Transportation Research Board Issues Airport Guide "Enhancing Airport Wayfinding for Aging Travelers and Persons with Disabilities"

The Transportation Research Board (TRB) has published a guidebook on airport wayfinding for people who are elderly or have a disability under its Airport Cooperative Research Program. 

The new resource, "Enhancing Airport Wayfinding for Aging Travelers and Persons with Disabilities", offers best practices for improving and optimizing information for wayfinding and travel by people with cognitive, sensory, or mobility challenges in the complex environment of airports. It is intended to help airport operators and planners implement pedestrian wayfinding systems in standardized accessible formats to better serve travelers with disabilities or who are elderly.

The guidebook includes an airport wayfinding accessibility audit, guidance on creating wayfinding plans, information on best practices and available technologies and state-of-the-art techniques for wayfinding, and other topics. Further information is available on TRB's website

U.S. Access Board to Host Workshop Comparing Accessibility in the U.S. and Australia on Nov. 13, 2017

The U.S. Access Board will host a workshop with accessibility experts from Australia on November 13 that will compare how building accessibility is addressed in Australia and the U.S. The public is welcome to the free event which will explore methods used in both countries to regulate, monitor, and enforce compliance with accessibility requirements. The goal is to foster a better understanding of how covered entities meet their responsibilities under civil rights and other laws governing access to the built environment.

Representing Australia will be Michael Small, a former government official and the recipient of a Churchill Fellowship to study building accessibility from an international perspective. He was active in drafting Australia's building accessibility regulations and standards and also produced a variety of resources to assist building professionals in meeting them. He will be joined by Robin Banks, a consultant in human rights who formerly headed the Australian Public Interest Advocacy Centre and served as a state Anti-Discrimination Commissioner.

The Access Board has invited panelists from disability rights organizations, building codes groups, government, the design profession, and industry. The structured portion of the program will run from 9:30 to noon. Following a break for lunch, there will be an informal guided discussion with invited panelists, other participants, and members of the public that will cover implementation, particularly in relation to alterations and additions to existing facilities. The public can attend in person or remotely through a phone bridge with communication access real-time translation (CART). Call-in instructions and the CART link will be posted on the U.S. Access Board's website at a later date.

For further information, contact Marsha Mazz at (202) 272-0020(v), (202) 272- 0076 (TTY), or mazz@access-board.gov.

Achieving Access for People with Disabilities in the Built Environment: An International Comparison
November 13, 9:30 – 12:00 (ET), followed by an informal discussion after the lunch break
Access Board Conference Center
1331 F Street, NW, Suite 800
Washington, D.C.
Dial-in Number: (877) 701-1628, International: (517) 268-2743; Passcode: 69545743
CART Link: [to be posted]
Note: For the comfort of all participants and to promote a fragrance-free environment, attendees are requested not to use perfume, cologne, or other fragrances.

source: U.S. Access Board 

Pope Francis Decries ‘Eugenic Tendency’ to Eradicate People with Disabilities

Oct 21, 2017 - Pope Francis said Saturday that a "eugenic tendency" to suppress the "unborn with some imperfection" is the product of a "narcissistic and utilitarian vision." A mentality of "rejection” prevails, as if people with disabilities weren’t capable of being happy, the pontiff said, addressing participants at an international conference on catechesis for people with disabilities.

Pope Francis blesses disabled person during visit at Serafico Institute in Assisi

article by Inés San Martín, Vatican Correspondent for Crux Catholic Media | Oct 21, 2017

ROME - Pope Francis on Saturday condemned what he called a “eugenic tendency” to prevent babies found by prenatal tests to have imperfections from being born, saying it’s part of a strong prejudice against people with disabilities.

“At a cultural level, there are still expressions that undermine the dignity of [people with disabilities], due to the prevalence of a false conception of life,” Francis said on Saturday.

“An often narcissistic and utilitarian vision leads, unfortunately, many to consider people with disabilities as marginalized, without seeing in them a multiform human and spiritual wealth,” he added.

The mentality of a “rejection” prevails, the pope said, as if people with disabilities weren’t capable of being happy and self-realization. This, he said, is proven by the “eugenic tendency to suppress the unborn ones who have some form of imperfection.”

Francis’s words came on Saturday, as he was addressing participants of the international conference titled “Catechesis and Persons with Disabilities: A Necessary Engagement in the Daily Pastoral Life of the Church.”

