Dear Friends,
We are ready for the Children's Festival that starts this weekend. It
is a month long educational event at the South Coast Plaza in Costa
Mesa. We have been able to accumulate a lot of valuable resources to
distribute to the children and parents. This weekend Friday-Sunday,
and Saturdays-Sundays for the rest of the month of September. 2
million people attended this event last year. This education project
will be another big winner for deaf awareness education. If you wish
to help us with this huge education project, please check our own
ocdacvolunteer mailing list for more details for this and other
excellent volunteer opportunities.
OCDAC Communications
-------------< INSIDE NEWS >
Were going to be starting our nightly fundraising activities at the
bowling centers this week to help us raise funds for the expenses of
the bigger fundraising operations. We have some new products that hold
good promise in our fundraising. This Thursday and Friday at
Westminster lanes 6pm to 9pm.
We still need a volunteer coordinator who will help us keep in touch
with volunteers and to contact them and make sure they are given the
opportunities to participate in our activities. Our volunteer list has
grown dramatically during the fair. We really need help managing them.
We have decided to eliminate our Rose parade fundraiser and replace it
with a bigger times square like event at the Orange County
Fairgrounds. We also need committees for the Pirate's festival,
Silverado Festival, and Winter Festival fundraisers as well.
We also started on our Deaf festival awareness booth planning that's
taking place in Van Nuys this coming September.
We have also started on our Deaf Expo (Mata.tv) planning for the event
in November in Long Beach. It might be a hybrid fundraising and
educational booth.
-------------< OUTSIDE NEWS >
House Budget Resolution Could Lead to Cuts in SSI; Senate
http://www.c-c-d.org/SSI%20Threat4c.pdf
Golf day to help hearing-impaired
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/lake/orl
-lcnotes2705aug27,0,530195.story?coll=orl-news-headlines-lake
Event benefits county's disabled
http://www.theoaklandpress.com/stories/082905/loc_
200508290012000.shtml
New formation program for deaf offered at Holy Angels
http://www.the-tidings.com/2005/0826/deaf.htm
School for deaf, blind expands
http://www.greatfallstribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/art
icle?AID=/20050828/NEWS01/508280310/1002
A Better Future For Deaf And Hearing Impaired
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/GE0508/S00114.htm
Apartments cater to deaf, hard of hearing
http://www.jsonline.com/bym/news/aug05/351300.asp
ELDERLY and DISABLED Victims of INTERNET FRAUD Ignored by the Governor
and Attorney General
http://www.expertclick.com/NewsReleaseWire/default
.cfm?Action=ReleaseDetail&ID=9992
Deaf Entrepreneur Makes People "Listen"
http://allafrica.com/stories/200508250376.html
Travel industry ignores disabled
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4180950.stm
Do you hear what I miss? Hearing-impaired man must fight for what law
says is right
http://www.herald-review.com/articles/2005/08/27/n
ews/local_news/1009736.txt
-------------< DEAF GRAPEVINE >
CALL FOR NOMINATIONS for the 2006 HENRY B. BETTS AWARD.
Nomination forms now available. Visit www.AAPD.com.
The Henry B. Betts Award was created to annually honor an individual
whose work and scope of influence have significantly improved the
quality of life for people with disabilities in the past, and will be
a force for change in the future. The recipient of The Henry B. Betts
Award will be a person at the pinnacle of his or her career.
Successful nominees will have demonstrated a strong vision and
understanding of how to improve the quality of life for people with
disabilities; possess a record of efforts and accomplishments that
have affected a wide disability population; and have served as a
powerful force for change, enhancing the opportunities for people with
disabilities to participate fully in all aspects of society.
The 2006 Betts laureate receives an unrestricted $50,000 cash award
at
AAPDs annual Leadership Gala in Washington, D.C. The Award will be
presented at the fifth annual AAPD Leadership Gala on March 8, 2006
in
Washington, D.C.
To learn more and obtain an application, please visit the AAPD
website:
www.AAPD.com.
SUBMISSION DEADLINE: Friday, OCTOBER 7, 2005 (5:00pm, eastern)
Please disseminate widely.
We apologize for any cross postings.
Thank you!
American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD)
Phone: 800-840-8844 (v/tty) or 202-457-0046 (v/tty)
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.AAPD.com
-------------< BULLETIN >
WHY NOW IS THE TIME TO RENEW OUR PUSH FOR MICASSA AND MONEY FOLLOWS
THE
PERSON
Many people with significant disabilities cannot live without
supports, like attendant services.
Terri Schiavo's story brought into focus, in an extreme way, the fact
of this need. It pointed a huge spotlight on this issue.
The visceral/gut reaction of many in the disability community was a
feeling of being deeply threatened. The fear comes from their current
need for this support, or anticipation that they will need such
supports in the future, combined with a sense that the general mood is
to diminish just these types of supports.
Many politicians who spoke in support for Terri's life have not shown
the same support for the services that would allow people with
disabilities to live with dignity in their communities.
Others who failed to see the importance of the value of Terri's life,
sometimes even life with a disability in general, have also not shown
strong support for legislation supporting us in the community.
The lack of understanding on both sides is chilling, to say the least.
Congress came back from their Spring Break on Tuesday (April 5th).
With Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security up for perhaps radical
reform, we cannot just hope for the best. We must continue to push
our agenda forward.
Let's make some good come from all this. Let's get our Senators and
Representatives to support disability by passing legislation. We need
community attendant services and supports. If they support people
with
disabilities they need to support MiCASSA (S. 401 and HR 910) and
Money
Follows the Person (S. 528).
CONTINUE YOUR ADVOCACY BY CONTACTING YOUR SENATOR AND REPRESENTATIVE.
FREE OUR PEOPLE!
NATIONAL ADAPT MAILING LIST - Adapt MiCASA List http://www.adapt.org
-------------< ADVOCACY NEWS >
Increase the Percentage of Accessible Units
In 1988, after many years of negotiations and discussions, HUD
published its Section 504 mandatory regulations for all recipients of
"federal financial assistance." These include all Public Housing
Authorities, and all cities, counties and states that receive
Community Development Block Grant funds and HOME partnership funds, as
well as all private (both nonprofit and for profit) and public
entities that receive and administer "project-based" housing vouchers.
