Silver Spring, MD – Calling the ADA Education and Reform Act of 2017 (H.R.620) shameful and discriminatory to people with disabilities, the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) called on Congress to reject the bill in a letter to Members of Congress.
“Our members work throughout the nation operating and maintaining our nation’s transit systems, school buses and interstate coaches at Greyhound and other carriers. We take great pride in our commitment to serving all Americans without discrimination,” wrote ATU International President Larry Hanley in the letter.
“As transit workers, we see daily the importance of the ability of all people to move freely throughout our communities and access public accommodations on an equal basis.”
ATU says the legislation would subject people with disabilities, and only people with disabilities, to a burdensome bureaucratic procedure to gain access to certain public accommodations.
“Human dignity and civil rights do not allow us to single out and subject people with disabilities to waiting periods and red tape to gain entrance to stores, restaurants, schools, theaters, night clubs, hospitals and offices that are open and accessible to all others without delay or hindrance,” the letter continued.
“All people in our society, including people with disabilities, deserve full mobility and equal access to all public accommodations. The effort in H.R.620 to diminish this civil right is shameful and must be defeated.
“On behalf of the 199,000 members of the Amalgamated Transit Union, I urge you to protect the civil rights of people with disabilities, and vote “NO” on the ADA Education and Reform Act of 2017 (H.R.620),” the letter concludes.