Addressing those in the room, Francis said that all of them have met people who, “with their fragility,” have been able to live a good life, “rich in meaning.”

“On the other side, we know people who are apparently perfect, yet desperate!” he said.

In addition, Francis said, it’s “a dangerous deception,” to think that only people with disabilities are vulnerable. Quoting a girl he met during his recent trip to Colombia, the pope said that vulnerability is part of the human experience.

The answer, according to the Argentine pontiff, is love, but not the “fake one, deceitful and pious, but the real one, concrete and respectful.”

In the measure that one is welcomed and included in the community and accompanied to look towards the future with trust, “the true path of life develops,” and one can experience lasting happiness. This, he said, is valid for everyone, but the most fragile people are evidence of it.

The Church, he told the group, many of whom have physical or intellectual disabilities, cannot remain on the sidelines, “voiceless” and “out of tune” when it comes to the defense and encouragement of people with disabilities. Her closeness to families helps them to overcome the loneliness they sometimes risk by closing themselves off due to a lack of attention and support.

Words and gestures to encounter people with disabilities cannot be amiss in parish life, particularly on Sunday’s liturgy, that must learn how to include them, because the “encounter with the Risen Lord and the community itself can be a source of hope.”

Catechesis in particular, Francis said, is “called to discover and experiment with coherent forms so that every person, with their gifts, limits and disabilities, even grave ones, can encounter Jesus in their path and abandon themselves to Him with faith.”

No physical or intellectual limitation, Francis said, will ever get in the way of this encounter, because “the face of Christ shines within every person.

“We also pay attention, especially the ministers of Christ’s grace, not to fall in the neo-pelagian error of not recognizing the need for the force of grace that comes from Sacraments of Christian Initiation,” the pope said.

The Pelagian heresy comes from 5th- century monk Palagius, who believed human nature is basically good and denied original sin and its taint on human nature.

To overcome this, Francis said on Saturday, it’s necessary to “invent” adequate instruments to guarantee that no one lacks the support that comes from God’s grace.

The conference included an exhibit showcasing several books, cards and even t-shirts that various ministries around the world use to engage people with disabilities, including an APP for the hearing impaired, developed by the Deaf Apostolate of the Diocese of Philadelphia, and “Without Words,” a series of visual books written by Baroness Sheila Hollins, a member of Pope Francis’s Commission for the Protection of Minors and an expert on the protection of children, with a particular focus on minors and vulnerable adults with disabilities.

Francis closed his address saying he hoped for people with disabilities to become catechists themselves, “even with their witness, to transmit the faith in a more effective way.”

After his remarks, Francis spent almost an hour greeting many of the 450 people who were at the Vatican’s Clementine Hall. Among them was Bridget Brown, a 30-year old actress and motivational speaker with Down syndrome from Illinois, who had her mind set on handing him a letter, which she shared with Crux on Friday.

In it, she addresses some of the issues the pope spoke about, particularly that of eugenics.

“I absolutely love my life,” the letter reads. “I am so sad to hear about all the babies with Down syndrome who are aborted, and that Iceland is leading the world in ‘eradicating Down syndrome births.”

Reading the letter to Crux, she stumbled: “I can’t even say the word,” she explained, as her eyes filled with tears.

“I am so grateful that I was not aborted, because I have a full and wonderful life! The world needs to know that I do not ‘suffer’ from Down syndrome. I am filled with joy to be alive. I believe in the sacred dignity of ALL people. AND most people I know with disabilities have full and productive lives just like me.” [Capitalization in original.]

In her letter, Brown compares the ongoing “eradication” of people with disabilities to what Adolf Hitler did during the Holocaust.

“He killed many people because he did not think they had the right to live. He learned how to kill by killing people with disabilities first,” she wrote. “It seems to me we are doing the same thing to children with disabilities today in our country.

“I think this is like genocide- the systematic killing of a whole people or nation,” she wrote. “I wonder why we think Hitler was so horrible when we are doing the same thing he did?”

Her heart breaks, she said, thinking about the fact that she might be part of the last generation of people with Down syndrome: “The world will never again benefit from our gifts.

“I will continue to pray for all the people who think we don’t have the right to live,” she said.

https://cruxnow.com/vatican/2017/10/21/pope-decries-eugenic-tendency-eradicate-people-disabilities/

President Trump's Dept of Education Rescinds 72 Guidance Documents Outlining Rights for Disabled Students

Oct 21, 2017 - The U,S. Education Department has rescinded 72 policy documents that outline the rights of students with disabilities as part of the Trump administration’s effort to eliminate regulations it deems superfluous.