These regulations required that a MINIMUM of 5% of the housing units
be made accessible pursuant to the Uniform Federal Accessibility
Guidelines (UFAS). After many years of struggle, we're seeing some
progress and the "5%" goal is becoming more of a reality in some
cities and counties.
One complaint we receive, unfortunately with some regularity, is that
persons are residing in these accessible units do not require the
accessible features - a potential violation of the HUD regulations
that advocates should look into and correct.
The time has arrived - you should be asking HUD to INCREASE the
MINIMUM
percentage. The HUD federal regulation (24 Code of Federal
Regulations 8.22 ( c)) provides that "HUD may prescribe a higher
percentage ... based upon demonstration to the reasonable satisfaction
of HUD of a need for a higher percentage... based on current data...."
Here is the current data (2003) that show the need for a higher
percentage of federally financed accessible housing:
First, nationally, at least 8% of all SSI recipients under 65 may
require UFAS units' accessibility features. SSI recipients are
eligible for all the federally funded housing for low-income persons,
so these 8% are the primary targeted recipients for UFAS units. They
are eligible for ACCESSIBLE and AFFORDABLE housing. This data can be
found at Table 25:
http://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/statcomps/ssi_asr/2003/exp_toc.html
Second,. nationally, more than 25% of all SSDI disabled beneficiaries
(workers, widows and adult children,) who are under 65 had
disabilities that probably required UFAS housing. Many of these
persons receive SSDI monthly benefits
quite close to the SSI level. These people therefore are both
disability and income eligible for federally funded low-income
ACCESSIBLE housing.
Third, we know from the 2000 Census (American Fact Finder) that nearly
20% of the entire population 16 to 64 years had a physical disability
that made going outside the home difficult. This is available by
State, county and census tract.
Http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/DatasetMainPageServlet?_lang=en
Many of these people overlap the SSI and SSDI categories and might
also
require accessible units.
Last, while the above three data sources exclude persons
institutionalized in nursing homes and therefore "undercount" the
need for accessible housing, the MDS provides county data for persons
in nursing homes who want to live in the community. Many of these
people are institutionalized solely because they cannot find
accessible, affordable, integrated housing.
http://www.cms.hhs.gov/states/mdsreports/default.asp
The task, goal and strategy are straightforward. Use these sources
to find out the data on a state basis or better yet a local area.
Then ask your local Housing Authority and recipients of both CDBG and
HOME funds to increase the percentages of accessible units. If they
refuse, disability advocates should request your regional HUD office
to require the increase. HUD has the authority and duty to increase
the percentage with data you collect from the above sources. Without
your pressure, no increase will automatically happen.
Steve Gold, The Disability Odyssey continues
Back issues of other Information Bulletins are available online at
http://www.stevegoldada.com with a searchable Archive at this site
divided into different subjects. To contact Steve Gold directly,
write to [email protected]
-------------< ANNOUNCEMENTS >
COME TO OUR MEETUPS! The Orange County American Sign Language Meetup
Group - http://asl.meetup.com/37/ - meets each 3rd Wednesdays of the
month. The Orange County Deaf & Hearing Impaired Meetup Group -
http://deaf.meetup.com/38/ - meets each 1st Saturdays of the month.
Our new ASL class start in the third week of August and the slots are
really being filled now as there is a limit of 8 students per class
for better quality of education and sign language training.
Please visit our iGive store http://www.igive.com/ocdac
Please visit our bookstore that has related books and different kinds
of assistive living devices at http://store.deafadvocacy.org
If you shop at Albertsons and have a community partners card, please
consider adding your card to our list of supporters. You can now
download and print our Albertsons Community Partners signup forms at
Http://www.deafadvocacy.com/AlbertsonsSignup.pdf and have your
friends, neighbors, associates, and relatives sign up as supporters
and then mail it to the address on the form. Our goal is 25,000
supporters who shop at Albertsons. And when you shop at Albertsons,
please dont forget to use the community partners card.
We recycle used cell phones, empty printer and toner cartridges. If
you have any of these to unload from your hands, please send or drop
them at our agency at 2960 Main Street, A100, Irvine, California 92614
-------------< DEAF QUOTES >
Erica Povey, from the Ballarat Deaf Facility said "They're very
excited,... It also helps deaf children and their meet other deaf
children."
-------------< COMMUNITY BULLHORN >
This video is good to make a good point on accessibility;
http://www.edf.fr/html/pubtv_2005/diversites/swf/en/pop_video_en.html
Mark Apodaca makes a good point on deaf organizations in this video;
Http://www.deafadvocacy.com/deafwatch/maorg.wmv
-------------< DEAF FRIENDLY JOB OPPORTUNITIES >
2 deaf or hard of hearing mortgage consultants needed for a
Riverside, California mortgage company.
All candidates interested in any of the job opportunities are
required to apply for our job placement services. Our intake form is
at Http://www.deafadvocacy.com/intake.htm
-------------< DEAF FRIENDLY BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES >
Become an owner of a _________.WS website for only $10 a month! All
_________.WS owners automatically become .WS website resellers and it
comes with an automatic selling program and all you have to do is lead
people to your .WS reseller website. The WS stands for 'website'! Link
has video of the program in American Sign Language and is a excellent
self-sufficiency opportunity for people
who want to be on the top of the .WS cyber real estate market. Hearing
people can participate as the reseller link also has a video for them.
Begin your journey toward self-sufficiency by sending a blank email to
[email protected] and it will auto-reply back to you with information
about this fantastic program. And you will get another email message a
few days later with the full explanation of the program.
-------------< LETTERS >
August 26, 2005
The Honorable Arlen Specter
United States Senate
Chairman, the Judiciary Committee
Washington, DC 20510
Dear Chairman Specter:
The American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD), the
National Council on Independent Living (NCIL), and the Judge David L.
Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law (Bazelon Center) want to express
their deep appreciation to you for the letter you wrote to Supreme
Court nominee Judge John G. Roberts, Jr. (dated August 23, 2005). The
issues on which you focused regarding the Americans with Disabilities
Act (ADA) specifically address our concerns regarding the judicial
process for nominations to the higher courts and in particular the
Supreme Court. You have been a champion for the disability community
on numerous occasions, Chairman Specter, and we are very grateful for
your continuing support. Many of our members hail from Pennsylvania
and are among our most active advocates in the disability community.
