1) What’s Happening in the Nation’s Capital?
National Housing Trust Fund to Make another Appearance
NCIL Thanks Our Membership for Input on the Independent Living Administration Draft Synopsis
2) National News
ASAN Calls on Sharron Angle to Apologize for Damaging Remarks
Rosa’s Law Passes the House Unanimously, Moves to the President’s Desk for Signature
ADAPT Action Reflection
3) State News
N.J. Seeks to Dismiss Lawsuit Alleging Discrimination against People with Disabilities
4) Announcements and Additional Resources
ODEP Releases Making the Move to Managing Your Own Personal Assistance Services (PAS): A Toolkit for Youth Transitioning to Adulthood
National Resource Directory for Veterans Releases New State Widget
National Housing Trust Fund to Make another Appearance
As you might recall, The National Housing Trust Fund (NHTF) was created in the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (HERA) to address the lack of rental homes that are affordable for the lowest income families. There have been several unsuccessful attempts to fund the NHTF. In the FY 10 and FY 11 budget requests, The President proposed $1.065 billion in funding for the NHTF.
Senator Max Baucus (D-MT) has introduced The Job Creation and Tax Cuts Act of 2010 (S. 3793), which helps create jobs and provides tax cuts for people paying college tuition, state and local taxes, and property taxes. Within this bill, there is a provision for funding the NHTF at $1 billion to capitalize the NHTF and $65 million in project-based vouchers to be used with NHTF grants. In some materials that followed S. 3793, Senator Baucus underscored the importance of funding the NHTF, stating that it “will provide communities with funds to build, preserve, and rehabilitate rental homes that are affordable for very low income households”.
Since Congress is expected to recess early in October for the November elections, it is more likely that the bill will move after the elections during a lame duck session.
NCIL urges you to call your Senators and stress the importance of funding the National Housing Trust Fund, as it provides housing for low-income families including many people with disabilities. Get more information on this bill.
NCIL Thanks Our Membership for Input on the Independent Living Administration Draft Synopsis
Dear NCIL Members,
We would like to thank everyone who took the time to thoughtfully read and provide input on the Independent Living Administration (ILA) synopsis. We know that everyone is busy and we want to assure you that your time has not been wasted in this process. As you may be aware, many hours have already been devoted to developing the ILA synopsis. We will now begin the process of going through all of the additional feedback that each of you provided.
Sincerely,
Shannon Jones, Vicki Haws
Co-Chairs, Rehab Act Subcommittee
ASAN Calls on Sharron Angle to Apologize for Damaging Remarks
Source: ASAN
The Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN), a national advocacy organization of Autistic adults and youth, issued a statement today expressing concern about damaging remarks by the campaign of US Senate candidate Sharron Angle in respect to adults and youth on the autism spectrum:
"As Autistic adults, we’re concerned by the Angle campaign’s claim that individuals and families 'falsely label other symptoms as autism' in order to take advantage of insurance mandates. Lack of insurance coverage for habilitative services, such as occupational therapy and speech pathology services, is a barrier to the civil rights of Autistic Americans both young and old. Furthermore, research suggests that far from being over-diagnosed, Autistic people of all ages are under-identified, with many people going without needed services and supports.2Whatever one's public policy views, fostering public ignorance and stereotypes about autism hurts Autistic people and our families. We urge US Senate candidate Sharron Angle to reconsider her campaign’s remarks and to apologize to Autistic Americans and our families for her campaign’s irresponsible statement."
The Autistic Self Advocacy Network does not make candidate endorsements and is a non-partisan organization run by and for Autistic people. Read More.
Rosa’s Law Passes the House Unanimously, Moves to the President’s Desk for Signature
Source: CNN Health
The House of Representatives approved a bill that eliminates the use of the words “retarded” and “retardation” in health, education and labor laws.
The bill changes the terms from “mental retardation” to “intellectual disability” and “mentally retarded individual” to “individual with an intellectual disability.” This shift would make it more consistent with the language already used by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the United Nations, and the White House.
Rosa’s Law passed in the Senate in August, and now heads to President Barack Obama’s desk. The bill was proposed by Senator Barbara Mikulski, a Democrat from Maryland.
Advocates consider the term a stinging label that is outdated and stigmatizing.
But not everyone is embracing the shift. Critics say that changing the word is an act of political correctness, rather than any substantive change. Read More.
ADAPT Action Reflection
Source: ADAPT, By Adam Ballard
[ADAPT] Editor’s Note: Adam provided the Action Report for Sunday. He was asked to share his overall impression of his first action for this report. All the photos are from today's action.
