The Americans with Disabilities Act: A Civil Rights Landmark for People with Disabilities, Including Down Syndrome

A Council on Contemporary Families Discussion Briefing in Honor of the 21^st Anniversary of the ADA

July 26, 2011

Prepared for the Council on Contemporary Families by Alison Piepmeier, Director, Women's and Gender Studies at the College of Charleston, and Amber Cantrell, Women's and Gender Studies undergraduate at the College of Charleston

The Americans with Disabilities Act, passed July 26, 1990, is one of the most significant pieces of civil rights legislation in American history. What the Civil Rights Act of 1964 did for people of color, the Americans with Disabilities Act did for people with disabilities -- a population of between 36 and 54 million Americans, representing 12 to 19 percent of the U.S. population.

New Rights, New Opportunities, and Continued Challenges After ADA

Before the ADA, people with disabilities had no guaranteed access to public spaces, from courthouses and voting booths to retail stores and schools. There was no requirement that public transportation or gas stations be accessible. Now such accessibility is legally mandated. The ADA also prohibits discrimination in employment, health care, and education. Individuals with physical handicaps have entirely new possibilities to pursue educational and work training and to participate in civic life.

A CCF MEDIA ADVISORY

Celebrating Women's Health Week: 30 Minutes a Day to Better Health

National Women's Health Week (May 8-14, 2011)  is a week-long observance spearheaded  by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office on Women's Health. The theme for 2011 is "It's Your Time." National Women's Health Week empowers women to make their health a top priority, and encourages them to take steps to improve their physical and mental health and lower their risks of certain diseases.

Although women in the U.S. enjoy longer life spans than men, by as many as seven years on average, women also report higher levels of aches and pains, headaches, disability, depression, and multiple other chronic health conditions. This is partly due to the fact that women live longer, and with older age comes the physical and cognitive declines.

Yet another reason why women's physical and mental health is often worse than men is that  busy women put their own mental and physical health needs second to the needs of their children, partners, friends, and aging parents. An hour spent cleaning the bathroom, shuttling the kids to soccer practice, or putting in long hours at the office means an hour not spent exercising, sleeping, or even having sex - all activities that promote women's physical and mental health, and longevity.

By Rachel Adams, Council on Contemporary Families Research Intern, The Evergreen State College
Olympia Washington, May 11, 2011

Elders Provide Critical Support for Contemporary Families and Society

When Senior Citizens Month was established in May 1963 (the name was changed to "Older Americans Month" in 1980), there were only 17 million living Americans who had reached their 65th birthday. Today there are more than 38 million Americans 65 and older. Census data project that by 2030, nearly one in five Americans will be 65 or older.

This year the official theme for Older Americans Month is "Connecting to the Community." Much has been written about the "burden" of supporting an aging population, but we hear far less about the many critical contributions older people make to their families and their communities. A good deal of this work is unpaid, but its value is no less significant.

Volunteering and Charitable Contributions

A report released by the Pew Research Center in 2009 found that 59 percent of Americans aged 65-74, 48 percent of those aged 75-84, and an impressive 36 percent of those over age 85 do volunteer work. According to a 2008 AARP survey, the top three areas of interest are working for faith-based groups, tutoring or mentoring young people (an activity that has been shown to help reduce school dropout rates) and helping the elderly live independently. These numbers may be just a taste of what older Americans have to offer, since research shows that when individuals are asked to volunteer, 81 percent of them do so.

A study by the University of Chicago conducted from 2005 to 2006 found that social engagement in the community may increase with age: people in their 80s were twice as likely as those in their 50s to socialize with their neighbors, volunteer, or attend religious services or meetings of other organized groups one or more times a week. Nearly 40 percent of Baby Boomers say that they are involved in combating "neighborhood problems," compared to only one third of respondents from Generation X (age 29-44).

Not only do older Americans volunteer, but a majority of them contribute to charity as well. A survey conducted by AARP in 2009 found that about 73 percent of both Baby Boomers (age 45-63) and members of the Silent Generation (age 64-80) have donated to charity.

