How well does your local domestic violence shelter serve victims with disabilities?
There are 42 certified domestic violence shelters in the state of Florida. 41 of them are nonprofits, covered by title III of the ADA - one (located in Miami-Dade County) is a title II shelter, operated by the County.
Does the shelter advertise its services to the disability community? Do its outreach materials show pictures of people with disabilities? Does it advertise its TTY number? Does it offer sign language interpreters during counseling sessions, free of charge? Does it let the public know that it offers printed material in alternative formats, upon request, such as Braille,large print, audio, and electronic format? Does it allow a person with a disability to bring her service animal into shelter with her? Are its facilities architecturally accessible?
For assistance with applying the ADA to sheltering programs, contact Marc Dubin, Esq. at 305-896-3000 or by email at mdubin@pobox.com.
Concerned about crime victims with disabilities? Visit www.victimswithdisabilities.org.
Available for consultations.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Saturday, November 14, 2009
DOJ Mandates Accessible Exam Tables for Patients with Disabilities
When rape exams are given, are accessible examination tables provided?
Visit this site.
Click here for Settlement Agreement
The United States Department of Justice entered into a comprehensive settlement agreement under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) with the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) in Brookline, Mass., to ensure access to medical facilities and services for individuals with disabilities.
BIDMC, a teaching hospital affiliated with Harvard University, encompasses more than 30 buildings and three community health clinics, and operates as a quaternary acute care facility and level one trauma center providing sub-specialty services. The agreement requires, among other things, that BIDMC ensure that accessible patient rooms and accessible medical equipment – such as examination tables – are available for each of its clinical services.
Among other things, the Agreement with BIDMC, which is the result of a compliance review conducted by the Department, requires BIDMC to:
•Ensure that each department and clinical practice provides at least one accessible examination table that lowers to 17 to 19" from the floor, thus enabling those with mobility disabilities to transfer to the exam table...
Concerned about crime victims with disabilities? Visit www.victimswithdisabilities.org.
Available for consultations.
Visit this site.
Click here for Settlement Agreement
The United States Department of Justice entered into a comprehensive settlement agreement under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) with the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) in Brookline, Mass., to ensure access to medical facilities and services for individuals with disabilities.
BIDMC, a teaching hospital affiliated with Harvard University, encompasses more than 30 buildings and three community health clinics, and operates as a quaternary acute care facility and level one trauma center providing sub-specialty services. The agreement requires, among other things, that BIDMC ensure that accessible patient rooms and accessible medical equipment – such as examination tables – are available for each of its clinical services.
Among other things, the Agreement with BIDMC, which is the result of a compliance review conducted by the Department, requires BIDMC to:
•Ensure that each department and clinical practice provides at least one accessible examination table that lowers to 17 to 19" from the floor, thus enabling those with mobility disabilities to transfer to the exam table...
Concerned about crime victims with disabilities? Visit www.victimswithdisabilities.org.
Available for consultations.
New resource on crime victims with disabilities
There is a new Blog addressing crime victims with disabilities that has lots of information and resources on the subject, written by the former Special Counsel to the Justice Department's Office on Violence Against Women. It is located at http://www.victimswithdisabilities.org.
Concerned about crime victims with disabilities? Visit www.victimswithdisabilities.org.
Available for consultations.
Concerned about crime victims with disabilities? Visit www.victimswithdisabilities.org.
Available for consultations.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
I live in a nursing home or ALF - How Can I vote?
If you live in a nursing home or an assisted living facility, the administrator of your facility can make plans with the local Supervisor of Elections to provide a specific time for you to vote where you live. Election officials will bring ballots to the facility for any registered voter(s). Check with the administrator of your facility to see if voting has been set up in the facility where you live. If not, don't be afraid to request that the administrator do so - it is their obligation by law. If the administrator refuses to help you, contact your local Supervisor of Elections or the Florida Voter Assistance Hotline, Toll Free, at 1-866-308-6739.
What to Expect At My Polling Place
Voting can be confusing if you have never voted before. This guide provides helpful information, and election workers are trained to help make the voting process easier for you if it is your first time. Don’t be afraid to ask for whatever assistance you need.
The law says all polling places must be accessible to a person with disabilities. Everyone should be able to get into their polling place. The doors should be wide enough for a wheelchair to fit through. There should be ramps or elevators if there are steps up or down. The parking lot and the walkways must be accessible.
Note: The Help America Vote Act requires at least one voting machine in every polling place to be accessible to anyone who has a disability.
Go to Bottom of Page for Election 2008 Information.
What to Expect At My Polling Place
Voting can be confusing if you have never voted before. This guide provides helpful information, and election workers are trained to help make the voting process easier for you if it is your first time. Don’t be afraid to ask for whatever assistance you need.
The law says all polling places must be accessible to a person with disabilities. Everyone should be able to get into their polling place. The doors should be wide enough for a wheelchair to fit through. There should be ramps or elevators if there are steps up or down. The parking lot and the walkways must be accessible.
Note: The Help America Vote Act requires at least one voting machine in every polling place to be accessible to anyone who has a disability.
Go to Bottom of Page for Election 2008 Information.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Statement of Marcie Roth, Executive Director, National Spinal Cord Injury Association
House Committee on Ways and Means
Statement of Marcie Roth, Executive Director, National Spinal Cord Injury Association, Bethesda, Maryland
Testimony Before the Subcommittee on Oversightof the House Committee on Ways and Means
December 13, 2005
http://waysandmeans.house.gov/hearings.asp?formmode=printfriendly&id=4574
Good Afternoon Chairman Ramstad, Ranking Member Lewis, and distinguished committee members. Thank you for inviting me to testify on issues regarding the response by nonprofit organizations to the needs of Hurricane Katrina survivors.
My name is Marcie Roth and I am the Executive Director and CEO of the National Spinal Cord Injury Association (NSCIA). NSCIA is the nation’s oldest and largest civilian organization serving the needs of people with spinal cord injuries and spinal cord diseases since 1948.
I am here representing NSCIA, but I want to be very clear that in our disaster relief efforts we have been working on behalf of ALL people with disabilities, including those with sensory and intellectual disabilities and those with mental illness and other psychiatric disabilities.
And, although we are focusing on efforts to assist Americans with disabilities in disasters, we are also wholly committed to working with others who are addressing the needs of ALL people with disabilities in disasters in other parts of the world.
I want to thank my colleagues in the private sector and those representing government, who have given those of us who are experts on the additional needs of people with disabilities before, during and after a disaster the opportunity to work alongside you over the past fifteen weeks as we have shared our knowledge, resources and a deep commitment to meeting the critical needs of as many hurricane survivors with disabilities as we possibly could. I am grateful to those individuals who have joined us around the clock, for many weeks, in a shared commitment to do what no one else was doing, despite their legal and moral obligations, to meet the additional needs of hurricane survivors with disabilities.
On September 13, 2001, I first became involved in navigating between the Federal systems and the private sector in an effort to address the very urgent disaster related needs of people with disabilities who had survived the terrorist attacks in New York City two days earlier. I quickly learned that a lifetime of knowledge of the additional needs of people with disabilities was being called into action as I found myself in the breach, navigating between the very real needs of very real people and the limited public and private systems poorly designed to address those needs.
I was shocked when I discovered how ill prepared the major disaster relief agencies were, and I became actively involved in efforts to assist those relief agencies and communities across the US to better plan for the additional needs of people with disabilities. In the months and years after those terrible days, I also participated in efforts to assist people with disabilities to prepare for another emergency. I saw the creation of the US Department of Homeland Security, the relocation of FEMA and the National Disaster Medical System, and many printed and internet published materials on preparedness for people with disabilities, workshops and conferences on the topic, and many other visible signs that indicated to me that high level planning for the next national disaster was in good hands. I did my part, made recommendations when the needs of people with disabilities were being overlooked and voiced my concerns when it seemed that plans were unrealistic. Even when the ideas of disability and disaster experts were being met with a surprising amount of resistance and exclusion, I trusted that even though I couldn’t always see it, we were “ready”. Just like most Americans, I assumed that the Red Cross and the other major relief organizations were building on something far more durable than sand when they published guides and booklets and held meetings and workshops on emergency preparedness for people with disabilities.
