JFActivist

Action Alert: Sign On to Support Sotomayor

From Jim Ward (7.9.09):

Dear Colleagues:

 

We have expanded the disability community sign-on letter in support of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to include state and local organizations. We ask that you consider forwarding the following link to the sign-on letter and background information to your state/local members and chapters.

 

www.adawatch.org/sotomayor

 

Thank you,

 

Jim

 

For the text of the letter and to see who signed on in the first round see Wednesday's JFA Post.

This more expansive sign on letter will be sent to the full Senate before the final vote (assuming Sotomayor makes it through the Judiciary committee).

ADAPT Outraged by Exclusion from Health Reform

ADAPT sent out the following press release in response to the administration's support of the CLASS Act. Comment below with your reaction to this weeks developments.  Is the Administration's support of the CLASS Act while neglecting the Community Choice Act a betrayal of our community and revelation of their underlying disregard for our low-income and impoverished brothers and sisters?  or is ADAPT overreacting to a good faith first step in the right direction as Congress and the Administration move the system toward home and community based services and independent living? 

You be the judge:

From Adapt (7/7/09):

For Immediate release:                                                                      

Obama Administration Continues Institutional Bias in Healthcare Reform

Washington, D.C.--- The nation’s largest grassroots disability rights organization, ADAPT, expressed outrage today at the Obama administration’s selective endorsement of  one piece of proposed long term care legislation while refusing to support a companion measure aimed at=0 Aeliminating the institutional bias in Medicaid for aging or disabled lower income people that Obama, with strong support from over 80 national disability and aging organizations, co-sponsored as a Senator.

July 6, Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Health and Human Services, sent a letter to Sen. Edward Kennedy, Chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, expressing President Obama’s support for Kennedy’s “CLASS Act,” which would allow middle class Americans to set aside money from their paychecks in anticipation of the expenses they will likely face for long-term services and supports as they age, or acquire a disability. After paying into the fund for at least 5 years, workers or their non-working spouses could draw on the fund for long-term services and assistance, either in a nursing home or in the community. Workers who wish could opt out of the program, an outcome more likely in tough economic times or in cases where low worker-wages barely cover individual or family survival expenses.

“Those of us with disabilities, who are aging, and who aren’t able to work are outraged that the President has issued public support for this primarily middle class legislation, and has completely ignored the companion legislation that would include lower income disabled and older people in reform of long term services and supports, and health care reform,” said Bob Kafka, Texas ADAPT Organizer. “It’s like we don’t exist!”

ADAPT and a multitude of other national disability and aging organizations in Washington have gone on record in support of Sen. Kennedy’s CLASS Act only if it is paired with a “fix” for Medicaid addressing lower income and non-working people, similar to provisions contained in the Community Choice Act (CCA). CCA inserts the concept of “personal choice” into the law, adding language that mandates states to pay for help in a person’s own home the same way the law mandates them to pay for nursing homes. Current law can force people with disabilities and who are aging into nursing homes in order to receive services that can just as easily be delivered in the community. Research has demonstrated that community-based assistance is almost always less expensive.

“When President Obama was a senator, he co-sponsored CCA,” said Dawn Russell, ADAPT Organizer from Denver Colorado , “and when he campaigned for the Presidency, he pledged to support CCA. But since he was elected, and we met with his people at the White House, they told us that he will not include long term services and supports in health care reform. When we heard that, we expressed our disappointment and anger in a peaceful protest outside the White House. The President responded by having us arrested, and there were very heavy fines levied against us. It feels like the President is trying to intimidate and silence us so we won’t speak up for people with disabilities, people with low incomes, and those who are aging who are at risk of being forced into nursing homes under the current law.”

Because the CLASS Act does not address the Medicaid “institutional bias,” people who use up the benefits they save under the act will still face having to move to nursing homes to keep getting assistance, unless they can afford to stay in their own homes because of other resources they have.

