Disbelief! (a Repost)

I was going through some old posts, and my linked within widget lead me to the below posted college entrance essay, originally written in 2003. I wrote it for the MC Scholars program (I didn't get in). You had to write the book jacket from your memoir you just finished in 2025, when I am 40. I thought I'd repost in honor of the fact that for the second time in just over a month I participated in the beginning stages of writing disability related federal legislation that will affect the lives of millions of people. Today was related to the Caring Across Generations campaign, in June it was the latest version of the CCA. At the time I never in my wildest dreams thought that would really happen. The original post has a bit more on how my life is really turning out vs what this says would happen.

Triumphs Over Struggles: The Ups and Downs of Life with Cerebral Palsy is an ordinary book about an ordinary person who fought for ordinary things. It is the autobiography of Cheryl *censored*, a wife, mother, and social worker at Gillette Children’s Specialty Healthcare, a hospital that services pediatric orthopedic and brain disorders exclusively. She has spent her whole life fighting. Although most people associate segregation with the 1950’s and 60’s, the 1980’s and 90’s were filled with just as many battles for Cheryl. It was the age of the Americans With Disabilities Act, but Cheryl was still continuously denied access to life. She fought for both the right to attend a local preschool as well as her neighborhood elementary school, which contained 32 steps down to the playground. An avid horseback rider, Cheryl was also almost refused the right to attend a local horseback riding day camp.

Besides all of the adversity Cheryl has faced in her life she has been able to triumph over it all. Cheryl endured eight reconstructive operations on her legs during her childhood which resulted in her having to relearn how to walk four times. Through all of this, Cheryl, whose parents were told would never amount to anything, remained an honor student in school. She attained her associates degree in psychology through Montgomery College’s Scholars Program and then finished her bachelor’s degree through Hofstra University’s Program for the Higher Education of the Disabled (P.H.E.D). Cheryl later received a master’s degree in social work at The University of California, Berkeley.

Through her advocacy for people with disabilities, Cheryl has made a significant impact on the education of mainstreamed disabled students. Cheryl started lobbying local disabled rights organizations in college. Since then she has been interviewed by many media giants, such as NBC’s Today Show, Good Morning America, and The New York Times. The Cheryl *Censored* Education Act is a Federal education bill aimed at setting a national standard for the education of students like her. It is currently being reviewed by the House Education Committee.

Cheryl lives in the suburbs of St. Paul, MN, with her husband Matt of twelve years and three adopted special needs children, April, May, and June, ages 9, 8, and 6, whom she has had since infancy. She has two dogs, Eloise, and Puck; a cat, Mizzy; and a horse, Apple Blossom. Cheryl and Apple Blossom are in training for the 2028 summer Paralympic Games in Rome, Italy. They have won many ribbons for dressage in both local and national disabled riding shows. When not in training, working in the hospital, or lobbying Congress, Cheryl enjoys shopping, running 5ks for charity, and working as her synagogue's high school youth group advisor.

I Should Have Been Posting Our Freedom Flyer

Pages 2 and 3 are reversed. Look out for our August edition!
Freedom Flyer 4-11

"I'm in Jail. I have committed no crime."

There have been many GREAT Olmstead related stories on NPR lately. Here are two. A third, Families Fight to Care for Disabled Kids at Home, is a month older, and I couldn't get it to embed.

Here is the transcript

Here is the transcript
Here also are two NPR stories that are text only:
Katie Beckett: Patient Turned Home-Care Advocate
Justice Increases Efforts to Enforce Olmstead Ruling
I ♡ Joe Shapiro.

And Another One

I missed this when it got sent to me and just found it doing an inbox search

Upcoming Webinar Series- Topic Guides on ADA Transportation

The Topic Guides on ADA Transportation were developed by the Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund (DREDF) (www.dredf.org) and TranSystems Corporation (www.transystems.com/).

The guides are available online at http://www.dredf.org/ADAtg/index.shtml.

Schedule: Second Tuesday of the month, beginning October 12, 2010 and ending April 12, 2011

Topics:

Equipment Maintenance (Topic Guide 1)

Stop Announcements and Route Identification (Topic Guide 2)

Eligibility for ADA Paratransit (Topic Guide 3)

Telephone Hold Time in ADA Paratransit (Topic Guide 4)

Origin to Destination Service in ADA Paratransit (Topic Guide 5)

On-Time Performance in ADA Paratransit (Topic Guide 6)

No-Shows in ADA Paratransit (Topic Guide 7)

Time: 2 pm to 3:30 pm Eastern Time (90 minutes)

Cost: Free

Presenter(s): Marilyn Golden, DREDF Policy Analyst and invited guests to be announced. (Bio sent under separate email)

Method of Delivery: Sessions will be presented via a fully accessible webinar platform. Instructions for connecting to the program will be provided to registrants in advance of the session.

Registration: Registration is available on-line at www.adaconferences.org

ADAPTers KICK ASS!

Found through Wheelie Catholic via Regator

Proof I've Been Hiding Under a Rock

Because I want to post something on my blog, here's another action alert. I had no idea another Supreme Court Judge was retiring until I got this email a few days ago. I don't have a TV, I've been sleeping a lot, and all radio DJs talk about is celebrity news (who cares?)

Here is another very important Action Alert to respond to. Now that Chief Justice John Paul Stevens has retired from the U.S. Supreme Court, it is the task of president Obama to appoint another person to fill his seat. Let the President know that it is important to appoint a Supreme Court justice who will uphold the rights of people with disabilities. We need a strong leader like Justice Stevens! Contact the White House (the numbers and email are below) and ask President Obama to: Choose a justice who understands the effects of Supreme Court decisions on people with disabilities, who will interpret disability rights laws broadly, and who respects the role of Congress in protecting disability rights.

Issue: Tell the President We Need a Disability Rights Leader Like Justice Stevens!

Action: Contact the White House at (202) 456-1111 (phone), (202) 456-6213 (TTY) or online at www.whitehouse.gov/CONTACT and tell the President why he should name someone who will uphold the rights of people with disabilities. Ask President Obama to:

• Choose a justice who will interpret disability rights laws broadly, as Congress intended.
• Choose a justice who understands the effect of Supreme Court decisions on people with disabilities.
• Choose a justice who respects the role of Congress in protecting disability rights.