President Donald Trump with Betsy DeVos

article by Moriah Balingit for The Washington Post                                                                   

The Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services wrote in a newsletter Friday that it had “a total of 72 guidance documents that have been rescinded due to being outdated, unnecessary, or ineffective — 63 from the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) and 9 from the Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA).” The documents, which fleshed out students’ rights under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and the Rehabilitation Act, were rescinded Oct. 2.

A spokeswoman for Education Secretary Betsy DeVos did not respond to requests for comment.

Advocates for students with disabilities were still reviewing the changes to determine their impact. Lindsay E. Jones, the chief policy and advocacy officer for the National Center for Learning Disabilities, said she was particularly concerned to see guidance documents outlining how schools could use federal money for special education removed.

“All of these are meant to be very useful … in helping schools and parents understand and fill in with concrete examples the way the law is meant to work when it’s being implemented in various situations,” said Jones.

President Trump in February signed an executive order “to alleviate unnecessary regulatory burdens,” spurring Education Department officials to begin a top-to-bottom review of its regulations. The department sought comments on possible changes to the special education guidance and held a hearing, during which many disability rights groups and other education advocates pressed officials to keep all of the guidance documents in place, Jones said.

This is not the first time DeVos has rolled back Education Department guidance, moves that have raised the ire of civil rights groups. The secretary in February signed off on Trump’s rescinding of guidance that directed schools to allow transgender students to use bathrooms in accordance with their gender identity, saying that those matters should be left up to state and local school officials. In September, she scrapped rules that outlined how schools should investigate allegations of sexual assault, arguing that the Obama-era guidance did not sufficiently take into account the rights of the accused.

“Much of the guidance around [the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act] focused on critical clarifications of the regulations required to meet the needs of students with disabilities and provide them a free, appropriate public education in the least restrictive environment,” Scott said in a statement. “Notwithstanding the actions taken by the Department today, the regulations still remained enforced; however they lack the clarification the guidance provided.”

The special education guidance documents rescinded this month clarified the rights of disabled students in a number of areas, including making clear how schools could spend federal money set aside for special education. Some, such as one titled “Questions and Answers on Serving Children with Disabilities Placed by Their Parents at Private Schools,” translated the legal jargon into plain English for parents advocating for their children. Some of the guidance documents that were cut had been on the books since 1980s.

Jones said it is not unusual for new administrations to update documents or to eliminate redundancies, but she had never seen so many eliminated at one time.

“If the documents that are on this list are all covered in newer documents that were released — which sometimes does happen — that would be fine,” said Jones.” Our goal is to make sure that parents and schools and educators understand how these laws work, and the department plays a critical role in that.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/education/wp/2017/10/21/devos-rescinds-72-guidance-documents-outlining-rights-for-disabled-students/?utm_term=.d4cede89edde

October is Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) Awareness Month

Over 17 million Americans are affected by ADHD.

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a brain disorder marked by an ongoing pattern of inattention and/or hyperactivity-impulsivity that interferes with functioning or development.

• Inattention means a person wanders off task, lacks persistence, has difficulty sustaining focus, and is disorganized; and these problems are not due to defiance or lack of comprehension.
• Hyperactivity means a person seems to move about constantly, including in situations in which it is not appropriate; or excessively fidgets, taps, or talks. In adults, it may be extreme restlessness or wearing others out with constant activity.
• Impulsivity means a person makes hasty actions that occur in the moment without first thinking about them and that may have high potential for harm; or a desire for immediate rewards or inability to delay gratification. An impulsive person may be socially intrusive and excessively interrupt others or make important decisions without considering the long-term consequences.

It’s better for parents to know that ADHD might be part of the picture so they can seek out the help their children need; it’s better for young adults to know about their ADHD so they might arrange for appropriate accommodations in school or the workplace; and it’s better for adults to recognize their ADHD instead of feeling destined to a life of underachievement and frustration.

