New York City Sidewalks and Curbs Are an Obstacle Course Still in 2017 For People with Disabilities

Dustin Jones must navigate an obstacle course every time he goes out.

By article by WINNIE HU for The New York Times | OCT. 8, 2017     

Mr. Jones (photo), who uses a wheelchair, gets stuck at sidewalk corners where the curb ramp is too broken to roll over or missing altogether. He has to keep going around the block until he finds a usable ramp. The one time he tried to roll off a curb without a ramp, he almost tipped over into the street. He never did that again.

“I’m not able to move around like I want to on the sidewalk like every other New Yorker,” said Mr. Jones, 29, a disability rights advocate who lives in the Bronx. “I believe it’s very unfair. These types of things should not be happening in a city like this.”
Mr. Jones is part of a long-running battle over New York City’s 162,000 sidewalk corners that has resulted in more than two decades of litigation. In the latest development, a federal court-ordered report has highlighted numerous shortcomings in the city’s efforts to install and maintain curb ramps to make every corner accessible to people with disabilities.

The report, by Robert L. Burgdorf Jr., an expert on disability rights, was issued as part of a federal lawsuit filed by the Eastern Paralyzed Veterans Association, now known as the United Spinal Association, against the city in 1994. In spite of a subsequent 2002 settlement, and another agreement last year to address continuing concerns, the report found that the majority of the city’s curb ramps are still not in compliance with federal requirements under the Americans with Disabilities Act, and that the city lacks even a comprehensive survey of all its corners or an adequate plan of action.

The report is expected to be discussed Tuesday at a hearing before Judge George B. Daniels, who is overseeing the case, in a federal courtroom in Manhattan. It comes at a time when Disability Rights Advocates, a national organization, has filed a separate lawsuit against the city over the issue on behalf of the Center for Independence of the Disabled New York, a nonprofit advocacy and service group that has repeatedly called on the city to install and maintain curb ramps and additional markers for the visually impaired. That lawsuit is pending the court’s decision on Mr. Burgdorf’s report.                                      

SDustin Jones must navigate an obstacle course every time he goes out.

Curb ramps that are broken or that have fallen into disrepair, like this one in East Harlem, restrict wheelchair access to sidewalks. Creditphotos: Jonah Markowitz for The New York Times

The report recommends that the city complete a comprehensive survey within 90 days, and develop detailed plans for installing curb ramps that meet federal standards at all corners without ramps within five years, and for upgrading existing ramps within eight years. It also recommends that the court appoint a monitor to oversee the city’s progress.

Sid Wolinsky, a senior supervising attorney for Disability Rights Advocates, said that while many cities have inaccessible curbs, the problem is particularly bad in New York. He said that limiting the ability of those in wheelchairs to get around can lead to social isolation and fewer opportunities for jobs, education and civic participation. “New York City has a hostile environment for people with disabilities,” he said.

Disability Rights Advocates, representing a coalition of disability rights groups, has also challenged the accessibility of the city’s subway system in two discrimination lawsuits against the Metropolitan Transportation Authority over the scarcity of elevators and their frequent breakdowns. It has filed a lawsuit against Uber for providing scant access to wheelchair-accessible vehicles.

Polly Trottenberg, New York’s transportation commissioner, said that the city was committed to making every curb accessible and has made that a priority in its larger Vision Zero campaign to reduce pedestrian fatalities. But she added that it is a vast undertaking with 162,000 corners and more than 300,000 pedestrian ramps, and that the time frames recommended in the court-ordered report are unrealistic.

“We are doing everything we can to improve our efforts on the pedestrian ramps,” Ms. Trottenberg said. “We disagree on the timeline, but we agree on the goal of full accessibility of the sidewalks.”

Of the city’s 162,000 curb corners, only about 2,246 have no ramps, according to city officials. Most of them have complicating factors, such as catch basins, light poles, subway infrastructure or proximity to a historical property, which require extensive design and construction work that could take years to complete. For instance, the transportation department recently devised a temporary measure — an asphalt ramp — for a curb next to a subway entrance beside City Hall in Lower Manhattan until a permanent solution can be built.

In addition, about 116,000 of the corners with existing ramps require some work, ranging from minor repairs to a complete reconstruction, according to city officials.

Ms. Trottenberg said her department had already taken steps to improve its curb ramp program, including increasing funding by hundreds of millions of dollars and hiring dozens of workers. Later this year, the city plans to begin surveying every corner using the latest digital technology to create a comprehensive inventory that will be made publicly available on a website.

Susan Dooha, the executive director of the Center for Independence of the Disabled New York, said that while inaccessible curbs are a headache for many pedestrians — including parents with strollers and tourists with suitcases — they are particularly dangerous for those with disabilities. She said that some curb ramps have crumbled or are too narrow, while others have such a steep incline that they could send a wheelchair flying into the street. Other curbs lack any markers for the visually impaired to warn them that they are entering the street.

“Every single day, every move you make across New York City is limited by the city’s failure to take disability rights seriously,” Ms. Dooha said.

Monica Bartley, 62, a community outreach organizer for the independence center who uses a wheelchair, said that she had been late for appointments because she was unable to cross a curb and needed to retrace her path to find another place to cross. Other times, her wheelchair has been damaged by ramps that are uneven or have sharp edges.

“It’s frustrating because it creates problems,” she said. “Other people are able to go about their business without encountering any barriers.”

A version of this article appears in print on October 9, 2017, on Page A17 of the New York edition with the headline: Disabled New Yorkers Face Trouble With the Curbs.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/08/nyregion/new-york-city-sidewalks-disabled-curb-ramps.html

Urgent Oct 4, 2017: Call U.S. Congressman Rush to Save Home and Community Based Services! - UPDATED

Our colleges at Access Living (Center for Independent Living for Chicago)  has shared the following information in the continued Health Care issues debate. PLEASE TAKE ACTION TODAY!

UPDATED MESSAGE:

Dear Access Living friends and allies,

Congratulations! Your hard work has paid off. Congressional staff in Washington DC have confirmed that the HCBS Settings Rule amendment will NOT be included in the package of amendments to the CHIP bill.  Well done! Congressman Rush's office heard you loud and clear.

This struggle is not over, and we believe that there will be continuing efforts to weaken the rule. To learn more about the rule, visit www.hcbsadvocacy.org.