Background: Very soon, President Obama will name a replacement for Justice John Paul Stevens of the United States Supreme Court. For the past 35 years, Justice Stevens has been a strong voice on the Court for the disability community, consistently voting to protect the rights of people with disabilities in cases involving the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

The President now has his second opportunity to shape the Supreme Court for years to come. As he considers potential nominees, the stakes are high for people with disabilities.

Despite Congress's bipartisan passage in 2008 of the ADA Amendments Act (ADAAA) to restore the law's broad reach after years of hostile court rulings, judges are still getting the ADA wrong - still shutting the courthouse door on people with disabilities. We need a leader every bit as strong as Justice Stevens to ensure full enforcement of the ADA and other important disability rights laws. Justice Stevens' replacement must be committed to the protection of disability rights.

The White House needs to hear now from advocates for people with disabilities.

Why this nomination is so critical:

President Obama has voiced his support for the values -- including independence, integration and equal opportunity -- expressed in federal disability rights laws such as the ADA, the Rehabilitation Act, the Medicaid Act and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). To advance disability rights, we ask the President to:

Choose a justice who will give disability rights laws the broad remedial effect intended by Congress. In several significant decisions in the years before the ADAAA, the Supreme Court chipped away at core protections for people with disabilities. During this time, Justice Stevens concurred in important decisions affirming disability rights, including City of Cleburne v. Cleburne Living Center, 473 U.S. 432 (1985); Bragdon v. Abbott, 524 U.S. 624 (1998); and Olmstead v. L.C., 527 U.S. 581 (1999). In his dissent in Sutton v. United Air Lines, 527 U.S. 471 (1999), he argued forcefully that whether a person is disabled and thus protected by the ADA should be considered without regard to mitigating measures. Although his colleagues on the Court disagreed, Congress later followed Justice Stevens' dissent on this very point in enacting the ADAAA.

We want President Obama to select a justice who will interpret the ADA and other disability rights laws as broadly as Congress intended, so that all people with disabilities have an equal opportunity to succeed in school and at work and to lead independent lives in their communities.

Choose a justice who understands the effect of Supreme Court decisions on people with disabilities. Supreme Court decisions have consequences, not just for the parties before the court, but for everyone. For example, when the Supreme Court ruled that Casey Martin, a golfer with a mobility disability, could use a golf cart on the PGA tour, this made it easier for everyone, including students and workers (not just golfers), to get the accommodations they need for an equal opportunity. Justice Stevens authored the decision in P.G.A. Tour, Inc. v. Martin, 432 U.S. 661 (2001). Similarly, the Court's recent decision in Forest Grove Sch. Dist. v. T.A., 129 S. Ct. 2484 (2009), also authored by Justice Stevens, made it easier for families everywhere to access special education for children with disabilities when public schools have failed to provide needed services.

We want President Obama to choose a justice who understands how important Supreme Court decisions are to the everyday lives of people with disabilities.

Choose a justice who respects the role of Congress in protecting disability rights. In enacting the ADA and other disability rights laws, Congress carefully considered the history of people with disabilities in the United States. The lawmakers acknowledged that many people with disabilities have been ostracized from their families and communities - prevented from going to their neighborhood schools, from working at jobs for which they were qualified and from participating in all aspects of community life. Congress passed laws like the ADA to combat these problems. But in recent years, the Supreme Court has declared that Congress lacked the power to pass some of these laws. Justice Stevens disagreed. For example, he authored the ruling in Tennessee v. Lane, 541 U.S. 509 (2004), that Congress could require states to make courthouses and the entire justice system accessible to people with disabilities. Lower courts have followed this ruling, holding that the ADA requires states to provide access in schools, hospitals, and prisons.

We want President Obama to choose a Supreme Court justice who will respect Congress's important role and hard work in writing and enacting the disability rights laws on which so many people with disabilities depend for protection from discrimination and an equal opportunity to succeed in life.

As we celebrate the 20th anniversary of the ADA, it is especially crucial that President Obama name, as Justice Stevens' replacement, a disability rights champion for the 21st Century Supreme Court.

Mad Pride, Medication & Emotional Support Animals

It all started at the very end of my shrink appointment Tuesday. I'm going to come right out in the open and admit that I've been having serious compliance issues with my meds for a very long time now. So she says (in a non threatening way, completely in passing) "Maybe I should threaten to not treat you. It seemed to work the last time." To which I said "What if I went all mad pride and had a strong philosophical belief against taking meds?" Also, I disagree with her in that although it did work it was very temporarily. I left it at that as I was walking out the door. But I didn't end the thoughts in my head. I chewed on it for hours. I have a stop forced drugging logo on my right sidebar (which leads to http://www.stopforcenow.org ). And I believe that. I don't believe in treatment by way of coersion, which, if I thought she was even the least bit serious, that would be.

I am pro-choice on the medication front. I agree with the Icarus Project that people need to do what works for them. I don't agree with forced treatment. I don't agree with conventional medical beliefs that seem to say that there is a right and a wrong way to cure this "disease," probably because I very strongly believe that I do not have a disease. I don't want that stigma placed on me. In no way am I saying that anyone I come in contact with personally has placed this stigma on me (well not entirely true, there is one person); I feel I need the disclaimer. It's society at large that does this.

I remember the first time I was decently suicidal. I was shrink shopping and having admitted the extent of my noncompliance issues in the past was told by every single one of them that they refused to see me unmedicated. I don't agree with that and in fact now that I'm getting involved in human rights I find it unethical. From what I understand (I got this from an episode of Private Practice) the American Academy of Pediatrics has taken a stance that Drs should not abandon patients whose parents have chosen not to vaccinate. Where is this different? To me, choosing not to vaccinate is dangerous in that it is potentially putting hundreds of children at risk for death from a measles outbreak. Especially children who are imunosuppressed. Choosing not to medicate does not carry that risk. It just so happens that I begged for drugs anyway. I've never really wanted to die (similarly to this, but different in that I've never experienced trauma) so I'd rather not feel like I do. But this was my choice. Again, I am pro-choice.

Medication is just one tool that a person can take or leave when seeking to achieve their own version of balance. But there are many others, like dogs. I've got dogs on the brain again. I don't know how they came up on the drive back from DC on Saturday, I think K brought it up, but we both believe Autism Speaks' gazillion dollars would be better spent on buying kids autism service dogs. We also believe that human health insurance should pay for service dogs as well as vet bills for service dogs at the same reimbursement rate as human doctor visits and/or DME. The pay for powerchairs and powerchair repairs. By extension...

