JFActivist

NFB Launches "Project VIP" to Help Blind Voters on Election Day

The National Federation of the Blind (NFB) is launching Project VIP (Voting with Independence and Privacy), a toll-free hotline available to blind voters in the U.S. The hotline will help blind voters vote independently and privately as required by the Help America Vote Act (HAVA). Hotline staff are voting specialists who will support blind voters in troubleshooting problems with nonvisual voting technology. If a blind voter is unable to vote independently and privately, the voting specialists will record details such as the city, state, and polling location. Information from situations that cannot be resolved during a phone call to the Project VIP hotline will be referred to the proper authorities for follow-up action. The toll free number is available November 4, 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. EST; 1-877-NFB-1940 (877-632-1940).

~Item provided by Marc Dubin, Esq., of Florida.

VICTORY! Florida Says They'll Allow GAO Poll Survey

From Media General News Service (Oct 23):

Fla. Official: We'll Allow GAO Poll Watchers

By Billy House

WASHINGTON -- Federal poll watchers will apparently be permitted on Election Day at voting sites in Florida's Hillsborough, Pinellas, Miami-Dade and Broward counties, after all.

In a letter Thursday, Florida Secretary of State Kurt Browning told U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson that his office will "encourage" the election supervisors of the four counties to allow U.S. Government Accountability Office researchers to monitor the sites.

Earlier this week, Browning had acknowledged that his initial response to a request by the GAO to be allowed to check equipment and monitor polling-place accessibility for people with disabilities, including senior citizens, was, "No, you can't come to our polling places."...

>>Read more

Gov. Palin Delivers Speech on Policy Specifics of Commitment to "Special Needs" Kids

On Friday morning, Governor Palin delivered prepared remarks in Pittsburgh, PA to a group of families of people with disabilities and advocates representing disability-related organizations regarding  the McCain-Palin commitment to families of children with disabilities, as first articulated in Palin's nomination acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention in early September.

Her prepared remarks, as archived on the John McCain campaign website, follow below:

"Thank you all very much. I appreciate the hospitality of the people of Pittsburgh, and I'm grateful to all the groups who have joined us here today. The Woodlands Foundation, the Down Syndrome Center at the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, Autism-link, the Children's Institute of Pittsburgh: Thank you for coming today. And, above all, thank you for the great work you do for the light and love you bring into so many lives.

"John McCain and I have talked about the missions he'd like me to focus on should I become vice president, and our nation's energy independence and government reform are among them. But there is another mission that's especially close to my heart, and that is to help families of children with special needs. And today, we'll talk about three policy proposals that are going to help us fulfill our country's commitment to these children: more choices for parents, fully funding IDEA, and efforts to reform and refocus.

"Too often, even in our own day, children with special needs have been set apart and excluded....

>>Read the rest of Gov. Palin's speech.

Blind Band from Ohio to Be in Rose Parade

From the Associated Press (Oct 21):

Blind Ohio marching band to be in 2010 Rose Parade

 COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - A blind marching band is scheduled to participate in the New Year's Day 2010 Tournament of Roses Parade.

Parade history will be made when a band from the Ohio State School for the Blind marches among the flower-covered floats in Pasadena, Calif., said Carol Agler, music director at the school.

"We're the only blind marching band in the nation," Agler said Tuesday. She knew of no other blind band to have marched in the parade...

>>Read more.

Transition to College Requires Becoming a Self-Advocate

Excerpts from The Washington Post (10/25):

Bumps Abound When Students Become Their Own Advocates
Special Needs Can Make Transition to College Tricky

By Susan Kinzie

After a decade of worrying about her son's attention-deficit disorder, meeting with teachers, calling around to get lost homework assignments and getting advice on SAT test accommodations, Lori Spinelli-Samara is facing this simple truth: Next year, in college, Nick is on his own...

...A generation of students accustomed to receiving help for special learning needs is entering college. The percentage of students identified with learning disabilities who graduate from high school and go on to four-year colleges jumped from one in 100 in 1987 to about one in nine last year. And those who go on to any kind of post-secondary education went from a third to almost three-quarters by 2003. But some are finding that the transition isn't easy...

>>Read entire article.

Churches Try to Meet Needs of Children with Developmental Disabilities

Excerpt from the Baptist Standard (Oct. 23):

Churches try to meet need of developmentally challenged kids

By Adelle M. Banks

...Created about 10 years ago by parents with special-needs children, it’s just one example of how churches are trying to welcome families—who otherwise might stay home—into a faith setting that works for them and their children.

“It’s better than everything else in my life,” said Alec Carlson, 15, who has Asperger’s and joined 10 other people on a multicolored mat during the Scripture lesson.

Participants in The Haven, a ministry for special-needs adults and children, play a game earlier this year at Damascus Road Community Church in Damascus, Md.

Across the country, new programs and resources are being made available to families with special-needs children...

>>Read entire article.