To date, Chairman Specter, none of our organizations have come out in
opposition to Judge Roberts. But we do have questions. AAPD, the
countrys largest cross-disability membership organization, promotes
the
economic and political empowerment of all 56 million children and
adults with disabilities in the United States. It was founded in 1995
to help unite the diverse community of people with disabilities,
including their family, friends and supporters, and be a national
voice for change in implementing the goals of the ADA. NCIL is the
oldest cross-disability, grassroots organization run by and for people
with disabilities. Founded in 1982, NCIL represents over 700
organizations and individuals including centers for independent
living, Statewide Independent Living Councils, individuals with
disabilities, and other organizations that advocate for the human and
civil rights of people with disabilities throughout the U.S. The
Bazelon Center is a national legal advocate for people with mental
disabilities. Through precedent-setting litigation and in the public
policy arena, the Bazelon Center works to advance and preserve the
rights of people with mental illnesses and developmental disabilities.
We represent hundreds of thousands of people with disabilities whose
lives are greatly impacted by judicial decisions.
Your remarks regarding both Tennessee v. Lane and Alabama v. Garrett
really resonated in our community since both were 5 to 4 decisions
one
for and one against us! You can understand our belief that our lives
literally hang in the balance by a single vote of the Supreme Court.
Your effort guarantees that there will be meaningful discussion of
the
response of the federal judiciary to the rights of Americans with
Disabilities an area that has all too often been relegated to the
periphery of debate around the federal judiciary.
Based on concerns raised by Justice Roberts record as well as by
recent concerns raised by Justice Roberts record, as well as recent
trends in federal jurisprudence, we will be submitting to the
Judiciary Committee by early next week a series of questions on
matters of great important to our organizations.
They center on these issues:
The right to private action (particularly in fair housing and
Medicaid
cases);
Definition of disability;
Reasonable accommodations;
Undue burden; and
Olmstead implementation.
We would very much appreciate your assistance in posing these
questions
to Judge Roberts.
In conclusion, Chairman Specter, we would request that a
representative
of our organizations be allowed to testify at Judge Roberts hearing.
Andrew J. Imparato, president and CEO of AAPD, is an attorney and has
testified on several occasions before the Senate and the House on
issues regarding ADA and people with disabilities. Again, we thank
you for your support and we look forward to participating in some way
in the upcoming hearings on Judge Roberts.
Sincerely,
Andrew Imparato, President and CEO
American Association of People with Disabilities
John Lancaster, Executive Director
National Council on Independent Living
Robert Bernstein, Executive Director
The Judge David L. Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law
-------------< EPILOG >
If you wish to contribute to this newsletter, feel free to send in
news, stories, and opinions relating to the disability community. Your
support for this effort to move the disability community forward will
be greatly appreciated. We will continue to aggressively pursue
justice, fairness, and equality for the disability community as it has
been doing since November 1996. We have chosen that EDUCATION is the
best way accomplish this objective.
Orange County Deaf Advocacy Center is a community based organization
that puts people with disabilities first in their advocacy for equal
opportunities in safety, health, and productive living.
The Orange County Deaf Advocacy Center provides services for disabled
individuals and their families in our community who need help in
navigating the social services maze go without proper food, shelter,
and essential medical care every day due to a variety of factors
including low wages, job loss, injuries, illness, age, domestic
violence, or divorce. While all of us are susceptible to hard times,
disabled individuals are at the most risk. With the generous support
of people like you, we are able to help many of these families and
individuals not only to meet essential daily needs, but to work toward
a brighter future with programs in job training, education,
counseling, elderly assistance, and temporary housing.
Feel free to forward this email message to any one and any of your
personal mailing lists so we can get the important messages out far
and wide and encourage them to sign up for our weekly newsletter.
Monday, August 29, 2005
Wednesday, August 24, 2005
OCDAC Newsletter August 24, 2005
Dear Friends,
Great news! The positive results of our giant education project at the
Orange County Fair continue to roll in. We got an invite to the
Harvest Festival in La Palma in October which calls for an education
booth. And we got an invite to the California Strawberry Festival
next May in Oxnard which calls for a food stand booth. We also have
been invited to do a presentation at the Lion's Club and invited to
teach sign language to Boy Scouts at the upcoming Camporee event in
Los Alamitos next spring. We are very pleased with the positive
results from our 3 week education campaign at the county fair. And we
will be getting many more invites and opportunities to further our
educational goals in the next few weeks.
We are like 80% ready for the Children's Festival that starts next
weekend. It is a month long educational event at the South Coast
Plaza in Costa Mesa. We have been able to accumulate a lot of
valuable resources to distribute to the children and parents. Next
weekend Friday-Sunday, and Saturdays-Sundays for the rest of the month
of September. 2 million people attended this event last year. This
education project will be another big winner for deaf awareness education.
Our sign language classes are rolling but not as good as we hoped for.
We are working on developing this education program so we can get the
best public response to it.
OCDAC Communications
-------------< INSIDE NEWS >
We still need a volunteer coordinator who will help us keep in touch
with volunteers and to contact them and make sure they are given the
opportunities to participate in our activities. Our volunteer list has
grown dramatically during the fair. We really need help managing them.
We need to start a committee for our Tiller Days Festival, our 2nd
largest fundraising event of the year. Tiller Days is in October and
in Tustin, California. Also we have decided to eliminate our Rose
parade fundraiser and replace it with a bigger times square like event
at the Orange County Fairgrounds. We also need committees for the
Pirate's festival, Silverado Festival, and Winter Festval fundraisers
as well. Were going to be starting our nightly fundraising activities
at the bowling centers soon to help us raise funds for the expenses of
the bigger fundraising operations. We have some new products that hold
good promise in our fundraising.
We also started on our Deaf festival awareness booth planning that's
taking place in Van Nuys this coming September.
We have also started on our Deaf Expo (Mata.tv) planning for the event
in November in Long Beach. It might be a hybrid fundraising and
educational booth.