“When I voted last November, I was sure I was voting for a great man who would bring freedom to people with disabilities,” said Bruce Darling, ADAPT Organizer from New York. “Just as President Lincoln freed the slaves, I felt that President Obama would free those of us with disabilities from the continued threat of incarceration in a nursing homes and institutions. Now, I feel like a foo l, because this administration apparently cares nothing for us and has no respect for our freedom and our civil rights.” 

Disability Groups Unite in Support of Sotomayor

July 7, 2009

The Honorable Patrick Leahy
Chair
Judiciary Committee
United States Senate
433 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510

The Honorable Jeff Sessions
Ranking Member
Judiciary Committee
United States Senate
335 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510

Dear Senators Leahy and Sessions:

On behalf of the undersigned national advocacy organizations representing the interests of millions of people with disabilities, we write to express our strong support for the confirmation of Judge Sonia Sotomayor as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. We have reviewed hundreds of Judge Sotomayor’s decisions, including her disability rights decisions, from her career as a trial judge and appeals court judge, along with her public statements in speeches and in interviews. Based on her sterling judicial record, and on her valuable life experience, we strongly believe that Judge Sotomayor will adequately and fairly protect the rights of all Americans, including people with disabilities. As such, we ask that you vote to confirm her nomination.

Judge Sotomayor’s decisions under our seminal civil rights law, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), have demonstrated a good understanding of – and healthy respect for – the rights of persons with disabilities. In important ADA cases concerning the definition of “disability” – an area of the law subject over the years to many inappropriately narrowing judicial interpretations, so much so that last year Congress amended the ADA to restore its broad reach – Judge Sotomayor has often combed through voluminous or technical testimony to determine whether the plaintiff was protected by the law.1 Similarly, her understanding of the importance of accommodations to help workers with disabilities maintain employment is reflected in her thoughtful decisions in workplace accommodation cases.2 She has not been afraid to dissent from a decision finding that plaintiffs did not have disabilities.3 Nor has she been afraid to overturn a jury verdict where incorrect instructions to the jury impeded a plaintiff’s ability to obtain relief under the ADA.4

In her ADA decisions, and in other cases, Judge Sotomayor has demonstrated great sensitivity to the needs of, and challenges facing, people with disabilities in this country. For example, her analysis of special education issues arising under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) reflects – and language from her decisions explicitly states – a keen awareness of the importance of timely special education services to students with disabilities and their families.5 She has been vigilant in reviewing administrative decisions denying Social Security benefits, especially where applicants are not represented by attorneys.6 In a notable dissent, Judge Sotomayor argued forcefully that the appointment of a guardian ad litem violated the constitutional rights of a plaintiff who had received psychiatric treatments, because she was not properly notified that she would have no control over her case once the guardian was appointed.7

Given her record of balanced and thoughtful decisionmaking, we believe that Judge Sotomayor understands and appreciates Congress’s role in enacting important disability rights protections. In enacting the ADA and other disability rights laws, Congress carefully considered the history of people with disabilities in the United States, and acknowledged that many people with disabilities have been ostracized from their families and communities – that they have been prevented from going to school in their neighborhood schools, from working at jobs for which they were qualified, and from participating fully in all aspects of community life. The care that Judge Sotomayor has taken in her disability rights decisions indicates a respect for Congress’s intent that these laws have a broad remedial effect on the relationships between individuals with disabilities and covered entities such as employers, schools, state agencies, and public accommodations. For this reason, we expect that she would accord Congress appropriate deference in this area.

It is our belief that Judge Sotomayor will bring her fair, thorough approach to disability rights cases to her work on the Supreme Court. Judge Sotomayor understands the language and purpose of the ADA and other disability rights laws. Further, she understands that the decisions of judges, including Supreme Court justices, that interpret these laws have consequences for people with disabilities. Admirably, she has been unafraid to take strong positions on issues where she believes her reading of the law and facts is correct. Based on her record and her experience – including the fact that she has publicly acknowledged her own insulin-treated diabetes – we strongly urge you to confirm Judge Sotomayor for the Supreme Court.

