Access has improved since the Americans With Disabilities Act: "Twenty years ago, Stanley Soden likely found that some of the activities most take for granted were at best troublesome, if not nearly impossible.
The act has not proved to be a panacea for those living with disabilities, experts said. But the ADA has made possible great strides in improving the lives of 54 million people — 19 percent of the nation's population, according to 2005 U.S. Census figures — who live with some form of disability."