THANK YOU for your advocacy! You made this happen!

Amber Smock

Director of Advocacy, Access Living 

# # #

original action alert.

Congressional alert! Despite all our work over the last nine months to save Medicaid, we are facing a new attack on Medicaid home and community based services. We have reports that Rep. Bobby Rush will be introducing an amendment at this afternoon's U.S. House Energy & Commerce Committee Markup to freeze implementation of the Home and Community Based Settings (HCBS) Rule. The HCBS Settings Rule is an important federal initiative that requires states to make sure people getting HCBS have their rights respected. It took five years of persistent advocacy by PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES to create this rule. The rule is about self-determination for people with disabilities, and ensuring that Medicaid dollars go to real community settings. The rule prevents providers from deciding when people living in residential settings get to eat or go to sleep or have visitors in their own homes. The rule also makes it harder for states to use HCBS funding to support institution-like settings, such as segregated villages and "gated communities". Again, the rule was crafted with significant input from disabled people stating what is important to them. If Rep. Rush introduces and passes his amendment, states will face more pressure to take scarce HCBS dollars and spend them on institution-like settings rather than supporting people in the real community. We've fought long and hard to move resources into the community - and people with disabilities deserve better than segregation. Call Rep. Rush's office ASAP today at (202) 225-4372. You can use the following script: "Hi, my name is _________. I'm calling to urge you not to introduce an amendment at today's CHIP Markup to stop implementation of the Home and Community Based Settings Rule. People with disabilities deserve the right to live in the true community, not segregated campuses or villages that only house people with other disabilities." The markup is today at 12 PM Central/1 PM Eastern - please make your call ASAP to help us preserve an important disability rights protection! Residents of Illinois especially encouraged to call, but everyone should call. Amber Smock Director of Advocacy, Access Living

2017 Disability Community Resource Fair - Forest Park, IL. - Oct. 19th

Wade Blank 1940-1993, Disability Rights Movement Advocate Remembered

The following history of ADAPT's founder Wade Blank, a non-disabled former nursing home recreational director who assisted several residents to move out and start their own community. The Atlantis Community. The below article from the Ragged Edge- July/August 1993 will offer a look into the history and achievement's of Wade Blank and fellow advocates. Also below is a remembrance by Justin Dart after the unexpected passing of his friend, and fellow advocate.
# # #

Article published by the Ragged Edge- July/August 1993.

Wade Blank

The death of the Reverend Wade Blank on February 15, 1993, left a profound emptiness in the hearts of many people who loved and respected him. But any void in the disability rights movement is only momentary, for Blank left behind scores of human values, a keen analysis – and scores of skilled, committed leaders ready to carry the movement forward.

American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today (ADAPT) and its mother, the Atlantis Community in Denver, both embody the spiritual, organizational and strategic lessons Blank carried over from the 1960s black civil rights movement. He had been a Presbyterian minister, a War on Poverty field organizer and a disciple of Dr. Martin Luther King, jr., before becoming an orderly, then an assistant administrator, in a Denver nursing home.

Liberated Community
Early in his career as a iconoclastic minister and civil rights worker, Blank developed the concept of a "liberated community" – a society where human beings could live in equality and develop the power to effect change. When, at the Heritage House nursing home, he found himself in the midst of a "community" of people with severe disabilities, whose only community structure was one of oppression – the confines of the institution – he took on the challenge of making the "liberated community" a reality.

It all started when Blank came to Denver seeking a change. "The nursing home industry in Denver recruited its nursing home administrators from the ranks of ex-ministers," he recalled recently… A nursing home executive called Blank. "They said, ‘You’re young. You’re hip. Could you start a youth wing for us?’ So, I started a youth wing."

Hired by Heritage House in December 1971, Blank went to visit the residents the evening before he began his new job. "I remember for dinner that night we had baked potatoes, applesauce and scrambled eggs, and that was near Christmas. The place was like a morgue. The food was cold." Blank chatted with severely disabled individuals, some of whom would later become ADAPT organizers. "Little did I know," Blank recalled, "that I was to enter the most important moment of my life.

"I had 60 young people I recruited. Every morning at 7:30, they’d get dressed and get on a school bus, and go to a workshop and count fish hooks. Called it (a) work activities program."

At council meetings of the young people, the residents made simple requests, and an idealistic Blank tried to implement them. "I let them evaluate the nurses," he said. "They wanted co-ed living. They wanted to have pets. They wanted to have rock ‘n’ roll bands. So three years into this experiment, the nursing home is just like a college dorm on a crazy weekend all the time.

"I was trying to change it from inside, and I didn’t understand the monster I worked for," he recalled.

Outside of the Home
In 1975, Blank proposed "that we move a few of them out into apartments, and we let the aides and orderlies punch in at the nursing home, then go to the apartment and give them service." That idea got Blank fired. "The nursing home saw where I was going, and they couldn't let me go in that direction."

Once Blank was fired, the nursing home erased all his reforms. "They came in and they took all the stereos and TVs out of everybody’s rooms, had the dog pound come by and get all the animals and in one day it went from everything I’d built for four years – to that."

But Blank wasn’t about to give up. Thinking to himself that he’d "recruited all these people to this hell," he decided simply to move them out "and do the care myself…

Atlantis Community
"Within the first six months, I’d moved 18 severely disabled people out. So now I was wed to the concept. You know, I couldn’t walk away from it."

That exodus laid the foundations for the Atlantis Community and its political-action offshoot, ADAPT. "We began t learn about power and what empowerment is, and how to use it," Blank said. While Atlantis was liberating people from nursing homes, ADAPT (which then stood for American Disabled for Accessible Public Transit) took on discrimination in Denver’s, and then the nation’s, bus systems. Using non-violent, direct-action tactics similar to King’s movement, ADAPTers made bold demands and achieved extraordinary results.

Blank had found himself at the center of another civil rights campaign, similar to the one he had seen African Americans wage. "All the issues are the same," Blank asserted. "The black movement wanted to ride the buses equally. The black movement wanted to eat at the Woolworth’s counters. The black movement wanted the right to vote. The black movement wanted the right to keep their families together. The black movement wanted the right to be integrated into the school system. That’s what the disability rights movement wants, exactly…

"My members are into confrontation. We’ll tell somebody what we want, and we’ll talk about it once or twice, but that’s it. Then we deal with you. Either we’ll shut you down or whatever."

