Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) 21st anniversary : DBTAC - Great Lakes ADA Center Press Release

The DBTAC- Great Lakes ADA Center Celebrates 21 years of promoting voluntary
compliance of the Americans with Disabilities Act
July 26, 2011 marks the 21st anniversary of the signing of the Americans with Disabilities
Act (ADA). The ADA gives civil rights protections to individuals with disabilities similar
to those provided to individuals on the basis of race, color, sex, national origin, age, and
religion. It guarantees equal opportunity for individuals with disabilities to access
businesses, employment, transportation, telecommunications, as well as State and local
government programs and services.
The DBTAC: Great Lakes ADA Center is part of the National ADA network which
provides information on the ADA that facilitates voluntary compliance via a broad and
diverse network of partners across the Midwest. The states served by the Center are
Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin.
The Great Lakes Center funds State Affiliates to help foster voluntary compliance of the
ADA within the six states. The Center works with the State Affiliates and other
organizations in order to provide technical assistance, trainings, and materials on the
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and on accessible information technology. The
mission of the Affiliates is to enhance and utilize local resources, trainings, technical
assistance, and conferences, in order to get voluntary compliance with the ADA. The
Affiliates serve as a centralized and statewide vehicle that educates and promotes full
implementation of the ADA throughout the state.
Each Affiliate provides the following services:
· Education, training, and topic specific presentations
· Connection to a network of local and national agencies
· Publications with information on employment, accessibility, reasonable
accommodations, etc.
More information regarding our Affiliates can be found at:
· Illinois ADA Project - http://www.ada-il.org
· ADA Indiana - http://www.adaindiana.org
· Michigan ADA Steering Committee - http://www.adamich.org
· ADA Minnesota - http://www.adaminnesota.org
· ADA Ohio - http://www.ada-ohio.org
· Wisconsin ADA Partnership - http://www.adawipartnership.org
In addition, the Great Lakes Center has partnered with a variety of entities to conduct
outreach, awareness, training and consultation in the area of accessible technology.

Activities include a web based collection of resources (http://www.accessibletech.org)
and a webinar series covering a variety of topics. The Center strives to work with a
variety of entities to insure that their technology is accessible to customers, employees,
students, staff and the public with disabilities.
The DBTAC - Great Lakes ADA Center is proud of our involvement promoting
voluntary compliance with the ADA. However, the center recognizes the importance of
continued efforts and looks forward to positive changes in the future. For more
information about the DBTAC -Great Lakes ADA Center please call 1-800-949-4232
(V/TTY), 312-413-1856 (Fax)

For DBTAC - Great Lakes ADA Center click headline or visit: http://www.adagreatlakes.org.