Board Commemorates Passages: Older Americans, Americans with Disabilities Acts

CREST HAVEN – Freeholders marked, at the July 28 meeting,  the anniversaries of passage of two federal acts that touch many Cape May County residents: Older Americans Act and Americans with Disabilities Act.
50th Anniversary
The Older Americans Act was signed into law July 14, 1965. It was, according to a resolution the board passed, “The first national effort to provide community services to older Americans, and…is still the major vehicle for establishing and funding services to older Americans.
The act provides services through a national network of 56 state units on aging, 629 area agencies on aging and nearly 20,000 service providers, 244 tribal organizations, and two native Hawaiian organizations representing 400 tribes.
Locally, services are administered through the county Department of Aging and Disability Services Area Plan Contract. Those services are used by “hundreds of older and disabled Cape May County residents annually,” the resolution states.
25th Anniversary
Americans with Disabilities Act was signed into law July 28, 1990. It established standards and regulations “to remove barriers and empower people with disabilities.”
Before the law’s creation, “Many Americans with disabilities were unable to safely access public buildings for business or to vote, retail stores, theatres, restaurants or many other facilities for work or leisure,” the resolution stated.
Of the 56 million Americans with disabilities, over 1 million in New Jersey have a disability, it stated. Of that number, an estimated 19,000 Cape May County residents have a disability. It further cites that the county “continually strives to recognize the issues and the needs of our residents with disabilities and responds by planning, educating and providing services to people with disabilities.”