Chatham's First National Disability Independence Day On July 26

CHATHAM, NJ — Recognizing the importance of including and accommodating anyone with any type of disability, the Borough of Chatham plans to celebrate the 31st National Disability Independence Day, coming up on Monday, July 26.

Chatham Borough Council, with Mayor Thaddeus Kobylarz, introduced a proclamation at its last meeting to recognize the day, with Kobylarz saying it was the first time the council had ever introduced this proclamation. He thanked Councilman Frank Truilo for suggesting the council create it.

It was on July 26, 1990 that the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) became a law, with then-President George H.W. Bush signing off on it to prevent discrimination of those who are disabled in various aspects of their everyday life, from within their workplace, schools, businesses they can enter and modes of transportation they can use.

With the council not meeting on the same day as National Disability Independence Day, a day the group normally would convene, Kobylarz said it was an appropriate time for the council to introduce the proclamation.

As part of the historic ADA, building codes for new construction were required to become ADA compliant, with buildings pre-dating the Act also mandated to -when possible - make accommodations that would enable someone with a disability the means to enter.

Truilo told fellow council members and the public during the meeting, he’s asked the Planning Board that when applications come in for the downtown, that as the Board reviews them, to look for existing barriers that could make it difficult for someone in a wheelchair or who’s using a walker, to enter the building.

“It’s not just for the elderly who are in a wheelchair or a walker,” Truilo said, “but we have many new families coming in to Chatham, very young families, with strollers.”

“I think it behooves all of our business owners to try to accommodate all of the above,” Truilo said.

The proclamation for the day recognizes that stigmas, stereotypes and prejudice can manifest, when people who face some type of disability, are excluded from activities and places that those without physical or emotional challenges, can participate in or enter. It also honors all people who have a form of disability, no matter their type of disability, ethnicity or race.

It additionally notes that in spite of progress over the years for those who are disabled “more remains to be done to ensure accessibility, accommodation, inclusion and integration.”

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