And then, in the last week of August, I joined much of America as we watched with more than a little alarm as Hurricane Katrina took a bite out of FL and then made its way into the Gulf.
On the morning of August 29th, I received a call that I will never forget and once I tell you about it, I hope you will never forget it either. My friend and colleague, former appointee to the Social Security Administration, Susan Daniels called me to enlist my help because her sister-in-law, Benilda Caixetta, a New Orleans resident who was quadriplegic, paralyzed from the shoulders down, had been unsuccessfully trying to evacuate to the Superdome for two days. Despite repeated requests to be evacuated, in her power wheelchair, which is a vital tool for mobility and independence, the paratransit system that serves the transportation needs of people with disabilities never showed up. Even calls to 911 had been fruitless. She was still in her home, she had not been able to evacuate, despite her very best efforts. In my naiveté I thought a few phone calls to the “right” people would help, and I was sure I knew who to call. I was wrong. After many calls to the “right” people, it was clear that Benny, was NOT being evacuated.
I stayed on the phone with Benny for most of the day, assuring her that I was doing all I could to make sure help would be coming as soon as possible. She kept telling me she had been calling for a ride to the Superdome for three days, but, despite promises, no one came. The very same paratransit system that people with disabilities can’t rely on in good weather was what was being relied on in the evacuation. It’s no surprise that it failed.
I was on the phone with her that afternoon when she told me, with panic in her voice, “the water is rushing in” and then her phone went dead.
We learned five days later that she had been found in her apartment, dead, floating next to her wheelchair.
Sometimes things like this can’t be prevented. Despite the magnitude of the catastrophe, this was not one of those times. Benilda did not have to drown.
I am here today to say some other difficult things, and while there are many organizations worth comment, I will focus almost exclusively today on one of the biggest, best funded and most beloved non-profit organizations of all, the American Red Cross. It feels almost blasphemous to criticize the Red Cross, almost like criticizing one’s own grandparents. But, for hundreds of thousands of people with disabilities, the Red Cross has frequently failed to meet the greatest needs while simultaneously diverting donations and other resources from small organizations left to address a myriad of often complex unmet needs. Not only has this hurt people with disabilities and the organizations that serve them, but it has also added an untold burden on every taxpayer in this country, through costs associated with preventable secondary complications in disaster survivors, unnecessary hospitalization and institutionalization and failure to maximize limited resources to meet needs.
Over the past 100+ days, while the rest of America and the world watched on TV, millions of Gulf region residents desperately tried to survive not only the weather, but the many human failures to follow. For 25-30 % of those people, the additional challenges of disability, poor planning and low expectations made the unimaginable crisis much, much more dangerous.
As the parent of two children with significant disabilities and as the legal guardian for an Iraqi child who was spinal cord injured in an accidental US artillery bombing two years ago, I am acutely aware every day of the unmet needs of 56 million Americans with disabilities and hundreds of millions of people with disabilities worldwide. I am also acutely aware of just how rare it is that the unmet needs of people with disabilities are ever considered by the people who have the most power and the best resources to maximize positive outcomes for a minority population that encompasses a sizable portion of the general population of the United States. According to the U.S. Census of 2000, people with disabilities represent 19.3 percent of the 257.2 million people ages 5 and older in the civilian non-institutionalized population. Another 2.2 million Americans are institutionalized in nursing homes and long-term care facilities. And, it is necessary to point out that these are all people with disabilities. People don’t go to nursing homes because they are old; they go to nursing homes when their community fails to meet their additional needs.
Some areas of our country have an especially high percentage of people with disabilities. As it happens, the areas most severely impacted by the hurricanes were also areas with especially high percentages of people with disabilities living in their communities.
According to the 2000 Census:
In Biloxi, Mississippi, 10,700 people (25% of the residents) are classified as people with disabilities.
In Mobile, Alabama, 43,000 people (24% of the residents) are people with disabilities.
In the New Orleans metropolitan area, 250,000 residents (21.3 %) described themselves as disabled.
Because people with disabilities are…
disproportionately below the poverty line,
often less mobile than the general population,
disproportionately more dependent on outside assistance, and
often misjudged as less capable
… this population felt the impact of Hurricane Katrina quite severely.
For most of my career, since the 1970’s, I have worked primarily for non-profit organizations. For most of this time, serving people with disabilities, we have struggled to meet complicated needs with extremely inadequate resources. As the executive director of a non profit organization for the last four years, I am sure I have often fallen short. Due to the magnitude of need, the shockingly limited resources made available to invest in the needs of people with disabilities and the never changing bigotry of low expectations regarding the value and contributions of Americans with disabilities, I anticipate that the needs of my constituency will remain under-met for the foreseeable future. And, as long as Congress fails to ensure the enforcement of laws to educate children with disabilities, fails to address the institutional bias in Medicaid, fails to pass Money Follows the Person, MiCASSA, the Christopher Reeve Act and the Family Opportunity Act, fails to fund adequate housing, mental health parity, access to quality health care, equipment and services and considers legislation that will limit the human and civil rights of one in five Americans, no real progress will be made in maximizing limited Medicaid, Medicare, private insurance and other resources. This is both wrong and it is foolish public policy.
There are many fine examples of nonprofits who have actively sought to meet needs by using limited resources that were intended to serve people who are in the greatest need even when the weather is fine. Some organizations, like mine have been very fortunate to have come to the attention of true heroes who quietly find a way to make a real difference. Thanks to a very generous donation from Robert and Ita Klein, who recently established the Brian Joseph McCloskey Hurricane Katrina Survivors with Disabilities Fund, my organization, the National Spinal Cord Injury Association, is able to replace wheelchairs, hospital beds, household goods, repair homes, and pay rent and mortgages for as many people with disabilities as our fund will stretch to serve. The Kleins’ company, Safeguard Properties, Inc. has been playing a significant role in disaster and housing related services, and they wanted to make a generous donation to meet an otherwise entirely unmet need. Their recognition of the unmet needs of hurricane survivors with disabilities is a shining exception to the fairly bleak picture. Yet another is the Disability Funders Network which raised over $100,000 that it is distributing to small non-profits in $5,000 grants to meet unserved needs. Many disability organizations have had to tap their own limited resources to meet the needs of constituents who have lost everything. When we were desperate to send replacement equipment like wheelchairs and hospital beds to people who had to have them to preserve their health and we couldn’t get the Red Cross or any of the other large relief organizations to provide funds for drivers, trucks and insurance, we were very fortunate to find an unlikely ally. The Muslim Public Affairs Council stepped in with funding to help Portlight Strategies to get trucks full of donated durable medical equipment and supplies on the road and into the hands of those who had lost theirs.
As wonderful as these stories are, with not more than a few exceptions, the needs of people with disabilities, and their stories have been almost entirely overlooked by the general public. Even house pets have fared far better! I would be remiss if I didn’t thank Joe Shapiro, a wonderful reporter with National Public Radio who was one of the very, very few to report about people with disabilities. And, another shining example of high quality non-profits would be the formerly all volunteer Disaster Medical Assistance Teams, a part of the crown jewel known as the National Disaster Medical Systems.
Most organizations like mine exist in the shadow of high profile non-profits like the American Red Cross. In the days after the hurricanes, the American Red Cross has received a reported $1.68 billion dollars in donations while Gulf coast residents with disabilities have hardly benefited because many were excluded from their shelters and relief assistance services.
Sadly, we have attempted to help the Red Cross and other disaster relief leaders to see that they have been in a key position to address this inequity since 2001, but instead, people with disabilities are still turned away from the Red Cross and other charity-run shelters.
As well as the disability community has come together to try to take care of “our own”, we have been excluded from the larger relief community, sometimes told that we would just be “in the way” and “make things worse”. We were told to leave the relief efforts to those who “know what they are doing”. At the same time, we received report after report about the Red Cross shelters turning people with disabilities away or separating them from caregivers and service animals, then sending them to nursing homes when they couldn’t maintain their independence.