Confrontation worked, Blank believed, because it took society’s fears – those fears we’re always trying to dispel in disability awareness workshops – and turned them to a new use…

"So I said," (Blank explained, recalling earlier successes in the black civil rights movement), "…‘Let’s take 25 wheelchairs and go out and surround a bus and hold it and see what happens." Bam! Just like magic. It worked. Total power. Police couldn’t move the wheelchairs because they were afraid. The mayor said, ‘Don’t arrest disabled people.’ We win…"

Focus on Fundamental Human Rights
Blank’s focus on fundamental human rights and on the most impoverished members of the disability community distanced him from more affluent groups. In this, too, he emulated Martin Luther King. "King involved the poorest in the community," Bank said, "and a movement cannot really change things unless they address the poorest, the least. When King was shot, he was beginning to attack the ghettos." For Blank, "Our ghettos are the nursing homes, and we need to address the ghetto."

Blank attacked not only the mainstream disability movement’s economic hierarchy but also its disability hierarchy. "You go around to independent living centers and you’ll see a lot of post-polios and a lot of spinal cord injuries," he said. "But you won’t see people that slobber and can’t speak clearly…" These are the people often excluded or left behind by more "respectable" advocacy organizations, he pointed out…

Blank found leadership qualities in people who had never before thought of being leaders: former nursing home residents, people with speech impairments, people labeled retarded and others typically disenfranchised both by society at large and by traditional disability organizations. Blank had little patience for people who put their own egos or their own careers above the movement.

But more people were and are being empowered every year to free Americans with disabilities from institutions. All are encouraged to help plan protests, identify issues and targets, hold press conferences, and become a part of the "liberated community."

# article originally published in the Ragged Edge- July/August 1993

# # #

photo: Wade Blank with his son Lincoln and fellow Atlantis cofounder Michael Auberger celebrate the laying of the plaque, dedicated to the original protesters - The Gang of 19 - who blocked the intersection to protest the inaccessible buses in 1978.

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The Reverend Wade Blank, 1940-1993 is a tribute to Wade Blank written by Justin Dart in 1993.

Press Release in 1993:                                                                                                                            

The President's Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities 

Justin Dart, Chairman

The Reverend Wade Blank, 1940-1993

Disability rights leader Wade Blank died on February 15 in rough seas off of a beach at Todos Santos, Mexico. He was trying, unsuccessfully, to save his drowning eight year old son, Lincoln.

It is always a tragedy when great lives are cut short by apparently preventable events. But to dwell on the tragedy of Wades Blank’s death would be a very large disservice to the future. Wade’s life is the message. His existence was a towering triumph that demands to be shouted, to be heard, to be acted on.

Unlike others who participated in the sixties revolution for a rational society, Wade did not give up the struggle when it became unfashionable. In 1974 he founded [the first Center for Independent Living in Colorado,] the Atlantis Community in Denver – a radical program to enable people with severe disabilities to leave the isolation of nursing homes and live in the mainstream. Atlantis was a success. But it soon became apparent that the mainstream itself was polluted by devastating discrimination which prevented people with disabilities from fulfilling their humanity.

In the tradition of Martin Luther King, Wade made equal access to bus transport the symbol of full equality: “Rosa Parks protested the indignity of being forced to sit in the back of the bus. We can’t get on the bus at all.” On July 5th and 6th, 1978, he and nineteen people with disabilities illegally detained an inaccessible bus at the intersection of Broadway and Colfax in Denver. ADAPT was born – American Disabled for Accessible Public Transit. During the next twelve years hundreds of ADAPT activists blocked buses, streets, hotels and government buildings across North America. They filled the police records of the jails of Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Houston, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Little Rock, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Reno, Montreal and Washington, DC. Wade, Mike Auberger, Bob Kafka, Mark Johnson, George Roberts, Larry Ruiz, Rick James, Stephanie Thomas and Anita Cameron were arrested 15-30 times each. Molly Blank, Babs Auberger, Frank McComb, Lori Eastwood, Bobby Simpson, Melvin Conrady, Beverly Furnice, Joe Carle, Karen Tarnley, Ann Sawtel, Sue Davis, Diane Coleman and many others were co-heros in the long struggle.

In March of 1990, with the fate of the ADA hanging in the balance, Wade organized the historic march of disability rights leaders from the White House to the US Capitol to demand a law that would provide full equality, “with no weakening amendments.”

People with severe disabilities crawled up the Capitol steps and were arrested demonstrating in the rotunda. ADA passed in July – with no weakening amendments. Without the courage and inspiration of Wade Blank and his colleagues, the world would not have its first comprehensive civil rights law for people with disabilities.

After the passage of ADA, knowing that the job of justice was far from completed, Wade and the members of ADAPT refocused their advocacy. They demanded that the federal government provide funds for personal assistance services that would enable persons with disabilities now trapped in nursing homes to live free in their communities. The demonstrations – and the arrests – continue. Progress is being made. President Clinton has promised to form a task force that will create a national program of personal assistance services.

Some – mostly those that didn’t know him – have said that Wade’s methods were “extreme.” They said that civil disobedience in the eighties and nineties is “passe,” “obsolete,” “inappropriate.” The same kinds of things were said about Washington, Jefferson, Gandhi and Martin Luther King. What is extreme, what is inappropriate is millions of human beings living with less dignity than we accord to our pet dogs and cats. What is inappropriate is American citizens imprisoned without due process of law in oppressive institutions and rat infested back rooms. What is inappropriate is people with disabilities living and begging in the streets. What is inappropriate, what is unspeakably immoral, is a society that cannot be bothered to make the simple changes necessary to give its own children the opportunity of full humanity.

It has been my privilege to work closely with Wade Blank during the last several years. He demonstrated against a meeting I chaired – when HHS Secretary Louis Sullivan spoke at the 1991 PCEPD annual conference in Dallas. We counseled together by telephone at all hours of the day and night. We served together on the ADA Congressional Task Force and in negotiating ADA with the President of Greyhound. We marched together for equality in San Francisco, Philadelphia and Washington. We were together in the freezing midnight outside the barricaded Department of Transportation in Washington. I never put myself in a position to be arrested. Wade said that was alright, because I could play a positive role within the system. I was never sure in my heart that I was on the right side of the bars. I knew he was.

