JFActivist

ADA Restoration Hearing Scheduled in House Judiciary Committee

It's confirmed - the first hearing on ADA Restoration is scheduled for NEXT THURSDAY, October 4 in the House Judiciary Committee. If you're available, please plan on packing the room to show your support! Alternately, it appears there will be a live webcast during the hearing into which you can "tune" from wherever you are, if you're unable to come in person.

Here are the details from the House Judiciary Committee's website:

Thursday 10/04/2007
10:00 AM
2141 Rayburn House Office Building
Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil
Rights, and Civil Liberties
Hearing on H.R. 3195, the “ADA Restoration Act of
2007”

Accessible Entrance: Main entrance, horseshoe drive off South
Capitol Street

*Information about the webcast is also available on the House Judiciary Committee website (click on October 4).

For more information on ADA Restoration, visit the AAPD ADA Restoration blog.

It's confirmed - the first hearing on ADA Restoration is scheduled for NEXT THURSDAY, October 4 in the House Judiciary Committee. If you're available, please plan on packing the room to show your support! Alternately, it appears there will be a live webcast during the hearing into which you can "tune" from wherever you are, if you're unable to come in person.

Here are the details from the House Judiciary Committee's website:

Thursday 10/04/2007
10:00 AM
2141 Rayburn House Office Building
Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil
Rights, and Civil Liberties
Hearing on H.R. 3195, the “ADA Restoration Act of
2007”

Accessible Entrance: Main entrance, horseshoe drive off South
Capitol Street

*Information about the webcast is also available on the House Judiciary Committee website (click on October 4).

For more information on ADA Restoration, visit the AAPD ADA Restoration blog.

Community Choice Act Hearing in the Senate - Who Showed Up?

Advocates were hard at work last week contacting Members of the Senate Finance Committee, to ensure they would attend yesterday's Community Choice Act hearing, and the work paid off.

[Pictured to the left, Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) greets advocates who rode down by bus from Rochester, NY].

The list of Senators who attended:
Gordon Smith (R-OR) 
Ron Wyden (D-OR)
Max Baucus (D-MT)
Olympia Snowe (R-ME)
John Kerry (D-MA)
Ken Salazar (D-CO)
Charles Schumer (D-NY)
Chuck Grassley (R-IA)
Blanche Lincoln (D-AR)
Jim Bunning (R-KY)

[Pictured above and to the right, dozens of advocates attended the hearing, donning orange t-shirts, which read, "Community Choice Act Now!" Our homes, not nursing homes!"]

What Was Said:

Member Statements:

Senator Max Baucus (MT)
Senator Charles Grassley (IA)

Witness Statements:

Senator Tom Harkin (IA)
Bob Liston, Director, Montana Fair Housing, Missoula, MT
Mitchell La Plante, Associate Professor, Department of Social & Behavioral Sciences, University of California, San Francisco, CA
Patrick Flood, Deputy Secretary, Vermont Agency of Human Services, Waterbury, VT
Kevin Concannon, Director, Iowa Department of Human Services, Des Moines, IA

Hearing loss group complains to FCC about iPhone

Last month, the Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA) filed  complaints with the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in which they accused Apple of not making its iPhone compatible with hearing aids. Apple has until the end of September to respond to the complaints filed with the FCC...

Read the article in Macworld.

Learn how to file your own complaint with the FCC.

Dodd First to Confirm Attendance at Disability Forum

Just hours ago, Christopher Dodd confirmed his attendance at a national presidential candidates disability forum scheduled for this fall in New Hampshire of which AAPD is a co-sponsor. Hopefully, this development will be a trend and more candidates will join the Dodd campaign in confirming their attendance in the days and weeks to come.

"No Longer One of 'Jerry's Kids'"

A 1970s poster-child for the Jerry Lewis telethon reflects on the damage done through the telethon, despite its intentions, in an op-ed from yesterday's Washington Post:

When most people see those of us with severe, progressive neurological conditions, they want to help, and I am not ungrateful. The desire to cure is probably human nature...

Still, for the past 30 years, the message of the disability-rights movement has been as consistent as it is simple: We're fine as we are. We don't need fixing. We need access. We need respect. We need work. In other words, we need the same things everybody else does.