Through the Looking Glass (TLG) staff Jean Jacob, Megan Kirshbaum and Paul Preston’s article “Barriers for Parents with Disabilities Traveling with Children on ADA Complementary Paratransit” has just been published in the Journal of Public Transportation, 18 (3): 124-142.  The article summarizes findings from a TLG research project which surveyed 92 transit agencies from across the U.S.  Results indicate that certain policies make it difficult for parents to use paratransit. These policies include limiting the number of children who can accompany a parent, lack of access to chain rides (i.e., no scheduled waits), lack of driver assistance with car seats, not providing car seats, not allowing storage of car seats on vehicles, and fares for adults and children that make regular use of paratransit cost prohibitive, particularly for parents on a fixed income. These policies have serious consequences for parents to obtain and maintain employment, meet their children’s educational, childcare, and medical needs, and, in some cases, even retain custody of their children. Contained in the article are recommendations to make paratransit systems more accessible to parents with disabilities.

Madonna Long, Member of NCIL Transportation Subcommittee 

TNCs – Transportation Network Companies – are also known as Ridesharing. You may have heard of a few of them, such as Uber, Lyft, and Sidecar. Are they considered a public transportation company? TNCs say ‘no’. They respond that they are simply providing technology (via smart phone or other device) that connects people with a ride for a fare. But, isn’t that providing public transportation or an accommodation?

In the disability community, many say they are providing transportation just like taxi companies do. Many believe that these companies are sidestepping the importance of providing an accessible option for transportation to all citizens.

So who is a TNC Driver? A TNC driver is someone who has a personal vehicle and contracts with a TNC. They sign up on the TNC’s app to drive to make money by providing transportation to the public. TNCs so far are only permitted to get customers via an app, and not by other methods (phone, email, transportation stops, hailing) as taxis do.

TNCs are regulated mainly through state public utility commissions. Only a few states have passed legislation governing TNCs. Most regulation and legislation has had little or no protection for people with disabilities. Some local governments have also developed TNC policies, although many do not address accessibility for people who use power wheelchairs and scooters.  [Read more…]

Those who attended NCIL’s 2015 Annual Conference may remember Housing Subcommittee Chair Brian Peters asking advocates to talk to legislators about Sequestration. He talked about how it has hurt many programs that people with disabilities rely on, including housing, and how the effect will be cumulative with more and more cuts until 2021.

NCIL is sharing the Action Alert for National Call-in Days to raise the spending caps. Please see below for details.

On September 15 and16, between 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Eastern, people from across the country will call their members of Congress and deliver a simple, unified message: raise the sequester caps and fully fund housing programs. Please join this effort to support critical housing programs by marking your calendar and following the instructions below on the designated days.

Background

The Budget Control Act of 2011’s spending caps have led to devastating cuts to critical housing programs. Additional “sequester” caps for fiscal year 2016 would bring more deep cuts for HUD and Rural Housing Services programs. These call-in days are being coordinated by Caps Hurt Communities, an advocacy campaign to build a movement of individuals and organizations committed to bringing an end to federal sequester caps. To learn more about the impact of the sequester caps on housing programs, please visit: nlihc.org/issues/budget.

Take Action

On September 15 and 16, between 9am-5pm (ET), please take a few moments to call your members of Congress. To do so, dial the Congressional switchboard at 877-210-5351 and ask to speak with your legislator. Ideally, you can make three calls – one to each of your Senators, and one to your Representative. Tell the receptionist in your legislator’s office how important affordable housing is to your community and leave this simple message:

“It’s time to pass a housing budget that works for our communities. Please raise the sequester caps and fully fund housing programs.”

Contact your elected officials

Thank You for Your Support!

On July 28, 2015, during the Rally at the Capitol during NCIL’s 2015 Annual Conference on Independent Living, Illinois Representative Jan Schakowsky announced that she would be introducing the Eleanor Smith Inclusive Home Design Act that very day. The Inclusive Home Design Act is a bill that would have federally funded single-family homes incorporate Visitability.

If you are not familiar with the concept of Visitability, it is the idea, pioneered by Eleanor Smith of Concrete Change in Atlanta, that people with disabilities should be able to visit their neighbors, families, and friends. It has minimum requirements for single-family homes that, as colorfully described by someone, would allow a guest to “get in and pee”. The zero-step entrance and wide interior doors also provide the basics for a person with a disability to reside in, not just visit, a home.

The bill uses the new voluntary Visitability standard in the International Codes Commission/American National Standards Institute 117.1 1005 Type C unit. This would require at least one accessible entrance, an accessible interior circulation path, and a usable bathroom. It also would require a usable food prep area, and accessible lighting controls and outlets. This bill has been called the “federal Visitability bill.”

