1) What’s Happening in the Nation’s Capital?
ADAPT Is Storming It!
2) National News
IL Transportation Coaches Needed
Sympathetic Kevorkian Biopic Aired on HBO Saturday
Keeping the Promise to All America's Children: Secretary Arne Duncan's Remarks on Education and Disability
3) State News
MS Students with Learning Disabilities Join McMillen at Outrageous “Fake Prom”
4) Announcements and Additional Resources
Disability.gov Countsdown: 100 Days to the ADA
ADAPT Is Storming It!
Follow their action on Twitter: http://twitter.com/NationalADAPT and get more information on their campaign “Defending Our Freedom” at: http://www.adapt.org/freeourpeople/10wdc/.
NCIL supports our brothers and sisters fighting on the ground to free our people from institutions and wishes ADAPT a safe but effective national action!
IL Transportation Coaches Needed
The National Council on Independent Living (NCIL) and the Association of Programs for Rural Independent Living (APRIL) have joined with Easter Seals Project ACTION to establish a training program for people with disabilities to educate state mobility managers about transportation issues from an Independent Living perspective.
NCIL and APRIL are seeking candidates, especially people with disabilities, for this volunteer pilot program, which will run through September 2010. The project is being created to:
- Create a network of people with disabilities who are knowledgeable in transportation, who understand the purpose of mobility management and who have strong leadership and group facilitation skills to serve as coaches for state mobility managers.
- Instill knowledge of diverse, disability-related mobility needs and perspectives into the nationwide network of mobility managers.
- Expand and strengthen the national network of mobility managers.
Centers for Independent Living and State Independent Living Councils are encouraged to identify candidates to serve as “Mobility Management Independent Living Coaches” (MMILC) who are willing to commit to carrying out the following responsibilities:
- Gathering of Information and Resources
- Assistance in Development of Training Materials
- Bi-weekly Teleconference Calls
- Participation in One On-Site Training Session (two days)
- Continued Involvement for Duration of the Pilot Project (April – Sept. 2010)
- Intention to Participate in Future Phases of the Project, such as “Train the Trainer”
- On-Going Communication with Project Managers As Needed
The candidates who will be most successful as Mobility Management Independent Living Coaches will possess the following:
- Proven Leadership Ability
- Communication Skills, including Public Speaking
- Knowledge of Transportation and Relevant Issues
- Independent Living (IL) Background and Understanding of IL Philosophy
- Ability to Train Others
- Experience in Advocacy
While this is a volunteer position, expenses will be reimbursed for travel to the on-site training session, which will take place in late Summer (exact date and location to be determined).
NCIL and APRIL request that interested candidates submit resumes that demonstrate relevant experience by Friday, April 30, 2010 to Kathy Hatch, APRIL Training and Technical Assistance, via email at kathatch@charter.net or FAX at 864.670.9283.
Sympathetic Kevorkian Biopic Aired on HBO Saturday
Source: LifeSiteNews, by Kathleen Gilbert (4/20/2010)
A biopic of Dr. Jack Kevorkian that portrays the famous mass-murderer in a sympathetic light [aired] on HBO Saturday night. Known to many as "Dr. Death," Kevorkian has admitted to murdering over 130 disabled, terminally ill, and healthy suicidal individuals.
"You Don't Know Jack," which stars Al Pacino and reportedly takes a lighthearted approach to Dr. Kevorkian's trail of murders that led to his national celebrity status, has already been shown in a premiere in New York last week. Another premiere [took] place in Detroit on Thursday.
Kevorkian was recently released from parole after serving over eight years in prison for the second-degree murder of 52-year-old Lou Gherig's disease sufferer Thomas Youk. Although Kevorkian, 82, said in an interview last year that he was tempted to kill himself in prison, his lawyer talked him out of it; ironically, Kevorkian admitted that he would not have done the same in return.
In an interview with CNN's Anderson Cooper last week, Kevorkian expressed satisfaction with the film, and affirmed that he was still willing to kill despairing people. Read More.
