NCIL’s Mental Health Civil Rights Task Force continues to monitor the progress of and fervently oppose H.R. 3717. As you may remember from previous NCIL Action Alerts, H.R. 3717, the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act of 2013, if enacted, would seriously impede the civil rights of people labeled with psychiatric disabilities as well as significantly reversing the gains made in mental health services and supports. Among other provisions, the bill proposes to:

• Ensure that doctors and the health industry are in charge of mental health policy rather than consumers
• Cut support for peer support programs
• Lead to fewer individuals receiving the treatment they desire and need
• Coerce states financially to require involuntary “treatment” for people who are “gravely disabled” and make other changes to commitment laws
• Make it easier to discriminate against people who have a mental health diagnosis in housing, employment, and education
• Limit the ability of Protection & Advocacy systems to protect people with mental health diagnosis

While working to oppose the bill, members of the Task Force are also working closely with other organizations to help craft an alternative piece of legislation.

We need people who want to get involved and join us in taking action. The Mental Health Civil Rights Task Force meets via teleconference on the first Thursday of the month at 3:00 Eastern. If you are on Facebook, please visit the Task Force’s page: Mentally Healthy Independent Living. NCIL Task Force members frequently post articles of interest and updates on issues the Task Force is working on. For more information about the Task Force, please contact Shoshanna Fawley [email protected] or Krista Erickson at [email protected].

We have an opportunity to participate in FUN RUN for Disability Rights, a grassroots fundraising event that will benefit NCIL, National ADAPT, and your CIL or SILC!

All funds raised will be split 50% to your organization, 25% to NCIL and 25% to National ADAPT. All funds raised are tax deductible.

• To begin, become listed as a participating organization on the National ADAPT FUN RUN website by contacting Bob Kafka by email at [email protected] or by phone at 512-431-4085. Please provide your organization’s name and contact information.
• Next, people who want to support your organization need to register for the FUN RUN at www.adaptfunrun.net. When they register they will be asked which organization they want to support. Instruct them to select your organization.
• Supporters will also be asked if they will walk, run, roll or jog. There is also an option called a virtual runner. A virtual runner asks for support but states that they will not be running. Instruct supporters who will not be able to travel to DC to select virtual runner.
• After a supporter registers, they will receive their own personal link, which directs to a webpage with their personal message asking people to sponsor them. To recruit sponsors, supporters can send the link via email and / or social media. This link will be found on the registered runner’s Dashboard at the “Recruiting Sponsors” tab. [See an example…]
• Each time a pledge is made, the registered FUN RUNNER will receive an email telling them about the pledge.  [Read more…]

• Presented by Mark Johnson, Director of Advocacy, Shepherd Center
• MARCH 19, 2014 – 10:00 a.m. (PST – Please note: Pacific Time!)
• Register online

This webinar will introduce participants to The ADA Legacy Project and explore organizing opportunities related to the 25th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The mission of The ADA Legacy Project is to honor the contributions of people with disabilities and their allies by:

• preserving and promoting the history of the disability rights movement;
• celebrating the impact of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), as well as other related disability rights legislation and accomplishments; and
• educating the public to create opportunities for inclusion, access, and equal rights for the future.

Before the webinar, visit adalegacy.com.

If you are not part of DONetwork, just mark ‘volunteer’ on the registration form. if you are not part of a enter for Independent Living, leave the contact information blank.

In order to celebrate and honor African American History Month, the White House held an event on February 27 titled Civil Rights in America. Three NCIL members had the honor of being a part of this celebration. Dara Baldwin, Co-Chair of NCIL’s ADA / Civil Rights Subcommittee, was part of the planning committee and served as moderator for the event’s first panel. The following NCIL Board Members shared their knowledge and experience as panelists:

• Stan Holbrook (NCIL Diversity Committee Chair and President / CEO of Three Rivers CIL)
• Cliff Perez (NCIL Region II Representative and Systems Advocate at the ILC of the Hudson Valley, Inc.)

The event was organized by Claudia Gordon of the White House’s Office of Public Engagement. Ms. Gordon’s portfolio in the Office of Public Engagement is concentrated on the disability rights community.

The event started with a welcome from Valerie Jarrett, Senior Advisor and Assistant to the President for Intergovernmental Affairs and Public Engagement. She welcomed the audience to the White House and reiterated President Obama’s strong commitment to disability issues and rights. She also complimented Claudia Gordon’s exemplary work in her position and her interaction with the disability rights community.