Helping out with Families

Almost 10 percent of all children in the U.S. live with a grandparent, and more than 2.5 million grandparents are responsible for providing the basic needs of their grandchildren. In addition, 39 percent of Americans 65 and older who have grandchildren report helping with child care.

According to 2008 Census data, 30 percent of children under age five who have working mothers - 3.3 million children - are cared for by grandparents for some amount of time each week and 4.7 million children aged 5-14 are regularly cared for by their grandparents. These figures have probably increased since the recession, as more families have doubled up and others have had to rely more on kin networks for child care. Many two-earner couples and single parents could not meet their work responsibilities and remain economically self-sufficient if grandparents did not step in to help out with the children.

Older Americans also help out their adult children. A Pew research survey released in June 2009 found that 51 percent of older Americans had given money to their adult children in the past year. Only 14 percent reported having received money from their adult children in the same period.

___________________________

For further information, contact CCF Board Member Ashton Applewhite:  646-644-4040 / http://www.stayingvertical.com / ashton.applewhite@gmail.com

ABOUT CCF: The Council on Contemporary Families, based at the University of Illinois-Chicago, is a non-profit, non-partisan organization of family researchers, mental health and social practitioners, and clinicians dedicated to providing the press and public with the latest research and best practice findings about American families. To learn more, go to the website, http://www.contemporaryfamilies.org, or contact Stephanie Coontz, CCF's Co-Chair and Director of Research and Public Education and Professor of History and Family Studies at The Evergreen State College: coontzs@msn.com.

WORKING MOTHERS, STAY-AT-HOME MOTHERS, AND DEPRESSION RISK

A Briefing Paper Prepared for the Council on Contemporary Families

By Margaret L. Usdansky (Syracuse University), Rachel A. Gordon (University of Illinois at Chicago), Xue Wang and Anna Gluzman

May 6, 2011

Mothers of young children face difficult decisions when it comes to employment. Some feminists warn that staying home leads to social isolation, increasing the risk of maternal depression. But many neo-traditionalists counter that employment increases women's stress levels, leading to depression because of lost time with children or worries about child care. The question of whether working or staying home causes depression matters not just for the sake of mothers' happiness, but for the well-being of children, since maternal depression is a risk factor for children. So it is important to know the findings of a new study: When it comes to mothers' risk of depression, both these one-size-fits-all arguments miss the mark.

The impact of working for pay or staying home on women's risk of depression depends on mothers' preferences and on their job quality, our study finds. Mothers who stay home because they prefer not to work outside the home have a relatively low risk of depression. But stay-at-home mothers who would rather be working for pay do face higher risks of depression. In fact, these women had the same risk of depression as mothers in our sample who wanted to stay home but had to go work in low-quality jobs.

Employment isn't always "good" or "bad" for women's morale. Much depends on the quality of the job, and this can even trump women's preference. Mothers employed in low-quality jobs face a heightened risk of depression even when they do want to work for pay. But interestingly, mothers employed in high-quality jobs face a low risk of depression even if they do NOT want to work for pay.

December 16, 2009

By Deborah Carr, Associate Professor of Sociology, Rutgers University; carrds@rci.rutgers.edu; 732.309.1807; and Kristen W. Springer, Assistant Professor of Sociology, Rutgers University; kspringe@rci.rutgers.edu, 732.425.0017

Keeping healthy during the holiday season isn't something we need to do alone. Decades of research by social scientists show that good relationships keep us healthy. Our spouses and partners can help us to eat and sleep well, motivate us to exercise, and provide emotional support during stressful times. Here are ten tips to keep yourself (and your families) healthy this holiday season.

January 17, 2006

By AnneMarie Murdock, Research Intern, Council on Contemporary Families; annemariemurdock@comcast.net

Recent trends in U.S. sexual education and reproductive health policies threaten to jeopardize the significant progress made during the 1980s and 1990s in improving teen sexual health domestically and HIV/STD infection rates, unwanted pregnancies, and reproductive health care worldwide.