Keeping the Promise to All America's Children: Secretary Arne Duncan's Remarks on Education and Disability
Secretary Arne Duncan gave the following speech to the Council for Exceptional Children on April 21. His remarks are addressed mainly to “special” education teachers, who he emplores to provide transition services to students post-graduation. He used strong civil rights language to underscore the right of students with disabilities, “But we haven't fulfilled the promise of education for students with disabilities. The struggle for equal opportunity in our nation's schools and universities did not end with the passage of IDEA or at the foot of the Edmund Pettus Bridge. We will work with schools and enforce laws to ensure that all children, no matter what their race, gender, disability or national origin, have a fair chance at a good future.”
Source: ED.gov
President Obama and I believe that every child deserves a world-class education. When the president says every child, it is not just rhetoric--he means every child, regardless of his or her skin color, nationality, ethnicity, or ability. The truth is, however, that virtually everyone professes to believe that all children deserve a world-class education.
Yet today, a significant gap between our aspirations and reality persists. And here is the harder, unspoken truth. Subtle, unexpressed prejudices and lingering roadblocks still prevent children with disabilities from receiving the world-class education they deserve. No belief is more pernicious in education than the conviction that disabilities and demography are destiny--that the burdens of poverty, disability, and race mean the children cannot really succeed and should be treated with low expectations.
We should never forget the past. Even in my lifetime, public schools virtually ignored children with disabilities. Many children were denied access to public schools, and those who attended didn't get the individualized instruction and appropriate services they needed and deserved. Read More.
MS Students with Learning Disabilities Join McMillen at Outrageous “Fake Prom”
Source: FireDogLake (blog), by: David Dayen
Lisa Derrick has done great work detailing the fake prom incident in Mississippi. In case you haven’t been following things, a lesbian student named Constance McMillen wanted to attend her high school prom with her girlfriend, and the school decided they’d rather shut down the prom than allow that. A court ruled that this violated McMillen’s rights and came close to ordering a prom, but parents organized a “private” prom for McMillen and the other students. Except it was a fake-out. The prom McMillen attended only included seven students, including her, her girlfriends, and two disabled students. Everyone else at the high school partied at another prom at a country club.
This is just unspeakably cruel, and an insult not only to the LGBT community but to the disabled. And this has justifiably angered the civil rights and civil liberties communities. The ACLU thinks they’ve found a solution. In a letter to supporters, they highlighted a piece of legislation that would make cruelty like this illegal:
"So many people have contacted us because they are outraged by this situation and want to do something. I can tell you from my conversations with Constance that there’s nothing she wants more than for these kinds of hurtful actions to end for students all across the country.
"There’s a way we can all help Constance with that goal— by demanding that Congress pass the Student Non-Discrimination Act. The Student Non-Discrimination Act would be the first comprehensive federal prohibition against discrimination in public schools based on a student’s sexual orientation or gender identity...
"Discrimination and harassment are an unacceptable daily reality for too many LGBT students all across the country. If outrageous experiences like the one Constance McMillen has been through are going to end, we have to respond."
What’s the Student Non-Discrimination Act? It’s a piece of legislation quietly introduced by Rep. Jared Polis in January. Read More.
Disability.gov Countsdown: 100 Days to the ADA
Source: disability.gov
“We are made wise not by the recollection of our past, but by the responsibility for our future.” With these words (penned by George Bernard Shaw), we want to introduce you to 100 Days to the ADA, a countdown to the 20th Anniversary of the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. The official countdown will begin on Saturday, April 17, 2010.
Over the next four months, Disability.gov will explore one of our nation's most important civil rights achievements, including examining the ramifications of the ADA, historical points leading up to its creation and how supporting the rights of individuals with disabilities supports ALL Americans. We invite you to present your personal perspectives on how your life has been touched by the ADA and welcome ideas for new topics.
Check back every day for a new post on Disability.Blog!
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April 26, 2010