Ep. 10 - Senator Tammy Duckworth

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Episode Description

 

In this special episode, we talk with Illinois Senator Tammy Duckworth about her perspective on the Americans with Disabilities Act and what the 30th anniversary means to her. She shares her advise on how to support full implementations of the ADA and what she thought of the law before acquiring a disability. 

Senator Duckworth is an Iraq War veteran and Purple Heart recipient. She was the former assistant secretary of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. She was the first disabled woman elected into Congress in 2012, and in 2016 she was elected to the U.S. Senate, where she was the first female disabled senator. In addition, she became the first female senator to give birth while in office. In addition to the many issues for which Senator Duckworth fights, she's a strong supporter of civil rights for all Americans and is committed to advancing policies to protect Americans in all areas of society.

Recently she took on Amtrak, after the transportation company sought to charge two passengers an extraordinate amount of money to accommodate their wheelchairs on a one-way train ride. She also backed the Air Carrier Access Amendments Act, which included many disability focused provisions on the Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization Act. Her major contribution was a new rule requiring airlines to report information on the number of checked bags, wheelchairs, and motorized scooters they damage each month.