-------------< OUTSIDE NEWS >
Georgia Sschool for Deaf is seeing fewer, fewer students
http://news.mywebpal.com/partners/680/public/news654954.html
Delray non-profit clinic caters to hearing-impaired and deaf
http://www.bocaratonnews.com/index.php?src=news&prid=12410&category=BUSINESS%20N\
EWS
Park's visitor center entrance with ramp for disabled now open
http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050821/NEWS01/508210395/1004/BUS\
INESS
School for deaf trying to revive program
http://www.centredaily.com/mld/centredaily/sports/12436173.htm
Jalandhar win in deaf football
http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=144957
Muthukad's magic to raise funds for Deaf School
http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/art\
icle?AID=/20050821/NEWS01/508210395/1004/BUSINESSIER20050821000722&Page=R&Title=\
Kerala&Topic=0
State may slash home care
http://www.detnews.com/2005/metro/0508/21/D01-287404.htm
-------------< DEAF GRAPEVINE >
The California Disability Gaming Initiative - A Path to Dignity and
Self Reliance
By Richard Roehm
Thousands of Californians with Disabilities still live in poverty.
The California Disability Gaming Initiative is a good bet to provide
hope and opportunities for all people with disabilities.
The California Disability Gaming Initiative is to help the California
deaf and disability organizations establish gaming revenues by owning
and operating casinos in the rural areas of California. The gaming
revenues will translate to improved service offerings by participating
deaf and disability organizations and brighten the outlook on the
future of the disability communities.
We've already had our 15 year gamble with the Americans with
Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) and the payout for ADA litigation has
been less than 5% which is far less than the payout of most slot
machines at casinos. Barriers still remain in our ways to full
participation in societal offerings. Barriers compounded by federal
policy changes do very little to help our quest or journey toward
independence. This includes cutting funding for domestic programs.
Even now Vocational Rehabilitation is set to have it's budget slashed.
Furthermore, due to lack of funding, the Ticket to Work Initiative
has been declared a joke by many disability organizations throughout
the United States. The result we have seen so far has been nothing
more than a continuous cycle of dependency on the taxpayer supported
welfare systems.
How do we break the cycle of dependency? One proven solution is the
California Disability Gaming Initiative. We need to explore the
California Disability Gaming Initiative which is a good path toward
establishing our dignity and self reliance. This type of initiative
has been proven to work very well with the Native American tribes, it
will work with the disability communities once we make the effort to
make it happen. This type of initiative is a 'best practices' type of
solution we need to seriously explore.
Once fully implemented, the California Disability Gaming Initiative
would utilize the resources of participating deaf and disability
organizations to;
--Improve residential and health care opportunities for people with
disabilities. We will have the means to establish our own residential
health care systems that doesn't sound like a Laguna Honda nightmare.
--Offer new accessible housing to replace the aging, insensitive, and
sub-standard housing already available to the deaf and disability
communities.
--Work toward reducing and eliminating SSI, SSDI, and other welfare
payments to people with disabilities.
--Offer pre-school and after-school daycare for children of working
adults with disabilities.
--Award scholarships to people with disabilities going to college.
--Create jobs and job training to break the cycle of welfare in the
deaf and disability communities.
--Establish mental health and counseling facilities to provide
specialized alcohol and drug addiction services to the deaf and
disability communities.
--Enable economic diversification through investments in non-gaming
businesses like hotels, office buildings, banking, social services,
store and restaurant franchising, and others among many opportunities
already available to the non-disabled communities.
The impact of California Disability Gaming Initiative would be
thunderous. We would be able to become self reliant and help end the
cycle of welfare. We would get hundreds of thousands of people with
disabilities off welfare payments especially SSI and SSDI and that
itself would result in taxpayer savings by the billions of dollars
annually.
And the California Disability Gaming Initiative would also enable
Californians with disabilities access barrier free gaming
establishments. Most California gaming establishments remain
inaccessible to people with disabilities. Some gaming establishments
are on mountainous areas making it unsafe for wheelchair users, many
permit smoking inside the casinos, many have employees that are very
insensitive to people with disabilities.
We've gambled 15 years of our lives with the ADA and over the years it
has been watered down to an ineffective tool to help the deaf and
disability communities become fully integrated into our society.
It's my belief that the California Disability Gaming Initiative would
change everything in the deaf and disability communities for the
better and is worth a good look.
More information on the California Disability Gaming Initiative will
be available at http://www.deafadvocacy.org in the near future.
-------------< BULLETIN >
This week, we will be helping a deaf client pursue a possible class
action case against the City of San Diego, their police department,
and the San Diego courts for permitting an orchestration of
communication barriers that prevented the client from having any say
in the police situation and preventing the client from having it's day
in court. This will be one of our key cases. Title II of the Americans
with Disabilities Act didn't seem to exist through the eyes of the
City of San Diego, their police department, and the courts down there.
We intend to use litigation to make Title II very visible to them.
-------------< ADVOCACY NEWS >
A Practical Approach to Providing Quality Care to Women with Disabilities
Harvard Medical School's Center of Excellence in Women's Health is
pleased to present "Women with Disabilities Symposium: A Practical
Approach to Providing Quality Care to Women with Visual, Hearing, and
Mobility Impairments."
This one-day conference will be held on Saturday, September 17, 2005,
from 9:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. at Harvard Medical School. The event is
co-sponsored by the Center for Women with Disabilities at Beth Israel
Deaconess Medical Center. The registration fee is only $75.
The conference will provide clinicians and practice managers with the
practical knowledge and skills that will enable them to care more
sensitively and effectively for women with disabilities.
Topics will include:
--Overcoming negative attitudes and misconceptions;
--Developing participatory patient-clinician relationships based
on the unique needs of each patient;
--Caring for the younger woman;
--Learning how to make the simple equipment and physical
examination modifications that permit comprehensive assessment;
--A review of appropriate screening and prevention recommendations,
--How to perform an accurate functional assessment, and
--How to manage secondary medical complications that occur
frequently in women with disabilities.
Who Should Attend?
The conference is intended for a national audience of diverse
clinicians including :
--Physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners,
registered nurses, physical therapists, occupational therapists, and
mental health clinicians.
--Students from fields such as primary care, medicine, ob/gyn,
physical and rehabilitation medicine, social work, nursing,
occupational therapy, and physical therapy who provide care for women
with disabilities.