Representative Schakowsky followed through on her announcement, the bill was introduced in the House as H.R. 3260, and it currently has five co-sponsors: Representatives Clay (MO), Ellision (MN), Moore (WI), Holmes (DC), and Rangel (NY). It was referred to the House Committee on Financial Services, which is chaired by Rep. Hensarling (TX).

There is no Senate version at this time, although last year Senator Harkin introduced the Universal Home Design Act which would require Universal Design features in federally funded single family homes and townhomes.

New Mobility Magazine has a nice interview with Eleanor Smith about the Inclusive Home Design Act.

The NCIL Housing Subcommittee, along with other organizations such as ADAPT, will be advocating for H.R. 3260. We are asking you to reach out to your Representative to sign on to support this bill. Please provide feedback to Brian Peters at [email protected].

By Fred Hess, Subcommittee Member

Hi fellow transportation fixer uppers. My name is Fred Hess. I am an Advocacy Coordinator in Western Pennsylvania (PA) and work for Disability Options Network (DON), the CIL located in New Castle, PA. I am on 3 different transportation committees: NCIL’s Transportation Subcommittee, the PA Transportation Alliance and a regional transportation committee called Alliance for Transportation Working in Communities (ATWIC) in SW PA. I was proud to be a member of ATWIC’s steering committee and we came up a large report on the problems with transportation for people with disabilities.

I recently attended a presentation at the Lawrence County Commissioner’s board from the Southwestern PA Transportation Commission (SPC) where they were using disability information that I shared from the various groups I participate in as a guideline. So that just shows you that the work we do really does count. I stressed the need for 1000 pound lifts on transportation vehicles. I also made this point at the National Council on Disabilities (NCD) Forum in Pittsburgh on May 4 that several of our colleagues attended. That was a very interesting meeting, as we had some important people from the disability community all in one spot. If you’re going to get your issues out into the public, there was no better place to do it. We discussed transportation systems throughout the state and nation and how they affect people with disabilities. The largest problem from what I gathered is the train access. This isn’t limited to Amtrak. It seems that a lot of other inner city trains are badly in need of accessible stations and passenger cars.

We work to achieve our goal of no longer needing community advocacy anymore because the whole world will be accessible. It’s good to keep in mind that to get there we need to take little steps and you and I are taking them every day. Keep up the good work and one day one day the world will be our oyster.

For more information, contact Fred Hess at 724-652-5144 or [email protected].

For the past 3+ years, filmmaker Drew Xanthopoulos has been making a feature documentary about resisting isolation and living with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS) and invisible disabilities. He’s driven and flown tens of thousands of miles to meet families whose lives have been reshaped by MCS and also documented well-known activist Susan Molloy attending the 2014 NCIL conference in Washington DC. 

We have just launched a crowdfunding campaign to help complete the film and need the help of communities who want to raise empathy and awareness for experiences that are usually dismissed.

You can watch the unforgettable teaser and pledge support at bit.ly/SensitivesDoc.

Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS), also known as Environmental Illness (EI), is poorly understood. People develop severe migraines, rashes, fatigue, and loss of motor and speech skills when exposed to ordinary things like cleaning products, pesticides, and sometimes electronic and wireless technologies.

As with PTSD in the 1960s, viewed by the medical profession and much of society as a lapse of character in malingering Vietnam vets, sufferers of MCS find themselves isolated from family and friends, labeled, and treated with suspicion. The Sensitives explores an illness that tests families’ bonds like few others. Without an agreed-upon medical explanation the sick and their caretakers must figure out how to get better on their own.

The Sensitives intends to get past the masks and foil-lined rooms and meet the artists, social workers, and grandparents inside. In other words, the ordinary people driven to the fringes because of a very misunderstood condition.

Source: Technical Assistance Collaborative

According to a study released today by the Technical Assistance Collaborative (TAC), and the Consortium for Citizens (CCD) with Disabilities Housing Task Force, the national average rent for a modestly priced one-bedroom apartment is more than the entire Supplemental Security Income (SSI) of a person with a disability. Priced Out in 2014 reveals that people with disabilities receiving SSI needed to pay 104 percent of their monthly income to rent a modest one-bedroom unit at the published fair market rent.

“From Bethel, Alaska to Boston, Massachusetts, to Tallahassee, Florida, we have an affordable housing crisis in our nation’s local communities, and it is particularly acute for people with disabilities on SSI. The effect is incontrovertible – too many people with disabilities on SSI are homeless or live in segregated settings,” stated Kevin Martone, TAC Executive Director. He added, “The human toll is inexcusable and the economic argument to address affordable housing is compelling.”

• Read the complete study and find data about specific housing markets at the Technical Assistance Collaborative website.