Anniversary of the ADA

 

July 26, 2026 was the 36 anniversary of the Americans with Disability Act (ADA; 42U.S.C. § 12101), signed into law by George H. W. Bush in 1990. This civil rights law prohibits discrimination based on disability. The Americans with Disability Act is short for "An Act to establish a clear and comprehensive prohibition of discrimination on the basis of disability." It all started in 1985 as a law in the Virginia House of Delegates and was passed in the Virginia General Assembly. Then in 1986 the National Council on Disability recommended and drafted a national law. A draft was introduced in the U.S. Senate in 1988 and, of course, signed into law in 1990. It was later amended and signed by George W. Bush with the amendments taking effect in 2009.

The ADA includes autism as a disability. Unfortunately government entities cannot be sued for failure to enforce ADA, as stated by an U.S. Supreme Court case. 

I was privledged to attend the ARC of Tucson's event of an ice cream social in honor of the ADA on its anniversary. Let us honor and create disability awareness not just on one day, but every day year around

 

Hello everyone,  This week the support group will be Saturday 1 August 2026 at 1:00 pm.  This week we will be meeting at the Eegees located at 243 E Speedway Blvd. The closest street is 5th ave. This week there will be an open forum We now have a Google Meet link for those that have an issue leaving their home. It will be up at this meeting. Please see this message's footer for the link.  See you then Regards,  John Support community location: 243 E Speedway Blvd, Tucson, AZ Community Office Phone: (520) 314-6896 Community web site: www.tucsonautismadvocacy.org Community  social   networking site: https://www.meetup.com/Tucson-Adult-Autism-Support-. Google Meet link: To join the video meeting, click this link: https://meet.google.com/hnz-opbt-mos

John Comegys and his Job Club, Part II: The Job Club Guidebook Review

 

John Comegys' Autism Job Club Guidebook (The Guidebook) is unique among autism books with autism autobiographies and autism therapy books being a dime a dozen. 

The Guidebook starts with giving a reason for the need for autism job clubs, and subsequent chapters inform the reader how to start a job club. The final chapters of the book teach the job seeker how to find a job and what to expect once a job is obtained

What is great about this book is that it offers advice for professionals, autistic job seekers, and caregivers. The book is loaded with references and resources, coupled with some exercises and assessments.

John Comegys' Autism Job Club Guidebook gets a thumbs up, way up 👍. It is a unique book that is needed to solve a problem that plaugues the autism community: lack of employment.

John Comegys and his Tucson Job Club, Part I

 

I sat down to talk with John Comegys, the facilitator of the Tucson Autism Job Club. John "inherited" the job  club from someone else in 2013 and it has been going on and off ever since. John has a special education and rehabilitation counseling background, which is good to have if a person is going to work with the autism community. John also has autism. Being on the specutrum and being a counselor helps with advocating for members.

A visit to the online and in-person versions of the Autism Job Club will show that it is a peer driven support system with John as the facilitator. Between 5-15 show up to John's Autism Job Clubs.

Next week this story will be continued as I review John's book about how to start autism job clubs.