--Practice managers and other clinical administrators who manage
the delivery of direct health care services for women with disabilities.
In order to make the symposium as meaningful and interactive as
possible, enrollment will be limited to 125 participants.
To learn more about the conference and register, visit
http://www.hms.harvard.edu/coewh/DisabilityConference
For more information, please contact Lindsay Giorgi, Program
Coordinator for HMS's Center of Excellence in Women's Health. She can
be reached at [email protected] or (617) 732-5502.
CME and CEU credits are available.
A Note on Credits
CME credits are offered through Harvard Medical School, which is
accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical
Education to provide continuing medical education for physicians.
Harvard Medical School designates this educational activity for a
maximum of 6.5 category 1 credits towards the AMA Physician's
Recognition Award. Each physician should claim only those credits that
he/she actually spent in the educational activity.
CEU credits are offered through Professional Nursing at Beth Israel
Deaconess Medical Center. The conference has been approved for 6.9
contact hours (CEU). The Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center is an
approved provider of continuing nursing education by the Massachusetts
Association of Registered Nurses, Inc., and accredited approver by the
American Nurse Credentialing Center's Commission on Accreditation.
An application for Social Work CE credits has been submitted to the
Massachusetts Chapter of the NASW. Credits will be posted Online as
soon as we receive approval.
-------------< ANNOUNCEMENTS >
COME TO OUR MEETUPS! The Orange County American Sign Language Meetup
Group - http://asl.meetup.com/37/ - meets each 3rd Wednesdays of the
month. The Orange County Deaf & Hearing Impaired Meetup Group -
http://deaf.meetup.com/38/ - meets each 1st Saturdays of the month.
Our new ASL class start in the third week of August and the slots are
really being filled now as there is a limit of 8 students per class
for better quality of education and sign language training.
Please visit our iGive store http://www.igive.com/ocdac
Please visit our bookstore that has related books and different kinds
of assistive living devices at http://store.deafadvocacy.org
If you shop at Albertsons and have a community partners card, please
consider adding your card to our list of supporters. You can now
download and print our Albertsons Community Partners signup forms at
Http://www.deafadvocacy.com/AlbertsonsSignup.pdf and have your
friends, neighbors, associates, and relatives sign up as supporters
and then mail it to the address on the form. Our goal is 25,000
supporters who shop at Albertsons. And when you shop at Albertsons,
please dont forget to use the community partners card.
We recycle used cell phones, empty printer and toner cartridges. If
you have any of these to unload from your hands, please send or drop
them at our agency at 2960 Main Street, A100, Irvine, California 92614
-------------< DEAF QUOTES >
"Wherever we perform, people always want to know more about being deaf
and what it means to be a performer. They are interested in how it is
used in our performances." Dale Holmes
-------------< COMMUNITY BULLHORN >
Critical housing resources for low-income people are again at risk as
Congress works to cut spending. Protections against discrimination
based on disability are also threatened. Lawmakers need your support
to resist the Bush Administration's efforts to cut funding and roll
back legal protections in current housing programs.
As you know, people with mental disabilities have the least income and
the most difficult housing problems. That is why it has been critical
to join with your community's affordable housing advocates to deliver
the following messages:
-Fully fund all the housing and community development programs of the
Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
-Direct HUD to issue fair market rents that accurately reflect the
cost of rental housing in the community and that restore funding to
the rental voucher programs, which disappeared because of earlier,
inaccurate fair market rent calculations.
-Establish a national Affordable Housing Fund, as many cities have
done-funding programs that have been essential to the construction of
affordable rental housing;
-Fully fund HUD's Fair Housing programs to restore lost resources and
increase the level of enforcement against discriminatory barriers to
housing.
At the same time that HUD is proposing to slash its Fair Housing
budget and eliminate its Fair Housing First Program, a HUD-funded
study published July 25th shows that people with mental and physical
disabilities were subjected to more incidents of housing
discrimination than families with children, people of color and all of
the other groups protected by fair housing laws. Discrimination
Against Persons With Disabilities - Barriers at Every Step is
available from HUD by calling 1-800-HUD-USER, or by download from
http://www.HUDUSER.org. The Urban Institute prepared testing guidance
for HUD, available at the same phone number and website. With the
Guidance for Practitioners, it is possible to conduct tests of local
housing and to pursue findings of discrimination with education and
enforcement actions.
Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act is the only federal civil rights
law that requires agencies that either give or get federal funds to
assess whether their programs, activities and policies pose barriers
to participation by people with disabilities. On July 22, HUD
published a Federal Register notice requesting public comments on its
own self-evaluation.
HUD may be only the second federal agency to conduct such a
self-evaluation. (The Department of Justice was the first). HUD's
evaluation identified structural and communication barriers in its
headquarters and field offices. Unfortunately, HUD did not review its
publications, regulations, policies or procedures to determine how
they might be impeding enforcement of Section 504. The Bazelon Center
worked with the Consortium of Citizens with Disabilities and the
National Network of Disability Rights to submit comments to HUD. Our
first comment was to ask for a longer comment period, which HUD
approved. The comment period is now open and may remain so, since HUD
has not published a second notice with new closing date.
You may read our comments along with others submitted to HUD at
http://docket.epa.gov/edkfed/do/EDKStaffCollectionDtailView?objectId=0b0007d4808\
4e7fa
The HUD docket is open to comments about difficulties anyone has
experienced in working with HUD because of physical or mental
disabilities. The more examples HUD receives, the clearer the message
will be that it must conduct its business in a non-discriminatory way,
and that any barriers to non-discrimination must be identified and
eliminated.
The Bazelon Center
-------------< DEAF FRIENDLY JOB OPPORTUNITIES >
2 deaf or hard of hearing mortgage consultants needed for a
Riverside, California mortgage company.
All candidates interested in any of the job opportunities are
required to apply for our job placement services. Our intake form is
at Http://www.deafadvocacy.com/intake.htm
-------------< DEAF FRIENDLY BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES >
Become an owner of a _________.WS website for only $10 a month! All
_________.WS owners automatically become .WS website resellers and it
comes with an automatic selling program and all you have to do is lead
people to your .WS reseller website. The WS stands for 'website'! Link
has video of the program in American Sign Language and is a excellent
self-sufficiency opportunity for people who want to be on the top of
the .WS cyber real estate market. Hearing people can participate as
the reseller link also has a video for them. Begin your journey toward
self-sufficiency by sending a blank email to [email protected] and it
will auto-reply back to you with information about this fantastic
program. And you will get another email message a few days later with
the full explanation of the program.