Wade Blank was a sensitive philosopher of Democracy. He was a superb organizer. He was a mature, sophisticated politician. He had total honesty and total follow through. You could take his promises to the bank. These are rare and good qualities, but they alone would not have enabled him to use an unfashionable method to lead an unfashionable cause to an historic victory.

Wade had a magic sword. It was love. Unlike many with religious labels, he understood and lived the central commandment of his God, “that ye love one another as I have loved you.” He understood that love is not just smiling at nice people, but passionate, lifelong action to preserve and enlarge the joy, the dignity, the quality of every human life. He understood that love does not smother with criticism, care and control; it encourages, emancipates and empowers. He understood that love for all means justice for all.

Wade’s leadership of love made ADAPT the family for those who had no family, the family with justice, with hope, with transcending fulfillment. Wade’s love warmed and empowered us all. It breached the defenses and won the respect of Congresspersons, businesspersons, policepersons, jailers, judges and mayors. Again and again, it lifted my heart and my mind from selfcentered desperation of Washington politics to the dream.

Before he died, Wade planned a series of demonstrations for personal assistance services to be held in Washington, DC, on May 9th, 10th and 11th. These will go forward in his honor. There will be a tribute to him on Sunday, May 9th, at the Lincoln Memorial. Let us join together in memory of Wade – on May 9th, today, tomorrow, as long as life remains – to continue his struggle for a truly human society.

Let us pick up his sword of love and truth and courage, and use it – each in our own way – to cut the chains of all who are slaves to pity, prejudice and paternalism. Let us join in one voice to shout his shout – “free our people.” Let us embrace his golden heritage of responsible action for life, enlarge it in our own lives, and invest it in the lives of all who will come.

Wade, we love you. That’s easy. We will try our best to love each other as you loved us.

– Justin Dart
# # #

"How Wade Blank Became a Disability Activist"
John Holland of Denver, Colorado speaks about working at the forefront of disability civil rights law as he protested and advocated alongside Wade Blank.
The is part of the "It's Our Story" project, there are many additional videos telling of the history and the people of the Disability Rights Movement.

YouTube published by It's Our Story

Ed Roberts an advocate for inclusion and equality for people with disabilities: "Free Wheeling" video (cc)

Ed Roberts was both an advocate and an activist. He was a leader in the disability civil rights movement and championed the rights of people with disabilities. He was the founder of the first Center for Independent Living and the World Institute on Disability. Ed advocated for his right to attend a university and was a activist in the 504 sit-in held in San Francisco. He was known for a lot of things by a lot of people, but most importantly he believed in empowering others to become advocates and activists.

The video is very informative, and helps to understand Ed Roberts philosophy.

YouTube Uploaded by yodisabledproud on Jan 20, 2012

Disability Activist Ed Roberts on "60 Minutes" in 1989 with Harry Reasoner (cc)

Published on Jan 23, 2013

As Broadcast on CBS in 1989. More Information Available At: http://www.mnddc.org/ed-roberts/index...

Ed Roberts (January 23, 1939-March 14, 1995) was the first student with severe disabilities to attend the University of California, Berkeley. He was a pioneering leader of the disability rights movement. Roberts contracted polio at the age of fourteen in 1953, spending eighteen months in hospitals and returning home paralyzed from the neck down.

Determined to live with a positive personal sense of disability identity, his activism began when he returned to school and needed to fight to receive his high school diploma, continuing through his attendance at Berkeley where he paved the way for other students with severe disabilities, who joined him in his efforts to advocate for changes to their treatment and services.

He became the head of the Berkeley Center for Independent Living (CIL), the first independent living service and advocacy program run by and for people with disabilities. In 1976 California Governor Jerry Brown appointed him Director of the California Department of Rehabilitation, where he served until 1983. He returned to Berkeley and co-founded the World Institute on Disability.
# originally posted July 2013

Ed Roberts and Judy Heumann 1984 Video Interview, Disability Rights Movement History

In a historic interview in Stockholm in January 1984 are Ed Roberts and Judy Heumann. Invited by Adolf Ratzka to participate in a three day conference on Independent Living in December 1983 their visit marks the beginning of the Independent Living Movement in Sweden. Ed and Judy had just co-founded the World Institute on Disability and were already prominent movement leaders in the US and internationally. For an account of their careers see the homepage of the World Institute on Disability.

In the interview the two leaders outline the Independent Living philosophy and its relevance for people with disabilities everywhere and show how our countries’ policies affect our ability as individuals with a disability to live and work in the community, have families of our own and take responsibility for our lives.

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Ed Roberts and Judy Heumann in 1984 interview from Independent Living Institute on Vimeo.
.The interview was produced by Marianne Gillgren.

# previously post.

Ed Roberts: His Words, His Vision : America's Disability Activist History : video

YouTube Upload by rtcil on Mar 3, 2009
(refresh if no video)

In this video, Ed Roberts discusses the history and future of the independent living movement in the U.S. The video is produced by the Research and Training Center on Independent Living at the University of Kansas.

A self-proclaimed 'cripple', Ed was a catalyst and cosmic thinker. He built a life for himself as a person with polio, then laid the foundation for millions of other people with disabilities to build similar lives. Ed said, "Everybody has a future."
 He meant it, lived it and helped others achieve it.
This video incorporates a 1981 speech that Ed Roberts gave to independent-living activists with photos depicting the ongoing struggle of people throughout the world for the rights and independence modeled by this visionary leader.
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# For more History of America's Disability Activists, explore 'Its Our Story" Project at: http://www.youtube.com/user/ItsOurStoryProject

*this post is reposted from previous years.