Dogs also came up Monday night with a friend of mine and in my train of thought about Mad Pride. I suspect that if I had a dog and if I was running and if I was doing other things I know I should do I would not need medication. I do not know for fact as I've never had a dog, but from Oreo I do know I would at the very least be able to lower my dosages. However, at the moment I do not have a dog and I do not run and so regardless of tactics I happen to agree with absolutely everyone that I should be taking my meds right now.

[image description: 4 puppies in the grass]

These periodically reoccurring thoughts coupled with Monday nights conversation prompted me to finally look up what a psychiatric service dog does. How is one different from a mobility / seeing eye / hearing /seizure / autism dog? What I found is that there is such a thing as an emotional support animal. Emotional support animals (ESA) are NOT trained anymore then a regular pet dog but with documentation from a doctor or ANY licensed mental health professional you would be covered by the federal housing laws, dept of justice, and dept of transportation. (links to Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law) So you cannot be discriminated against when renting or flying on a plane. However you are not covered under title III of the ADA, public accommodations. So you can't bring an ESA into a supermarket for example. For that you need a trained psychiatric service dog.

What is the difference between a trained psychiatric service dog and an ESA? What's distinguishing? Read this GREAT article. It's something to think about...

Haven't Done One of These in Awhile

Some Links:

Fresh Faces, Fresh Voices: How are twentysomethings with disabilities dealing with the post-ADA era? What are they thinking? (The current cover story from New Mobility)

I consider them my Posse. I don't know German, but I've seen him around and he has an AWESOME tatoo (Photo left, below, courestry of facebook) I also LOVE Kara's blog. I'm a big fan of hers and would LOVE to meet her sometime. Plus, I LOVE her artsy pictures too (photo right above).

Also, from New Mobility and Not Dead Yet, an article from 2005 by Mike Ervin, another ADAPTer Clip-N-Save Advance Medical Directive Here's my own post on death.

Want to know how that Rally went? From the Baltimore Sun blogs, Budget protests begin in earnest; disabled community rallies in Annapolis. I missed it & basically spent 8 hours of my day waiting on paratransit (but that's another post entirely).

Lastly, from CNN, How Health Reform Might Affect PWDs:

From the White House

THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release
July 24, 2009

ANNIVERSARY OF THE AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT, 2009- - - - - - -BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

A PROCLAMATION

Today we celebrate the 19th anniversary of the enactment of the historic Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Signed into law on July 26, 1990, this landmark legislation established a clear mandate against discrimination on the basis of disability so that people with disabilities would have an equal opportunity to achieve the American Dream.

Our Nation is once again poised to make history for people with disabilities. I am proud to announce that the United States will sign the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in New York on December 13, 2006. The Convention is the first new human rights convention of the 21st century adopted by the United Nations, and it represents a paradigm shift in protecting the human rights of 650 million people with disabilities worldwide. We proudly join the international community in further advancing the rights of people with disabilities.

As we reflect upon the past and look toward a brighter future, we recognize that our country has made great progress. More than ever before, Americans with disabilities enjoy greater access to technology and economic self-sufficiency. More communities are accessible, more children with disabilities learn alongside their peers, and more employers recognize the capabilities of people with disabilities.

Despite these achievements, much work remains to be done. People with disabilities far too often lack the choice to live in communities of their choosing; their unemployment rate is much higher than those without disabilities; they are much likelier to live in poverty; health care is out of reach for too many; and too many children with disabilities are denied a world-class education.

My Administration has met these challenges head-on. We have launched the "Year of Community Living" to help people with disabilities live wherever they choose. [emphasis added] We have nearly doubled the funding for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. I was proud to sign the groundbreaking Christopher and Dana Reeve Paralysis Act and the Children's Health Insurance Reauthorization Act, which provides health insurance to millions of additional children. I also lifted the ban on stem cell more research. These measures demonstrate our commitment to leveling the playing field for every person with a disability. My Administration will not rest on these accomplishments, and we will continue to focus on improving the lives of people with disabilities. I encourage States, localities, and communities across the country to cultivate an environment in which the 54 million Americans living with a disability are valued and respected.

Americans have repeatedly affirmed the importance of protecting the human rights and dignity of every member of this great country. Through the steps we have taken, we will continue to build on the ADA and demonstrate our ongoing commitment to promoting, protecting, and ensuring the full enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms by people with disabilities.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim July 26, 2009, as the Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act. I call on Americans across our country to celebrate the progress we have made in protecting the civil rights of people with disabilities and to recognize the step forward we make with the signing of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Inspired by the advances of the last 19 years, let us commit to greater achievements in the years ahead.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-fourth day of July, in the year of our Lord two thousand nine, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-fourth.

BARACK OBAMA

Year of Community Living??? I don't think so. That's a line of crap. Mr President, if 2009 truely is the "Year of Community Living" Then you will go to the house and the senate and DEMAND that the CCA is included in your health care reform package. You will make sure that there are enough housing vouchers so that people living on $600/mo (SSI) can afford to live in the community. You will help to ensure that PCAs are paid a living wage and given health benefits, vacation, & sick days. You WILL live up to your promise to ADAPT. Obama, you're a f------ lier.

And how about this? Obama's speech on signing the UN's CRPD. Read it here or watch it here. I'm with Josie Byzek. It makes me want to throw up.

Happy ADA Day everyone!!!!! I think it's my favorite holiday.

The Book Jacket to my Memoir (written in 2003)

For some odd reason I felt compelled to visit my geocities site that I started in the 7th grade and hasn't been touched in years. Good thing I did because it turns out that Yahoo is shutting geocities down in Oct and deleating everybody's stuff. There's stuff on there that I want (like below) and will have to put on my laptop.

I signed into my account to look at my extensive clipart collection and saw a file essay.html What's that??? Something I don't ever remember writing, but I apparently posted the admissions essay I wrote to get into the MC Scholars program (I didn't get in). You had to write the book jacket from your memoir you just finished in 2025, when I am 40. On my website I wrote "this is the fakest thing that I have ever written in my life. Wouldn't it be great if this happened in the real world?"