After nearly a year of seasoning in my local chapter and at this past June's ADAPT youth summit, I finally arrived for my first ADAPT national action on the evening of Saturday, Sept 18. Although it was my first time rolling into Hotel ADAPT, it honestly felt like coming home. The joy of reunion was everywhere, and I too saw several familiar faces, from the youth summit, other shared disability work, and even Facebook friends, in the flesh, for the first time!
It didn't take long to get down to business, though. Sunday morning was the newbies' meeting and a workshop on the Defending Our Freedom campaign, and right after lunch we lined up for our first march. We marched to Freedom Plaza, just a couple blocks from the White House and held a funeral for those who have died in nursing homes and institutions waiting for a choice to live at home. This solemn, defiant rally set the tone for the days to come. ADAPT had work to do.
Monday we began early and set off on wheel and foot for our first target of direct action. Of course, only the leaders knew where we were going and what we were doing when we arrived, but I tried to guess as we marched. As soon as we headed west on Pennsylvania Avenue, I had a pretty good hunch, and my hunch was correct: The White House. ADAPT approached the northern gates, but the line stopped short. After a few minutes, the line reversed course and we took the intersection behind us after some ADAPTers in front were halted in their advance, and separated from us. I was familiar with this maneuver, having blocked an intersection in Chicago twice with my local chapter twice this summer in our fight against state budget cuts. However, seeing over 150 freedom fighters hold their ground with such fierce determination was awesome. Read More.
N.J. Seeks to Dismiss Lawsuit Alleging Discrimination against People with Disabilities
Source: NJ.com, by Susan K. Livio, Statehouse Bureau; Robert Sciarrino, The Star-Ledger
New Jersey is too broke to move 1,850 people with developmental disabilities out of institutions in the next five years, so a lawsuit demanding it do so should be dismissed, an attorney representing the state said today.
The case stems from a federal Supreme Court ruling that says federal law protects the right of disabled people to live in "the most integrated setting’’ safely possible. "Making these placements would be financially devastating to the state," said Deputy Attorney General Gerard Hughes, who represented the state Department of Human Services in federal court in Trenton.
But a lawyer for the other side said that’s no excuse. "Every state says ‘we don’t have the money now,’" said Samuel Bagenstos, a deputy attorney general from the U.S. Justice’s Department’s civil rights division. According to the department, he said, "It’s $70,000 cheaper to serve a person in the community’’ than in an institution. "The state would save money because they could close a wing, a floor, a building.’’
Bagenstos was dispatched from Washington, D.C., to testify for a legal advocacy group, Disability Rights New Jersey, which brought the suit. The group wanted U.S. District Court Judge Anne Thompson to rule the state was violating the Americans with Disabilities Act and order it to move people into the community.
The state offered its empty pockets defense after Thompson refused to allow a more controversial approach: that the state cannot be sued and the 20-year-old disabilities act violates states’ rights and should be declared invalid. Read More.
ODEP Releases Making the Move to Managing Your Own Personal Assistance Services (PAS): A Toolkit for Youth Transitioning to Adulthood
The Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP), U.S. Department of Labor, through its Youth Technical Assistance Center, recently announced the release of Making the Move to Managing Your Own Personal Assistance Services (PAS): A Toolkit for Youth Transitioning to Adulthood, a guide designed to help transition-age youth with significant disabilities as well as their family and friends navigate the complex world of PAS. Read More.
For more information or to download a Word or PDF version of the toolkit, please visit the ODEP's Youth Technical Assistance Center, the National Collaborative on Workforce and Disability-Youth at http://www.ncwd-youth.info/PAS-Toolkit.
National Resource Directory for Veterans Releases New State Widget
The National Resource Directory (NRD), an online resource for Service Members, Veterans and those who support them, now has a state widget. The NRD state widget allows individuals and organizations to display resources tailored by state and subject area on their own websites, blogs or Facebook fan pages. The NRD state widget can be personalized by color scheme and size, and can display resources by either popularity or by newest additions to the site. Creating an NRD state widget is easy and maintenance free as it automatically updates when new information is added to the NRD.
A collaborative effort between the U.S. Departments of Defense, Labor and Veterans Affairs, the NRD provides Service Members, Veterans and their families with access to thousands of resources to support recovery, rehabilitation and community reintegration. To learn how to create an NRD state widget, visit www.nationalresourcedirectory.gov.
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September 27, 2010