1) What’s Happening in the Nation’s Capital?
Action Alert: Community NOW! National Advocacy Day
Independent Living Appropriations Update
2) National News
Community First Choice Option Makes It Into the Senate Finance Bill!
Autistic Community Condemns New Autism Speaks Campaign
SEVRA Update: More Work to be Done to Ensure Practical Outcomes for Our Community
3) State News
EEOC files Discrimination Suit Against Ohio Kroger Subsidiary
“Sins Invalid” Boldly Challenges Stereotypes in the Bay Area this October
New Jersey Cop Indicted for Severely Beating Person with a Mental Illness
4) Announcements and Additional Resources
Deadline to Apply for AAPD Paul Hearne Award is October 1, 2009
Action Alert: Community NOW! National Advocacy Day
The U.S. Senate is going to begin the process of merging its two versions of healthcare legislation as soon as later this week. The bill passed by the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee contains the CLASS Act. The bill currently being marked-up in the Senate Finance Committee contains the Community First Choice Option. We must all take part in a National Day of Action to ensure that these two priorities remain in the final Senate bill.
This Wednesday, September 30th, advocates from all over the nation must make their voices heard by all 100 U.S. Senators, so it is clear that healthcare reform must include the Community First Choice Option and the CLASS Act. There will be a briefing on Capitol Hill on Wednesday. Additionally, there will be a national call-in number for those who cannot be in Washington, D.C.
The Message for Senators: I strongly support the Community First Choice Option and the CLASS Act as a part of the final healthcare bill in the Senate. I urge the Senator to please support both of these priorities for people with disabilities as the Senate Finance and HELP Committees merge their bills.
If you are able to be in Washington D.C. on Wednesday: If there is any way you can make it to Washington this Wednesday, now is the time to make our voices heard and ensure that these priorities remain in the final legislation. On Wednesday, at 1:00 p.m. at the Dirksen Senate Office Building, Room SD 430, there will be a briefing to talk about these two priorities and their importance to people with disabilities! Following the briefing, all attendees will be encouraged to take one page handouts to their U.S. Senators. Having a physical presence on Capitol Hill will show how important these priorities are to people with disabilities!
If you cannot be in Washington D.C. on Wednesday: This is a short turnaround time to bring a large physical presence to the Capitol, but we still need everyone who wants to see the Community First Choice Option and the CLASS Act in the Senate healthcare reform legislation to call in to a hotline on Wednesday to share the message. That number will be provided before Wednesday and sent out in another alert. If there was ever a time to advocate for these priorities, NOW is the time! If you cannot call in on Wednesday, anytime this week is a great time!
More Information about the Community First Choice Option. For more information on the CLASS Act, see page 6 of the NCIL Policy Priorities Booklet (PDF).
If you have additional questions about the priorities, the Community Now! National Advocacy Day, or the healthcare reform process, contact Jason Beloungy, NCIL Policy Analyst, at 1-202-207-0334 (toll-free: 1-877-525-3400) ext. 1008. You can also e-mail Jason at: jason@ncil.org.
Independent Living Appropriations Update
With the end of the Federal Fiscal Year this Wednesday, Congress needed to ensure that the Federal Government did not shut down on Thursday, the beginning of FY 2010. Since none of the appropriations bills have achieved final passage, the House of Representatives passed a Continuing Resolution, to fund the government at 2009 levels until October 31st. The Senate is expected to take up the measure on Tuesday of this week. NCIL will continue to monitor appropriations developments to keep our members up-to-date on developments with Independent Living funding.
Community First Choice Option Makes It Into the Senate Finance Bill!
The Senate Finance Committee was the hottest show in Washington last week as it began marking-up the bill it has worked on for months behind closed doors. Last week Senate Finance Committee members were busy offering up an astounding 564 amendments to the legislation, known as the “America’s Healthy Futures Act of 2009” or the Chairman’s Mark. To shorten the debate, the Chairman accepted some of the amendments and added them to his Mark, including Community First Choice Option Amendment! Getting the CFC into the Chairman’s Mark was a big victory and will help move America toward ending the institutional bias in Medicaid, if we act boldly to ensure it is included in the legislation signed into law.
NCIL Policy Analyst Jason Beloungy attended the first day of the mark-up on Tuesday of last week. While there was a lot of fanfare about this event, it was mostly an exhibit of political posturing as each member of the Senate Finance Committee was given time for opening remarks. The remarks filled the entire morning session of the mark-up and started off the afternoon as well. Only a few amendments were actually debated and voted on during the afternoon. This left many people wondering how the Committee planned to get through 500 amendments in two weeks.
Senator John Kerry (D-MA) offered an amendment to reduce the amount of decrease in payments for home health care delivery. The Senator correctly pointed out that home health care is highly desired by the elderly community, improves outcomes and is substantially less expensive than institutional or hospital care. He noted that home health care was taking a larger percentage hit than any other area, and that such priorities were misplaced (Huffington Post).