Triumphs Over Struggles: The Ups and Downs of Life with Cerebral Palsy is an ordinary book about an ordinary person who fought for ordinary things. It is the autobiography of Cheryl *censored*, a wife, mother, and social worker at Gillette Children’s Specialty Healthcare, a hospital that services pediatric orthopedic and brain disorders exclusively. She has spent her whole life fighting. Although most people associate segregation with the 1950’s and 60’s, the 1980’s and 90’s were filled with just as many battles for Cheryl. It was the age of the Americans With Disabilities Act, but Cheryl was still continuously denied access to life. She fought for both the right to attend a local preschool as well as her neighborhood elementary school, which contained 32 steps down to the playground. An avid horseback rider, Cheryl was also almost refused the right to attend a local horseback riding day camp.

Besides all of the adversity Cheryl has faced in her life she has been able to triumph over it all. Cheryl endured eight reconstructive operations on her legs during her childhood which resulted in her having to relearn how to walk four times. Through all of this, Cheryl, whose parents were told would never amount to anything, remained an honor student in school. She attained her associates degree in psychology through Montgomery College’s Scholars Program and then finished her bachelor’s degree through Hofstra University’s Program for the Higher Education of the Disabled (P.H.E.D). Cheryl later received a master’s degree in social work at The University of California, Berkeley.

Through her advocacy for people with disabilities, Cheryl has made a significant impact on the education of mainstreamed disabled students. Cheryl started lobbying local disabled rights organizations in college. Since then she has been interviewed by many media giants, such as NBC’s Today Show, Good Morning America, and The New York Times. The Cheryl *Censored* Education Act is a Federal education bill aimed at setting a national standard for the education of students like her. It is currently being reviewed by the House Education Committee.

Cheryl lives in the suburbs of St. Paul, MN, with her husband Matt of twelve years and three adopted special needs children, April, May, and June, ages 9, 8, and 6, whom she has had since infancy. She has two dogs, Eloise, and Puck; a cat, Mizzy; and a horse, Apple Blossom. Cheryl and Apple Blossom are in training for the 2028 summer Paralympic Games in Rome, Italy. They have won many ribbons for dressage in both local and national disabled riding shows. When not in training, working in the hospital, or lobbying Congress, Cheryl enjoys shopping, running 5ks for charity, and working as her synagogue's high school youth group advisor.

This is so bizzare. Bizzare in the fact that I found this during the time I am taking memoir writing class, and bizzare in the fact that I must have always known myself so well. It turns out this was not as far fetched as it seemed to me when I posted it on my site 6+ years ago. My goal still is to write "an ordinary book about an ordinary person who [struggles with] ordinary things." That's what I'm trying to do right now in fact.

It turns out that I went to Hofstra 1st, flunked out, and then went to MC 2nd. Going to social work school is still in the master plan, although not all the way in Berkley (I picked that b/c I was under the misguided assumption that Berkley was the mecca of disability rights, turns out Chicago is). I'd be more then exstatic if I got a job at Gillette some day. I'm never going to be a paralympic athlete, but it's interesting to note how prominate a role pets play in this essay. I guess I've always known how integral pets are to my mental health (what other term can I use? I hate that one). And running. Somebody at OOO mentioned Friday about getting a group together to start walking and signing up for a 5K. So I may do one. Dunno if I'm up for it or not. I don't know why I put down 8 surgeries, the count is 7, it was 6 then, still haven't done the last 2...

The part I thought was most unfathomable when I wrote it is "Cheryl started lobbying local disabled rights organizations in college." Me get involved in politics? Yeah right... Turns out that I did get involved in politics in college (see the CCA tracker to the right). Within the last year I've lobbied on both the state and national level. Who woulda thunk it? Get involved with ADAPT? Not me. They're too weird :D No one's ever going to attach my name to a bill, but I am going to work to finally get the Disability History and Awareness Month bill passed which will change the way all children, teens, & young adults are educated, both disabled and not. I am going to have an impact like I never thought I would. How cool.

The Jewish Experiance (of a Crip)

I like that I'm finally beginning to discuss Judaism on here, to reflect on my Jewish journey. In ways it shapes who I am just as much as being a crip. It's a piece of me too, the other side of my coin.

[image description: star of david necklace over torah text]

2 people in Hillel have been planning a program--The Jewish Experience. What it was was 2 sessions and then a panel discussion. Present were a Reconstructionist, Conservative, and Orthodox Rabbi. They each spoke separately, so you got to hear 2 of them since there were 2 sessions, and then there was a panel of all 3. I'm going to call them by stupid names just so I don't disclose their identity w/o their permission.

The first guy I went to was Mr. Reconstructionist Rabbi. He had worked at my camp one summer when I was 13, is the head of another local Hillel now, someone I traveled to Israel w/on a group trip 2 years ago, and is very gay, very out and proud gay. I respect him for this now, though I (and the rest of my fellow campers) were very put off by it when we were 13. 13 yos are so immature. I also respect the Reconstructionist movement for embracing LGBT into their community and allowing such a very gay man to become a Rabbi. They're so cool! Until recently if you were going to become a Conservative Rabbi you had to be in the closet--very in the closet. That's not right--to me anyway.

His bio in the brochure said something about his interest in the LGBT community, but not right out that he is gay. He mentioned in passing something about including LGBT in the Jewish community. When it was time for Q&A one of my friends asked him to expand on this further. He did. To sum it up very briefly he talked about how much including people who are different into your community enriches it. Right on! Now why doesn't the LGBT community team up with the crip community sometime? We're all on the same page it seems. I might have added something about disability community, but I couldn't work it in where it would fit right. Then all of a sudden we were out of time.

After Mr. Reconstructionist Rabbi I decided to go next door to Mr. Conservative Rabbi. He was cool too. I was able to bring up the time I got the feeling that the Conservative Movement was turning slowly to be cult-like (another story for another time) and we had a discussion about that. A lot of what he talked about was changing with the times to keep people connected and involved. What about virtual services? An idea to consider. Why not? Therapydoc talks about virtual therapy (don't have the time to locate a post) about facilitating sessions over skype while she has to be away. I don't think it's a big step from that to virtual services. He talked about how he may start tweeting, but not a blog particularly b/c those take up so much time (they do). He asked if there were people who found that they were closer to people they know online then people in real life. One other person besides me raised their hands. He mentioned how being online opens up so many more lines of communication. I agreed. Someone disagreed. We could have possibly gotten into a fight, but the topic of conversation very easily shifted. Anyway, I am now going to call him Mr. AWESOME Liberal Conservative Rabbi. I don't know many Rabbis who so readily embrace new technology. I was about to ask Mr. AWESOME Liberal Conservative Rabbi about crip inclusion when we again ran out of time. The one and only complaint I have about this program is that there wasn't enough time for anything. Jews like to talk and debate.