-------------< LETTERS >
Hello to everyone!
This is Ma. Luz Sarah L. Chen. My nickname is Sarah. I am Deaf
Catechist for 12 years from Philippines. I also volunteer to help in
Diocese of Imus and Diocese of Lucena. May I ask you for help if you
can support me to go to US and live in California to become a nun or
lay worker. To learn more and share with the Deaf to know more about
God and the Catholic faith.
Please feel free to email me.
May God bless you!
Sarah [email protected]
-------------< EPILOG >
If you wish to contribute to this newsletter, feel free to send in
news, stories, and opinions relating to the disability community. Your
support for this effort to move the disability community forward will
be greatly appreciated. We will continue to aggressively pursue
justice, fairness, and equality for the disability community as it has
been doing since November 1996. We have chosen that EDUCATION is the
best way accomplish this objective.
Orange County Deaf Advocacy Center is a community based organization
that puts people with disabilities first in their advocacy for equal
opportunities in safety, health, and productive living.
The Orange County Deaf Advocacy Center provides services for disabled
individuals and their families in our community who need help in
navigating the social services maze go without proper food, shelter,
and essential medical care every day due to a variety of factors
including low wages, job loss, injuries, illness, age, domestic
violence, or divorce. While all of us are susceptible to hard times,
disabled individuals are at the most risk. With the generous support
of people like you, we are able to help many of these families and
individuals not only to meet essential daily needs, but to work toward
a brighter future with programs in job training, education,
counseling, elderly assistance, and temporary housing.
Feel free to forward this email message to any one and any of your
personal mailing lists so we can get the important messages out far
and wide and encourage them to sign up for our weekly newsletter.
Great news! The positive results of our giant education project at the
Orange County Fair continue to roll in. We got an invite to the
Harvest Festival in La Palma in October which calls for an education
booth. And we got an invite to the California Strawberry Festival
next May in Oxnard which calls for a food stand booth. We also have
been invited to do a presentation at the Lion's Club and invited to
teach sign language to Boy Scouts at the upcoming Camporee event in
Los Alamitos next spring. We are very pleased with the positive
results from our 3 week education campaign at the county fair. And we
will be getting many more invites and opportunities to further our
educational goals in the next few weeks.
We are like 80% ready for the Children's Festival that starts next
weekend. It is a month long educational event at the South Coast
Plaza in Costa Mesa. We have been able to accumulate a lot of
valuable resources to distribute to the children and parents. Next
weekend Friday-Sunday, and Saturdays-Sundays for the rest of the month
of September. 2 million people attended this event last year. This
education project will be another big winner for deaf awareness education.
Our sign language classes are rolling but not as good as we hoped for.
We are working on developing this education program so we can get the
best public response to it.
OCDAC Communications
-------------< INSIDE NEWS >
We still need a volunteer coordinator who will help us keep in touch
with volunteers and to contact them and make sure they are given the
opportunities to participate in our activities. Our volunteer list has
grown dramatically during the fair. We really need help managing them.
We need to start a committee for our Tiller Days Festival, our 2nd
largest fundraising event of the year. Tiller Days is in October and
in Tustin, California. Also we have decided to eliminate our Rose
parade fundraiser and replace it with a bigger times square like event
at the Orange County Fairgrounds. We also need committees for the
Pirate's festival, Silverado Festival, and Winter Festval fundraisers
as well. Were going to be starting our nightly fundraising activities
at the bowling centers soon to help us raise funds for the expenses of
the bigger fundraising operations. We have some new products that hold
good promise in our fundraising.
We also started on our Deaf festival awareness booth planning that's
taking place in Van Nuys this coming September.
We have also started on our Deaf Expo (Mata.tv) planning for the event
in November in Long Beach. It might be a hybrid fundraising and
educational booth.
-------------< OUTSIDE NEWS >
Georgia Sschool for Deaf is seeing fewer, fewer students
http://news.mywebpal.com/partners/680/public/news654954.html
Delray non-profit clinic caters to hearing-impaired and deaf
http://www.bocaratonnews.com/index.php?src=news&prid=12410&category=BUSINESS%20N\
EWS
Park's visitor center entrance with ramp for disabled now open
http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050821/NEWS01/508210395/1004/BUS\
INESS
School for deaf trying to revive program
http://www.centredaily.com/mld/centredaily/sports/12436173.htm
Jalandhar win in deaf football
http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=144957
Muthukad's magic to raise funds for Deaf School
http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/art\
icle?AID=/20050821/NEWS01/508210395/1004/BUSINESSIER20050821000722&Page=R&Title=\
Kerala&Topic=0
State may slash home care
http://www.detnews.com/2005/metro/0508/21/D01-287404.htm
-------------< DEAF GRAPEVINE >
The California Disability Gaming Initiative - A Path to Dignity and
Self Reliance
By Richard Roehm
Thousands of Californians with Disabilities still live in poverty.
The California Disability Gaming Initiative is a good bet to provide
hope and opportunities for all people with disabilities.
The California Disability Gaming Initiative is to help the California
deaf and disability organizations establish gaming revenues by owning
and operating casinos in the rural areas of California. The gaming
revenues will translate to improved service offerings by participating
deaf and disability organizations and brighten the outlook on the
future of the disability communities.
We've already had our 15 year gamble with the Americans with
Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) and the payout for ADA litigation has
been less than 5% which is far less than the payout of most slot
machines at casinos. Barriers still remain in our ways to full
participation in societal offerings. Barriers compounded by federal
policy changes do very little to help our quest or journey toward
independence. This includes cutting funding for domestic programs.
Even now Vocational Rehabilitation is set to have it's budget slashed.
Furthermore, due to lack of funding, the Ticket to Work Initiative
has been declared a joke by many disability organizations throughout
the United States. The result we have seen so far has been nothing
more than a continuous cycle of dependency on the taxpayer supported
welfare systems.
