Texas Disability Timeline: 2000s

2000

During the 2000 election season, some voters who are blind or have some visual impairments will be able to cast their ballots in private for the first time using an electronic voting system called eSlate, developed by Hart Inter Civic of Austin, Texas.

The US Congress approves legislation that allows immigrants to become citizens without taking the oath of allegiance. The bill from Senator Orrin Hatch, allows the attorney general to grant a waiver for "an individual with a disability, or a child, who is unable to understand or communicate an understanding of the meaning of the oath."
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/D?d106:62:./temp/~bd6lTv::

Jack Kilby, a Texan with a hearing loss won the Nobel Prize for an invention of a microchip.
http://www.ti.com/corp/docs/kilbyctr/jackstclair.shtml

The National Institute of Health, Baylor College of Medicine, and other private and public research centers completed the Human Genome Project, a map of human DNA. Additionally, the project reported that it identified the chromosome responsible for Down Syndrome.
http://medicine.wustl.edu/~wumpa/news/2000/finalphase.html

2001

The world's first implantable pacemaker patient, Arne Larsson dies after having received 22 different pacemakers during his lifetime.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_pacemaker

Erik Weihenmayer, who is visually impaired, becomes the first person who is blind to reach the top of Mount Everest, the world's highest mountain.

Texas legislature passes a bill that allows public school students with asthma to self-administer medication while at school. It also requires Texas courts to use qualified sign language interpreters when requested, and strengthens criminal penalties against crime motivated by hate directed towards certain groups, including individuals with disabilities.

2003

DOJ's Office for Victims of Crime chooses the Austin, Texas based SafePlace Disabilities Services Program to head a national initiative to improve services for victims of domestic violence or sexual abuse who have disabilities. In 2004, SafePlace won a National Crime Victims' Rights Award from the DOJ.
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/newsroom/2004/ncvrw042004.htm

"Team Everest" makes the climb to the 17,500 foot base camp. The team is made of members of the Coalition of Texans with Disabilities (CTD). Gary Guller of Austin, Texas leads the team and becomes the first person with one arm to scale the mountain. As a result of the "Team Everest" climb, CTD and AARP work to create "livable communities" for people who are aging and people with disabilities, starting with projects in El Paso and Corpus Christi.
http://www.teameverest03.org/

For the first time, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights of the Organization of American States (OAS) orders Paraguay to end abuses in a national psychiatric facility.
http://www.mdri.org/projects/americas/paraguay/pressrelease.htm

2004

San Antonio, Texas police station begins using VRI (Video Relay Interpreting Services) for deaf victims and witnesses to report crimes in sign language.
www.cepintdi.org/milestones.htm

2005

Texan Lance Armstrong is the first cyclist to win seven consecutive Tour de France titles. Armstrong is a cancer survivor and his foundation, dedicated to cancer survivorship programs. By 2004, Lance was selected as the Associated Press' Male Athlete of the Year for the third time.

Austin, Texas wins the Accessible America Contest, administered by National Organization on Disability's (NOD) Community Partnership Program.
http://www.nod.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=page.viewPage&pageID=1430&nodeID=1&FeatureID=1579&redirected=1&CFID=8033120&CFTOKEN=68421539