Thank you for your important work on Judge Sotomayor’s nomination. Should you have questions about this letter, please feel free to contact Andrew Imparato of the American Association of People with Disabilities at (202) 521-4301, Jim Ward of ADA Watch/National Coalition for Disability Rights at (202) 448-9928, or Jennifer Mathis or Lewis Bossing of the Judge David L. Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law at (202) 467-5730.

Sincerely,

Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing
American Association for Affirmative Action
American Association on Health & Disability
American Association of People with Disabilities
American Diabetes Association
ADA Watch/National Coalition for Disability Rights
Association of Programs for Rural Independent Living
Autism Society of America
Burton Blatt Institute
Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund
Empowerment for the Arts International
Epilepsy Foundation
Higher Education Consortium for Special Education
Judge David L. Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law
MindFreedom International
National Association of the Physically Handicapped.
National Association of Social Workers
National Association of State Head Injury Administrators
National Center for Environmental Health Strategies, Inc.
National Center for Learning Disabilities
National Council on Independent Living
National Disability Institute
National Disability Rights Network
National Down Syndrome Society
National Spinal Cord Injury Association
Teacher Education Division of the Council for Exceptional Children
United Church of Christ Disabilities Ministries Board of Directors
United Spinal Association

The above letter was submitted to the heads of the judiciary committee in anticipation of the hearings for the confirmation of Judge Sonia Sotomayor which begin next week. For more information on Judge Sotomayor and her record on diability rights go to the AAPD website http://aapd.com/Sotomayormain.html

CLASS Act Amended, Long Term Services and Supports in Health Care Reform

From AAPD (7/7/09):

CLASS Act: Update

The Community Living Assistance Services and Supports Act (CLASS) Act was marked up July 7, 2009 by the U.S. Senate Health Employment Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee.  There was only one amendment to the bill proposed, debated and ultimately accecpted.

Originally, the bill called for a monthly premium cap of $65 for participants in the first ten years, with a mandate for the Secretary of Health and Human Services (who would over see the program) to maintain cost neutrality by adjusting premiums and benefits after that. Within these confines the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report forecast a $57.8 billion savings for the federal government over the first 20 years.

Democrats on the Committee, lead by Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT) insisted that the program, as written, would be self-sustaining. Republicans on the committee argued the program was not solvent because if the premiums were not raised costs could skyrocket to $2 trillion within 75 years. They also argued that one could not tell the true cost of the bill because it was only projected out twenty years and not for seventy-five years like other entitlement programs. 

Senator Judd Greg (R-NH) offered an amendment that the bill's solvency would have to follow the 75 year guidelines and the Secretary of HHS would be responsible for setting premiums and benefits to maintain that solvency from implementation. There is no companion bill on the House side yet.

AAPD is in support of the CLASS Act and is very pleased to see it included in the Heath Care Reform legislation.

For more information on the CLASS Act see Monday's Action Alert. 

Comment Below: How do you think this ammendment affects the bill?  Will it help or hurt the overall program? 

Accessible Technology Bill Introduced

ACTION ALERT!!!

Rep. Markey Introduces, “The 21st Century Communications & Video Accessibility Act of 2009,” H.R. 3101

Ask Your Representatives to Co-Sponsor H.R. 3101!
Ask Your Senators to Sponsor a Similar Bill in the Senate!
Thank Representative Markey!