How do we break the cycle of dependency? One proven solution is the
California Disability Gaming Initiative. We need to explore the
California Disability Gaming Initiative which is a good path toward
establishing our dignity and self reliance. This type of initiative
has been proven to work very well with the Native American tribes, it
will work with the disability communities once we make the effort to
make it happen. This type of initiative is a 'best practices' type of
solution we need to seriously explore.
Once fully implemented, the California Disability Gaming Initiative
would utilize the resources of participating deaf and disability
organizations to;
--Improve residential and health care opportunities for people with
disabilities. We will have the means to establish our own residential
health care systems that doesn't sound like a Laguna Honda nightmare.
--Offer new accessible housing to replace the aging, insensitive, and
sub-standard housing already available to the deaf and disability
communities.
--Work toward reducing and eliminating SSI, SSDI, and other welfare
payments to people with disabilities.
--Offer pre-school and after-school daycare for children of working
adults with disabilities.
--Award scholarships to people with disabilities going to college.
--Create jobs and job training to break the cycle of welfare in the
deaf and disability communities.
--Establish mental health and counseling facilities to provide
specialized alcohol and drug addiction services to the deaf and
disability communities.
--Enable economic diversification through investments in non-gaming
businesses like hotels, office buildings, banking, social services,
store and restaurant franchising, and others among many opportunities
already available to the non-disabled communities.
The impact of California Disability Gaming Initiative would be
thunderous. We would be able to become self reliant and help end the
cycle of welfare. We would get hundreds of thousands of people with
disabilities off welfare payments especially SSI and SSDI and that
itself would result in taxpayer savings by the billions of dollars
annually.
And the California Disability Gaming Initiative would also enable
Californians with disabilities access barrier free gaming
establishments. Most California gaming establishments remain
inaccessible to people with disabilities. Some gaming establishments
are on mountainous areas making it unsafe for wheelchair users, many
permit smoking inside the casinos, many have employees that are very
insensitive to people with disabilities.
We've gambled 15 years of our lives with the ADA and over the years it
has been watered down to an ineffective tool to help the deaf and
disability communities become fully integrated into our society.
It's my belief that the California Disability Gaming Initiative would
change everything in the deaf and disability communities for the
better and is worth a good look.
More information on the California Disability Gaming Initiative will
be available at http://www.deafadvocacy.org in the near future.
-------------< BULLETIN >
This week, we will be helping a deaf client pursue a possible class
action case against the City of San Diego, their police department,
and the San Diego courts for permitting an orchestration of
communication barriers that prevented the client from having any say
in the police situation and preventing the client from having it's day
in court. This will be one of our key cases. Title II of the Americans
with Disabilities Act didn't seem to exist through the eyes of the
City of San Diego, their police department, and the courts down there.
We intend to use litigation to make Title II very visible to them.
-------------< ADVOCACY NEWS >
A Practical Approach to Providing Quality Care to Women with Disabilities
Harvard Medical School's Center of Excellence in Women's Health is
pleased to present "Women with Disabilities Symposium: A Practical
Approach to Providing Quality Care to Women with Visual, Hearing, and
Mobility Impairments."
This one-day conference will be held on Saturday, September 17, 2005,
from 9:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. at Harvard Medical School. The event is
co-sponsored by the Center for Women with Disabilities at Beth Israel
Deaconess Medical Center. The registration fee is only $75.
The conference will provide clinicians and practice managers with the
practical knowledge and skills that will enable them to care more
sensitively and effectively for women with disabilities.
Topics will include:
--Overcoming negative attitudes and misconceptions;
--Developing participatory patient-clinician relationships based
on the unique needs of each patient;
--Caring for the younger woman;
--Learning how to make the simple equipment and physical
examination modifications that permit comprehensive assessment;
--A review of appropriate screening and prevention recommendations,
--How to perform an accurate functional assessment, and
--How to manage secondary medical complications that occur
frequently in women with disabilities.
Who Should Attend?
The conference is intended for a national audience of diverse
clinicians including :
--Physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners,
registered nurses, physical therapists, occupational therapists, and
mental health clinicians.
--Students from fields such as primary care, medicine, ob/gyn,
physical and rehabilitation medicine, social work, nursing,
occupational therapy, and physical therapy who provide care for women
with disabilities.
--Practice managers and other clinical administrators who manage
the delivery of direct health care services for women with disabilities.
In order to make the symposium as meaningful and interactive as
possible, enrollment will be limited to 125 participants.
To learn more about the conference and register, visit
http://www.hms.harvard.edu/coewh/DisabilityConference
For more information, please contact Lindsay Giorgi, Program
Coordinator for HMS's Center of Excellence in Women's Health. She can
be reached at [email protected] or (617) 732-5502.
CME and CEU credits are available.
A Note on Credits
CME credits are offered through Harvard Medical School, which is
accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical
Education to provide continuing medical education for physicians.
Harvard Medical School designates this educational activity for a
maximum of 6.5 category 1 credits towards the AMA Physician's
Recognition Award. Each physician should claim only those credits that
he/she actually spent in the educational activity.
CEU credits are offered through Professional Nursing at Beth Israel
Deaconess Medical Center. The conference has been approved for 6.9
contact hours (CEU). The Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center is an
approved provider of continuing nursing education by the Massachusetts
Association of Registered Nurses, Inc., and accredited approver by the
American Nurse Credentialing Center's Commission on Accreditation.
An application for Social Work CE credits has been submitted to the
Massachusetts Chapter of the NASW. Credits will be posted Online as
soon as we receive approval.
-------------< ANNOUNCEMENTS >
COME TO OUR MEETUPS! The Orange County American Sign Language Meetup
Group - http://asl.meetup.com/37/ - meets each 3rd Wednesdays of the
month. The Orange County Deaf & Hearing Impaired Meetup Group -
http://deaf.meetup.com/38/ - meets each 1st Saturdays of the month.
Our new ASL class start in the third week of August and the slots are
really being filled now as there is a limit of 8 students per class
for better quality of education and sign language training.
