The weeklong Transcript news series on the disabled among us has attempted to put a local face on the 54 million Americans who are living with some kind of disability. As the series reports, thousands of them are our neighbors.

It’s been 35 years since the federal Rehabilitation Act was passed and 18 years since the landmark Americans with Disabilities Act went into effect. Amendments to the law will take effect Jan. 1, 2009, allowing more Americans to be covered.

A few themes ring true from our reporters’ notebooks. Disabled citizens don’t want pity. They want the same opportunities afforded able bodied folks. They want meaningful jobs working for employers who care about what they can do, not what they can’t do.

They struggle daily with what most of us take for granted: Housing accessibility, transportation alternatives, shopping, social outlets and child care. A few homebuilders and apartment managers have figured out there is a market for homes that are set up for the disabled.

Some stores go out of their way to welcome disabled shoppers and their families while a few see it as more of a bother. OU students had high marks for the campus accommodations. They have staff advocates and a networking group who make access a priority.

Norman is truly blessed with a wealth of agencies and governmental offices that look out for the disabled. Outside of that, as one service agency client shared with a reporter, “The one thing this place has taught me is there are nice people in the world,” she said.