On Friday afternoon, June 26, 2009 Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA) introduced comprehensive legislation to ensure that people with disabilities have access to Internet-based telecommunications and video programming technologies. The bill, the Twenty-first Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2009 (H.R. 3101), would--

• require that mobile and other Internet-based telecommunications devices and equipment be fully hearing aid compatible, have accessible user interfaces, and offer people with disabilities use of a full range of text messaging and other popular services that are currently largely inaccessible;

• provide people who are deaf-blind with vital but costly technologies they need to communicate electronically;

• establish a process and time table for the provision of real-time text capability;

• clarify existing relay-to-relay, Lifeline and Linkup service requirements to ensure their relevance to the real world communications needs of people with disabilities;

• restore the Federal Communications Commission's modest video description rules and unambiguously establish the FCC's current and ongoing authority to expand such regulations;

• require emergency announcements and similar information to be accessible to people with disabilities through audible presentation of on-screen alerts;

• ensure that video programming offered via the Internet will be both captioned and described;

• call for all devices that receive and playback video programming to employ accessible user interfaces and allow ready access to captioning and description;

• strengthen consumers' ability to enforce their rights to communications and video accessibility through the establishment of a clearinghouse of information about service and equipment accessibility and usability, a meaningful FCC complaint process that holds industry accountable for their accessibility obligations, and judicial review of FCC action to ensure FCC accountability.

 ACTION STEPS
1.    Contact your Member of the United States House of Representatives. Ask him or her to cosponsor H.R. 3101. Be sure to telephone, send E-mail, and a letter. Find your Member at https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml

2.    Write your two U.S. Senators and ask them to sponsor and introduce a similar bill to H.R. 3101. Find your Senators at http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

3.    Use the bullet points above as appropriate and include any personal stories about lack of access.

4.    Thank Rep. Ed Markey for his leadership by using the Email Contact form at http://markey.house.gov/index.php?option=com_email_form&Itemid=124

5.    You can find a copy of this legislation on http://www.Thomas.gov soon by typing in the bill number -- H.R. 3101.

6.    Pass this Action Alert along to others and encourage them to send letters & E-mails, make phone calls and to complete online contact forms. Be sure to mention "H.R. 3101" in any text or calls made.

7.    If possible, please send a copy to AAPD of any letters sent: AAPD, 1629 K Street NW, Suite 950, Washington, DC 20006.  Attn. J. Simpson

These Action Steps should continue until there is a new COAT alert!

AAPD is a founding and steering committee member of the Coalition of Organizations for Accessible Technology (COAT). COAT is the broad-based cross-disability coalition of more than 240 national, regional, and community-based groups working together for information age equity for people with disabilities and is the leading entity supporting H.R. 3101. You can find additional information about the technology policy initiative at AAPD on our website at http://www.aapd.com/TTPI/TTPI.html. Also, information about COAT at http://www.coataccess.org.

ABA Give Sotomayor Top Rating

From The Blog of the Legal Times(7/7/09):

ABA Committee Gives Sotomayor Top Rating

Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor got a vote of confidence today, less than a week before she goes before the Senate Judiciary Committee for her confirmation hearing.

The American Bar Association's Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary, by a unanimous vote, has rated her "well-qualified" for the Court. It's the highest rating the committee gives, and it's the same rating the committee gave to the four most recent additions to the Supreme Court...

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) called the rating "further evidence of the outstanding experience" Sotomayor would bring to the Court.

"The ABA’s rating – an evaluation of integrity, professional competence, and judicial temperament – should eliminate the doubts of naysayers who have questioned Judge Sotomayor’s disposition on the bench," Leahy said in a statement...

>>> For the Whole Article

TOMORROW: Pack the Senate! CLASS ACT under Review

*** Action Alert: Pack the Senate Hearing TUESDAY ***

The CLASS Act, complement to the Community Choice Act which will give more people with disabilities access to Long Term Services and Supports (LTSS), is going to be marked-up by the Senate HELP Committee.

When: TOMORROW (July 7) at 10am

Where: Russell Caucus Room (Russell 325)

All Advocates, Activists, Family and Friends of the Disability Community are URGED to attend to show legislators how important this issue is to our community, and that we don't want to wait any longer for Long Term Services and Supports in Healthcare Reform Legislation!

As you know, health reform, including long term services and supports, is a top priority for our community.  The Community Living Assistance Services and Supports (CLASS) Act, Section 191 of the Affordable Choices Act, is one element of the long term services package that we are supporting.

