• Tuesday, November 21, 2017
• 1:00-2:00 p.m. Eastern
• RSVP

Hear from members of the National Council on Independent Living (NCIL) Parenting Task Force! We’ll talk about issues facing parents with disabilities and what disability rights advocates can do.

• Call-in: 1-515-739-1285
• Passcode: 521847#
• Join the meeting online

Speakers:

• Kelly Buckland, Executive Director, National Council on Independent Living
• Sarah Launderville, Chair, NCIL Parenting Task Force, and Executive Director, Vermont Center for Independent Living
• Kimberly Tissot, Executive Director, ABLE South Carolina

[Read more…]

Last week, the U.S. Government Accountability Office released a report detailing the accessibility and barriers to access at polling places in the 2016 elections. This report, which the GAO has produced after other presidential elections, found that:

• Of all 178 polling places, 60 percent had one or more potential impediments outside the polling place, with the most common being steep ramps, lack of signage to indicate accessible paths, and poor parking or path surfaces.
• Of the 137 polling places where the GAO was able to examine the interior polling stations, 65 percent had a polling station with an accessible voting system that could impede the casting of a private and independent ballot.

This report shows that although many laws, such as the Help America Vote Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act, continue to require accessibility of polling places, compliance with those laws is still often lacking, and there are still many potential barriers to casting a fully private and independent ballot for people with disabilities. These findings indicate that advocacy is still needed on all levels of government to educate election officials about making polling places accessible for people with disabilities.

Access the full GAO report, VOTERS WITH DISABILITIES Observations on Polling Place Accessibility and Related Federal Guidance (PDF), at gao.gov.

Lots of things have been happening around mental health. We fought back attacks on the Affordable Care Act (ACA) with partners in ADAPT and others, but the danger still exists. The House and Senate have passed a budget that threatens to devastate mental health services through major cuts to Medicaid, Medicare, the Affordable Care Act, and other vital programs and services. We still need to make our elected representatives aware of the impact of these cuts and how they will affect people.

Recently:

• Approximately 38 states have actually combined the Departments of Substance Abuse and Mental Health.
• The Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), which insures about 40% of American children, has not been reauthorized. This ongoing failure will affect mental health and overall health for the nation’s vulnerable children.
• The President has declared the opioid epidemic a public health emergency. This is different than a national emergency, which would include additional funds. This is a complex issue, and we are continuing to follow the national discussion. We encourage you to read last year’s NCIL Statement on Opioids, Chronic Pain, and the Pharmaceutical Industry. In response to the opioid epidemic, there have been calls to change the Institutions for Mental Diseases (IMD) exclusion, which prohibits federal payments for mental health or substance use treatment for facilities with 16 or more beds treating primarily people with psychiatric diagnoses. IMDs are mostly hospitals and nursing facilities, and NCIL has previously opposed changing the IMD exclusion, which would increase institutionalization.

The Mental Health Subcommittee supports as a starting point continuing bipartisan efforts on the Affordable Care Act and we will continue to monitor the proposed Alexander-Murray Obamacare stabilization bill in the Senate. Most importantly, we strongly support the Disability Integration Act, H.R. 2472 and S. 910 – sponsored by Representative James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) and Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY).  [Read more…]

The National Council on Independent Living (NCIL) invites you to participate in an online survey for people who require accessible parking, or have disabled placard or license plates. The survey takes about 15 minutes and will have a major effect on policies related to parking for people with disabilities. The deadline to complete this important survey has been extended to November 8.

• Take the survey

Have you faced challenges when it comes to finding available parking? Have you been frustrated by parking spaces that are designated for people with disabilities but are used by those who don’t need them? What other parking problems do you encounter?

Here is your chance to share your experiences, insights, and challenges. NCIL is part of a newly-formed Accessible Parking Council to address these issues on a national scale.

If you require accessible parking and have a disabled placard or license plate, please take this 15-minute online survey on Accessible Parking and Placard Abuse to ensure your voice is heard.  [Read more…]

Thank you to those of you who have already signed on to NCIL’s Letter Opposing the ADA Education and Reform Act (H.R. 620). For those of you who did not sign-on the first time around, we are opening the letter back up to allow for additional signatories. We are hoping for AT LEAST 150 additional organizations to sign on, so please spread this request far and wide!

As a reminder, H.R. 620 was introduced by Representative Ted Poe of Texas. It would create significant obstacles for people with disabilities to enforce their rights under Title III of the ADA to access public accommodations and would impede their ability to engage in daily activities and participate in mainstream society.

On July 26, 2017, millions of people with disabilities throughout this country celebrated the 27th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA). Unfortunately, many in the business community decided to celebrate the anniversary by diminishing this historic civil rights legislation through a letter of support for the ADA Education and Reform Act of 2017 (H.R. 620). Their letter supporting this extremely dangerous legislation, which was sent to Congress, was titled It’s Time to Restore the Integrity of the ADA (PDF). NCIL’s response to their letter was sent to Representatives Paul Ryan (Speaker of the House) and Nancy Pelosi (Minority Leader).

We are looking to add additional signatories to this letter, so we are opening it back up. We strongly encourage you to add your organization as a signatory! The deadline to sign on is Wednesday, November 1, 2017.

• Add your organization as a signatory

Please join us as we fight this dangerous bill.

On July 26, 2017, millions of people with disabilities throughout this country celebrated the 27th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA). Unfortunately, many in the business community decided to celebrate the anniversary by diminishing this historic civil rights legislation through a letter of support for the ADA Education and Reform Act of 2017 (H.R. 620). Their letter supporting this extremely dangerous legislation, which was sent to Congress, was titled It’s Time to Restore the Integrity of the ADA (PDF).

NCIL has drafted a response to their letter, which will be sent to Representatives Paul Ryan (Speaker of the House) and Nancy Pelosi (Minority Leader). We encourage you to add your organization as a signatory. The deadline to sign on is Monday, October 2, 2017.

H.R. 620 was introduced by Representative Ted Poe of Texas in the 115th Congress. It would create significant obstacles for people with disabilities to enforce their rights under Title III of the ADA to access public accommodations and would impede their ability to engage in daily activities and participate in mainstream society.

Please join us as we fight this dangerous bill.

September 26, 2017 is National Voter Registration Day, a holiday established in 2012 to encourage people to register to vote and update their registration. This year, NCIL is a partner of National Voter Registration Day and will be promoting the day on social media. It’s not too late for your CIL or SILC to get involved!

There are a few ways that you can participate in National Voter Registration Day 2017 next Tuesday:

• It’s not too late, so sign your organization on as a partner!
• Encourage your consumers to register to vote or update their registration, especially if they recently turned 18 years of age, have moved recently, changed their name, or have not voted in recent elections.
• Engage on social media! Tweet using the hashtag #NationalVoterRegistrationDay, post on Facebook and encourage your followers to register to vote through an online registration page such as AAPD’s online voter registration tool.
• Encourage voters with disabilities to engage in great non-partisan voting initiatives such as #CripTheVote on Twitter and AAPD’s Rev Up Campaign.
• Let your consumers know if there are local elections in your municipality or state this year.

Please contact Sarah Blahovec, Disability Vote Organizer, at [email protected] if you have any questions.