Disability Advisor at White House Speaks to Advocates

From AAPD (1.20.11):

 White House Disability Policy Advisor Kareem Dale Keynotes Disability Meeting

 By Jenifer Simpson, Senior Director of Government Affairs

Kareem Dale, Special Assistant to the President for Disability Policy listed seven accomplishments of the disability community in 2010 at the January 19, 2011 Annual Meeting of the Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities (CCD), of which AAPD is a longstanding member. The CCD Annual Meeting is the only event CCD holds as the work of the Consortium is generally conducted by Task Forces on specific topics.

Dale cited enactment of the 21st Century Communications & Video Accessibility Act as among seven accomplishments by the Administration in 2010. Speaking to an audience of over 150 representatives from CCD's 112 member organizations, Dale said this new law is "landmark legislation that changed the landscape for people with disabilities." He mentioned the key provisions of the new law, cited the four year effort by the Coalition of Organizations for Accessible Technology (COAT) – cofounded and steered by AAPD -- to advance the legislation, and thanked the FCC for moving quickly with proposed regulations. As a user of accessible technology himself, Kareem Dale was clearly delighted with passage of the legislation and its impetus for change.

Dale also mentioned additional accomplishments of the Administration in 2010 that were specific to the needs of people with disabilities:

• Issuance of the federal executive order to make the government a model employer in hiring of people with disabilities
• Celebrations of  the 20^th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act
• Revised ADA regulations implementing Title II and Title III 
• Enactment of Rosa’s Law barring use of “R” word in federal law
• The Affordable Care Act.

Going forward, Kareem Dale mentioned several priorities of the Administration in 2011. These included:

• Ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities by the U.S. Senate
• Guidance to be issued by the Office of Personnel Management to the federal agencies on implementing the federal executive order to make the government a model employer of people with disabilities
• Reauthorization of the Elementary & Secondary Education Act
• Veto of H.R. 2, the current house proposal to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

Dale encouraged the audience to sign up for notices on the monthly phone call briefings for the disability community that the White House provides and which feature federal agency leaders and their initiatives.  To sign up for these, send your name and email address to sfeuerstein@who.eop.gov

For more on CCD, visit their website at http://www.c-c-d.org