RESOURCES: 

The National Institute of Mental Health

ADHD Awareness Month Coalition 

The newest posting to the Job Accommodation Network's blog focuses on Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) Awareness Month. Melanie Whetzel, JAN Lead Consultant on the Cognitive/Neurological Team, discusses the implications of the 2017 theme, “Knowing Better: ADHD Across the Life Span.” Whetzel notes that awareness of ADHD at all times of life is important so that people can better understand how to accommodate themselves at home, in school, and in the workplace. Samples of situations and solutions involving employees with ADHD are highlighted.

HUD CHARGES MINNESOTA LANDLORD WITH HOUSING DISCRIMINATION AFTER DENYING VETERAN THE RIGHT TO KEEP HIS ASSISTANCE DOG

October 2016 - The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) today announced it is charging the owner and manager of a West St. Paul, Minn., apartment complex with discrimination for refusing to allow an Army veteran, who served tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, to keep an emotional support animal. Click here to read the charge.

The Fair Housing Act prohibits housing providers from denying or limiting housing to people with disabilities, or from refusing to make reasonable accommodations in policies or practices for people with disabilities. Allowing people with disabilities to have assistance animals that perform work or tasks, or that provide disability-related emotional support, is considered a reasonable accommodation under the Act.

"Assistance animals play a vital role in helping our veterans cope with service-related disabilities," said Anna Maria Farías, HUD Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity. "Housing providers have an obligation to permit these animals, and HUD ensures that they meet this obligation."

The case came to HUD's attention when the veteran filed a complaint alleging that the owner and manager of Westview Park Apartments denied his request to keep an assistance animal, despite the veteran explaining in detail his right to have the animal. In a letter responding to the veteran's request, the owner suggested that he get a cat instead, citing the property's policy of allowing cats but not allowing assistance animals weighing more than 12 pounds. The owner also stated that, even for an animal under 12 pounds, the veteran would need to provide proof that the animal was licensed.

The veteran responded by providing a copy of his license for the animal, a certificate of training, and additional information about the animal, but the owner still refused his request, stating the dog had to be removed from the property. In a subsequent letter, the manager notified the veteran that he was in violation of his lease by having the dog and that he had two weeks to vacate the unit. The eviction action was later withdrawn, but the veteran, still not being allowed to keep the animal, moved out of the apartment at the end of his lease.

Disability is the most common basis of complaint filed with HUD and its partner agencies. Last year alone, HUD and its partners considered more than 4,500 disability-related complaints, nearly 55 percent of all fair housing complaints.

HUD's charge will be heard by a United States Administrative Law Judge unless any party elects for the case to be heard in federal court. If the administrative law judge finds after a hearing that discrimination has occurred, he may award damages to the complainant for his loss as a result of the discrimination. The judge may also order injunctive relief and other equitable relief, as well as payment of attorney fees. In addition, the judge may impose civil penalties in order to vindicate the public interest.

People who believe they have experienced discrimination may file a complaint by contacting HUD's Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity at (800) 669-9777 (voice) or (800) 927-9275 (TTY). Housing discrimination complaints may also be filed by going to hud.gov/fairhousing, or by downloading HUD's free housing discrimination mobile application, which can be accessed through Apple and Android devices.

source: HUD Oct. 6, 2017 press release

Melanie Griffith Has Revealed She Was Diagnosed With Epilepsy

2016 photo

Melanie Griffith has opened up about being diagnosed with epilepsy - and how stress from marriage and family life contributed to suffering from grand mal seizures. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Griffith revealed her diagnosis on a Women's Brain Health Initiative panel Wednesday night, where she sat alongside brain experts and Hollywood insiders like Sharon Stone.

Good Housekeeping — Megan Friedman article | Oct. 20, 2017                                           

She said she started having grand mal seizures, and they were always associated with stress. But she wasn't diagnosed with epilepsy until she received treatment in France. "[Doctors] said it was an anomaly - they didn't know what it was," she said. "The last two that I had I was on a boat outside of Cannes - on a big yacht - and I was extremely stressed out. Every seizure that I had was at a point when I was extremely stressed."

She said she was taken off the boat to a hospital in Cannes after each seizure, but after the second one, doctors there performed tests. She was diagnosed with epilepsy once she came back to the United States. Now, she says she is taking the drug Lamictal and claims she hasn't had a seizure in four years. She's also got a clean bill of health from a medical testing facility. She says doctors now say her brain was purely reacting from stress.

"I'm not stressed anymore," Griffith said. "As women, we take on family, we get the husband, we have the life, we have the children, we take care of the house, we also go to work, we can't sleep at night because we are up with the kids. I don't think I've slept for 35 years."