The CLASS Act will create a new national insurance program to help adults who have or develop functional impairments to remain independent, employed, and stay a part of their community. It is an important step in the evolution of public policy toward a new focus on helping individuals overcome barriers to independence that they may confront due to  functional impairments.

For a full description of the bill, the press release from its introduction, and a list of supporters go to Senator Kennedy's Newsroom.

 

Action Alert: Call Your Senators and Ask Them to Vote NO on the Confirmation of Judge Andre Davis

From NCIL:

ACTION ALERT! Ask Your Senators to Vote NO on Confirmation of Judge Andre Davis

 

The United States needs judges who respect the rights of people with disabilities.

In the next few weeks, the U.S. Senate will likely vote on the confirmation of Judge Andre Davis to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. NCIL has gone on record to OPPOSE this nomination by the Obama Administration, and is asking NCIL members and the rest of the disability community to tell the U.S. Senate to vote NO.

AAPD also supports NCIL's position on Davis, and urges the U.S. Senate to vote NO on Davis' confirmation.
 
NCIL has published its position in the WhAM!, has sent letters and held meetings with the White House, sent letters to members of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, and mobilized NCIL members whose Senators are on the Judiciary Committee against this confirmation. We are now at the last phase before Judge Davis is confirmed, the full vote of the U.S. Senate. This is why we need everyone to call both of their U.S. Senators to vote NO to confirm Judge Andre Davis to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals!

Why does the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals Matter?
 
For many years, the Fourth Circuit, which hears federal appeals from Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina, was considered extremely hostile to disability rights.  A 2001 study revealed that it had the lowest rate of decisions in favor of ADA employment discrimination plaintiffs among all the federal appeals courts, finding for plaintiffs in only 0.3 percent of cases, as compared to the 6 percent average amongst the other appeals courts.  In one infamous case, the Fourth Circuit ruled that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) could not enforce the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in a case where an employee with a disability had signed an agreement to arbitrate employment disputes.  This decision was later overruled by the U.S. Supreme Court, which held that the EEOC has the power to enforce the ADA regardless of any arbitration agreement between an employer and an employee facing discrimination.
 
More recently, however, as conservative judges have left the bench, the Fourth Circuit has been closely divided on disability rights issues.  The court’s recent decisions concerning Congress’s power to enact the ADA reflect this division.  Many recent Fourth Circuit cases involving significant disability rights issues have been decided by divided panels.  Plaintiffs have prevailed at an increasing rate as the court has grown more moderate.
 
What is the problem with Judge Davis?
 
Earlier this year, NCIL expressed serious concerns about Judge Davis’s nomination, particularly about his record on disability employment discrimination cases under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Neither his hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on April 29, nor his answers to written questions lessened these concerns. NCIL fears that should his nomination be confirmed by the Senate Judge Davis will author and otherwise participate in decisions that inappropriately limit the rights of workers and others with disabilities. This is an opportunity to tell the Senate and the Obama Administration that America needs Federal Judges who respect the rights of workers with disabilities, as Congress intended in the ADA and ADA Amendments Act.
 
NCIL did not decide to oppose this nomination with ease. We would far prefer that the Obama Ad­ministration - and every administration - nominate judges with records indicating that they would reach decisions consistent with Congress’s intent. NCIL appreciates that, as he noted at his hearing, Judge Davis has ruled in favor of plaintiffs in cases involving issues such as physical access to courthouses. However, Judge Davis’s decisions in disability employment discrimination cases suggest that he would continue to engage in the unduly restrictive approach to deciding such cases that Congress sought to correct when it enacted the ADA Amendments Act (ADAAA) last year. Judge Davis’s record indicates that he has been part of the problem Congress enacted the ADAAA to begin to solve. In some cases, Judge Davis has required plaintiffs to meet too high a standard regarding evidence of their disability before they could present their discrimi­nation claims to a jury. In other cases, Judge Davis has established inappropriate barriers for plaintiffs to overcome in exhausting administrative ADA employment discrimination claims.
 