Ed Roberts Day 2017 - January 23rd - Empowering Advocates and Activists for People with Disabilities

Ed Roberts was both an advocate and an activist. He was a leader in the civil rights movement and championed the rights of people with disabilities. He was the founder of the first Center for Independent Living and the World Institute on Disability. Ed advocated for his right to attend a university and was a activist in the 504 sit-in held in San Francisco. He was known for a lot of things by a lot of people, but most importantly he believed in empowering others to become advocates and activists.
Ed Roberts Day 2017 is celebrated by a dedicated website, and is A Project of the California Foundation for Independent Living Centers at: http://yodisabledproud.org/ed-roberts-day/   

Please join a Twitter Chat on Monday, January 23rd - 3pm EST/1pm Central/12pm PST!
Tweeting about the importance of Ed and mentors like him in the disability community.
#MyMentorEd #EdRobertsDay17

For more information, videos, interviews on Ed Roberts amazing journey, we have numerous posts over the years:

• Celebrating a Disability Rights Pioneer: Ed Roberts
• Disability Activist Ed Roberts on "60 Minutes" in 1989 with Harry Reasoner (cc)
• Ed Roberts: His Words, His Vision : America's Disability Activist History : video
• Ed Roberts an advocate for inclusion and equality for people with disabilities: "Free Wheeling" video (cc)
• Ed Roberts and Judy Heumann 1984 Video Interview, Disability Rights Movement History

Los Angeles to spend more than $200 million on settlement on housing for disabled

Los Angeles will spend more than $200 million over the next decade to settle a federal lawsuit alleging that the city failed to provide enough apartments for people with disabilities in its publicly funded housing developments.

great article by Emily Alpert Reyes and David Zahniser for the Los Angeles Times | Aug 30, 2016

Under a deal approved Tuesday by the City Council, city officials will be required to ensure that 4,000 units are accessible to people who use wheelchairs, have hearing impairments or live with other disabilities. The city could reach that goal by building additional apartments, redesigning existing ones or demonstrating that units already built are, in fact, accessible.

Michael Allen, a lawyer for three nonprofit groups that sued the city, called the agreement “the largest accessibility settlement ever reached involving affordable housing.”

“It will send a strong, positive message to cities all over the country that their housing programs must be accessible,” he said.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti endorsed the settlement, saying in a statement that the city “stands for inclusiveness and access for all.”

"If we have fallen short of that commitment, we need to fix it as quickly as possible,” he said. “This settlement allows us to resolve a long-standing legal issue with a predictable level of investment. More importantly, we are working to meet the needs of our disabled community now and for decades to come.”

The settlement puts Los Angeles on the hook for another costly, multi-year legal payout centering on facilities for the disabled. Last year, city lawmakers agreed to spend $1.3 billion over 30 years on sidewalk repairs — ending a lawsuit that argued broken walkways were a nightmare for wheelchair users.

Tuesday’s vote will end a legal challenge filed in 2012 by Independent Living Center of Southern California, Fair Housing Council of San Fernando Valley, and Communities Actively Living Independent and Free. The dispute focused on apartments that were supposed to be built for the disabled in more than 700 affordable housing projects — buildings with nearly 47,000 units — approved over nearly three decades, city officials said.

The three nonprofits argued that the city and its redevelopment agency had flouted state and federal anti-discrimination laws as they provided public money to affordable housing developments. Such buildings were typically constructed by private developers or nonprofit groups and financed or otherwise assisted by the city and its redevelopment agency.

Disabled residents reported going to apartment buildings that were advertised as accessible, only to find they weren’t. In some locations, apartments had doorways that were too narrow to accommodate wheelchairs, the lawsuit states. Bathrooms and kitchens lacked the room to accommodate wheelchair users.

Allen said that many apartments did not meet the higher accessibility standards established for housing built with government assistance, which require additional features such as lower countertops and grab bars in bathrooms.

“They were not merely technical violations,” Allen said. “They were, in every instance that we studied, significant barriers to people with disabilities using those units, and in some cases the common areas leading to them.”

Sharon Kinlaw, executive director of Fair Housing Council of San Fernando Valley, said her group’s clients encountered apartments that were “absolutely unusable” by people with serious disabilities as early as 2007. Neither the city nor the redevelopment agency took action after they complained, advocates said.

Advocates for the disabled also said the accessible apartments that did exist were frequently occupied by people without disabilities.

Under the settlement, the city is not admitting wrongdoing or conceding that it violated anti-discrimination laws.

City Administrative Officer Miguel Santana, who helped negotiate the deal, said housing officials, among others, were responsible for ensuring that publicly financed housing complied with federal disability laws. Los Angeles is taking steps to prevent any such problems in the future, he said.

“This is a settlement where the biggest investment is going to go back to the community -- back to the disabled community, back to those who need affordable housing,” Santana said. “So Angelenos are really the biggest beneficiaries.”

Santana said the settlement could also set the stage for a separate agreement ending a federal investigation over housing for disabled Angelenos, initiated five years ago by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Under the agreement, city officials will need to go into hundreds of buildings to determine whether the required number of units for the disabled were built — and if so, whether those units comply with the correct standards.

At this point, officials do not know to what extent the city fell short.

“Until we actually go in and evaluate every unit and make that determination, we really can’t tell you,” Santana said.

The city must spend an average of $20 million annually on the program and ensure that at least 2,655 of the 4,000 units are designed for wheelchair users. The settlement will also require new affordable housing supported by the city to include a larger percentage of units for people with disabilities than is currently required.

In addition to the $200 million, L.A. will also pay $4.5 million to the nonprofits that sued the city, plus up to $1 million in court costs and up to $20 million in attorneys’ fees.

The deal does not resolve outstanding legal claims against the redevelopment agency, which is now separate from city government.

The agreement is one in a string of major settlements that will saddle Los Angeles with financial obligations lasting for years. The council voted in March to spend up to $30 million over four years on job training and other programs to conclude a class-action suit over curfews in city gang injunctions. A year earlier, city lawmakers agreed to spend at least $31 million per year on sidewalk repairs.

In addition, the city has faced large onetime payouts, including a legal deal unveiled last year to pay up to $92.5 million to end a lawsuit over allegations that the city was improperly collecting telephone taxes. Santana said the ultimate amount is anticipated to be closer to $50 million.

Councilman Gil Cedillo said he isn't worried about the price tag for the latest settlement. The city, he said, has a "solid surplus" and can absorb the added cost.

"It’s our responsibility" to ensure that disabled Angelenos have access to affordable housing, Cedillo said. "So it’s the least we could do."