We had many reports of people with disabilities arriving on busses from New Orleans and being forced to remain on the bus while everyone else was invited in. Then they were driven from shelter to shelter for sometimes hundreds of miles before being taken in.
When disability experts showed up at the shelters to offer their assistance, they were frequently turned away, and we’ve been told that this was because they hadn’t completed the “required training”. This was an interesting disconnect from another conversation I had.
When I inquired about the sheltering needs of people with disabilities, once I was finally able to reach a National Red Cross Operations official, she told me “we aren’t supposed to help those people, the local health departments do that. We can’t hardly deal with the “intact” people (this term is considered highly offensive to people with disabilities). Don’t you understand that we’re taking volunteers off the street to run these shelters?”
I am told that just last week, a Red Cross official told meeting attendees at an AARP meeting that the Red Cross does not serve people with disabilities. I would have dismissed that comment entirely as mere gossip if I hadn’t had a similar conversation.
There are many stories, but a few stand out as especially egregious.
One woman in Alabama, a college graduate who survived a spinal cord injury 10 years ago but was living independently until the hurricane struck told me she went to the Red Cross shelter as soon as it became clear that her home was about to flood, but she was turned away. She was directed to a “special needs shelter” but that shelter was so overcrowded with people who all needed additional help that she ended up sleeping in her wheelchair for days on end. This caused a serious skin condition to develop, landing her in a hospital and then a nursing home. Despite the $1.68 billion raised by Red Cross, she never received any assistance from them.
In one town, also in Alabama, after waiting all day in line for assistance, residents of the Red Cross shelter were told that the only way to register for assistance was to leave the Red Cross shelter and travel to another town. But there was no accessible transportation offered so those with mobility disabilities were unable to seek assistance.
Jason and his mom, displaced from New Orleans to Dallas, sent us the following email three weeks after the hurricane:
“To Whom It May concern:
Presently, Jason (SCI, 11 years post) and I are homeless and living in a Salvation Army Shelter due to Hurricane Katrina. We had to leave our home, and all of Jason's medical equipment (i.e. his hospital bed, electric wheelchair, hoyer lift, etc.) Since I am in a public place using one of the laptops that they have made available to us, I will not be able to write a long letter explaining all of our business. But I am writing now because we need some financial help.
Because we don't live in one of the shelter sites, we are out of the loop of things that are going on. We have not been able to secure clothes or any basic funding. FEMA is taking a long time to help and we are missing out on everything because we're not able to get around. Jason is using an old manual wheelchair and I have to push him everywhere. This has been a strain on me also.
If you can help us, please contact us. Any help we can get would be appreciated. We are desperate, so I'm grasping at any and all past contacts. Normally, I would never find myself in this sort of begging position. But this has been anything but normal. People's lives were totally shattered. Families were torn apart. Please help us.”
Jason ended up in the hospital for weeks as a result of the lack of medical equipment and supplies.
We worked around the clock for weeks to try to get disability experts into the shelters to assess the needs of people who couldn’t hear the announcements over loud speakers, or see the signage that directed them to assistance, people who were losing critical stability because they didn’t have access to medication to treat their mental illness, people whose eyes and kidneys and hearts were being attacked because they didn’t have insulin, people who didn’t understand what they needed to do to get food and water because of an intellectual disability and people who couldn’t stand in line for seven hours, or even seven minutes because they had lost their wheelchair during the evacuation. People housed in alternative settings were excluded from the myriad of relief programs at the shelters and unable to gain equal access to resources vital to survival and prevention of secondary complications.
People without their wheelchairs, walkers and canes couldn’t stand on line. In the heat, many people were unable to wait for hours to be assisted and so those with the direst needs often had the least assistance.
Some people, who need additional supports to maintain their independence, were forced to go to special needs shelters while family, other caregivers and even service animals were denied access to offer assistance. Once independence was compromised, people were institutionalized. I am told that many, many of these people have still not been located!
One man in east Texas told us about having to drive from a shelter to the local hospital for weeks, every time he had to go to the bathroom because the bathroom at the shelter was not wheelchair accessible.
In a recent report by the National Organization on Disability: “The most underserved group [in shelters] were those who were deaf or hard of hearing.”
Less than 30% of shelters had access to American Sign Language interpreters
80% did not have TTYs
60% did not have TVs with open caption capability
Only 56% had areas were oral announcements were posted. “This meant that people who are deaf or hard of hearing had no access to the vital flow of information.”
(Report on SNAKE Project, Oct. 2005)
There are no estimates of the numbers of people with disabilities who were turned away from the shelters, those who were sent to nursing homes and institutions and those who were able to evacuate to locations other than shelters, sometimes further isolating them from the vital services they needed to protect their independence and their health.
Recently, when I asked people how much financial assistance they received from the Red Cross, 70% told me they had not received any assistance and of those who had, most reported receiving $360. The highest amount received was reported by one man who received $680.
And while thousands remain homeless and in need of financial assistance to cover mortgage payments, rent, utilities and basic necessities, just recently, I learned that $66,000 in foreign donations have been given by FEMA to the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) and the National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (NVOAD).
The case management program, promises to “assist disaster survivors with unmet needs” but none of the $66M can be used to meet those unmet needs, rather the $66M will be used to hire paid staff who will hire volunteers to provide “case management” to 100,000 hurricane survivors. No efforts seem to have been made to reach out to disability service provider experts to participate in this project, and in fact, the website for the project and the instructions for responding to the RFP are not accessible, even though accessibility is required. Even the telephone is a problem for many as it is a New York number and there is no 800 or TTY line. I have to wonder if the $66M would have been better allocated to pay rent and child care so people can get back to work and get on with their lives instead of meeting with more volunteers. And, for people with disabilities, I wonder how skilled volunteers will be at navigating complicated systems that regularly confound experts. I have to wonder if this plan will decrease or increase unnecessary institutionalization!
Along with everyone else, I have learned over the past three and a half months that for all of the planning that has gone on, people with disabilities are not in good hands and without immediate and bold steps, their needs will remain entirely unmet just as soon as the next disaster strikes. I wish that generic systems were capable of holding the very specific and often complex needs of people with disabilities in the foreground as they make quick and sweeping decisions, but in a country that still thinks nursing home placement trumps community based care for people with disabilities on a sunny day, it is obvious that we can’t rely on generic decision makers to make smart decisions about the needs of people with disabilities in the midst of disaster.
We have learned that just as we can’t expect well-intentioned medical and public service personnel to adequately address the complex needs of people with disabilities in day-to-day situations, without a deep and thorough understanding of the tenets of independent living and self-determination or absolute clarity about the human and civil rights of people with disabilities, we also can’t expect these dedicated community members to understand the complexities of meeting the additional needs of people in the midst of disaster.
However, with some smart investments, not only can people with disabilities begin to trust that their needs will be better met in future disasters, taxpayers, generous donors and the general public can rest assured that we are maximizing limited resources and minimizing unnecessary waste.
In fact, amidst all of the projections of huge additional costs to meet the real needs of our citizenry in a disaster, there is clearly an opportunity for visionary policy makers to SAVE tax dollars while maximizing limited resources, now, who could possibly argue against that! Thanks to you Chairman Ramstad, the needs of people with disabilities, and the hope of visionary leadership hasn’t been lost. I know you will invite your colleagues to join you in prioritizing the needs of hurricane survivors with disabilities as next steps are taken.
Recommendations to the Red Cross
Issue additional guidance to shelters regarding their legal and ethical obligation to serve people with disabilities.
Establish an Office on Disability, and staff it with disability experts known to the disability community as strong leaders with a track record of meeting the additional needs of people with disabilities in a disaster. Give that Office direct access to the CEO of Red Cross, power and adequate funds, support staff and other resources.
The in-take forms used for people coming into shelters must be revised so that disability-specific information is collected.
Training and leadership is urgently needed to provide guidance to Red Cross employees and volunteers regarding their obligations to serve people with disabilities.
Actively pursue partnerships with disability related organizations.
Every shelter must have at least one volunteer on duty at all times who is knowledgeable about identifying individuals with disabilities when they arrive at the shelter, helping to identify that individual’s needs and then helping with or directing those individuals to appropriate assistance.
