Dec 9, 2018 3 min read

Jonathan Chait of New York magazine pointed out last week that George H.W. Bush was “not a great president, but a pretty good one,” and that he “was complicated and flawed, like most politicians.” While the elder Bush is not bound for a spot on Mount Rushmore, the seriousness with which he took his responsibilities and his personal graciousness are attributes that the United States could definitely use a little more of right now.

Following Bush’s death Nov. 30 at age 94, most of those paying tribute to the 41st president agreed on two points: He was a wise and able steward in guiding American policy in the uncertain time after the Berlin Wall fell and communism collapsed in the Soviet Union, and he helped generations of his countrymen who navigate the world with disabilities by signing the Americans With Disabilities Act in July 1990.

For those with disabilities, whether it’s mobility issues, visual impairment or learning deficits, the Americans With Disabilities Act is arguably as important as the civil rights legislation of the 1950s and 1960s that prohibited discrimination on the basis of race, religion, gender or place of national origin. Along those same lines, the Americans With Disabilities Act outlaws discrimination against individuals with disabilities when it comes to transportation, jobs, education and public accommodations.

If you encounter a barrier-free building, a qualified person with a disability on the job or public transportation that facilitates wheelchairs, the Americans With Disabilities Act should be accorded its share of the credit.

Upon signing the law, Bush described it as “powerful in its simplicity,” and pledged that it would offer those with disabilities “independence, freedom of choice, control of their lives, the opportunity to blend fully and equally into the rich mosaic of the American mainstream.”

And the United States proved to be a leader on the world stage when it came to the Americans With Disabilities Act – it was used as a template for other countries when they adopted similar laws. Despite the cries by some over the years that it is a hindrance to business owners, its mandates are reasonable – for instance, elevators are now a requirement, but only in new structures that are more than two stories high, or in older buildings that have been extensively renovated.

In an interview with the website Vox just after Bush’s death, Lexi Frieden, a professor at the University of Texas Health Science Center, said that the Americans With Disabilities Act “changed the paradigm on the way we look at disability from a medical diagnosis-oriented paradigm to one of function and accessibility.”

Frieden also made another salient point – even if you are in the full glory of youth right now, running marathons and not even needing eyeglasses, you could well benefit from the Americans With Disabilities Act once time and age takes its toll. He described “a tsunami pertaining to disability among the baby boomers we have in our society … All of those people are retiring now, they’re getting older, and as a person ages, they will most likely and naturally become disabled.”

George H.W. Bush now belongs to history. And posterity will judge his support of Americans with disabilities kindly.