So then we got to the panel. I sat for a bit, went out to use the facilities, and when I returned was quietly whispered that the current topic was Why do bad things happen to good people? 'Hmmm...' I thought. 'Can I work disability in here?'

Then it happened. Mr. Orthodox Rabbi spoke. In my experience, Rabbis (especially Orthodox Rabbis) and hebrew school teachers like to use very old stories that have been passed on from generation to generation when making a point. Mr. Orthodox Rabbi's story was used to emphasize how sometimes things that seem bad are really good. I hope I have it close to right.

[image description: donkey]

There was this guy way back when who was traveling somewhere on a donkey. He had a candle w/him to use to see in the dark & a rooster to use as an alarm clock, b/c you know, alarm clocks weren't invented yet. How you travel w/a rooster I don't know. Anyway, he stopped at an inn and the inn was full. He had to sleep outside. While he was outside his candle somehow got blown out, some predator animal ate his rooster, and a bigger predator animal ate his donkey (I forget the specifics of this part). A situation where people go "FUCK!" It turns out though that that night a group of Roman soldiers overtook the inn and killed everyone, but he was spared b/c he was not in the inn. He was spared b/c there was no candle to shed light or animals to make noise that would blow his cover.

That was my in. I raised my hand. "Along the lines of something bad being good, Mr. Reconstructionist Rabbi #1 (who had had to leave and was replaced by Mr. Reconstructionist Rabbi #2, who works at another local Hillel) talked about inclusion of the LGBT community. I have a wheelchair out in the hall. I have a disability. Throughout history disability has been seen as bad. As something evil. Captain Hook has a hook b/c it makes him more evil. But really, disability is not something bad. Including disenfranchised groups enriches the community. But in my experiences, the Jewish community is actively pushing us away. Either by actually pushing us away or by choosing not to educate themselves, to become ignorant. Why is that?"

I was disappointed. Mr. Orthodox Rabbi very slyly like a good politician, brought the discussion back to the original question and neither Mr. Reconstructionist Rabbi #2 nor Mr. AWESOME Liberal Conservative Rabbi took the opportunity to bring it back. I know that if Mr. Reconstructionist Rabbi #1 had still been there he would have answered me right off. As I already said, he's disenfranchised too and we're very clearly on the same page. I also think that given more time to answer, Mr. Awesome Liberal Conservative Rabbi would have answered me too. He came up and apologized to me that my question did not get answered. I shared one of my experiences; the shortest one I could think of. He told me about how 2 years ago they put a ramp up to the bima, and the building was built in 1922. Both religious organizations and historical buildings are exempt from the ADA. They never had to do that, but they did. I went to their website (I guess now I'm giving up his identity) to check the place out. I liked him and he captured my interest. Why in the world didn't he tell me about this?:

Friday, May 1 6:00 pm -9:00 pm Services, Dinner and Lecture with Guest Speaker Rabbi Tzvi Marx

6:00 pm Services
7:00 pm Dinner (limited seating, please RSVP by the 24th of April)
Costs: Adults- $18
Children 6-12 yrs.- $12
Children under 6 yrs.- Free
Maximum per family- $48
8:00 pm Lecture by Rabbi Marx
Topic:"Jewish Attitudes Toward the Handicapped"

I'm going to go I hope and hopefully bring a friend or two. If you're reading this and you're a local and decide you want to go too, leave me a comment. I'd love to meet you.

The Worst Words

Often what you write is inspired by what you read out in the blogshpere, as is the case with this post. I've been trying to catch up on my blog reading and I'd have to be living under a rock not to have noticed that Tropic Thunder has touched a nerve. I went to see Tropic Thunder with a friend on Thursday. It's one of those instances where I decided I needed to make up my own mind. I'm not part of the Special Olympics crowd. Maybe "they're" being too sensitive. Maybe it really is just satire. I like jokes, I like funny things, I like to joke about my disability. I'm a big fan of Josh Blue. No one was being over sensitive. It was bad. It hurt.

Between the disability blog carnival I hosted, the Aug 28th carnival (on superlatives), and Tropic Thunder, my mind has been on words lately. I used to say that there were no bad words. I'm not sure I agree with censoring f--- or s--- (but just like PFL, I do it anyway). It's not the word in and of itself, it's how the word is used. Is mental retardation offensive? It's an actual medical classification. Is retard offensive? Absolutely. Yes. It's a horrible, nasty, awful, hurtful, stinging word. You see, it is all in how the word is used, the intent behind it. Mental retardation=ok. retard=not ok.

The word retard never bothered me in and of itself. As I said, I'm not part of the Special Olympics crowd, so the word was never directed at me. I've even been known to use the word here and there. At a self-advocacy training when I was 15 I was told not to use the word handicapped to describe myself (but not why that word was bad) but rather to refer to myself as challenged. Quite ironically think I remember telling someone that I thought that was retarded.

Retarded never bothered me, but challenged sure did. And spaz, and most certainly special, and why not throw in brave, courageous, and inspirational as well (don't know why cripple never bothered me). Two months ago I came across a 2003 Ouch! survey of the 10 most offensive words. Some of these words are on there, but not courageous and inspirational. Inspire is my #1 most offensive word I think.

I never did write a piece specifically for my carnival. Most carnival hosts don't. But I'm going to quote my carnival. "Am I a poor cripple or a proud crip? Am I artistic, athletic, brainy, funny, spacy, or stubborn?" Am I challenged, spastic, special, brave, courageous, or inspirational? Well, my top 5 adjectives for myself I think are advocate (passionate???), tired, loud, stubborn, and perplexing. My disabilities are also just as important to me. I just don't consider them adjectives. But I wouldn't be who I am if it wasn't for my disabilities. So in a nutshell this is what I am.

I guess I am challenged, sort of, in a way. I can't step up a curb or lift my leg up high enough to step into a bathtub. So it is a "challenge" to stay at a friend's apartment if all they have is a tub. But a challenge is something someone tries to overcome. I am not going to overcome my disabilities. That would be discrediting the importance they have in my life. A disability is not something to overcome. It is something to embrace. So I can't step up a curb. Have you ever heard of this thing called the ADA? There are curb cuts everywhere in this country.

Special means something is unusual, better then the norm. Am I unusual? I won't be the judge of that. I am not better then the norm. I'm a pain in the a$$. Special is used to demean. It is often paired with sarcasm and laughter. It does connote that we are unusual, but in the circus freak sort of way, not the rare diamond sort of way. Why does Special Olympics use special? Doesn't it just add fuel to the fire?