NCIL’s concern about Judge Davis’s overly restrictive approach to deciding ADA employment discrimination cases is not lessened by the enactment of the ADAAA, which restored the ADA’s definition of disability to the broad scope intended by Congress. As you know, last year’s amendments did not change many provisions of the ADA, including provisions defining discrimination under the statute; these provisions remain subject to inappropriately limiting interpretations. Further, the language of the ADAAA itself will now be interpreted by the federal courts, including the appeals courts, and their readings of this language will determine whether Congress’s intent in enacting the amendments is realized.
 
What do I do to persuade the U.S. Senate to vote no?
 
Call both of your U.S. Senators today! Judge Davis was approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee, and is now awaiting a vote to confirm him to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals by the whole Senate. In addition, share this information with others who want to the see the rights of workers with disabilities protected.
 
Tell you Senator, “I am asking Senator ______ to vote NO on the confirmation of Judge Andre Davis to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. I oppose Judge Davis being confirmed by the Senate because of his record on disability employment discrimination cases under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).”
 
Even if your state is not in the region served by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, the precedent that is set by decisions made in this court has ramifications throughout the nation.
 
Visit http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm to find out how to contact your Senators.
 
More Facts to support your argument:
 
Judge Davis has made it exceedingly difficult for people to show that they are individuals with disabilities entitled to the protections that Congress provided in the ADA.  See, e.g., Rose v. Home Depot U.S.A., Inc., 186 F. Supp.2d 595 (D. Md. 2002); Martell v. Sparrows Point Scrap Processing, LLC, 214 F. Supp.2d 527 (D. Md. 2002)
 
He has incorrectly imposed procedural hurdles on ADA plaintiffs that are contrary to the ADA’s requirements.  See Campbell v. Federal Express Corp., 918 F. Supp. 912 (D. Md. 1996).
 
He has applied cramped interpretations of law to reject the discrimination claims of workers with disabilities.  See, e.g., Fitch v. Solipsys Corp., 94 F. Supp.2d 670 (D. Md. 2000); Walton v. Guidant Sales Corp., 417 F. Supp.2d 719 (D. Md. 2006)
 
Judge Davis also appears to maintain a too-demanding standard for what constitutes disability-based discrimination.  See Fitch v. Solipsys Corp., 94 F. Supp.2d 670 (D. Md. 2000).
 
Judge Davis has incorrectly imposed procedural hurdles on ADA plaintiffs that are contrary to the ADA’s requirements. See Campbell v. Federal Express Corp., 918 F. Supp. 912 (D. Md. 1996).
 
Finally, Judge Davis requires even pro se ADA litigants to overcome significant hurdles in exhausting their claims before filing. See Walton v. Guidant Sales Corp., 417 F. Supp.2d 719 (D. Md. 2006).
 
Davis Case History
 
Rose v. Home Depot U.S.A., Inc., 186 F. Supp.2d 595 (D. Md. 2002)
Despite fact that nothing in the ADA requires that a person with a disability have a treatment plan to obtain ADA protections, Davis held that a plaintiff whose vasomotor rhinitis affected his breathing, sleeping, and working did not have a disability because he did not have a treatment plan in place for his rhinitis.
 
Martell v. Sparrows Point Scrap Processing, LLC, 214 F. Supp.2d 527 (D. Md. 2002)
Davis held that the employer did not regard a job applicant as disabled, even though the employer did not hire the applicant as a crane operator precisely because of his “abnormal” hearing.
 
Campbell v. Federal Express Corp., 918 F. Supp. 912 (D. Md. 1996)
Davis dismissed this employment discrimination claim for failure to exhaust administrative remedies because the plaintiff, who was denied a job as a courier due to his limited hand mobility, did not challenge Federal Express’s refusal to hire him with the federal Department of Transportation; the ADA has never required plaintiffs in employment discrimination cases to exhaust remedies with any federal agency except the EEOC.
 