There were also speeches welcoming attendees from Jeff Rosen, Chairman of the National Council on Disability (NCD), and Janet LaBreck, Commissioner of the Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA). Both spoke about their experiences as persons with disabilities and their connection to the civil rights and disability rights movements.

There were three panels that were presented on Thursday, Perspectives on the Civil and Disability Rights Movements, Exploring Intersectional Identities in the Quest for Social, Cultural and Economic Justice, and Mentorship: Making the Dream Real for African American Youths with Disabilities.  [Read more…]

The Emergency Preparedness and Response Subcommittee recently developed a position paper based on our concerns regarding the lack of response and consideration by federal, state and local government in providing services to individuals with disabilities before, during and after a disaster. The new position paper has been approved by the NCIL Board of Directors and the complete text is below.

Emergency Preparedness and Response within the Disability Community

Adopted February, 2014

The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) prohibits discrimination and ensures equal opportunity for persons with disabilities in employment, State and local government services, public accommodations, commercial facilities, and transportation.

Emergency preparedness and response services are provided by Federal, State and local government and are considered public accommodation. Therefore all services provided before, during and after an emergency should not discriminate and should ensure equal access for individuals with disabilities.

Terrorists attacked our country on September 11, 2001 destroying buildings and lives. Thousands in the World Trade Center towers were injured and killed. Many of them people with disabilities unable to escape. Hurricane Katrina struck the gulf coasts of Mississippi and Louisiana in August of 2005 bringing with it a storm surge of 30 feet, sustained winds of 175 miles per hour and death to hundreds of individuals. Many who died were people with disabilities. The year 2010 set a record for number and severity of tornadoes in the mid-west. Dozens were killed, among them people with disabilities. Super Storm Sandy caused unprecedented destruction in New Jersey and New York in 2012. Among the people trapped in high rise apartment buildings, living without food, water and electricity for weeks were hundreds of individuals with disabilities.  [Read more…]

March 1 will serve as the 2014 Day of Mourning for the disability community. This annual tradition is a day set aside for our community and our allies to honor the memories of those who have been murdered at the hands of the people closest to us – family members and caregivers. This Saturday, March 1, we will gather in cities across the nation in order to seek justice for these crimes and prevent them from occurring again.

In the past five years, over forty people with disabilities have been murdered by their parents. In the year since our last vigil, our community has lost at least ten more victims. In January of 2014 alone, two more people with disabilities were lost in murder-suicides at the hands of their parents: Damien Veraghen, age nine, and Vincent Phan, age twenty four.

In a horrifying trend, parents and caregivers, those whom one should be able to trust most, are committing murder against people with disabilities in their care. In the media, these murders are being labeled justifiable due to the “burden” of the person’s care. The murderers are then given sympathy, and the victims are unfairly disregarded. The disability community is coming together to mourn those losses and bring awareness to these tragedies.

NCIL proudly joins ASAN and the Independent Living community nationwide in asking you to join us on March 1 for this year’s vigils to bring awareness to the ongoing tragedy, and to demand equal rights, protection, and justice for all citizens.

Current vigil sites and contact information can be found on the ASAN website.

On Saturday, March 1, 2014, the disability community will gather across the nation to remember victims of filicide, people with disabilities murdered by their family members or caregivers.

In the past five years, over forty people with disabilities have been murdered by their parents. In the year since our last vigil, our community has lost at least ten more victims. In January of 2014, two more of our brothers were lost in murder-suicides at the hands of their parents: Damien Veraghen, age 9, and Vincent Phan, age 24.

These acts are horrific enough on their own. But they exist in the context of a larger pattern. A parent kills their child. The media portrays these murders as justifiable and inevitable due to the “burden” of having a person with a disability in the family. If the parent stands trial, they are given sympathy and comparatively lighter sentences, if they are sentenced at all. The victims is disregarded, blamed for their own murder at the hands of the person they should have been able to trust the most, and ultimately forgotten. And then the cycle repeats.

For the last three years, the Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN), ADAPT, Not Dead Yet, the National Council on Independent Living, the Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund, and other disability rights organizations have come together to mourn those losses, bring awareness to these tragedies, and demand justice and equal protection under the law for all people with disabilities. On March 1st, we will come together again, and we ask you to join us. So far, twenty three volunteers have signed up to serve as site coordinators for vigils across the country.