Hopes and Concerns as Fetal DNA Tests Advance

From The Washington Post (10/26):

Fresh Hopes and Concerns As Fetal DNA Tests Advance

By Rob Stein

Doctors have started using powerful new DNA tests to screen fetuses for a wider range of genetic abnormalities, spotting more problem pregnancies early but stirring fears that the results will increase abortions as well as confuse and needlessly alarm many couples...

..."Some of these disorders are quite burdensome. They require lifelong nursing care. In some cases these children never walk, never talk, never feed themselves," Beaudet said. "It can have a major impact on the family. People say, 'I wish you had given me the opportunity to know ahead of time. It's really destroyed our lives.' That's why women want to know."...

...Advocates for the disabled worry that doctors and insurance companies will use the results to pressure parents to terminate pregnancies at any sign of potential problems.

"We want disabled children to be welcomed into the world. My fear is we're moving in the opposite direction," said Andrew Imparato, president of the American Association of People With Disabilities...

>>Read entire article.

ACTION ALERT: Tell Florida Secretary of State to Permit Accessibility Survey of Polling Places

Thanks to the leadership of the Senate Select Commitee on Aging and the Senate Rules Committee, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) is conducting a national voting accessibility survey during this November's general election. The GAO will send federal researchers  to observe and measure the level of access at various polling places nationwide gather data for an updated report on access (a similar report was done in 2000).

Florida's Secretary of State, Kurt Browning, has refused to allow the survey to take place in his state. 29 Secretaries of State are permitting the survey to go forward in their states. What does Secretary Browning have to hide?

TAKE ACTION!
Contact Secretary Browning at 850-245-6501 and ask him to permit the accessibility survey to go ahead.

For information, contact Jim Dickson at AAPD at vote@aapd.com.

AAPD Calls on Florida to Allow Federal Inspectors into Polls on Election Day to Survey Accessibility

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                

Media contact:
Rebecca Panoff
Communications Manager, AAPD
Office: (202) 508-3783
E-mail: RPanoff@aapd.com

Oct. 21, 2008                   

                                                

AAPD Calls on Florida to Allow Federal Inspectors into Polls on Election Day
Florida Secretary of State Refuses to Let Inspectors into Polls to Survey Accessibility

WASHINGTON, DC – Oct. 21, 2008 – The American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD), the largest cross-disability membership organization in the U.S., is calling upon Florida Secretary of State Kurt Browning and Gov. Charlie Crist to allow federal inspectors into polling places in four counties to survey voting accessibility on Election Day.

Florida is the only state - of 30 in the country picked to participate in the survey - that refuses to let the federal inspectors into polling places on Election Day. Miami-Dade, Broward, Hillsborough and Pinellas counties are the four counties selected by the U.S. Government Accountability Office, which is conducting the survey, but Browning has said inspectors would not be allowed in to check equipment and document polling place accessibility

“In a state with such a high senior citizen population and high population of people with disabilities, it’s outrageous that the Secretary of State refuses to let people in to measure accessibility. What’s he got to hide?” said Jim Dickson, Vice President for Government Affairs at AAPD.

AAPD, which helped organize the effort to initiate the survey as part of a broad coalition, sees the survey as necessary to collect data that will in turn help the nation come up with good voting practices, Dickson said.

The survey has three objectives: to measure the wheelchair accessibility of polling places and compare those results to a similar survey done in 2000; to get objective data on voting machine accessibility and the training of poll workers on those machines; and to make sure proper procedures are in place for assisting senior citizens and people with intellectual disabilities if they need assistance voting.

AAPD also commends Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA); Sen. Bob Bennett (R-UT); Sen. Gordon Smith (R-OR) and Sen. Herb Kohl (D-WI) )for initiating the survey, as well as Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL), who called on Gov. Charlie Crist in an Oct. 17  letter to allow inspectors into polling places.

# # #
The American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD), the country's largest cross-disability membership organization, organizes the disability community to be a powerful voice for change – politically, economically, and socially.  AAPD was founded in 1995 to help unite the diverse community of people with disabilities, including their family, friends and supporters, and to be a national voice for change in implementing the goals of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). To learn more, visit the AAPD website:  www.aapd.com.

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Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL) also issued a letter to Florida Governor Charlie Crist , calling on him to open up state voting booths to the GAO inspectors.

>>Read Senator Nelson's letter to Gov. Crist.

Palin Opposes Colorado Ballot Initiative That Raises Sales Tax to Help Developmentally Disabled

From 9News.com (Colorado) (Oct. 21):

Palin opposes tax to help developmentally disabled

By Jeffrey Wolf

DENVER - Republican Vice Presidential nominee Gov. Sarah Palin (R-Alaska) is speaking against a Colorado ballot initiative designed to help the state's developmentally disabled population by raising the sales tax.

Palin made the comments Monday in Colorado against Amendment 51 which seeks to raise the sales tax by one cent on every $10 spent in each of the next two years.

The money would go to help the roughly 12,000 kids and adults in Colorado who currently are on a wait list to receive state services such as...

>>Read more.