Fitch v. Solipsys Corp., 94 F. Supp.2d 670 (D. Md. 2000)
Davis granted summary judgment to the employer on disability discrimination and harassment claims, finding that employee who was repeatedly denied accommodations for a heart condition and lifting restriction did not have a disability and was not regarded as disabled even though employer and employer’s son called him a “cripple” on different occasions, and that this conduct was not harassment
 
Walton v. Guidant Sales Corp., 417 F. Supp.2d 719 (D. Md. 2006)
Davis dismissed disability the discrimination claim of pro se plaintiff for failure to timely file a charge with EEOC, despite the EEOC’s own determination that plaintiff’s charge was timely filed, and refused to apply equitable tolling even though the plaintiff had contacted EEOC on numerous occasions to inquire about the status of his administrative charge, was initially sent the wrong form by EEOC, alleged that he timely filed the corrected form that he was sent after informing EEOC of their mistake, and was helped by EEOC to complete another charge after the deadline because they had experienced problems with their data management system and could not find his charge form.
 
If you would like additional information about this nominee, about the process, or about the importance being involved in judicial nominations, please contact Jason Beloungy at NCIL at: jason@ncil.org, or call Jason at 202-207-0334 (toll-free1-877-525-3400), ext. 1008

Action Alert: Calls Urgently Needed to All Senators - Support Health Care Reform

From CCD (6/23/09):

URGENT ACTION ALERT! Calls Needed to All Senators!!

People with all types of disabilities have a significant stake in securing comprehensive health reform legislation this year that improves access to quality, affordable health and long term services and supports.  According to a 2008 National Center for Health Statistics report from 2001-2005, approximately 19% of non-institutionalized adults with mobility, sensory, and cognitive disabilities and mental illnesses and 17% of people with complex disabilities (such as those that limit self-care, work, or social or leisure activities)  reported being uninsured. This is compared to approximately 19% of adults who do not have a disability who were uninsured. Twenty-eight percent of people with mental illness reported being uninsured, the highest rate among people with disabilities.

The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee has begun its mark-up on health reform legislation.  This historic  legislation addresses many of these access issues including:  prohibiting discrimination based on health status or disability; requiring guaranteed issue of insurance policies; prohibiting pre-existing condition exclusions; prohibiting life-time and annual caps on coverage; and inclusion of community-based long term services and supports.
 
Offices on the Hill are being flooded with calls and emails opposing health care reform.  Please contact your Senators as soon as possible to voice your support for health care reform efforts. This will likely be the only vehicle for enacting long term services and supports. 
 
Your voice is needed now.  Use this toll-free number to contact the offices of your two Senators: 866-210-3678.

Urge others to call their Senators, also!  Our voices must be heard!

Olmstead Anniversary Stirs Up Interest in Long Term Services and Supports

From the JFA Moderator (6/22/09):

With events big and small occurring all over the country in honor of the 10th Anniversary of the Olmstead decision, both the media and public officials sat up and took notice of our communities long ignored demands for Long Term Services and Supports as a means to full-inclusion in the community.

For media coverage, see the articles posted below:

From The Progressive

“10th anniversary of freedom for people with disabilities”

By Mike Ervin, June 21, 2009

http://www.progressive.org/mpervin062109.html

 

From ProRepublica

“Nursing Homes Get Old for Many With Disabilities”

by Jennifer LaFleur

http://www.propublica.org/feature/nursing-homes-get-old-for-many-with-disabilities-621

From the Hartford Courant

"Olmstead Supreme Court Anniversary"
Photo coverage by Richard Messina

Disability advocates marched to the State Capitol to commemorate 10th anniversary of Olmstead Supreme Court decision requiring the state to provide opportunities for people with mental disabilities to live in the community in group homes if they can fare as well as in state hospitals.
http://www.courant.com/news/local/hc-march-2-capitol-pictures,0,6352804.photogallery


For upcoming and past events as well as resources for organizing your own event go to AAPD's Olmstead website http://www.aapd.com/olmstead/aboutolmstead.html