纪念《美国残疾人法》20周年

    This is the VOA Special English Health Report.
    这里是美国之音慢速英语健康报告。

    Twenty years ago this week, President George H. W. Bush signed a civil rights law that Americans call the ADA.
    20年前的这个星期,老布什总统签署了一项民事权利法,美国人称之为《美国残疾人法》(Americans with Disabilities Act,简称ADA)。

    GEORGE H. W. BUSH: "I now lift this pen to sign this Americans with [Disabilities] Act and say let the shameful wall of exclusion finally come tumbling down."
    老布什:“我现在提笔签署《美国残疾人法》,让针对残疾人的可耻的隔离墙见鬼去吧。”

    Congress passed the law to bar discrimination against people with physical or mental disabilities. The ADA governs employers, transportation systems and public places, including hotels and other businesses.
    国会通过了这部禁止歧视身体或精神残疾者的法律,该法涉及的领域包含就业、交通和公共场所,包括酒店和其他商业场所。

    In New York, the Mayor's Office for People with Disabilities co-hosted a celebration Monday to mark the anniversary.
    纽约市残疾人办公室周一协助举办了周年庆祝活动。

    Hip-hop artist Rick Fire says conditions are far better than they were twenty years ago. But he says being in a wheelchair is still often a problem in his neighborhood in the Bronx area of the city.
    Hip-hop艺术家Rick Fire说,当前状况比他们在20年前遭遇的好多了。但他表示,在本市布朗克斯区他居住的街区,坐在轮椅上还时会经常遇到麻烦。

    RICK FIRE: "There's a lot of hills and there's a lot of places where I can't go. There's still buildings where I can't go because they've got steps. But overall, it's good. Thanks to the ADA, we are being more accepted, like having a disability. People still look at you weird, but it's like, 'All right, he's disabled now, but it's kind of OK now.'"
    RICK FIRE:“目前还有很多小山,很多地方我去不了。还有些建筑物因为有台阶我也去不了。但总体而言还是不错。由于《美国残疾人法》,我们作为残疾人越来越被接受。人们还是怪异地看你,但他可能是想,'是的,他残疾了,但他现在的状况看起来还不错'。”

    Matthew Sapolin is commissioner of the Mayor's Office for People with Disabilities, and he is blind. His job is to try to improve life for disabled New Yorkers.
    Matthew Sapolin是市残疾人办公室专员,他是盲人。他的工作是努力改善纽约残疾人生活。

    MATTHEW SAPOLIN: "If we are going to build something -- how we build it, how we construct it, so that it would be accessible to people of all types of disabilities. Whether we talk about a ramp or whether we talk about a doorway or a handrail, things like Braille on elevators and signage and things like that."
    MATTHEW SAPOLIN:“如果我们要盖楼 - 我们要如何设计、建造,以方便各类残疾人。无论我们讨论的是坡道,入口还是扶手,电梯上的盲文标志、指示标牌等。”

    Bobbi Wailes developed polio before a vaccine became available in the nineteen fifties. She was twelve years old. Schools then were not designed for wheelchairs. She had to be tutored at home three days a week.
    Bobbi Wailes在19世纪50年代疫苗开发出来之前患上了小儿麻痹症。当她12岁时,学校没有设计成轮椅适用。她每周有3天不得不在家里接受辅导。

    After high school, she got a job in one of the few workplaces with wheelchair-accessible bathrooms. She worked at a hospital for thirty years, mostly as an administrator.
    高中毕业后,她在一个少有的拥有轮椅适用卫生间的地方找到了工作。她在医院工作了30年,主要是担任管理员。

    Bobbi Wailes also fought for passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
    Bobbi Wailes还为美国残疾人法案的通过做出了贡献。

    BOBBI WAILES: "Let me tell you something, disability doesn't care if you're young, old, rich, poor, black, white, green or purple. Disability will always be here, unfortunately. So it behooves all of us to make it a world that everybody can live in."
    BOBBI WAILES:“让我来告诉你一些事情,残疾无关年轻还是年老,贫穷还是富有,黑人还是白人,平民还是贵族。很遗憾残疾将永远存在。因此,我们大家都有责任使世界适合每个人居住!“

    Even with the ADA, a lot of work remains to reach the goal of equality for the disabled -- and not just in America.
    即使有了《美国残疾人法》,实现残疾人平等目标还有大量的工作要做--这不仅仅发生在美国。

    Marca Bristo heads a group called the United States International Council on Disabilities. She was paralyzed at the age of twenty-three. She broke her neck diving into a lake.
    马卡·布里斯托(Marca Bristo)是美国国际残疾人理事会负责人。她23岁时,在湖中跳水伤了脖子而瘫痪。

    MARCA BRISTO: "People with disabilities are living in the streets in some countries. It's deemed you have been possessed by the devil, or put out on the street, a shame to your family and really left to live very subhuman lives."
    马卡·布里斯托:“有些国家的残疾人流落街头。他们被视为妖魔附体被扔在街头,被家人视为耻辱,过着非人的生活。”