Many hope that the Senate will be able to merge this bill with that passed by the HELP Committee soon, so that the legislation can be debated by the full Senate in October. Even after the bills are merged, the Senate will wait for the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) to provide a cost-estimate. According to the CBO Director, that process would likely take around two weeks.
This week, the Finance Committee staff will be working to eliminate duplicate amendments and negotiate other amendments so there are not so many to debate and vote on. Amongst the list of amendments not yet in the bill are amendments concerning a continuation of the Money Follows the Person demonstration program and legislation to create and fund Aging and Disability Resource Centers (ADRCs) throughout the country. This legislation is also known as Project 20/20 and has provisions to fund ADRC grants to states, wellness and prevention services for seniors, and a nursing home diversion program for people over the age of 75.
NCIL will be monitoring these issues closely and will be involved on Capitol Hill as your voice in this process. If you have questions about the healthcare reform process, contact Jason Beloungy, NCIL Policy Analyst, at 1-202-207-0334 (toll-free: 1-877-525-3400) ext. 1008. You can also e-mail Jason at: jason@ncil.org.
Autistic Community Condemns New Autism Speaks Campaign
ASAN issued the following press release September 23 condemning Autism Speaks' unethical and offensive "I Am Autism" advertising campaign:
The autism community reacted in horror today to Autism Speaks’ new “I am Autism” campaign, presenting Autistic people as kidnap victims and burdens on their family members and communities.
“I am autism. I have no interest in right or wrong. I will plot to rob you of your children and your dreams….And if you’re happily married, I will make sure that your marriage fails. Your money will fall into my hands, and I will bankrupt you for my own self-gain,” says the “I am Autism” video, released yesterday and created by Academy Award-nominated director Alfonso Cuarón and Grammy-nominated songwriter/producer Billy Mann.
“This is the latest in a series of unethical fundraising strategies adopted by Autism Speaks,” said Ari Ne’eman, an adult on the autism spectrum and President of the Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN). “This type of fear mongering hurts Autistic people, by raising fear and not contributing in the slightest to accurate understanding of the needs of Autistic adults and children.” ASAN’s Columbus, Ohio chapter has already made arrangements to protest Autism Speaks’ upcoming local fundraising walk and other ASAN chapters will be making similar arrangements shortly, said Ne’eman.
In addition to relying on fear and pity mongering to raise funds, the Autism Speaks video repeats frequently referenced claims of higher than average divorce rates amongst parents of Autistic children. However, a 2008 study conducted by HarrisInteractive for Easter Seals in cooperation with the Autism Society of America found divorce rates for parents of Autistic children lower than those for families with no children with disabilities. The video also relies heavily on the idea of rapidly increasing autism rates. Another new study, released the same day as the video, by the British Government’s National Health Service found that autism rates among adults are the same as amongst children, indicating that the popular “epidemic” claim of rapidly increasing autism incidence is likely false. Read More or, if you have the stomach, watch the video.
SEVRA Update: More Work to be Done to Ensure Practical Outcomes for Our Community
The Section 8 Voucher Reform Act (SEVRA) was passed out of the House Financial Services Committee in July and the next step will be consideration by the full House of Representatives. This important legislation will solidify the housing voucher program and encourage state and local housing agencies to help families that are on the verge of poverty and homelessness. SEVRA provides four important initiatives: establish a secure voucher funding system, simplify the rent payments rules, develop affordable housing with “project based” vouchers, and provide agencies with the tools to ensure that tenant buildings are habitable.
SEVRA has some strengths. It would establish a secure system for distribution and funding and provide agencies with tools and incentives to assist more families. These provisions would decrease the chances for agencies to eliminate vouchers due to funding availability.
SEVRA will allow Congress and PHAs to consider economic instability and market fluctuations when calculating voucher appropriations and the number of vouchers to be disbursed. Still, when requests for vouchers exceed allotted funding, PHAs will be required to cut costs, which could include eliminating some vouchers.
Although SEVRA has the potential to improve the current housing deficit, it also creates several problems. SEVRA threatens the expansion of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) program “Moving-to-Work” (MTW), which allows HUD and Public Housing Authorities (PHAs) some flexibility. Over the years, this flexibility has prevented rent increases and created some useful policy enforcements. MTW forbids policies like substantial increases in rent and time limits on assistance. In order to make sure MTW is effective, rigorous evaluations have been incorporated to monitor progress and track outcomes.
In SEVRA, MTW will be expanded and renamed the “Housing Innovation Program” (HIP), which will make consumers part of a demonstration project that would be difficult for HUD to evaluate, impeding positive change. HIP will allow HUD to raise the number of participating agencies who receive vouchers from 30 to 80.
