Andy is right. Claiming identity is the most critical long term effect of a civil rights law.....
I soon found my calling as a disability advocate and I learned to think of my disability as a positive differentiator; it gave me added credibility and gravitas in my chosen profession. I was proud to be a person with a psychiatric disability who was “out” as a professional and I felt welcomed by my colleagues with a variety of disabilities in Massachusetts and beyond.
The ADA made it easier for me to be open about my disability when I applied to work for Senator Tom Harkin on the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Disability Policy, and my mood disorder is something that has informed and motivated my work since I came to Washington for that job in 1993.
My experience with disability made me better as an attorney adviser at the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission; as the general counsel and director of policy at the National Council on Disability; as the president and chief executive officer of the American Association of People with Disabilities; as the disability policy director for the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions; and in my current role as the executive director of the Association of University Centers on Disabilities.