People with disabilities must be carefully tracked, and so must their equipment. When they leave a shelter, there must be information kept on file about where they were sent.
Nursing homes and institutions must be alternatives of last resort and never used for more than temporary shelter for previously independent people, and those receiving their supports and services in the community.
In the future, why not put all shelter services in the same building, rather than separating people with additional needs from their family and limiting natual supports tat may mean the difference between dependence and independence.
The American Red Cross needs to increase its capacity to use technology at all levels.
The very same housing crisis that has kept hundreds of thousands of people across the US in restrictive living environments is now putting previously independent and self-sufficient disaster survivors in hospitals and nursing homes for lack of appropriate housing that allows them to use a bathroom and sleep in a bed. We are still working to get to the tables where key decisions are being made about temporary and permanent housing. We have been trying to get to those tables with powerful housing non-profit organizations who have access to substantial funds for rebuilding. We are trying to talk about universal design, accessibility and visitability. We’ve been attempting this since it first became apparent that housing would be a critical need. Yet, even today, housing decisions are being made that will result in discrimination, further limited options and institutionalization of people who could and should be in our communities and in our workforce.
Additional Requests:
Please encourage the appropriate Committees in both the House and Senate to hold additional oversight hearings on topics within their jurisdiction. For example, Medicaid would be an important topic for an oversight hearing.
Many non-profit organizations that already operate without adequate resources have had to use their limited funds to address the needs of disaster survivors with disabilities as well as their usual constituency. Supplemental funds need to be given to these groups to support their continued viability to serve our communities now and in the future. These organizations, independent living centers, local chapters of national organizations, protection and advocacy systems, etc. are at the heart of the solution. We know this; let’s make sure we support what IS working.
PLEASE do not allow ANYONE to convince you to compromise the hard-won civil rights of people with disabilities. Our rights remain fragile even today, and these rights are easily overlooked or dismissed in a time of emergency. This is illegal but if that isn’t enough it’s also costly. Be good stewards of tax and donor dollars! Just say no to limiting or violating the civil rights of people with disabilities!
Hurricane survivors are afraid that the rest of us are getting “Katrina Fatigue”. I encourage you to join me in assuring our fellow citizens that while THEY are entitled to Katrina Fatigue, they can count on the rest of us to stay focused and keep things moving forward.
It is in Benilda’s memory and with deep appreciation towards those who have worked tirelessly over the past fifteen weeks in the Gulf States, in Washington, in cyberspace and around the country that I will close with the following Chinese proverb:
The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.
Thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today.
Statement of Marcie Roth, Executive Director, National Spinal Cord Injury Association, Bethesda, Maryland
Testimony Before the Subcommittee on Oversightof the House Committee on Ways and Means
December 13, 2005
http://waysandmeans.house.gov/hearings.asp?formmode=printfriendly&id=4574
Good Afternoon Chairman Ramstad, Ranking Member Lewis, and distinguished committee members. Thank you for inviting me to testify on issues regarding the response by nonprofit organizations to the needs of Hurricane Katrina survivors.
My name is Marcie Roth and I am the Executive Director and CEO of the National Spinal Cord Injury Association (NSCIA). NSCIA is the nation’s oldest and largest civilian organization serving the needs of people with spinal cord injuries and spinal cord diseases since 1948.
I am here representing NSCIA, but I want to be very clear that in our disaster relief efforts we have been working on behalf of ALL people with disabilities, including those with sensory and intellectual disabilities and those with mental illness and other psychiatric disabilities.
And, although we are focusing on efforts to assist Americans with disabilities in disasters, we are also wholly committed to working with others who are addressing the needs of ALL people with disabilities in disasters in other parts of the world.
I want to thank my colleagues in the private sector and those representing government, who have given those of us who are experts on the additional needs of people with disabilities before, during and after a disaster the opportunity to work alongside you over the past fifteen weeks as we have shared our knowledge, resources and a deep commitment to meeting the critical needs of as many hurricane survivors with disabilities as we possibly could. I am grateful to those individuals who have joined us around the clock, for many weeks, in a shared commitment to do what no one else was doing, despite their legal and moral obligations, to meet the additional needs of hurricane survivors with disabilities.
On September 13, 2001, I first became involved in navigating between the Federal systems and the private sector in an effort to address the very urgent disaster related needs of people with disabilities who had survived the terrorist attacks in New York City two days earlier. I quickly learned that a lifetime of knowledge of the additional needs of people with disabilities was being called into action as I found myself in the breach, navigating between the very real needs of very real people and the limited public and private systems poorly designed to address those needs.
I was shocked when I discovered how ill prepared the major disaster relief agencies were, and I became actively involved in efforts to assist those relief agencies and communities across the US to better plan for the additional needs of people with disabilities. In the months and years after those terrible days, I also participated in efforts to assist people with disabilities to prepare for another emergency. I saw the creation of the US Department of Homeland Security, the relocation of FEMA and the National Disaster Medical System, and many printed and internet published materials on preparedness for people with disabilities, workshops and conferences on the topic, and many other visible signs that indicated to me that high level planning for the next national disaster was in good hands. I did my part, made recommendations when the needs of people with disabilities were being overlooked and voiced my concerns when it seemed that plans were unrealistic. Even when the ideas of disability and disaster experts were being met with a surprising amount of resistance and exclusion, I trusted that even though I couldn’t always see it, we were “ready”. Just like most Americans, I assumed that the Red Cross and the other major relief organizations were building on something far more durable than sand when they published guides and booklets and held meetings and workshops on emergency preparedness for people with disabilities.
And then, in the last week of August, I joined much of America as we watched with more than a little alarm as Hurricane Katrina took a bite out of FL and then made its way into the Gulf.
On the morning of August 29th, I received a call that I will never forget and once I tell you about it, I hope you will never forget it either. My friend and colleague, former appointee to the Social Security Administration, Susan Daniels called me to enlist my help because her sister-in-law, Benilda Caixetta, a New Orleans resident who was quadriplegic, paralyzed from the shoulders down, had been unsuccessfully trying to evacuate to the Superdome for two days. Despite repeated requests to be evacuated, in her power wheelchair, which is a vital tool for mobility and independence, the paratransit system that serves the transportation needs of people with disabilities never showed up. Even calls to 911 had been fruitless. She was still in her home, she had not been able to evacuate, despite her very best efforts. In my naiveté I thought a few phone calls to the “right” people would help, and I was sure I knew who to call. I was wrong. After many calls to the “right” people, it was clear that Benny, was NOT being evacuated.
I stayed on the phone with Benny for most of the day, assuring her that I was doing all I could to make sure help would be coming as soon as possible. She kept telling me she had been calling for a ride to the Superdome for three days, but, despite promises, no one came. The very same paratransit system that people with disabilities can’t rely on in good weather was what was being relied on in the evacuation. It’s no surprise that it failed.
I was on the phone with her that afternoon when she told me, with panic in her voice, “the water is rushing in” and then her phone went dead.
We learned five days later that she had been found in her apartment, dead, floating next to her wheelchair.
Sometimes things like this can’t be prevented. Despite the magnitude of the catastrophe, this was not one of those times. Benilda did not have to drown.
I am here today to say some other difficult things, and while there are many organizations worth comment, I will focus almost exclusively today on one of the biggest, best funded and most beloved non-profit organizations of all, the American Red Cross. It feels almost blasphemous to criticize the Red Cross, almost like criticizing one’s own grandparents. But, for hundreds of thousands of people with disabilities, the Red Cross has frequently failed to meet the greatest needs while simultaneously diverting donations and other resources from small organizations left to address a myriad of often complex unmet needs. Not only has this hurt people with disabilities and the organizations that serve them, but it has also added an untold burden on every taxpayer in this country, through costs associated with preventable secondary complications in disaster survivors, unnecessary hospitalization and institutionalization and failure to maximize limited resources to meet needs.
Over the past 100+ days, while the rest of America and the world watched on TV, millions of Gulf region residents desperately tried to survive not only the weather, but the many human failures to follow. For 25-30 % of those people, the additional challenges of disability, poor planning and low expectations made the unimaginable crisis much, much more dangerous.
