When Frank Harkin was a boy, he was told his deafness would limit his career. Instead, he found that his disability made him a more productive employee than hearing workers at an aircraft manufacturing plant. He could do delicate work without being distracted by the loud noises around him. His employer was so impressed that he hired more deaf people.
Frank’s work was an inspiration for his younger brother, U.S. Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa; his brother’s successful career in manufacturing led the senator to sponsor the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The act is a civil rights law that bars discrimination in hiring people with disabilities and requires employers to make “reasonable accommodations’’ to allow a person with a disability to do a job. The law also requires hotels, restaurants, stores and other public places to remove architectural barriers that would hinder access to people with disabilities.
Frank Harkin, who died in 2000, had been working as a baker — one of just three jobs he had been told he could do as a deaf person — when the owner of Delavan Corporation took a liking to him and offered him a job. Before then, “his whole life was limited — or he was told it was limited — because he couldn’t hear, ’’ Senator Harkin said, explaining why he made disability rights his calling. “What the ADA has done for all people with disabilities is open the world for travel, for accommodations, for work and for education by breaking down both physical barriers and attitudinal barriers.’’
Some 50 million Americans have a disability, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports, and most Americans will experience disability at some point in their lives.
Senator Harkin said he recently benefited from the law’s policies himself. At the movies, he was handed a special pair of glasses that displayed the dialogue in closed captions so he could read as well as hear the voices of the actors. “It’s amazing, ’’ he said. “And it’s all because of the ADA.”
Frank’s work was an inspiration for his younger brother, U.S. Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa; his brother’s successful career in manufacturing led the senator to sponsor the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The act is a civil rights law that bars discrimination in hiring people with disabilities and requires employers to make “reasonable accommodations’’ to allow a person with a disability to do a job. The law also requires hotels, restaurants, stores and other public places to remove architectural barriers that would hinder access to people with disabilities.
Frank Harkin, who died in 2000, had been working as a baker — one of just three jobs he had been told he could do as a deaf person — when the owner of Delavan Corporation took a liking to him and offered him a job. Before then, “his whole life was limited — or he was told it was limited — because he couldn’t hear, ’’ Senator Harkin said, explaining why he made disability rights his calling. “What the ADA has done for all people with disabilities is open the world for travel, for accommodations, for work and for education by breaking down both physical barriers and attitudinal barriers.’’
Some 50 million Americans have a disability, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports, and most Americans will experience disability at some point in their lives.
Senator Harkin said he recently benefited from the law’s policies himself. At the movies, he was handed a special pair of glasses that displayed the dialogue in closed captions so he could read as well as hear the voices of the actors. “It’s amazing, ’’ he said. “And it’s all because of the ADA.”