Both challenged and special are euphemisms. They're demeaning and patronizing words. A rose by any other name is still a rose. Don't sugar coat or try to cover up my disabilities to try to be PC or not hurt my feelings. You hurt me more by using these words. There's a sting to them. But neither word in and of themselves is hurtful. You can be challenged by a hard math problem or have a special book your grandmother used to read to you. It's all in how the words are used.

Someone who is brave and/or courageous perseveres over great odds. Usually ones that are difficult and frighting. Maybe they do so because they feel they are driven by a force greater then themselves. But PWDs are neither brave or courageous. We are just everyday people who do what we have to do in life just like every AB person out there. More so then the other words, brave and courageous make me mad.

To me someone who is as loud, stubborn, and frequently b!tchy (due to utter exhaustion) as I am is not an inspiration. She's obnoxious. Here are two of the definitions of inspiration from http://www.merriam-webster.com/ "a divine influence or action on a person believed to qualify him or her to receive and communicate sacred revelation. the action or power of moving the intellect or emotions." I certainly do not communicate sacred revelations and the main emotions I evoke in people are their levels of annoyance and frustration towards me. Don't you dare ever say that I'm an inspiration simply because I put some effort into doing something AB people do.

Inspiration is definitely one of those words that depends on context. After all, I was inspired to write this post. The word inspiration is very problematic to me. What happens when someone says that I'm an inspiration because I'm "living proof to patients that people with CP do really...honestly have a life?"Or if someone comes up to me after a speaking engagement and tells me how much I inspire people to think about things in a different way? The word still produces an instamatic pit in my stomach no matter which way it is used.

Spaz is the only word here I really like. Spaz used to sting really bad. Here are the first three definitions of spaz from http://www.urbandictionary.com/: 1) Means a person acts insane or mentally retarded 2) Someone who is hyperactive or overly energetic 3) An irrationally nervous or jumpy person. No one ever called me a spaz to my face, but spaz was my retard. Why do I like the word spaz now? Well sometime maybe a year ago I decided that the word was not going to be eradicated from the english language and that if it was going to be used it might as well be used correctly. I have spastic triplegic cerebral palsy. I am a spaz in the true sense of the word. I've embraced my disability and so I've embraced that word.

As I said, the theme for the 44th disability carnival is superlatives. This is my list of the worst words. What do you think?

URGENT ADA Alert From DREDF

This is a reminder, in case you put the first Alert aside, that your Comments on the proposed ADA regulation changes are urgently needed by August 18, to the US Department of Justice. Many people have asked us, what if we can't address every topic? Just click on the topic you're most interested in, or the top 2 or 3, and fashion a short comment on that subject, based on the summary at the top of the page. Or you can simply copy and paste from the DREDF website, if you wish. Note that the most important issues are starred (**) below. Please go beyond forwarding this to others, and file a comment yourself. And include in every comment, a request that DOJ extend the comment period.

Start at http://www.dredf.org/DOJ_NPRM/.

---

ALERT! ALERT! ALERT!

From the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund (DREDF)

and other disability rights attorneys and advocates

Department of Justice Proposes Vast Changes in ADA Regulations

YOUR COMMENTS URGENTLY NEEDED!

Please forward this alert widely

The deadline for comments is August 18, 2008.

TO SEE DRAFT COMMENTS, visit http://www.dredf.org/DOJ_NPRM

The Department of Justice recently issued major proposed revisions to its regulations implementing Titles II and III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The deadline for comments is August 18, 2008.

Some of DOJ's changes are excellent, and urgently needed. It is important that the disability community laud these, to support DOJ against industry attack. Good proposals include adoption of the new 2004 ADAAG, stronger hotel reservation and ticketing provisions, recognition of psychiatric service animals, additional companion seating in theaters and stadiums, and stronger provisions for effective communication for people with hearing, visual, and speech disabilities.

However, there are also many draconian changes that would radically reduce the rights of people with disabilities. For example, DOJ proposes:

· A significant weakening of the readily achievable barrier removal requirement for public accommodations;

· A significant reduction of elements required to be accessible in state and local government facilities;

· An exemption for all existing facilities from the new recreation and playground rules;

· and many others.

DOJ must receive a flood of comments from the disability community in favor of a strong, comprehensive ADA. Comments must defend the principle of individual, case-by-case assessment, which DOJ is largely abandoning in favor of many blanket reductions. We must remind DOJ that the ADA is already carefully crafted to take the needs of covered entities into account, and that reductions to our civil rights would be a devastating blow to our daily lives.

Extensive draft comments, by topic, are available on the DREDF website to help you write your own comments -- click here. The list of topics is also below. The website also has information about how to file your comments, as well as tips on commenting and a link to the proposed regulations.

Important: Your comments will have the most impact if you revise our drafts to add your own thoughts, and especially your own personal experiences or those of friends, family, colleagues or clients with disabilities.

If you are short on time, just click on one or two of the topics that interest you the most. Write a brief letter based on some points in the summary at the top of that topic's web page.

Ask DOJ for an extension of the comment period in your comments!

MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD: SEND IN YOUR COMMENTS!

TOPICS IN THE DOJ PROPOSALS ARE:

· ** Safe Harbor **

§ ** One-percent (1%) safe harbor for barrier removal in existing facilities for qualified small businesses

§ ** "Reasonable number but at least one" in program access under Title II

§ Exemption for facilities that allegedly comply with the 1991 ADAAG

§ Path of travel

· **Definition of "existing facility"

· **Comments on the Regulatory Impact Analysis

· **Title II Complaint Process

· **Communications; auxiliary aids and services

· **Service animals

· **Hotel reservations policies

· **Seating and ticketing in assembly areas

· **Medical care facilities

· **Wheelchairs and other power-driven mobility devices

· **Prisons, jails and the Prison Litigation Reform Act

· Social service agencies, residential facilities, transient lodging, and dormitories

· Residential Dwelling Units for Sale

· **Recreation Facilities and Play Areas (General Comments)

§ Saunas and steam rooms

§ Swimming pools

§ Exercise equipment

§ Team player and seating areas

§ Areas of sport activity

§ Boating and fishing

§ Golf

§ Miniature Golf

§ Topics not addressed

· **Questions concerning specific 2004 ADAAG Standards (General Comments)

§ Side reach

§ Water closet clearances in single-user toilet rooms with in-swinging doors

§ Elevators

§ Stairs

§ Accessible routes to stages

§ Accessible attorney areas and witness stands

§ Assistive listening system

§ Accessible routes to golf tees and greens

· Work Areas

· Maintenance of accessible features

· ATMs

· Examinations and courses

· Triggering Date

The deadline for comments is August 18, 2008.