As the parent of two children with significant disabilities and as the legal guardian for an Iraqi child who was spinal cord injured in an accidental US artillery bombing two years ago, I am acutely aware every day of the unmet needs of 56 million Americans with disabilities and hundreds of millions of people with disabilities worldwide. I am also acutely aware of just how rare it is that the unmet needs of people with disabilities are ever considered by the people who have the most power and the best resources to maximize positive outcomes for a minority population that encompasses a sizable portion of the general population of the United States. According to the U.S. Census of 2000, people with disabilities represent 19.3 percent of the 257.2 million people ages 5 and older in the civilian non-institutionalized population. Another 2.2 million Americans are institutionalized in nursing homes and long-term care facilities. And, it is necessary to point out that these are all people with disabilities. People don’t go to nursing homes because they are old; they go to nursing homes when their community fails to meet their additional needs.
Some areas of our country have an especially high percentage of people with disabilities. As it happens, the areas most severely impacted by the hurricanes were also areas with especially high percentages of people with disabilities living in their communities.
According to the 2000 Census:
In Biloxi, Mississippi, 10,700 people (25% of the residents) are classified as people with disabilities.
In Mobile, Alabama, 43,000 people (24% of the residents) are people with disabilities.
In the New Orleans metropolitan area, 250,000 residents (21.3 %) described themselves as disabled.
Because people with disabilities are…
disproportionately below the poverty line,
often less mobile than the general population,
disproportionately more dependent on outside assistance, and
often misjudged as less capable
… this population felt the impact of Hurricane Katrina quite severely.
For most of my career, since the 1970’s, I have worked primarily for non-profit organizations. For most of this time, serving people with disabilities, we have struggled to meet complicated needs with extremely inadequate resources. As the executive director of a non profit organization for the last four years, I am sure I have often fallen short. Due to the magnitude of need, the shockingly limited resources made available to invest in the needs of people with disabilities and the never changing bigotry of low expectations regarding the value and contributions of Americans with disabilities, I anticipate that the needs of my constituency will remain under-met for the foreseeable future. And, as long as Congress fails to ensure the enforcement of laws to educate children with disabilities, fails to address the institutional bias in Medicaid, fails to pass Money Follows the Person, MiCASSA, the Christopher Reeve Act and the Family Opportunity Act, fails to fund adequate housing, mental health parity, access to quality health care, equipment and services and considers legislation that will limit the human and civil rights of one in five Americans, no real progress will be made in maximizing limited Medicaid, Medicare, private insurance and other resources. This is both wrong and it is foolish public policy.
There are many fine examples of nonprofits who have actively sought to meet needs by using limited resources that were intended to serve people who are in the greatest need even when the weather is fine. Some organizations, like mine have been very fortunate to have come to the attention of true heroes who quietly find a way to make a real difference. Thanks to a very generous donation from Robert and Ita Klein, who recently established the Brian Joseph McCloskey Hurricane Katrina Survivors with Disabilities Fund, my organization, the National Spinal Cord Injury Association, is able to replace wheelchairs, hospital beds, household goods, repair homes, and pay rent and mortgages for as many people with disabilities as our fund will stretch to serve. The Kleins’ company, Safeguard Properties, Inc. has been playing a significant role in disaster and housing related services, and they wanted to make a generous donation to meet an otherwise entirely unmet need. Their recognition of the unmet needs of hurricane survivors with disabilities is a shining exception to the fairly bleak picture. Yet another is the Disability Funders Network which raised over $100,000 that it is distributing to small non-profits in $5,000 grants to meet unserved needs. Many disability organizations have had to tap their own limited resources to meet the needs of constituents who have lost everything. When we were desperate to send replacement equipment like wheelchairs and hospital beds to people who had to have them to preserve their health and we couldn’t get the Red Cross or any of the other large relief organizations to provide funds for drivers, trucks and insurance, we were very fortunate to find an unlikely ally. The Muslim Public Affairs Council stepped in with funding to help Portlight Strategies to get trucks full of donated durable medical equipment and supplies on the road and into the hands of those who had lost theirs.
As wonderful as these stories are, with not more than a few exceptions, the needs of people with disabilities, and their stories have been almost entirely overlooked by the general public. Even house pets have fared far better! I would be remiss if I didn’t thank Joe Shapiro, a wonderful reporter with National Public Radio who was one of the very, very few to report about people with disabilities. And, another shining example of high quality non-profits would be the formerly all volunteer Disaster Medical Assistance Teams, a part of the crown jewel known as the National Disaster Medical Systems.
Most organizations like mine exist in the shadow of high profile non-profits like the American Red Cross. In the days after the hurricanes, the American Red Cross has received a reported $1.68 billion dollars in donations while Gulf coast residents with disabilities have hardly benefited because many were excluded from their shelters and relief assistance services.
Sadly, we have attempted to help the Red Cross and other disaster relief leaders to see that they have been in a key position to address this inequity since 2001, but instead, people with disabilities are still turned away from the Red Cross and other charity-run shelters.
As well as the disability community has come together to try to take care of “our own”, we have been excluded from the larger relief community, sometimes told that we would just be “in the way” and “make things worse”. We were told to leave the relief efforts to those who “know what they are doing”. At the same time, we received report after report about the Red Cross shelters turning people with disabilities away or separating them from caregivers and service animals, then sending them to nursing homes when they couldn’t maintain their independence.
We had many reports of people with disabilities arriving on busses from New Orleans and being forced to remain on the bus while everyone else was invited in. Then they were driven from shelter to shelter for sometimes hundreds of miles before being taken in.
When disability experts showed up at the shelters to offer their assistance, they were frequently turned away, and we’ve been told that this was because they hadn’t completed the “required training”. This was an interesting disconnect from another conversation I had.
When I inquired about the sheltering needs of people with disabilities, once I was finally able to reach a National Red Cross Operations official, she told me “we aren’t supposed to help those people, the local health departments do that. We can’t hardly deal with the “intact” people (this term is considered highly offensive to people with disabilities). Don’t you understand that we’re taking volunteers off the street to run these shelters?”
I am told that just last week, a Red Cross official told meeting attendees at an AARP meeting that the Red Cross does not serve people with disabilities. I would have dismissed that comment entirely as mere gossip if I hadn’t had a similar conversation.
There are many stories, but a few stand out as especially egregious.
One woman in Alabama, a college graduate who survived a spinal cord injury 10 years ago but was living independently until the hurricane struck told me she went to the Red Cross shelter as soon as it became clear that her home was about to flood, but she was turned away. She was directed to a “special needs shelter” but that shelter was so overcrowded with people who all needed additional help that she ended up sleeping in her wheelchair for days on end. This caused a serious skin condition to develop, landing her in a hospital and then a nursing home. Despite the $1.68 billion raised by Red Cross, she never received any assistance from them.
In one town, also in Alabama, after waiting all day in line for assistance, residents of the Red Cross shelter were told that the only way to register for assistance was to leave the Red Cross shelter and travel to another town. But there was no accessible transportation offered so those with mobility disabilities were unable to seek assistance.
Jason and his mom, displaced from New Orleans to Dallas, sent us the following email three weeks after the hurricane:
“To Whom It May concern:
Presently, Jason (SCI, 11 years post) and I are homeless and living in a Salvation Army Shelter due to Hurricane Katrina. We had to leave our home, and all of Jason's medical equipment (i.e. his hospital bed, electric wheelchair, hoyer lift, etc.) Since I am in a public place using one of the laptops that they have made available to us, I will not be able to write a long letter explaining all of our business. But I am writing now because we need some financial help.
Because we don't live in one of the shelter sites, we are out of the loop of things that are going on. We have not been able to secure clothes or any basic funding. FEMA is taking a long time to help and we are missing out on everything because we're not able to get around. Jason is using an old manual wheelchair and I have to push him everywhere. This has been a strain on me also.
If you can help us, please contact us. Any help we can get would be appreciated. We are desperate, so I'm grasping at any and all past contacts. Normally, I would never find myself in this sort of begging position. But this has been anything but normal. People's lives were totally shattered. Families were torn apart. Please help us.”