Congress should revise a provision that mandates all adults who receive voucher assistance to provide specified forms of identification. This will create a burden for people with disabilities, who are much less likely to have these specified forms of identification.
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities believes SEVRA will reduce administrative burdens for housing agencies and private owners, strengthen work supports, and provide more flexible and effective assistance to low-income families. More information from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
EEOC files Discrimination Suit Against Ohio Kroger Subsidiary
Source: Denver Business Journal, by Ed Sealover
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has filed a lawsuit against Dillon Companies Inc., operator of the King Soopers supermarket chain in Colorado, alleging it discriminated against a learning-disabled employee at a Lakewood store. According to the suit, filed Friday in U.S. District Court, two supervisors allegedly harassed and taunted courtesy clerk Justin Stringer because of his disability. Store officials then terminated Stringer, an 11-year employee, in June 2006.
The lawsuit seeks unspecified monetary relief, including compensatory and punitive damages and compensation for emotional pain and suffering. It also asks that Dillon Companies carry out policies and programs that provide equal employment opportunities for people with disabilities and that Stringer be reinstated or given front pay and job-search expenses. Dillon Companies is a unit of Cincinnati-based Kroger Co.
“Unfortunately, individuals with learning disabilities continue to be the object of harassment by those who would like to replay the sophomoric pranks of schoolyard bullies,” EEOC Regional Attorney Mary Jo O’Neill said in a news release. “Lawsuits such as this one will remind employers that employees with disabilities must be treated with the same dignity and respect as other valuable members of the work force.” A spokesman for King Soopers did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Stringer, who has a severe learning disability and is “substantially limited in the major life activity of learning,” had worked at the store since 1995 and been written up only once when new management took over in 2005 and 2006, according to the lawsuit.
Some of the new supervisors taunted him because of his disability, according to the lawsuit. One manager would threaten to call Stringer’s mother, which caused him to become upset and agitated, and commented that she didn’t want to “baby-sit” Stringer, according to the suit. On June 22, 2006, the two store leaders changed his break “because they thought it would be funny to watch him get upset” and then threatened to call his mother while walking toward a phone booth, the lawsuit alleged. Stringer tried to get a manager to stop calling his mother and then was terminated for insubordination and misconduct relating to his actions, the suit alleged.
The employment practices at the store were carried out with malice or with reckless indifference to Stringer’s rights, according to the lawsuit. Thus, supervisors and managers created a hostile work environment and terminated him unlawfully, the lawsuit further alleged.
“Sins Invalid” Boldly Challenges Stereotypes in the Bay Area this October
October 2 – 4, 2009
Get more information and tickets.
Description: Sins Invalid is a performance project that incubates and celebrates artists with disabilities, centralizing artists of color and queer and gender-variant artists as communities who have been historically marginalized. Our performance work explores the themes of sexuality, embodiment and the disabled body. Conceived and led by disabled people of color, we develop and present cutting-edge work where normative paradigms of "normal" and "sexy" are challenged, offering instead a vision of beauty and sexuality inclusive of all individuals and communities.
We define disability broadly to include people with physical impairments, people who belong to a sensory minority, people with emotional disabilities, people with cognitive challenges, and those with chronic/severe illness. We understand the experience of disability to occur within any and all walks of life, with deeply felt connections to all communities impacted by the medicalization of their bodies, including trans, gender variant and intersex people, and others whose bodies do not conform to our culture(s)' notions of "normal" or "functional."
New Jersey Cop Indicted for Severely Beating Person with a Mental Illness
Police officer Joseph Rios, who was caught on surveillance tape beating a disabled man, has been indicted on misconduct and assault charges. Rios stopped Ronnie Holloway in front of Lawrence's Grill and Bar in Passaic, NJ on June 6th. After demanding the 49-year-old [man with] schizophrenia remove his sweatshirt, Rios can be seen slamming him into the hood of his car and hitting him with his nightstick. Read more at and see the video.
Deadline to Apply for AAPD Paul Hearne Award is October 1, 2009
The American Association of People with Disabilities is seeking applicants for The Paul G. Hearne Award, presented annually by AAPD as an initiative to recognize and honor emerging leaders within the national cross-disability civil rights movement. The award is named in honor of Mr. Paul G. Hearne, a pioneer, advocate, activist, and national leader for people with disabilities.
Each year, AAPD selects up to two individuals whose work, life and passion mirror the life and legacy of Mr. Hearne. Award recipients will each receive $10,000 to help them continue their progress as leaders. They will also have an opportunity to meet and network with national disability leaders at the AAPD Leadership Gala in Washington, DC each March. U.S. residents with any type of disability are eligible to apply.
For more information or to apply, go to: http://www.aapd.com/DMD/PaulHearneAward.html
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September 28, 2009