TO SEE DRAFT COMMENTS, visit http://www.dredf.org/DOJ_NPRM

To Gen Yers (20-Somethings): Is it all in Our Heads Now?

Today I did a guest lecture in class. Identity Development & Disability. It wasn't my favorite presentation, in fact after my Disability and the Family presentation of 4mos ago (the last one I did) which was fantastical, I'm a bit disappointed. But whatever. True to all the presentations I've ever given to adults, I got a thank you from someone after class. That's all that matters. I got someone to think. In fact, my professor, a developmental psychologist, told me that while I was talking she kept thinking of ideas for research. Please do them.

I'm off on a tangent. Sometimes I ask this when I talk, but not in the same way really as I did today. As a starting point, "What is the first thing you noticed about me?" Mind you this is the 5th week of class. Only one person answered.

"You contribute a lot in class."

That was it. From the looks on people's faces, he'd sumed it up. The professor said unless someone saw me get out of my chair (kept in the hall during class), if they just saw me sitting there in a desk, they wouldn't know?

WHAT?!?!?! What about my waddle. What about my mild speech issues? HUH?!?!?! Not what I was expecting at all. A friend called me and reamed me out after this post, not understanding why I wouldn't choose to get rid of my CP. She'd get rid of it in a heartbeat. It's the first thing people notice when they see you and she HATES it. Apparently not.

Come to the issue of people rushing to open doors for me and/or in my oppinion, opening them for themselves and then keeping them open longer then socially normal because here I come along. I bring this up A LOT. It's a hot button issue for me. Time and time again I get people (including this professor) who assert that they don't just do that for me. They're just nice people. And they sound completely genuine about it.

The whole experiance was actually very unsettling for me. I've only recently been doing peer presentations. In high school we purposly didn't do them. The coordinator of the program I was in thought it would make people too uncomfortable. Freshman year I think I did 4 or so to undergrad/grad special ed majors. But that was different. That was more of a business talk. So I've done a lot with kids and a fair amount with professionals, but really I've only done peers for the last 2 semesters. It's certainly been different. I'm confused though because I started this after a guy was doing a talk and people said they think of PWDs as people in wheelchairs, the elderly, or little children. Except when I talk, I'm not getting that.

Little kids still stare at me all the time, but teens/peers/"real" adults do not. Why? Why aren't I different? Why aren't I a freak anymore? Truth be told, I'd rather be a freak. I've grown up a freak and an outcast. It's what I know.

So maybe it's all in our heads. Maybe what we experiance now in our lives is a projection of residual feelings from growing up so different. Maybe I'm still so awkward now because I assume too much how people will react to me. Maybe I'm not giving people a fair shot. Or maybe I created a self fufiling prophicy. I don't know.

I'm not saying that ableism isn't alive and well, what I'm proposing is that since we are now mature "adults" we know better, and us AB gen Yers just no longer see the big deal. I hope I'm right. How cool would that be? I googled Gen Y. Some sites put us as a very narrow segment, but I found a somewhat consensus of people born between 1977 and 1989-97 (so let's say 93). We Gen Yers are 31-15.

To compare ableism to racism again, I hope most people would agree that Gen Yers are predominately not raceist. Of course some people will always be raceist, but we didn't grow up in a racially segregated world. Accepting peers of a different race is second nature. At least to me.
IDEA was passed in 1975 2 years before any Gen Yers were born. I hope we all started school mainstreamed/included, or at the very least, when appropriate, in a segregated classroom within a predominately regular education school. While I know services needed to be fought for us to be there, we were still there. We had just as much right as any AB kid to be there.

At 23, I'm smack dab in the middle of Gen Y. The ADA was passed when I was 5. I don't remember life without it. I can get into a movie theatre, or a mall, without it being an issue. Not all places are accessible, there are places down the street from me in older buildings that still have steps outside, but my point is, even though things still aren't perfect, I generally feel perfectly welcome to go about my merry way within society.

Maybe that's because my disability isn't severe. Maybe I'm in quite a good mood today and I'm idealizing society. Maybe if I came back to this severly depressed I'd think I wrote this on crack. I don't know...

We weren't hidden in someones back room or thrown away to institutions. Gen Yers didn't grow up in an abley segregated society. So maybe, like in the case of race, AB Gen Yers just don't know any different. Maybe it's second nature. I can hope.

Yes, as kids AB Gen Yers could be pretty cruel. Kids are still cruel to kids now. Kids are cruel to the disabled kid, the fat kid, the kid with bad acne, the poor kid without a lot of clothes, the socially awkward kid--AB or otherwise, for that matter, a popular kid who shows up at school with a bad haircut. Kids also stare at me, yes. But kids are equal opportunity bulliers. Anyone is fair game. Kids just have this thing with different. Maybe it's developmental? Am I saying that excuses such behavior? No. Kids need to be taught that it's just plain wrong to do such things.
But maybe people have done a good job at that. Like people like me. I used to talk to 3rd graders about my disability. Adults don't generally make fun of people who got a bad haircut (or so again I hope). So maybe when they reach a level of maturity where their brains develop enough to realize that staring and taunting is wrong and start accepting the guy with a bad haircut, they also accept all us gimps. I hope.

Or maybe I just hang around a university with intellectual people of a similar socioeconomic status. Maybe it's just that select segment of the population. Maybe things are different in other geographical regions or in areas with different level of education and socioeconomic status.
I hope not. Cause then as we begin to take over the county I'll start to really believe that I'm no longer an outcast.

Accessible/Universial Design: Somebody Actually Gets it!!!!! (WOOT)

I'm surprised that I haven't come on here and ranted and raved about the gym at all. You see, the gym was open even after finals were over, but then the Friday before summer school started was the last day that it was open--until further notice. They were doing "repairs." I went there the first week of summer school, found out, and left. Somehow I heard it was opening back up the following Monday. So that Tuesday I got in my Jazzy and sped over, only to be told by someone in campus rec to try back early next week. I had really been looking foward to a good 2mi run that day. . Instead of wasting my time changing and going over there, last week I got smart and called first. "Try early next week." AAARRRGGG. Seriously? Can't you tell me anything better then that? It had been so long since I'd gone for a good workout (my own fault) that I didn't know what I was going to do. Have a temper tantrum maybe? I NEED TO RUN!!! I was starting to lose faith that it was ever going to open back up.