The Hollywood Reporter noted that though she didn't mention Antonio Banderas specifically, she did joke, "I got divorced, which is the real healer for me." She and Banderas divorced in 2014.

In 2017 Chicago Public Schools More Special Education Dollars Go To White, Wealthier Students

Tara Williams walks her son to school on a fall morning. Williams has spent six months fighting to get her son the special needs services she says he needs from his West Side elementary school.

solid article by Sarah Karp for WBEZ Chicago | Oct. 18, 2017                                                 

Tara Williams is fighting hard for her 12-year-old son, who has serious learning and behavior disabilities. She fears what lies ahead if he doesn’t get the help he needs from his public school on Chicago’s West Side.

“I really worry that he will just give up,” Williams said.

A feisty and devoted single mom, Williams already has moved from one poor African-American neighborhood on the South Side to what she considers a safer neighborhood on the West Side.

She often wonders if her son would get more help if he lived in a better-off, mostly white neighborhood with more clout.

Williams’ hunch might be right.

Major differences in special education spending exist across Chicago schools, according to a WBEZ analysis of spending in the 2015-16 school year. Schools with wealthier student populations spent the most per student while schools where nearly all students are low-income spent the least, the analysis shows.

There are also differences by race. Schools with significant white populations spent about $3,000 more per student on average than those with mostly Latino students, and $600 more than those with mostly black students.

A push for ‘equity’

Chicago Public Schools officials acknowledged that students with similar disabilities do not always receive the same level of help, though they did not tie the disparities to race or class.

Those disparities are problematic and long-standing, they said, and are one major reason they initiated a major overhaul last year to the way in which special education services are doled out.

CPS is trying to standardize how students are identified as having special needs and also standardize the type of services they should get, said Denise Little, senior advisor to CPS CEO Forrest Claypool.

“To me, this is about equity,” she said.

But advocates fear these changes are making it worse for parents like Williams. At the same time CPS overhauled its special needs program last year, it also scaled back its special education budget for all schools. Instead of boosting funding for under-resourced schools, all schools got less.

And the overhaul put an even greater burden than before on parents. It’s incumbent on them to know what services to request and to keep pushing for supports for their children, such as specialists, aides, and bus service, special education advocates said.

This squeaky wheel approach to service delivery was underscored last year when CPS cut special education budgets. The school district told principals they could ask for some money back if they could prove they needed it.

But the school district approved few appeals — and about a third of the additional money went to schools where more than 25 percent of the students were white. Only 11 percent of all schools have significant white student populations.

The social capital of parents — their socio-economic status, power, and involvement — has long factored into what services students get in special education. But in the past, when school staff agreed with parents on what a child needed, like occupational therapy or time with a social worker, that was typically enough to get services.

Now, under the rules implemented last year — laid out in a thick manual — that agreement is only the first step. After that comes reams of documentation and outside approvals before special education services can begin.

Fighting a ‘non-winning war’

Parent Christine Palmieri said she saw first-hand last year how hard it was to get special education support in CPS, even if you’re white, middle-class, and live in a well-heeled neighborhood.

Staff at her son’s elementary school in Lakeview on the North Side agreed he needed an aide. He is autistic and often wanders. But the school told her they couldn’t pay for it.

So she went to plead her case before the Chicago Board of Education, demanding something be done. Eventually, the school figured out how to pay for the aide.

“I cannot understand how a parent in a different situation can go and fight against CPS admin [and] fight a non-winning war,” Palmieri said.

Gerardo Suarez, who volunteers with a community group called Communities United and attended CPS schools, said many Latino parents already find it hard navigating the system because of language and cultural issues. Suarez, 26, has a hearing impairment, but didn’t start getting special education help until eighth grade.

“My mother didn’t know what was special education,” he said. His mother is from Mexico, doesn’t speak much English and isn’t familiar with the way the education system works here, he said.

In the years since Williams’ son was diagnosed with his disabilities, she has tried to learn as much about special education as she possibly could. At first, though, she resisted. She remembers initially being scared of a label for her son, she said. She was afraid teachers would not expect anything from him.

But she saw him struggling. In kindergarten, the principal threatened to expel him because he acted out so much, she said.

“I had to put myself in his shoes,” Williams said.

Williams dove in. She volunteered at his school, became an advocate for him and joined Community Organizing and Family Issues, a citywide organization where she now trains other parents.

