On the eve of the 17th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, Hillary Clinton wanted to celebrate the significant progress that has been made since this landmark law was enacted. The nation has dramatically improved the accessibility of the built environment and the telecommunications infrastructure. But there is still have a long way to go. That is why today Hillary Clinton is unveiling a new set of proposals to empower people with disabilities for the jobs, work and careers they aspire to.

The United States will only reach its economic potential if it ensures that people with disabilities have the full opportunity to reach their potential. Americans with disabilities have half the employment rate and double the poverty rate of individuals who do not have disabilities. Even those people with disabilities who graduated college work at only two-thirds the rate of college graduates without disabilities. Hillary Clinton believes we must shift our orientation towards a new approach that helps those with disabilities thrive and reach their potential in the workplace, community and nation.

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About two weeks ago, July 16th, a Call To Action was issued by the AAPD asking you to urge your local congress person to support H.R. 3043. NorCal Disability is sad to say that we did not report the Call to Action before it went to vote.

The new proposed bill would allocate about $10.6 billion (about nine percent) more than the President’s proposal and includes increases for:

• The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act^[1] and for No Child Left Behind Act^[1];
• National Institute on Child Health and Human Development^[1] and other vital research at the National Institutes of Health^[1];
• Community services grants and job training; and
• Other critical programs for children and adults with disabilities and their families.

Since then, the House of Representatives did pass the bill with a 276-140 vote. However, President Bush threatened to veto the legislation. After all is said and done, it would amount to a $26 billion increase, about two percent more than President Bush requested.

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This Thursday, July 26, marks the 17th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act. On this day, the ADA Restoration Act of 2007 will be introduced by chief cosponsors Representatives Steny Hoyer (D-MD) and James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) to restore protections for Americans with disabilities under the landmark law.

Despite the ADA’s intent to create a level playing field in the workplace, the full promise of the law has never been fulfilled. In recent years, the Supreme Court has slowly chipped away at the broad protections of the ADA and created a new set of barriers to employment for people with disabilities.

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COMMERCE, GA - Ronnie Rivera, a 15-year-old in braided pigtails, sits in a wheelchair in a narrow hallway of Hill Haven senior-citizen nursing home. A half-dozen other residents, many with dementia and most four to six decades older, sit nearby. Around them, a maintenance worker mops the linoleum floor.

Ronnie has lived in this single-story red-brick building since she was 10 years old, the only child among elders. Her mother, Iris Rivera-Smith, has tried unsuccessfully for years to get the financial help she would need to bring her daughter home.

Thousands of other children are growing up in nursing homes across the country, many for the same reason as Ronnie. Federal disability insurance guarantees nursing-home care for the disabled. But in many states, its coverage isn’t enough to let those people, children included, live at home — even when the cost to taxpayers, and the strain on families, is often much lower.

Born legally blind, with club feet and cerebral palsy, Ronnie can’t walk or speak. She can’t feed or dress herself. But she responds to touch, smells and sounds, pounding her chest with her right hand and laughing when happy. Latin music, the outdoors and her mother’s voice make her happy.

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Recently, July 10th, legislation was introduced that would help Americans becoming disabled. It would provide either Tier 1 ($50 per day) or Tier 2 ($100 per day) to Americans that have become disabled. It would establish a national insurance program paid by voluntary payroll deductions of $30.

The program would have two benefit tiers. Tier 1 benefits ($50 per day) would be payable to eligible individuals who have two or more impairments on activities of daily living (ADLs), or the equivalent cognitive impairments.

Tier 2 benefits ($100 per day) would be payable to individuals who have four or more ADLs, or the equivalent cognitive impairment.

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Hilary Clinton was given a questionnaire to answer regarding people with disabilities. This questionnaire was supplied by: AAPD, ADAPT, NCIL and SABE. Included were all issues related to employment, universal health care, services and supports, housing, transportation, education, technology and telecommunications, voting, civil rights and international human rights.

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• What is the Disability Initiative?
  • The SPEC Disability Initiative educates taxpayers with disabilities on available tax credits, deductions, and free tax help. It also increases their understanding of and access to community-based asset-building and financial literacy resources to help improve their economic well-being.
• What is SPEC’s Strategy?
  • Collaborate fully with the National Disability Institute (NDI) through their Real Economic Impact Tour (REI Tour). This campaign for people with disabilities is a national initiative delivering financial education and tax preparation services to low-income persons with disabilities in more than 100 U.S. cities over the upcoming years.
  • Expand the reach of existing community-based coalitions in selected cities by targeting efforts to include national and local disability organizations into existing coalition efforts around education/outreach, free tax preparation services and asset-building opportunities.
  • Develop and implement unique marketing plans to educate and inform low-income persons with disabilities about tax credits and deductions they are entitled to.
• What are our Goals?
  • Educate and inform persons with disabilities and the organizations that serve them regarding the interaction of public benefits and the receipt of federal tax credits and benefits (including Earned Income Tax Credit).
  • Fully integrate persons with disabilities into all existing free tax preparation services by ensuring that all sites are fully accessible and accommodating.
  • Provide access to asset-building opportunities.

Wheelchair skateboarders do with their wheelchairs what skateboarders do with their boards. They make amazing jumps to great heights all while trying not to injure themselves in the process. Aaron Fotheringham is a wheelchair athlete, in 2005 doing a mid-air 180 degree turn. In July of 2006, he became the first person in history to do a back-flip, mid-air, in a wheelchair.

He said it took a while, making 50 or 60 test-jumps into cushions before attempting his record-breaking feat. After “perfecting” his jump, he tried it another 15 or so times (at times getting knocked out) before successfully completing his back-flip. In his back-flip endeavor, he has broken his elbow and had his fair share of bumps and bruises.

Currently Aaron’s sponsor, Colours Wheelchairs, has been working closely with him to develop a suspension wheelchair so he may keep pushing the limits.

An interview was conducted with Aaron and the transcription can be read online, here.

MSNBC recently reported “What Works” and has placed a video clip of the story on the Internet.

Walgreens vice president, Randy Lewis, came up with the idea because his own son has autism. Lewis says “Austin’s gift to me was to look past a disability to see a person.” More than 40% of the employees at an undisclosed Walgreens shipping facility have a disability. That being said, the undisclosed shipping facility is 20% more efficient than any other distribution within the company.

The video can be viewed here

Your right to vote privately and independently in next year’s Presidential elections could be jeopardized with a new piece of legislation moving through the Congress. Congressman Rush Holt (D-NJ) introduced H.R. 811, the Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act on February 7 of this year. Known as the Holt bill, the legislation would amend the HAVA by requiring that all polling places use equipment in to the 2008 presidential race that can produce an accessible, voter verifiable paper ballot.

AAPD opposes passage of H.R. 811 in its current form. At the present time, we are awaiting the development of an accessible voting machine that can meet the Holt bill’s paper ballot requirement. Further, it will take years to develop new system standards and test protocol, design and beta test equipment, certify and purchase equipment and train election officials and poll workers. Reliable estimates to develop and implement this technology range from five to ten years.

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