So the other day I went on the campus rec site. It said it was opening up yesterday. I was still a tad bit skeptical, so yesterday morning I called again. "Will the gym be open today?" "Yes, yes, it will be open at noon" (regular summer hours). Insert happy dance.

I went today right after class. Trust me when I say that it was well worth the wait. When I got in there I parked my chair in my usual parking spot and then my mouth hung open. Nothing was "different." They hadn't done any repairs at all. But where was half the stuff? It was missing. Where did it go? All I saw was empty space. Huh???

It took a bit for it all to sink in. Wait a minute! The front desk is in a different spot... It's a new front desk... It's a lower front desk... The front desk is wheelchair height! I'm not a full-time wheeler, I don't work out in the chair ever. I always get out. But I can still appreciate the awesomeness that it was. And you know what? Now that the counter is lower, the desk attendant doesn't have to stand for the whole shift. There's a chair there. I'm sure they appreciate it. Why look at that... accessible design benefits everyone.

The first thing I always do when I work out is get on a recumbant bike. It loosens my bum knee enough so that it can do everything else I want it to do. They're upstairs and I'm always lazy and use the elevator to get up there. My Dr would rather I use the stairs I'm sure, but my view is that I'd rather save my energy for the workout, not waste it on the stairs. Hmmm... was there a bit more room to get to the corner where the elevator is?

Get off the elevator. WHOO... where did all the empty space come from up here? Well some absolute genius decided to turn all the cardio around so that they faced long ways instead of short ways. Now instead of 5 short rows of cardio machines there are 2 very long ones. Everything was so far apart. By shifting all of the machines 90 degrees it created so much more space. I counted the floor tiles. 3 tiles between the back of the first row and the front of the second row. I wish my eyes didn't suck. I wish my brain had the capacity to interperate distance. I wish I had even half a clue how big each tile that is. Minimal clearance under ADA guidelines is 36in. I'm pretty sure each of them is more then a foot. You have no idea how frustrated I am that I don't know.

Because they moved the cardio, they then had to relocate the 4 TVs they had up there. Before, when the machines were short ways the TVs were too small for anyone in the back to see them. With machines only 2 deep, everyone can see now. For those that are people watchers, instead of the machines facing a wall, they now face the balcony so that if you don't want to watch TV you're welcome to watch everyone lifting downstairs. There are mirrors on the wall directly behind where the cardio stuff is now. That's the area set up for sit-ups, push-ups, lunges, etc. Because the cardio's been moved, there's more room back there. What's that you say again? Accessible design really does benefit everyone. I'd like to note that there's still the same number of machines up there. They didn't get rid of any.

Then I went downstairs to lift. Why did they flip everything around so that the free weights are cloesest to the entrance and the machines are over at the other end now? *Lightbulb Moment* Full-time wheelers are less likely to transfer to machines to work out. Free weights and the 2 cable machines (I heart cable machines) are much easier to use from a chair. Putting them closer to the door makes them easiest to get to and puts you closer to the desk if you need assistance. And what does anyone else care? Nothing's missing over there either. As I walked through that area to get to a good spot to do my floor work, I tried to count all the floor tiles every time there was a change in distance between things. Some things were apart by 5 tiles, some 6, some so far apart I lost count. Oh HOLY COW is the clearance amazing over there now. If you're AB and hurt yourself and am hobbleing around on crutches, that doesn't mean you can't work out you upper body. All of that clearance makes it so much easier to hobble.

I did some floor work right between the free weights and the machines. After I got down, but before I got started, I scaned the area. Did they get rid of any of the machines to make that extra room? Everything was in a different spot. Where's this? Where's that? Well this is over here, and that's over there. All machines present and accounted for. Again they managed to make things more accessable without getting rid of a thing. All machines seem to be at least 36in at least on one side, if not both. Maybe I should take the chair for a spin to check that out for sure? The only machine completely inaccessible is the chin dip thingy. It's blocked by a support beam from the balcony. But no wheeler can get up on that thing. I can't get up on that thing.

Is the whole gym accessible? No. Besides the chin dip, the 2 very small rows of cardio downstairs are still rediculously close. But to seperate them would mean completely blocking all access to the elevator, or stealing clearance from the free weights. Leave them where they are. I'd rather have elevator access and extra clearance. There's enough cardio upstairs.

I've had more then a few gripes with this school through the years. There are things that they just don't get. Lately, people have made my blood boil a bit. This was nice to see for a change. Campus rec got a new director over the winter, and my understanding is that no one asked him to do this. My understanding is that they weren't reported or anything. My understanding is that this was one of his first orders of business. My understanding from talking with disability support is that he initiated everything. Can I get a cheerleader with pom poms in a short skirt who can jump high in the air and cheer? Somebody gets it finally. Accessible design benefits everyone and doesn't take all that much effort or money. The only new thing they got was the lower desk. And what's moving 4 TVs in the scheme of things?

If you live in Maryland

Now Accepting Applications
The Coordinating Center is accepting applications for the Leaders in Disability Policy program. This program is an excellent opportunity for individuals with disabilities and those who are passionate about disability policy to learn how the government works and to gain the skills needed to effectively address the policies that affect their lives and communities. The curriculum is designed to address the diverse issues that people with disabilities and their families care about and is applicable for individuals at all skill levels. Classes are held in accessible locations and accomodation needs will supported.

If you know of an individual, family member, or provider who would be interested in or benefit from this innovative program, please forward this information. You can find out more by visiting our website at http://www.bealeader.info.

Applications will be accepted until August 1, 2008.

Sponsors make this program possible
It is the generosity of our sponsors that ensures the continued success of Leaders in Disability Policy. Please let me know if you can recommend an individual or organization as a potential sponsor.

If you have any questions or need more information, do not hesitate to contact me.

Jodie Sumeracki
Program Manager
jsumeracki@coordinatingcenter.org

Leaders in Disability Policy
At The Coordinating Center
8258 Veterans Highway
Millersville, MD 21108
(410) 987-1048, Ext. 161
(410) 987-1685 (fax)

*Leaders in Disability Policy was intially funded through a grant from the Maryland Developmental Disabilities Council