“You have to know your rights as a parent,” she said. “You have to know your responsibility. ... How are you going to work with the school and the school going to work with you?”

But last year was exceedingly difficult for her, even with all her training. In the last six months, she’s met three times with staff at her son’s school. She still doesn’t think he is getting what he needs.

The principal of his school, Laura Ward Elementary, declined to comment, citing confidentiality.

Williams said the school won’t give him an individual aide, even though psychiatrists from La Rabida Children’s Hospital have diagnosed him with emotional and impulse issues. She said he is in trouble so much that he misses out on a lot of learning time.

“The aide could keep other kids from messing with him and make sure he doesn’t get mad,” she said. But she said the school staff told her they are understaffed and can’t afford one.

The school was able to give him a computer that reads texts out loud to help him get his work done. Also, they said they would assign someone on staff to keep an eye on him.

If she remains unhappy with her son’s services, she said school staff told her she could request another meeting. But not until January.

She’s not giving up, of course. But she has serious doubts her son will ever get what he needs in her neighborhood and others like it.

To Listen to the WBEZ Chicago Interview (4 min.) link: CLICK HERE       
https://www.wbez.org/shows/wbez-news/at-cps-more-special-education-dollars-go-to-white-wealthier-students/3da6a38f-4edf-4d01-8b28-165c54ea4b09

U.S. Congress Wants To Make Americans with Disabilities Second-Class Citizens Again - U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth

President George H.W. Bush signs the Americans with Disabilities Act during a ceremony at the White House on July 26, 1990. Joining Bush are Rev. Harold Wilke, rear left; Evan Kemp, chairman of the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission, left; Sandra Parrino, chairman of the National Council on Disability; and Justin Dart, chairman of the President's Council on Disabilities. (Barry Thumma/Associated Press)

Opinion By Senator Tammy Duckworth as published in The Washington Post | October 17, 2017
On May 28, 1988, Lisa Carl went to her local movie theater, something millions of Americans can do with ease and comfort. Yet when Lisa tried to go into the theater, the manager refused her ticket, denying her entry because Lisa had cerebral palsy and used a wheelchair. When an advocate called the theater owner about the incident, the manager coldly stated, "I don't want her in here, and I don't have to let her in."

Lisa later testified before Congress, "I was not crying on the outside, but I was crying on the inside. I just wanted to watch the movie like everyone else." While the cruelty is heartbreaking, the true outrage was that in 1988, the law actually sided with the theater owner, who was free to legally discriminate against Lisa and deny her access to a public theater because she was born with a disability.

Fortunately, millions of Americans with disabilities and their families refused to accept this discrimination. They shared their stories and pushed and prodded a bipartisan coalition of legislators to end decades of legally sanctioned discrimination through passage of the landmark Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.

At the signing ceremony, President George H.W. Bush noted that before the ADA, "tragically, for too many Americans, the blessings of liberty have been limited or even denied. The Civil Rights Act of '64 took a bold step toward righting that wrong. But the stark fact remained that people with disabilities were still victims of segregation and discrimination, and this was intolerable." Bush declared, "Let the shameful wall of exclusion finally come tumbling down."

Decades later, the forces of discrimination are working hard to rebuild that wall. Led by the hospitality and retail industries, special interests want to shift the burden of ADA compliance away from business owners and onto individuals with disabilities.

They're backing a bill that has already passed the House Judiciary Committee, the so-called ADA Education and Reform Act, which would reward businesses that fail to comply with the law. The bill would allow businesses to wait until they are notified of their failure to meet legal obligations before they even have to start removing barriers that prevent Americans with disabilities from leading independent lives.

This offensive legislation would segregate the disability community, making it the only protected class under civil rights law that must rely on "education" — rather than strong enforcement — to guarantee access to public spaces. As the Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities Rights Task Force and other civil rights organizations wrote in opposing this bill, "We know of no other law that outlaws discrimination but permits entities to discriminate with impunity until victims experience that discrimination and educate the entities perpetrating it about their obligations not to discriminate."

For decades, from enactment of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 through passage of the ADA, Congress has worked to enshrine the principle in law that no American should be denied access to a public space because of who they are, be it their race, nationality, religion, gender or disability. The ADA Education and Reform Act betrays this bipartisan legacy.