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-housing-settlement-disabled-20160828-snap-story.html

Pennsylvania's Three Rivers Center for Independent Living Stops Disability Assistance Programs

About 900 people living with disabilities in Allegheny, Armstrong and Westmoreland counties (in Pennsylvania) are being forced to find new service providers as a federally funded nonprofit organization abruptly discontinues programs.

article by NATASHA LINDSTROM for TribLive | Aug. 22, 2016

Federal and state officials — some of whom said they are still in the dark about the specifics of the nonprofit's situation — are scrambling to develop a plan to find alternatives for people who receive assistance from the cash-strapped Three Rivers Center for Independent Living, a Pittsburgh-based nonprofit founded in 1988 to remove barriers for individuals with disabilities.

The center's stated top goal is “to empower people with disabilities to lead meaningful and self-directed lives” through programs such as peer counseling, computer training and advocacy work.

Three Rivers Center put its former office on Rebecca Avenue in Wilkinsburg up for sale more than a year ago and around February vacated the property for space on Pennsylvania Avenue in the North Side.

Christine Phillips, spokeswoman for the federal Administration for Community Living, confirmed that Three Rivers Center “voluntarily relinquished” a significant portion of its federal funding.

“We're all eagerly working to make sure that independent living services continue to be provided uninterrupted,” said Matt Seeley, executive director of the Pennsylvania Statewide Independent Living Council, an independent body run by a governor-appointed board. “It's going to be a little difficult because this really just popped up.”

If Three Rivers Center closes Administration for Community Living — which Seeley expects to happen in the near future — it would be the first federally designated Center for Independent Living to fold in the 30-year history of the program in Pennsylvania. None of the state's remaining 17 centers are in dire financial straits, Seeley said.

“We saw problems, but you never expect this,” Seeley said, declining to elaborate.

Income reported by Three Rivers Center has plummeted in recent years, from $29 million in 2011 to $7.5 million in 2013, while the nonprofit went from boasting a $6.4 million surplus to grappling with a $1.6 million deficit, the latest available Internal Revenue Service records show.

Expenses fell from $23 million to $9.2 million over the same period, as the organization turned to layoffs and other cost-saving measures.

The administrators and board members who run the nonprofit have kept mostly quiet about the center's woes, not only to the public but to overseers. Seeley called that a “disappointment,” noting that two other centers previously had sought and received help.

Seeley said the financial issues are being addressed “now, after the fact and from the outside, rather than before they were a problem.”

He added that he found out about the service disruptions only because other providers and affected people called in.

“I was not contacted directly from TRCIL and still have not been,” Seeley said.

More than three dozen current and former employees and board members of the Three Rivers Center declined to comment or could not be reached, including current Executive Director Rachel Rogan and prior CEOs Stanley Holbrook and Leah Gray. Holbrook made $110,142 in 2013, IRS records show.

As of Monday, Three Rivers Center's website was offline, and its advertised hotline was disconnected. A woman who answered the door Monday at both the Wilkinsburg and North Side locations refused to comment and asked a Tribune-Review reporter to leave the properties.

Participants received an “Important Notice” letter dated Aug. 9 from Rogan and Joshua Hovanec, the center's director of waiver services, that said the Board of Directors had “decided to reduce business operations within the Waiver Service Department” and that the center no longer would be providing “service coordination in your area” as of Sept. 8.

“It is our sincere hope that TRCIL Services Inc. provided you with a quality Service Coordination experience and that we assisted you in leading your life with fewer barriers and more independence,” the letter concluded.

Independent living centers based in neighboring counties have stepped up to help, but that may mean longer drives for people seeking services.

“The 900 consumers... have already begun reaching out to several (Centers for Independent Living) in the surrounding region,” said Chad Underkoffler, spokesman for Tri-County Patriots for Independent Living in Washington, Pa., which primarily serves Washington, Greene and Fayette counties.

Tom Franz, director of Disability Options Network's Center for Independent Living in New Castle, noted that “county borders do not necessarily limit” his 10-employee nonprofit's ability to serve clients.

He said his staff welcomes calls from individuals seeking assistance who may be outside their usual territory, which includes Lawrence, Mercer, Beaver and Butler counties.

Natasha Lindstrom is a Tribune-Review staff writer.

http://triblive.com/news/allegheny/11012986-74/center-living-independent

The Pennsylvania Statewide Independent Living Council, online at pasilc.org, is exploring what can be done to provide support quickly to consumers in the three affected counties. For more information, contact them at (717) 364-1732 or email to info@pasilc.org

# TY to all that shared this news article.

Illinois Budget Impasse Casualties Another Disability Social Service Agency - SHAME ON ILLINOIS LEGISLATORS!

STERLING, Ill. - KWQC TV6 News – report by Bethany Dykes | June 21, 2016

The Northwestern Illinois Center for Independent Living or NICIL, continues to lay-off employees and cut programs while they hope for the state of Illinois to pass a budget.

NICIL is an organization helping people with disabilities in five counties in northwestern Illinois.

Executive Director, Michelle Miller, said they began laying off employees last July the first time the state didn’t pass a budget and now a year later she will have to do it again.

“It’s incredibly difficult as a team member here to watch your team members leave without their choice in it because the state can’t do their part that they are empowered to do and we are empowered to deliver these services,” said Miller.

Jessica Craft, Center Coordinator, says her job is on the chopping block leaving her future uncertain.

“I’m very overwhelmed, it’s very emotional. You know I’ve got a little baby at home that I am trying to provide for and I don’t want it all to be on my husband,” said Craft.

This is the first time Craft has faced unemployment. Last year she was laid off until October when NICIL brought her back to the team.

“Its hard to keep going each day, you know come into work and I’m distracted. All day I’m just always thinking about what I am going to do,”said Craft.

Miller said when the agency is fully staffed they have nine employees but right now they have five, meaning each person has to play multiple roles to fill in.

After two employees are laid off, Miller said it will only be a matter of time before she has to lay-off the rest of the employees leaving her to run the place alone.

“I will do my very best but the reality is there is one of me and five counties with over 300 people and we will continue to do everything we can until our last dollar is used and then after that it is in the legislators hands,” said Miller.

Staff said the agency has stayed open through the last year by using their reserve funds, but now they are saying those funds are gone.

Miller said she doesn’t think the center will stay open for more then 90 days after July 1st, if a budget is not passed.