Please visit our iGive store http://www.igive.com/ocdac
Please visit our bookstore that has related books and different kinds
of assistive living devices at http://store.deafadvocacy.org
If you shop at Albertsons and have a community partners card, please
consider adding your card to our list of supporters. You can now
download and print our Albertsons Community Partners signup forms at
Http://www.deafadvocacy.com/AlbertsonsSignup.pdf and have your
friends, neighbors, associates, and relatives sign up as supporters
and then mail it to the address on the form. Our goal is 25,000
supporters who shop at Albertsons. And when you shop at Albertsons,
please dont forget to use the community partners card.
We recycle used cell phones, empty printer and toner cartridges. If
you have any of these to unload from your hands, please send or drop
them at our agency at 2960 Main Street, A100, Irvine, California 92614
-------------< DEAF QUOTES >
"Wherever we perform, people always want to know more about being deaf
and what it means to be a performer. They are interested in how it is
used in our performances." Dale Holmes
-------------< COMMUNITY BULLHORN >
Critical housing resources for low-income people are again at risk as
Congress works to cut spending. Protections against discrimination
based on disability are also threatened. Lawmakers need your support
to resist the Bush Administration's efforts to cut funding and roll
back legal protections in current housing programs.
As you know, people with mental disabilities have the least income and
the most difficult housing problems. That is why it has been critical
to join with your community's affordable housing advocates to deliver
the following messages:
-Fully fund all the housing and community development programs of the
Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
-Direct HUD to issue fair market rents that accurately reflect the
cost of rental housing in the community and that restore funding to
the rental voucher programs, which disappeared because of earlier,
inaccurate fair market rent calculations.
-Establish a national Affordable Housing Fund, as many cities have
done-funding programs that have been essential to the construction of
affordable rental housing;
-Fully fund HUD's Fair Housing programs to restore lost resources and
increase the level of enforcement against discriminatory barriers to
housing.
At the same time that HUD is proposing to slash its Fair Housing
budget and eliminate its Fair Housing First Program, a HUD-funded
study published July 25th shows that people with mental and physical
disabilities were subjected to more incidents of housing
discrimination than families with children, people of color and all of
the other groups protected by fair housing laws. Discrimination
Against Persons With Disabilities - Barriers at Every Step is
available from HUD by calling 1-800-HUD-USER, or by download from
http://www.HUDUSER.org. The Urban Institute prepared testing guidance
for HUD, available at the same phone number and website. With the
Guidance for Practitioners, it is possible to conduct tests of local
housing and to pursue findings of discrimination with education and
enforcement actions.
Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act is the only federal civil rights
law that requires agencies that either give or get federal funds to
assess whether their programs, activities and policies pose barriers
to participation by people with disabilities. On July 22, HUD
published a Federal Register notice requesting public comments on its
own self-evaluation.
HUD may be only the second federal agency to conduct such a
self-evaluation. (The Department of Justice was the first). HUD's
evaluation identified structural and communication barriers in its
headquarters and field offices. Unfortunately, HUD did not review its
publications, regulations, policies or procedures to determine how
they might be impeding enforcement of Section 504. The Bazelon Center
worked with the Consortium of Citizens with Disabilities and the
National Network of Disability Rights to submit comments to HUD. Our
first comment was to ask for a longer comment period, which HUD
approved. The comment period is now open and may remain so, since HUD
has not published a second notice with new closing date.
You may read our comments along with others submitted to HUD at
http://docket.epa.gov/edkfed/do/EDKStaffCollectionDtailView?objectId=0b0007d4808\
4e7fa
The HUD docket is open to comments about difficulties anyone has
experienced in working with HUD because of physical or mental
disabilities. The more examples HUD receives, the clearer the message
will be that it must conduct its business in a non-discriminatory way,
and that any barriers to non-discrimination must be identified and
eliminated.
The Bazelon Center
-------------< DEAF FRIENDLY JOB OPPORTUNITIES >
2 deaf or hard of hearing mortgage consultants needed for a
Riverside, California mortgage company.
All candidates interested in any of the job opportunities are
required to apply for our job placement services. Our intake form is
at Http://www.deafadvocacy.com/intake.htm
-------------< DEAF FRIENDLY BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES >
Become an owner of a _________.WS website for only $10 a month! All
_________.WS owners automatically become .WS website resellers and it
comes with an automatic selling program and all you have to do is lead
people to your .WS reseller website. The WS stands for 'website'! Link
has video of the program in American Sign Language and is a excellent
self-sufficiency opportunity for people who want to be on the top of
the .WS cyber real estate market. Hearing people can participate as
the reseller link also has a video for them. Begin your journey toward
self-sufficiency by sending a blank email to [email protected] and it
will auto-reply back to you with information about this fantastic
program. And you will get another email message a few days later with
the full explanation of the program.
-------------< LETTERS >
Hello to everyone!
This is Ma. Luz Sarah L. Chen. My nickname is Sarah. I am Deaf
Catechist for 12 years from Philippines. I also volunteer to help in
Diocese of Imus and Diocese of Lucena. May I ask you for help if you
can support me to go to US and live in California to become a nun or
lay worker. To learn more and share with the Deaf to know more about
God and the Catholic faith.
Please feel free to email me.
May God bless you!
Sarah [email protected]
-------------< EPILOG >
If you wish to contribute to this newsletter, feel free to send in
news, stories, and opinions relating to the disability community. Your
support for this effort to move the disability community forward will
be greatly appreciated. We will continue to aggressively pursue
justice, fairness, and equality for the disability community as it has
been doing since November 1996. We have chosen that EDUCATION is the
best way accomplish this objective.
Orange County Deaf Advocacy Center is a community based organization
that puts people with disabilities first in their advocacy for equal
opportunities in safety, health, and productive living.
The Orange County Deaf Advocacy Center provides services for disabled
individuals and their families in our community who need help in
navigating the social services maze go without proper food, shelter,
and essential medical care every day due to a variety of factors
including low wages, job loss, injuries, illness, age, domestic
violence, or divorce. While all of us are susceptible to hard times,
disabled individuals are at the most risk. With the generous support
of people like you, we are able to help many of these families and
individuals not only to meet essential daily needs, but to work toward
a brighter future with programs in job training, education,
counseling, elderly assistance, and temporary housing.
Feel free to forward this email message to any one and any of your
personal mailing lists so we can get the important messages out far
and wide and encourage them to sign up for our weekly newsletter.
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