Businesses have had 27 years to comply with the ADA public-access protections. Yet rather than investing time and energy to achieve this goal, they are waging a propaganda campaign to convince Congress that their own lack of accessibility isn't the problem — so-called drive-by lawsuits are. Notably, supporters of the ADA Education and Reform Act often do not dispute that they are violating the law. Rather, they simply resent being sued for what they believe are "minor" ADA infractions.

Ever since I lost my legs when an RPG tore through the cockpit of the Black Hawk helicopter I was flying over Iraq, getting around has been difficult. I can't always enter restaurants or other public spaces. I have to spend a lot of time planning how to get from one place to the next.

An incline that is a few degrees too steep or an entrance that is a few inches off the ground can determine whether I am able to access an area without assistance. Being unable to independently enter a movie theater, store, hotel or restaurant is not only humiliating, it also limits the freedom to pursue certain jobs, to access necessary services and to enjoy basic conveniences that most Americans don't think twice about.

I understand that not everyone thinks about these things because, for most of my adult life, I didn't either. But the truth is that everyone, whether they realize it or not, is just one bad day away from needing accessible options to help them get around their community.

While I understand people might not think of some ADA violations as significant at first glance, I can assure you they are more significant for those of us with disabilities than you know.

If Congress passed this misguided legislation, it would send a disgraceful message to Americans with disabilities that their civil rights are not worthy of strong enforcement. It is not too late to defeat this dangerous legislation and keep every American living with a disability from becoming a second-class citizen.

source: This commentary was distributed by Washington Post News Service with Bloomberg News

Tammy Duckworth, a Democrat, represents Illinois in the U.S. Senate. 

Allsup Launches Website to Help Former Workers with Disabilities Avoid the SSDI Approval Logjam

ALLSUP - Oct. 2017 - Each year, hundreds of thousands of former workers get stuck in the approval logjam for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) because of simple mistakes in their initial applications. A new web page—ssdi101.allsup.com—is now available with expert tips and recommendations to avoid the delays that can add months or years to the process of applying for disability benefits.

The page provides valuable information in an easy-to-understand format, with graphics and special features, including a benefits calculator that can help applicants quickly learn how much they will earn in monthly benefits if the Social Security Administration (SSA) approves their claim.

“Tens of thousands of people with work-disrupting health conditions apply for disability benefits every month without realizing the challenges of timing, finances and medical evidence important to their claim,” said Mike Stein Allsup ,assistant vice president.

“SSDI101: The Path To Benefits gives former workers and their families the basics for getting started, especially to get through an extremely frustrating process when they don’t have any help at the beginning,” Stein added.

SSDI101: The Path To Benefits is a robust resource that:

• Outlines how to determine whether a former worker is eligible for benefits.
• Provides step-by-step instructions for applying for benefits.
• Offers a benefits calculator to discover how much someone is likely to receive based on their previous earnings.
• Lists the most common physical and mental ailments covered by SSDI.
• Explains what happens at each level of the process, from application to award, including a process timeline.
• Defines key terms, and much more.

About 8.7 million former U.S. workers currently receive SSDI benefits, which they paid for through their FICA taxes. The average SSDI recipient worked 22 years prior to receiving Social Security disability. Applicants must have paid payroll taxes and worked five of the past 10 years. They must be under retirement age and suffer from a severe work-disrupting injury or physical or mental illness that will last at least a year, or is terminal.

Unfortunately, the application and appeals processes are difficult and lengthy. About 2 million Americans are now at some stage in the Social Security disability claims review process—from application to appeals—that can take more than 800 days to complete.

The web page was created by Allsup, which has helped more than 275,000 people receive their Social Security disability benefits and navigate the complicated process of completing forms, filing appeals, tracking deadlines, and potentially returning to work.

The web page also provides free access to Allsup’s convenient online tool, empower by Allsup®, which combines an SSDI assessment for eligibility and Social Security disability application support, plus return to work assistance, for those who are able to return to work following medical recovery or stabilization of their conditions.

Go to ssdi101.allsup.com to learn more.

ABOUT ALLSUP
Allsup and its subsidiaries provide nationwide Social Security disability, veterans disability appeal, return to work, exchange plan and Medicare services for individuals, their employers and insurance carriers. Allsup professionals deliver specialized services supporting people with disabilities and seniors so they may lead lives that are as financially secure and as healthy as possible. Founded in 1984, the company is based in Belleville, Illinois, near St. Louis.
source: GlobeNewswire