746 



HISTORY OF THE COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 



Scheuer added: 



Communication, perhaps, presents the major obstacle in the education of the 

 handicapped child. Various disabilities such as blindness, deafness and cerebral palsy 

 restrict a good mind from interacting with the world around him, and thus stunt 

 his educational growth. However, the use of computers with their adaptive mechan- 

 ism give the handicapped child increased learning skills and opportunities unknown 

 until recent years. 



ADDITIONAL TEAGUE INITIATIVES 



During 1978, Teague launched a whole series of personal and 

 committee initiatives designed to spur both public and private agencies 

 to focus on doing more in a practical and realistic way to aid the handi- 

 capped. By insisting that NASA be the lead agency, both the panel and 

 Teague himself shocked the existing agencies into realizing they had 

 better not sit back and relax or their jobs and authority would be 

 preempted by a more aggressive, newer agency. So the agencies started 

 doing more themselves. Working with Brademas, Teague helped 

 push through legislation to coordinate handicapped research, plus an 

 interagency committee which represented all Federal agencies carrying 

 on rehabilitation work. At Teague's suggestion, the Armed Forces, 

 Federal agencies, and leading private employers were polled to deter- 

 mine their plans for hiring handicapped persons. In many other areas, 

 Teague, Roodzant, and his staff worked on amending the social 

 security law to allow recipients to qualify to use motorized Amigo 

 wheelchairs, helped break down resistance to implementation of the 

 new Transbus, thus enabling handicapped people to board intracity 

 buses more easily; and continued his running assault on architectural 

 barriers which hampered the handicapped in Federal buildings. On 

 February 24, 1978, for example, Teague accused the General Services 

 Administration, HUD, and the Department of Defense of violating 

 a 1968 law mandating that public buildings be made more accessible 

 to handicapped persons. Teague got quick action by stating: 



The standards specified by public law have not been developed, the inadequate 

 standards that were instead adopted have not been complied with and handicapped 

 individuals are still denied free access to buildings that belong to them as well as 

 every American citizen. We have talked too long. We have asked handicapped people 

 to wait too long. We have not lived up to either the law or our moral responsibility. 



From the top to the bottom, Teague made sure that every responsi- 

 ble Federal official was made aware that he and the committee both 

 meant business. On March 22, 1978, Teague wrote to the President: 



We have vast scientific and technological resources at our disposal; therefore, a 

 program should be focused which blends our resources with the needs of the coun- 