See a list of current vigil sites across the nation or sign up to hold a vigil in your local community. ASAN will provide a toolkit and information on how to organize a vigil in your local community to all volunteers.

Join us for this exciting and first ever Disability Rights Leadership Institute on Bioethics (DRLIB), where disability rights advocates will gather for two focused days of learning, discussion, and honing our advocacy skills on the key bioethics issues facing the disability community in the United States (some speakers will provide an international perspective as well).

• April 25 and 26, 2014; 8:45 a.m. – 5:30 p.m.
• Crystal City Marriott, Arlington, VA (across from Crystal City Metro Station)

This is a groundbreaking event for disability rights advocates to advance the disability rights perspective on bioethics issues, including:

• withholding medical treatment;
• assisted suicide laws;
• reproductive technologies;
• developing our advocacy strategies on these issues;
• and more!

Registration Deadlines:

• Space is limited! Please register as soon as possible.
• Participants are requested to stay for the full two–day Institute.
• The Institute registration deadline is March 28.
• The deadline for hotel registration at the Crystal City Marriott is April 3.

Speakers will include:

• Liz Carr, Comedian, Actor in a BBC drama series, and NDY activist from the United Kingdom
• Diane Coleman, President, Not Dead Yet (NDY)
• Marcy Darnovsky, PhD, Executive Director, Center for Genetics and Society (CGS)
• Dr. Kevin Fitzpatrick, Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, Europe (EPC Europe)
• Marilyn Golden, Senior Policy Analyst, Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund (DREDF)
• Ari Ne’eman, President and co–founder, Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN)

Costs:

• Registration for the Institute itself: $175, which will help cover a number of meals (see below) as well as other DRLIB expenses including meeting space, speaker costs, and disability accommodations.
• Participants must pay their own travel & lodging costs.  [Read more…]

By Kim Brittenham, Vermont CIL

Advocates in Vermont are feeling hopeful that abuse of people with disabilities and elders will lessen after reaching a settlement with the state last summer. After years of untimely, inadequate investigations and a backlog of 300 Adult Protective Services (APS) cases, Vermont Legal Aid, Disability Rights Vermont (DRVT), Community of Vermont Elders (COVE) and individual plaintiffs Sarah Launderville and Marge Powers sued the Vermont Department of Disabilities, Aging and Independent Living (DAIL) in December 2011.

Throughout the lawsuit, individual plaintiffs were dismissed from the case and various Area Agencies on Aging joined the suit.

A settlement reached in August 2013 includes:

• policy changes in the APS policy manual;
• a quarterly file review panel, which includes Vermont Independent Living (VCIL) Director Sarah Launderville, reporting to the APS subcommittee;
• APS subcommittee of the DAIL Advisory Board and the DAIL Advisory Board; and
• 18-month court enforcement of the agreement.

The Adult Protective Services program is set up, according to its website, “to protect vulnerable adults whose health and welfare may be adversely affected by abuse, neglect or exploitation; raise public awareness of adult abuse issues; and educate mandatory reporters about their reporting responsibilities.”

State Commissioner of DAIL and state representatives support the processes outlined in the settlement and seem pleased to have better tools to standardize staff responses to complaints.  Lawmakers and the state administration appear relieved to have a long-running controversy behind them.

Vulnerable Vermonters can now expect the state will investigate a claim of abuse within 48 hours. Advocates can expect that all reports will be closed within 60 days and an independent panel will be following up with the state to review the files and processes used to address each case.

More information:

• Read Adult Protective Services Program Data Monthly Reports
• Read the Vermont Legal Aid press release: Advocates Settle Lawsuit Over Delays in Adult Abuse Investigations (PDF)

Cost: $40.00 per location for the full series!

• Register Online

Every Center for Independent Living (CIL) should have at least one person on staff who knows the ADA inside and out, and who knows where to go for answers to questions when they come up. One of the best resources for those answers has always been your local ADA Center, which is a member of the ADA National Network.

NCIL is pleased to be co-sponsoring a webinar training series provided by the ADA National Network that will focus on the 2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design, which finally went into effect in 2012.

This training is extremely affordable, and the webinar format lets you participate online from the comfort of your location! NCIL would love to see a representative from every CIL in the nation as we, as a community, take advantage of this opportunity to become a more powerful resource!

When

• This webinar series will run three consecutive Thursdays: January 30, February 6, and February 13. All sessions run from 2:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Eastern.  [Read more…]