She is hoping the state will pass a budget and save agencies like NICIL, from these tough decisions.

http://kwqc.com/2016/06/21/sterling-social-service-agency-making-program-cuts-and-layoffs-due-to-budget-impasse/
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As the State of Illinois continues for a second year without a budget its the citizens that are effected. With another Center for Independent Living instability due to funding, is the State of Illinois and it's elected officials goal to chase people with disabilities out of Illinois, or to fill up State Institutions, or overfill nursing homes? SHAME ON ILLINOIS LEGISLATORS!

UGH... Jim at Ability Chicago Info

Illinois Disability Advocates Voice Concerns with States Personal Assistant OT Rule, Confront Gov Rauner

In Springfield, IL on May 11, 2016, in unity disability and labor advocates from Chicago ADAPT, Access Living- CIL in Chicago, and SEIU HCII joined together as advocates. Governor Rauner was speaking at an event at the State Library, the advocates protested during the event, effectively shutting things down, the way we feel when our concerns about the overtime policy are not take to heart.

YouTube Published by seiuhealthcareilin on May 11, 2016

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Home health workers, clients grapple with State of Illinois OT rule

nice article by DAN PETRELLA,  Herald and Review Springfield Bureau Chief | May 11, 2016

SPRINGFIELD — Ginger Grant of Charleston earns $13 an hour as an in-home personal assistant for a woman with multiple sclerosis.

Under the woman’s plan through the Illinois Department of Human Services’ home services program, she qualifies for nearly 60 hours of care per week. But under new department rules that took effect May 1, Grant and roughly 24,000 other personal assistants across the state are no longer allowed to work more than 40 hours a week.

Gov. Bruce Rauner’s administration instituted the rules in response to a federal Department of Labor ruling that said home care providers must receive time-and-a-half overtime pay if they work more than 40 hours per week. The administration said the overtime restrictions, which it announced in November and twice delayed, are necessary to control costs.

For Grant’s client, though, it means a scramble – so far, unsuccessful – to find another personal assistant who can help her with tasks such as1 cooking, cleaning, doing laundry and even scratching her head.

“It’s difficult to find somebody who wants to do this work for the few hours that would be left over,” Grant said Wednesday while testifying before an Illinois House committee that’s reviewing the new rules.

Grant works on call so that her client can get help with things such as going to the bathroom in the middle of the night, if needed. But with Grant’s help, the woman is able to remain in her own home rather than having to go into a nursing home, which could end up costing the state a lot more in the long run, she said.

“She does not care to be there,” Grant said. “That’s not where she belongs. She’s a valued member of her community. She contributes to her community by paying taxes.”

Grant and other personal assistants who provide care for about 30,000 clients statewide are represented by the Service Employees International Union Healthcare Illinois. The union estimates that paying overtime would cost the state $7 million per year out of roughly $36 billion in overall state spending.

The union, its workers and the clients they serve also object to a “three strikes and you’re out” policy that would bar personal assistants from being paid through the program if they work overtime three times without permission.

Grant said her client hasn’t been able to find enough backup workers take on the extra hours.

“What am I supposed to do when I have my 40 hours a week?” she said. “Am I just supposed to leave my consumer and say, ‘Too bad because Gov. Rauner says I can’t work any more hours’?”

Susan Aarup of Chicago, who has cerebral palsy and has three personal assistants who help care for her, said it’s very hard to find backups who can help out in the event that one of them gets sick or needs time off.

“It’s becoming increasingly difficult to hire new PAs,” Aarup said, noting that she interviewed someone but wasn’t able to hire her because it was taking six months for the applicant to go through the approval process at the department.

Greg Bassi, chief of staff for the Department of Human Services, said the state has put in place rules governing the use of overtime in the program similar to those used in other departments and at other employers in order to manage costs.

“Despite what was said earlier, we are not going to be applying this policy in a draconian manner,” Bassi told the committee.

He said the department first announced the changes in November and pushed back implementation twice to give providers and consumers more time to adapt. The department has also stepped up recruiting efforts, hiring 5,000 personal assistants, Bassi said.

But Terri Harkin, vice president of SEIU Healthcare Illinois, said that represents the usual turnover of employees paid under the program, not an overall addition of providers.

SEIU and the state are currently in contract negotiations, and Harkin said the administration has tried to use the overtime rules as a bargaining chip to get the union to agree to a four-year wage freeze.

Meanwhile, the Senate voted Wednesday to raise the state’s minimum wage for home health care workers, including the personal assistants, to $15 an hour.

http://herald-review.com/news/state-and-regional/govt-and-politics/home-health-workers-clients-grapple-with-state-ot-rule/article_2ea79e59-c0e5-5404-a1fd-f58da95ee862.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=email&utm_campaign=user-share

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If you need help, with personnel assistants, contact the local Center for Independent Living in your area of Illinois INCIL - http://www.incil.org/

IMPORTANT Illinois Home Services Program Update for May 1st Enforcement Changes

Our colleagues at Access Living (center of Independent Living) in Chicago, have shared the important updates;
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Dear Access Living friends and allies,

Yesterday, we learned that the State of Illinois plans to move forward with the May 1 enforcement date for the overtime policy for the Home Services Program (HSP). There has been no change to the policy despite suggestions from disability advocates, and the State is now tying possible flexibility to a wage freeze for four years, for all HSP workers, also known as Individual Providers (IPs). Remember, while the Federal government has required that overtime be paid to domestic workers, it is the State that is determining the policy for HSP.

Tying disability rights to an effort to undermine wages for the HSP workers is, in Access Living’s eyes, unacceptable. In an industry where worker turnover is over 60%, we know that a stable workforce is incredibly important to the 27,000 people with disabilities ages 18-59 who use HSP to direct and control their in-home personal care services.  We, along with five other Centers for Independent Living and SEIU HCII, issued a statement at this link to make our position clear: we are being forced into a bait-and-switch.  The AP also carried a story at this link covering the challenges for HSP customers and providers.