Jason ended up in the hospital for weeks as a result of the lack of medical equipment and supplies.
We worked around the clock for weeks to try to get disability experts into the shelters to assess the needs of people who couldn’t hear the announcements over loud speakers, or see the signage that directed them to assistance, people who were losing critical stability because they didn’t have access to medication to treat their mental illness, people whose eyes and kidneys and hearts were being attacked because they didn’t have insulin, people who didn’t understand what they needed to do to get food and water because of an intellectual disability and people who couldn’t stand in line for seven hours, or even seven minutes because they had lost their wheelchair during the evacuation. People housed in alternative settings were excluded from the myriad of relief programs at the shelters and unable to gain equal access to resources vital to survival and prevention of secondary complications.
People without their wheelchairs, walkers and canes couldn’t stand on line. In the heat, many people were unable to wait for hours to be assisted and so those with the direst needs often had the least assistance.
Some people, who need additional supports to maintain their independence, were forced to go to special needs shelters while family, other caregivers and even service animals were denied access to offer assistance. Once independence was compromised, people were institutionalized. I am told that many, many of these people have still not been located!
One man in east Texas told us about having to drive from a shelter to the local hospital for weeks, every time he had to go to the bathroom because the bathroom at the shelter was not wheelchair accessible.
In a recent report by the National Organization on Disability: “The most underserved group [in shelters] were those who were deaf or hard of hearing.”
Less than 30% of shelters had access to American Sign Language interpreters
80% did not have TTYs
60% did not have TVs with open caption capability
Only 56% had areas were oral announcements were posted. “This meant that people who are deaf or hard of hearing had no access to the vital flow of information.”
(Report on SNAKE Project, Oct. 2005)
There are no estimates of the numbers of people with disabilities who were turned away from the shelters, those who were sent to nursing homes and institutions and those who were able to evacuate to locations other than shelters, sometimes further isolating them from the vital services they needed to protect their independence and their health.
Recently, when I asked people how much financial assistance they received from the Red Cross, 70% told me they had not received any assistance and of those who had, most reported receiving $360. The highest amount received was reported by one man who received $680.
And while thousands remain homeless and in need of financial assistance to cover mortgage payments, rent, utilities and basic necessities, just recently, I learned that $66,000 in foreign donations have been given by FEMA to the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) and the National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (NVOAD).
The case management program, promises to “assist disaster survivors with unmet needs” but none of the $66M can be used to meet those unmet needs, rather the $66M will be used to hire paid staff who will hire volunteers to provide “case management” to 100,000 hurricane survivors. No efforts seem to have been made to reach out to disability service provider experts to participate in this project, and in fact, the website for the project and the instructions for responding to the RFP are not accessible, even though accessibility is required. Even the telephone is a problem for many as it is a New York number and there is no 800 or TTY line. I have to wonder if the $66M would have been better allocated to pay rent and child care so people can get back to work and get on with their lives instead of meeting with more volunteers. And, for people with disabilities, I wonder how skilled volunteers will be at navigating complicated systems that regularly confound experts. I have to wonder if this plan will decrease or increase unnecessary institutionalization!
Along with everyone else, I have learned over the past three and a half months that for all of the planning that has gone on, people with disabilities are not in good hands and without immediate and bold steps, their needs will remain entirely unmet just as soon as the next disaster strikes. I wish that generic systems were capable of holding the very specific and often complex needs of people with disabilities in the foreground as they make quick and sweeping decisions, but in a country that still thinks nursing home placement trumps community based care for people with disabilities on a sunny day, it is obvious that we can’t rely on generic decision makers to make smart decisions about the needs of people with disabilities in the midst of disaster.
We have learned that just as we can’t expect well-intentioned medical and public service personnel to adequately address the complex needs of people with disabilities in day-to-day situations, without a deep and thorough understanding of the tenets of independent living and self-determination or absolute clarity about the human and civil rights of people with disabilities, we also can’t expect these dedicated community members to understand the complexities of meeting the additional needs of people in the midst of disaster.
However, with some smart investments, not only can people with disabilities begin to trust that their needs will be better met in future disasters, taxpayers, generous donors and the general public can rest assured that we are maximizing limited resources and minimizing unnecessary waste.
In fact, amidst all of the projections of huge additional costs to meet the real needs of our citizenry in a disaster, there is clearly an opportunity for visionary policy makers to SAVE tax dollars while maximizing limited resources, now, who could possibly argue against that! Thanks to you Chairman Ramstad, the needs of people with disabilities, and the hope of visionary leadership hasn’t been lost. I know you will invite your colleagues to join you in prioritizing the needs of hurricane survivors with disabilities as next steps are taken.
Recommendations to the Red Cross
Issue additional guidance to shelters regarding their legal and ethical obligation to serve people with disabilities.
Establish an Office on Disability, and staff it with disability experts known to the disability community as strong leaders with a track record of meeting the additional needs of people with disabilities in a disaster. Give that Office direct access to the CEO of Red Cross, power and adequate funds, support staff and other resources.
The in-take forms used for people coming into shelters must be revised so that disability-specific information is collected.
Training and leadership is urgently needed to provide guidance to Red Cross employees and volunteers regarding their obligations to serve people with disabilities.
Actively pursue partnerships with disability related organizations.
Every shelter must have at least one volunteer on duty at all times who is knowledgeable about identifying individuals with disabilities when they arrive at the shelter, helping to identify that individual’s needs and then helping with or directing those individuals to appropriate assistance.
People with disabilities must be carefully tracked, and so must their equipment. When they leave a shelter, there must be information kept on file about where they were sent.
Nursing homes and institutions must be alternatives of last resort and never used for more than temporary shelter for previously independent people, and those receiving their supports and services in the community.
In the future, why not put all shelter services in the same building, rather than separating people with additional needs from their family and limiting natual supports tat may mean the difference between dependence and independence.
The American Red Cross needs to increase its capacity to use technology at all levels.
The very same housing crisis that has kept hundreds of thousands of people across the US in restrictive living environments is now putting previously independent and self-sufficient disaster survivors in hospitals and nursing homes for lack of appropriate housing that allows them to use a bathroom and sleep in a bed. We are still working to get to the tables where key decisions are being made about temporary and permanent housing. We have been trying to get to those tables with powerful housing non-profit organizations who have access to substantial funds for rebuilding. We are trying to talk about universal design, accessibility and visitability. We’ve been attempting this since it first became apparent that housing would be a critical need. Yet, even today, housing decisions are being made that will result in discrimination, further limited options and institutionalization of people who could and should be in our communities and in our workforce.
Additional Requests:
Please encourage the appropriate Committees in both the House and Senate to hold additional oversight hearings on topics within their jurisdiction. For example, Medicaid would be an important topic for an oversight hearing.
Many non-profit organizations that already operate without adequate resources have had to use their limited funds to address the needs of disaster survivors with disabilities as well as their usual constituency. Supplemental funds need to be given to these groups to support their continued viability to serve our communities now and in the future. These organizations, independent living centers, local chapters of national organizations, protection and advocacy systems, etc. are at the heart of the solution. We know this; let’s make sure we support what IS working.
PLEASE do not allow ANYONE to convince you to compromise the hard-won civil rights of people with disabilities. Our rights remain fragile even today, and these rights are easily overlooked or dismissed in a time of emergency. This is illegal but if that isn’t enough it’s also costly. Be good stewards of tax and donor dollars! Just say no to limiting or violating the civil rights of people with disabilities!
Hurricane survivors are afraid that the rest of us are getting “Katrina Fatigue”. I encourage you to join me in assuring our fellow citizens that while THEY are entitled to Katrina Fatigue, they can count on the rest of us to stay focused and keep things moving forward.
It is in Benilda’s memory and with deep appreciation towards those who have worked tirelessly over the past fifteen weeks in the Gulf States, in Washington, in cyberspace and around the country that I will close with the following Chinese proverb:
The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.
Thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today.
