1) What’s Happening in the Nation’s Capital?
21st Century Communications Hearing: Advocates Encouraged to Attend
2) National News
My Generation: Youth, the ADA, and Art Creative Medium Contest
NASUA Announces Name Change
3) State News
Six States Awarded $700,000 for Enhanced Access to Legal Services for Older Americans
UN Calls Shock Treatment at MA School 'Torture': Judge Rotenberg Center Defends Practice as Unharmful and Effective
4) Announcements and Additional Resources
The ADA Anthem, for the 20th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act
Defining the American Dream: Video Contest
21st Century Communications Hearing: Advocates Encouraged to Attend
On June 30th, the House Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet marked-up H.R. 3101, the Twenty-first Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2009. The Subcommittee then passed the legislation to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
H.R. 3101 would update the communications laws to ensure that people with disabilities would be able to use broadband services and equipment and have better access to video programming devices.
A similar bill was introduced in the Senate, S. 3304, the Equal Access to 21st Century Communications Act, which says that “advanced communications such as internet-based protocol, or any successor protocol, based devices and services that transmit voice, video conferencing, and text communications, and any application or service accessed over the Internet that provides for voice, video conferencing, or text communications will be accessible to individuals with disabilities”.
On Thursday, July 15th, the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation Subcommittee on Communications and Technology will hold a hearing at 10am in the Russell Senate Office Building, Room 253. All advocates are encouraged to attend.
My Generation: Youth, the ADA, and Art Creative Medium Contest
To celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, Lacy Pittman has envisioned a competition sponsored by the HSC Foundation called My Generation: Youth, the ADA, and Art, which invites young individuals with disabilities ages 16 to 24 to interpret their thoughts about the Americans with Disabilities Act through a creative medium. Eligible entries include paintings, videos (3 minute maximum), posters (hand drawn or digital), works of literature (4 pages, 2000 words max, double spaced, 12 size Arial font), or drawings that illustrate the historical and societal impact of the ADA.
My Generation: Youth, the ADA, and Art contest is now accepting submissions (from now until July 31st). If you are, or know, a young person with a disability between the ages of 16 - 24 who would like to submit a creative medium about the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and its impact on your/their life, please see www.hscfoundation.org/mygenerationcontest.php for more information.
The winner will receive a cash prize of $500, distribution of their creative medium, and an all expense paid trip to the Association of Programs for Rural Independent Living's (A.P.R.I.L.) annual conference in October 2010.
NASUA Announces Name Change
In keeping with its mission to design, improve, and sustain state systems delivering home and community based services and supports for the elderly and individuals with disabilities, the NASUA membership voted overwhelmingly in support of a proposal to change the name of the association to the National Association of States United for Aging and Disabilities, NASUAD.
The change was made, in part, to accurately reflect the evolving role of state aging agencies in the delivery and administration of long term services and supports, and to streamline the coordination and provision of these services across the continuum of care. Current NASUA President, and Commissioner of the Alabama Department of Senior Services, Irene Collins, applauds the members’ decision, “Through this meaningful step forward, the association welcomes the opportunity to build relationships and enhance the capacity of the state agencies to provide long-term services and supports to both older Americans and individuals with disabilities.” Read More (PDF).
Six States Awarded $700,000 for Enhanced Access to Legal Services for Older Americans
Source: Administration on Aging
HHS Assistant Secretary for Aging Kathy Greenlee has announced the award of $700,000 to six states and the District of Columbia to help at-risk older Americans have better access legal services. Awards of $100,000 each were made to legal service provider organizations in Alaska, Delaware, Georgia, Massachusetts, Texas, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia. These grants will bring aging and legal service delivery systems together to improve efforts to protect the independence, health, and financial security of older adults. Many older individuals are facing critical threats to their independence, including the loss of their homes through foreclosure, the destruction of nest eggs through consumer scams, the risk of elder abuse, the challenges in accessing important public benefits, as well as the prevalence of health care fraud and financial exploitation.
“We know there are older adults who need legal assistance from time to time. This can be overwhelming as well as costly especially on a fixed income,” said Assistant Secretary Greenlee. “As a former elder law attorney, I know first hand that these programs help at-risk older adults and their caregivers avoid and address legal situations that may threaten their independence and quality of life.”
The grantees will work to develop statewide legal service delivery systems that coordinate efforts of senior legal help-lines, pro-bono attorneys, law school clinics, self-help sites, and Older Americans Act-funded legal services providers to ensure maximum impact from limited resources. The target populations are underserved seniors, with particular emphasis upon low-income, minority, rural, homebound, Native American, and limited-English speaking older individuals. Read More.
UN Calls Shock Treatment at MA School 'Torture': Judge Rotenberg Center Defends Practice as Unharmful and Effective
Editor’s Note: This story aired on Nightline June 30th, 2010.
The Boston-area's Judge Rotenberg Center educates and treats enrollees ages 3 to adult, all of whom are struggling with severe emotional, behavior, and psychiatric problems, including autism-like disorders. And for about half of the 250 students here, undesirable behavior means getting hooked up to a special machine and administered an electric shock.
The skin shock treatment, used only after both a court and the student's parents have approved, has drawn criticism for years. But after the release of a recent study by Mental Disability Rights International, Rotenberg has come under the scrutiny of no less than the United Nations, which is calling the school's practices "torture." Read More.
The ADA Anthem, for the 20th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act
Check out Jeff Moyer performing The ADA Anthem, for the 20th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act on YouTube. The song was originally performed at the U.S. Senate following the signing of the ADA in 1990. The video includes sign language interpretation.
Defining the American Dream: Video Contest
To commemorate the 20th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the National Disability is launching Economic Empowerment – Defining the New American Dream, a nationwide video contest open to all persons with disabilities.
The National Disability Institute wants to hear from persons with disabilities, veterans with disabilities and family members of persons with disabilities on what their American Dream is and how they are working to achieve their American Dream. Individuals can create a 3-minute video that tells the story of how they are working to achieve their American Dream, whether it is to buy a home, have a job, go to school or start your own business.
This video contest is an ideal way for individuals with disabilities to share their stories with others, promoting the Real Economic Impact that the American with Disabilities Act (ADA) has had in the lives of the more than 54 million Americans with disabilities. The purpose statement of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) clearly states that the "Nation's proper goals regarding individuals with disabilities are to assure equality of opportunity, full participation, independent living, and economic self-sufficiency for such individuals." Economic Empowerment – Defining the New American Dream video contest will allow persons with disabilities to highlight what they are doing to build their own economic self-sufficiency by sharing their American Dream.
The video contest begins July 1, 2010 and all entries must be received by August 13, 2010. To learn more about the Economic Empowerment – Defining the New American Dream video contest and for a complete list of submission guidelines and contest rules, go to http://dream.realeconomicimpact.org.
One Grand Prize winner will receive $1,000 and a trip to Washington, D.C. where their winning video will be viewed at NDI's Real Economic Impact Tour's (REI Tour) Annual Kick-off at the National Press Club on October 19, 2010.
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July 12, 2010