As it now stands, the HSP overtime policy with enforcement date of May 1 requires:

•             That every HSP customer have a backup PA on record
•             That HSP IPs work a max of 40 hours per week, unless they work for a customer who got approved for an exception
•             Category A: That HSP customers can approve overtime for their IPs ONLY if they have a) a backup IP on file, b) Being Alone hours on their service plan AND one of the following three items: Exceptional Care Rate, DON score of 70, or court ordered service plan
•             Category B: That ALL HSP customers can have overtime approved for exceptional circumstances, which are currently defined broadly (could include severe weather or other emergencies). However the broad definition does not make it clear that overtime could be approved when IPs must spend extra time dealing with HSP customer health issues, or situations of abuse or neglect. Also, in order to get this approval, the HSP customer must have a backup IP on file.
•             No exceptions for live-in providers (including parents, sibling, etc)

What are the numbers involved? In calendar year 2015, 8,611 HSP customers utilized more than 40 hours per week. 8,488 IPs worked more than 40 hours per week. DRS has reportedly only approved a few hundred HSP customers to allow them to let their IPs do overtime. DRS’ latest numbers reportedly say that about 5,100 HSP customers are eligible for overtime, but actually only a few hundred have done the necessary paperwork to secure overtime approval. This begs the question of whether ALL the HSP customers eligible for overtime approval understand their rights and the process of applying for overtime.

While some may think this fight is all about union issues, the truth is that there’s a lot to worry people with disabilities. The HSP overtime policy presents issues for people with disabilities because:

•             IPs who work more than 40 hours per week, for more than one customer, are being asked to pick which customers to drop hours on, so as to cut back to 40. This is creating cases like that of King Solomon “splitting the baby.” This infringes upon consumer control of whom to hire/fire and for how many hours.
•             Customers who lose their IPs due to the cap must find new IPs, which can create a crisis given that the IP application package can reportedly take up to 4 months for DRS to review before the final processing. There is no guarantee that IPs who must drop the hours can continue working for that customer until the customer finds replacement IPs.
•             In areas of the state with lower numbers of available IPs, customers will have a more difficult time finding replacement or supplementary IPs.
•             Live in providers like parents or siblings are not granted an exception unless their HSP customer qualifies and applies to approve overtime.
•             The hard cap of 40 will be a challenge for IPs who work overtime to help with abuse/neglect or immediate health issues like a dirty diaper. While the State says it will allow some overtime exceptions for emergencies, it’s not clear that there will be exceptions granted for those reasons.
•             DRS maintains that it will solve problems on a case by case basis at the Central Office. However, some customers and IPs have reported difficulty in getting DRS on the phone to discuss problems productively.
•             IPs who work too many instance of unapproved overtime will be dropped from HSP. However, it is unclear how the State will meet the needs of customers whose IPs have been dropped, nor is it clear that the customers will be alerted in advance that their IPs are being dropped, with enough time to find new IPs.
•             The policy contains no language about specifically how customers will be notified of their rights under Olmstead and how this new policy can cause an issue with their right to live in the community.

Ultimately, raising the cap to beyond 40 hours a week will create the least havoc. If the state implemented overtime with no caps, the cost is only $7 million a year. Plus, people with disabilities need to see an exceptions process that is not so rigid, and more robust.  However, we now find ourselves faced with a question of social justice: are disability rights or labor rights more important? The answer for us is that both are important and a well-performing program will respect both. Every state in the nation has been struggling to ensure they have a good overtime policy, some with better success than others.

What if you have concerns? HSP customers with concerns about their ability to comply with the overtime policy should contact their DRS counselors ASAP. You may also contact your local Center for Independent Living for help (see www.incil.org to check the CILs that serve each county). Access Living’s Home and Community Ombudsman Program can also respond to questions or difficulties with this policy and help you advocate if you are an HSP customer; call (312) 640-2152 or ombudsman@accessliving.org. HSP IPs (workers) should contact the SEIU HCII Member Resource Center; see their website here.

If you know someone who is an HSP customer or IP, please help by making sure they are on top of this issue. The overtime policy will continue to be monitored, and we ask people to please communicate where they are having difficulty.

Amber Smock
Director of Advocacy, Access Living

Illinois Centers for Independent Living are being hit hard by the Illinois Budget Crisis

We received the following information from Access Living, Center for Independent Living (Chicago). CIL's are a forefront for services, referrals, support for people with disabilities, many of us have relied of services for ourselves, family members, friends.neighbors over the years. Illinois Network of Centers for Independent Living (INCIL) have assisted us when we needed help, and support. Maybe take a few moments to return a little help and support.

Tell your Legislator to continue to support Independent Living!

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Dear Access Living friends and allies,

 

Like many other human services providers, the Illinois Network of Centers for Independent Living (INCIL) is being hit hard by the Illinois budget crisis. As most of you know, Access Living is one of the 22 Centers for Independent Living (CILs) in Illinois. The CILs serve 95 of the 102 counties in Illinois. INCIL’s Executive Director, Ann Ford, shared the following, based on reports from 19 of the 22 CILs, which employ between 450-500 people:

• 39 CIL staff have been laid off state wide since July 1, 2015
• 93 CIL staff are working reduced hours because of furlough days, experiencing pay cuts ranging from 20% to 40%
• 21 vacant CIL positions remain unfilled throughout the state (delaying hires is one way to save money)
• Two CILs are in the process of closing satellite offices
• All CILs are restricting travel, including in some areas travel to consumers’ homes
• At least four CILs are developing contingency plans to close in the event funding doesn’t come within the next six months
• It is difficult to determine how many consumers have gone without services. A reasonable estimate would be 800 to 1,000 people statewide
• The impact includes the enormous emotional toll this issue is taking on staff at all CILs, as they take on increased workloads while losing a portion of their income. 

The CILs are doing the very best they can to continue to provide services to empower people with disabilities to live as independently as possible in the community. Quite often they are a real lifeline for many people with disabilities. During this difficult state budget crisis, know that your local CILs have been doing everything they can to show why their programs matter to the local community. The CILs are still waiting for just over $4 million in FY 16 budget money for CILs from the state of Illinois, as well as other funds specific to certain disability programs they run.

 

While Access Living has been holding on, we are very concerned about our fellow CILs at risk of closing. Please contact Ann Ford at annford@incil.org if you have questions about the network; you can also check www.incil.org to see what CILs serve your area. We also urge you to contact your Governor, state senators and representatives to urge them to work on a budget solution ASAP so that disability services are not further impacted.