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Are You Planning To Go To A Red Cross Shelter? Concerns of People With Disabilities
DOJ: Assistance with Transfer in a Shelter
DOJ: Shelter worker helps a person onto a cot using a portable lift provided by the shelter
Diagram of a Shelter in which beds are provided to people in wheelchairs. From A DOJ Technical Assistance Document.As we undergo yet another hurricane season in Florida, people with disabilities are increaasingly worried. Do the Offices of Emergency Management in Florida comply with the mandates of the ADA? Does the Red Cross?
If you use a wheelchair, and plan to shelter at a Red Cross shelter, will you be able to get the services to which you are entitled?
According to the Justice Department: "Historically, great attention has been paid to ensuring that those shelters are well stocked with basic necessities such as food, water, and blankets. But many of these shelters have not been accessible to people with disabilities. Individuals using a wheelchair or scooter have often been able somehow to get to the shelter, only to find no accessible entrance, accessible toilet, or accessible shelter area."
While not all shelters have to be accessible (under title II of the ADA), those that are accessible should be identified as accessible:
DOJ: "Until all of your emergency shelters have accessible parking, exterior routes, entrances, interior routes to the shelter area, and toilet rooms serving the shelter area; you should identify and widely publicize to the public, including persons with disabilities and the organizations that serve them, the locations of the most accessible emergency shelters."
The Department of Justice says: "In some instances, people with disabilities have been turned away from shelters because of volunteers’ lack of confidence regarding the shelter’s ability to meet their needs. Generally, people with disabilities may not be segregated or told to go to “special” shelters designated for their use. They should ordinarily be allowed to attend the same shelters as their neighbors and coworkers."
Should the Red Cross provide beds in a reasonable number of shelters, to people in wheelchairs, as a reasonable modification of policy? Yes. Look at the drawing, (reproduced above), from the Justice Department's technical assistance material, in which an individual in a wheelchair is provided a bed that is at an accessible height.
If you use a wheelchair, and plan to shelter at a Red Cross shelter, will you be able to get the services to which you are entitled?
According to the Justice Department: "Historically, great attention has been paid to ensuring that those shelters are well stocked with basic necessities such as food, water, and blankets. But many of these shelters have not been accessible to people with disabilities. Individuals using a wheelchair or scooter have often been able somehow to get to the shelter, only to find no accessible entrance, accessible toilet, or accessible shelter area."
While not all shelters have to be accessible (under title II of the ADA), those that are accessible should be identified as accessible:
DOJ: "Until all of your emergency shelters have accessible parking, exterior routes, entrances, interior routes to the shelter area, and toilet rooms serving the shelter area; you should identify and widely publicize to the public, including persons with disabilities and the organizations that serve them, the locations of the most accessible emergency shelters."
The Department of Justice says: "In some instances, people with disabilities have been turned away from shelters because of volunteers’ lack of confidence regarding the shelter’s ability to meet their needs. Generally, people with disabilities may not be segregated or told to go to “special” shelters designated for their use. They should ordinarily be allowed to attend the same shelters as their neighbors and coworkers."
Should the Red Cross provide beds in a reasonable number of shelters, to people in wheelchairs, as a reasonable modification of policy? Yes. Look at the drawing, (reproduced above), from the Justice Department's technical assistance material, in which an individual in a wheelchair is provided a bed that is at an accessible height.
Should assistance in transferring be provided? Yes, as a reasonable modification of policy, at a reasonable number of shelters. (See DOJ drawing, above).
Providing this assistance is the responsibility of the local Office of Emergency Management, as part of their title II responsibilities under the ADA. In addition, the Red Cross is required by title III to ensure that this service is provided. Both entities can be liable for the failure to ensure that this assistance is provided,
The views expressed above are those of the author, and do not represent the Florida Bar.
The author serves as Co-Chair of the Disability Law Committee, and served as a Senior Trial Attorney at the Justice Department from 1992-2005, in the Disability Rights Section of the Civil Rights Division, in Washington, D.C. In that capacity, he was responsible for nationwide enforcement of the ADA on behalf of the United States.
To join the Disability Law Committee, contact Austin Newberry at the Bar, at anewberry@flabar.org.
Saturday, May 12, 2007
Special Education Law Discriminates against Children with Surgical Implants
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act denies services to children with disabilities who have cochlear implants or other surgically implanted devices. The National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) reports that as of 2005 approximately 15,000 children in the U.S. have cochlear implants, and with the advancement of bio-technology, the number is rapidly growing. A leading scientific report states: "Cochlear implants could potentially affect the auditory rehabilitation of an estimated 200,000 United States children with advanced levels of deafness . . ."
What are cochlear implants? They are not hearing aids. NIDCD states: "Hearing aids amplify sounds so they may be detected by damaged ears. Cochlear implants bypass damaged portions of the ear and directly stimulate the auditory nerve." The NIDCD describes the implant as having "an external portion that sits behind the ear and a second portion that is surgically placed under the skin."
The Act excludes surgically implanted medical devices as "related services" or as a "assistive technology device." The Act reads: "The term does not include a medical device that is surgically implanted, or the replacement of such device." Related services are the variety of services that the Act requires schools to provide children "to benefit from special education." What is the difference if a medical device is above the skin or below the skin? If a non physician can provide the service, anatomical topography, the location of the device, should not be relevant to whether the service is a related service. Nevertheless, the Act excludes services required for children with surgical implants as a related service.
To join the Disability Law Committee, contact Austin Newberry at the Bar, at anewberry@flabar.org.
What are cochlear implants? They are not hearing aids. NIDCD states: "Hearing aids amplify sounds so they may be detected by damaged ears. Cochlear implants bypass damaged portions of the ear and directly stimulate the auditory nerve." The NIDCD describes the implant as having "an external portion that sits behind the ear and a second portion that is surgically placed under the skin."
The Act excludes surgically implanted medical devices as "related services" or as a "assistive technology device." The Act reads: "The term does not include a medical device that is surgically implanted, or the replacement of such device." Related services are the variety of services that the Act requires schools to provide children "to benefit from special education." What is the difference if a medical device is above the skin or below the skin? If a non physician can provide the service, anatomical topography, the location of the device, should not be relevant to whether the service is a related service. Nevertheless, the Act excludes services required for children with surgical implants as a related service.
To join the Disability Law Committee, contact Austin Newberry at the Bar, at anewberry@flabar.org.
Saturday, March 24, 2007
U.S. Access Board: Advisory Committee Presents Report on Courthouse Access
The Courthouse Access Advisory Committee, which the Board organized to promote accessibility in the design of court facilities, presented its recommendations at a meeting of the Board on November 15. The Committee’s report provides design guidance and best practice recommendations for achieving access in courthouses, including courtrooms. It also includes outreach and educational strategies for disseminating this information most effectively to various audiences.
Over the course of its two-year charter, the Committee examined design issues in depth, toured different types of courthouses across the country, and crafted solutions that ensure access without compromising traditional features essential to courthouse design.
A leading focus of the Committee was access to courtrooms, which feature a variety of elevated spaces, including witness stands, jury boxes, and judges’ benches. The report includes detailed recommendations on providing access to these and other courthouse spaces. This guidance is applicable to all types of courthouses at all levels of government. While focused on the design of new facilities, the report also can be used as a resource in the retrofit of existing facilities.
The Committee’s 35 members included courthouse architects, disability groups, members of the judiciary, court administrators, representatives of the codes community and standard-setting entities, government agencies, and others with an interest in the issues to be explored. Committee representatives, including Co-Chairs Eve Hill of the Disability Rights Legal Center and Sam Overton, Deputy Attorney General for the State of California, outlined key findings and recommendations of the report in a presentation to the Board.
Access to courthouses remains a problem, even in the design of new facilities, due to a lack of information and awareness. Design features essential to courthouses, particularly courtrooms, pose challenges to access that are not adequately addressed by existing resources. The Committee’s report, according to Board Chair and Deputy Administrator of the General Services Administration (GSA) David L. Bibb, promises to positively influence the next generation of courthouses by demonstrating how access for all users can be easily met. “I am confident, thanks to the work of this Committee, that future courthouses will fulfill the promise that justice for all means access for all,” Bibb noted.
The Committee’s recommendations will supplement accessibility guidelines the Board maintains under the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Architectural Barriers Act. Although these guidelines contain provisions specific to courtrooms, many have sought further guidance on how access can best be achieved. The report also contains an outreach and education plan for the Board’s use in disseminating this new guidance and promoting greater awareness.
