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American Indian Disability Legislation and Programs

American Indian tribes are sovereign nations, and, like most U.S. civil rights legislation, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 therefore specif ically excluded reservations from its coverage. As a result, little is known about the status of disability policies among Indian nations. American Indian tribes were surveyed to collect information about issues related to disability legislation, to learn whether the tribe had developed written legislation or policy pertaining to disability issues, to discover the availability of and accessibility to tribal programs for individuals with disabilities, and to ascertain the views of tribal leaders about disability issues. Questionnaires were sent to a random sample of 192 tribes from the 48 contiguous states and 142 Alaska Native villages. One hundred twelve (58%) surveys from the lower 48 states and 31 (22%) from Alaska were completed and returned. Only 6% of the respondents indicated that their tribal governments were very familiar with major disability legislation. Seventy-four percent of respondents from the 48 contiguous states and 58% of respondents reported that their tribal government would be interested in initiating a process to establish disability legislation within their tribe. As many tribes are poor and cannot afford the investment needed for disability planning and programs, these findings suggest the need for coordinated federal support to achieve that goal. Results are discussed in terms of the status of disability policy, programs, and services among tribal and Alaska Native governments.