U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., was the keynote speaker at UW-Madison's McBurney Disability Resource Center's first annual Disability Awareness Conference at Grainger Hall Saturday.
Baldwin spoke about recent federal legislation affecting people with disabilities, and said the amendment to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), signed by President Bush last fall, broadened the legal definition of disability.
According to Baldwin, the amendment forces courts to recognize impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, effectively giving more people access to services from the ADA.
Baldwin called the amendment ""good news"" and said she expects more good news under the leadership of President Obama.
""We should think about how every bill we pass will affect different groups of people, rather than dividing by labels,"" she said.
According to Baldwin, legislators in Congress need to hear personal stories from constituents on issues related to disability in order to address them, adding that hearing from a disabled friend of hers increased her personal awareness of the issues.
""They're not going to make the right choices until they know what it means,"" she said.
According to Cathy Trueba, the director of the McBurney Disability Resource Center, Baldwin was the first-choice speaker because of her work on health care for people with and without disabilities.
""She's worked tirelessly to bring a voice to the community's people who have been left out of conversations politically, socially and culturally,"" Trueba said.
Chris Bjorkman, educational outreach specialist for the McBurney Disability Resource Center and UW-Madison senior, said she planned the event to educate students on campus about disability and deaf culture issues.
Bjorkman said there has not been any comparable event on campus recently, and there is a need to spread awareness of disability-related issues.
""It's not really something we have a campus dialogue on right now,"" Bjorkman said.
Bjorkman added she was pleased with the conference's turnout and hopes the event will continue next year.