The Committee held meetings in Phoenix, Chicago, San Francisco, Miami, Boston, and Washington, D.C. In developing its recommendations, the Committee followed a consensus-based model according to protocols governing Federal advisory committees. Three subcommittees organized by the Committee covering courtrooms, courthouse spaces other than courtrooms, and education and outreach met extensively in between quarterly committee meetings.
Courtroom Mock-Up
In addition to receiving the Committee’s report, the Board visited a full-scale courtroom mock-up organized by GSA and the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts (AOC). The mock-ups, which were based on sample courtroom plans prepared by AOC, provided a means to test and evaluate some of the Committee’s recommendations. Board and Committee members toured a mock-up of a standard district courtroom, which was reconfigured to represent a special proceedings courtroom.
Report Highlights
The Committee’s report includes recommendations that address:
Integrating accessibility into all stages of courthouse design and planning;
Courthouse and courtroom entrances, including automated devices that facilitate access through heavy or monumental doors;
Access solutions to judges’ benches that preserve the security and dignity afforded justices;
Effective and economical solutions for providing access to raised witness stands, jury boxes, and clerks’ stations without disruption to court proceedings;
Assistive listening technologies that discretely enhance audio output for people who are hard of hearing;
Wheelchair seating in spectator areas;
Incorporating access solutions into standard design plans for various types of courtrooms, including jury, bankruptcy/ hearing, magistrate, appeals, special proceeding;
Signage and wayfinding systems that facilitate access throughout courthouses for people with vision impairments;
Counters and other elements of public service areas;
Jury deliberation rooms and jury assembly rooms;
Secured areas, including judges’ chambers and suites;
Holding cells serving courtrooms; and
Outreach and education strategies for disseminating this information and raising awareness.
Further information on the committee is available on the committee page.
To join the Disability Law Committee, contact Austin Newberry at the Bar, at anewberry@flabar.org.
Over the course of its two-year charter, the Committee examined design issues in depth, toured different types of courthouses across the country, and crafted solutions that ensure access without compromising traditional features essential to courthouse design.
A leading focus of the Committee was access to courtrooms, which feature a variety of elevated spaces, including witness stands, jury boxes, and judges’ benches. The report includes detailed recommendations on providing access to these and other courthouse spaces. This guidance is applicable to all types of courthouses at all levels of government. While focused on the design of new facilities, the report also can be used as a resource in the retrofit of existing facilities.
The Committee’s 35 members included courthouse architects, disability groups, members of the judiciary, court administrators, representatives of the codes community and standard-setting entities, government agencies, and others with an interest in the issues to be explored. Committee representatives, including Co-Chairs Eve Hill of the Disability Rights Legal Center and Sam Overton, Deputy Attorney General for the State of California, outlined key findings and recommendations of the report in a presentation to the Board.
Access to courthouses remains a problem, even in the design of new facilities, due to a lack of information and awareness. Design features essential to courthouses, particularly courtrooms, pose challenges to access that are not adequately addressed by existing resources. The Committee’s report, according to Board Chair and Deputy Administrator of the General Services Administration (GSA) David L. Bibb, promises to positively influence the next generation of courthouses by demonstrating how access for all users can be easily met. “I am confident, thanks to the work of this Committee, that future courthouses will fulfill the promise that justice for all means access for all,” Bibb noted.
The Committee’s recommendations will supplement accessibility guidelines the Board maintains under the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Architectural Barriers Act. Although these guidelines contain provisions specific to courtrooms, many have sought further guidance on how access can best be achieved. The report also contains an outreach and education plan for the Board’s use in disseminating this new guidance and promoting greater awareness.
The Committee held meetings in Phoenix, Chicago, San Francisco, Miami, Boston, and Washington, D.C. In developing its recommendations, the Committee followed a consensus-based model according to protocols governing Federal advisory committees. Three subcommittees organized by the Committee covering courtrooms, courthouse spaces other than courtrooms, and education and outreach met extensively in between quarterly committee meetings.
Courtroom Mock-Up
In addition to receiving the Committee’s report, the Board visited a full-scale courtroom mock-up organized by GSA and the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts (AOC). The mock-ups, which were based on sample courtroom plans prepared by AOC, provided a means to test and evaluate some of the Committee’s recommendations. Board and Committee members toured a mock-up of a standard district courtroom, which was reconfigured to represent a special proceedings courtroom.
Report Highlights
The Committee’s report includes recommendations that address:
Integrating accessibility into all stages of courthouse design and planning;
Courthouse and courtroom entrances, including automated devices that facilitate access through heavy or monumental doors;
Access solutions to judges’ benches that preserve the security and dignity afforded justices;
Effective and economical solutions for providing access to raised witness stands, jury boxes, and clerks’ stations without disruption to court proceedings;
Assistive listening technologies that discretely enhance audio output for people who are hard of hearing;
Wheelchair seating in spectator areas;
Incorporating access solutions into standard design plans for various types of courtrooms, including jury, bankruptcy/ hearing, magistrate, appeals, special proceeding;
Signage and wayfinding systems that facilitate access throughout courthouses for people with vision impairments;
Counters and other elements of public service areas;
Jury deliberation rooms and jury assembly rooms;
Secured areas, including judges’ chambers and suites;
Holding cells serving courtrooms; and
Outreach and education strategies for disseminating this information and raising awareness.
Further information on the committee is available on the committee page.
To join the Disability Law Committee, contact Austin Newberry at the Bar, at anewberry@flabar.org.
Are You a Boater? DOT Seeks Comment on New Regulations for Vessel Operators
The U.S. Department of Transportation has proposed new regulations under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) to ensure access to vessels for passengers with disabilities. Published on January 23, the proposal, which is available for public comment for three months, ensures access to programs and services provided by vessel operators and prohibits discriminatory practices and policies. The regulations would apply to vessels of all types and sizes that provide transportation or other services to the public, including cruise ships, ferries, water taxis, gaming and excursion boats and other types of craft.
The rule bans practices that discriminate on the basis of disability, such as denial of service, program restrictions, and price discrimination, and specifies conditions upon which certain policies, such as advance notice of the need for accessible accommodations, would be considered acceptable. It also covers responsibilities for ensuring access to vessel services and programs, including accommodation of mobility aids, assistive devices and service animals, as well as access to landside facilities serving vessels, such as terminals and floating docks. The rule highlights certain issues and questions where public feedback is sought. Comments on DOT’s rule are due by April 23, 2007. Additional information, including received comments, is posted on DOT’s site at http://dms.dot.gov/reports/fr.htm (see “ADA - Passenger Vessels” under the heading “OST”).
The proposed rule does not include design requirements for vessels, which are currently under development by the Board. As explained in the notice, DOT plans to incorporate the Board’s future guidelines for vessels into its rule. The Board is preparing a proposed version of the guidelines that will be published for public comment at a future date.
Comments are due by April 23rd.
To join the Disability Law Committee, contact Austin Newberry at the Bar, at anewberry@flabar.org.
The rule bans practices that discriminate on the basis of disability, such as denial of service, program restrictions, and price discrimination, and specifies conditions upon which certain policies, such as advance notice of the need for accessible accommodations, would be considered acceptable. It also covers responsibilities for ensuring access to vessel services and programs, including accommodation of mobility aids, assistive devices and service animals, as well as access to landside facilities serving vessels, such as terminals and floating docks. The rule highlights certain issues and questions where public feedback is sought. Comments on DOT’s rule are due by April 23, 2007. Additional information, including received comments, is posted on DOT’s site at http://dms.dot.gov/reports/fr.htm (see “ADA - Passenger Vessels” under the heading “OST”).
The proposed rule does not include design requirements for vessels, which are currently under development by the Board. As explained in the notice, DOT plans to incorporate the Board’s future guidelines for vessels into its rule. The Board is preparing a proposed version of the guidelines that will be published for public comment at a future date.
Comments are due by April 23rd.
To join the Disability Law Committee, contact Austin Newberry at the Bar, at anewberry@flabar.org.
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