harkin.
Second Congressional District Representative Dave Loebsack visited the Oskaloosa Center For Independent Living on Friday. He described Harkin as his political hero.
“If we don’t have folks carrying on Tom Harkin’s work, it won’t get done,” Loebsack said of the ongoing work with the ADA. “No one will ever do it the way Tom did it.”
Loebsack said that if people in Congress don’t stand up for those individuals with disabilities, “nobody’s going to, and they’re not going to be heard”.
“It’s why I’m here today, to hear what they have to say. Hear their testimonials, hear the great work they’re doing, so I can go back and be the voice the best I can.”
On Friday, Loebsack said that he wants to make sure that the funding and programs “we get through at the Federal level, they get properly administered at the State level. We’ve been seeing a lot of things happening here at the State level on Medicaid and other issues that are going to have effects, not good effects, on folks with disabilities if we’re not careful.”
For individuals with disabilities that are looking for advice in finding needed resources, Loebsack says that individuals are welcome to contact his office; “then we can put them in touch” with an appropriate office.
“We can be a referral in that sense,” says Loebsack. “Once they get to the folks at this office, they’ll get to where they need to go.”
Deb Philpot, Director at the Center for Independent Living, said that Friday’s visit was very important in continuing to inform about what is happening within the community, in particular those with disabilities.
“I think the more that we keep in the forefront, educating our federal legislators on what’s going on in the disability community, and what our needs are, the more likely we are to have them understand when we come to them,” said Dawn Francis, Director of the Iowa Statewide Independent Living Council.
Funding is always a challenge for centers like the one in Oskaloosa. Helping to get the word out to those with disabilities is also a challenge for places like the Center.
“There’s a lot of people out there we need to reach,” said Randy Davis, President of the Board for Oskaloosa’s Center.
