Hi all!

Found this in my files.  While it's slightly outdated, I still thought 
it was worth reading.

Later-Gary


---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sun, 29 Aug 2004 09:11:50 -0400 (EDT)
From: [log in to unmask]
Reply-To: [log in to unmask]
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [DGV] Halting Progress for the Disabled

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The Disability Grapevine Online Newspaper: Issue #37
Sunday, August 29, 2004
Year 5
http://www.disabilitygrapevine.com
****The Number One Daily Newspaper for People with Disabilities****
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Title of Article:
Halting Progress for the Disabled

Submitted By: Catherine Alfieri
7 Summer Tree
Pittsford, NY 14534
585-586-1682
Founder:
Monroe County Women's Disability Network
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http://www.mcwdn.org
VirtEd
http://www.mcwdn.org/VirtEd2.html
RochEd Online
http://www.mcwdn.org/Roch/RochEd.html
"See with your heart, Speak with your heart!"

Written By:
Albert R. Hunt
Wall Street Journal
Page A13

Article:
Even trite clichés occasionally are on the mark; today, for 53 million
disabled Americans the glass of life is both half-full and half-empty.

A survey this summer by Harris Interactive of Americans with disabilities
is disquieting: Only a little over one-third reported being employed, a much
higher percentage than non-disabled say they face inadequate health care or
transportation or are less likely to eat out or attend religious services,
and a majority express dissatisfaction with their lives. The political
progress of the '90s seems to have slowed and some large corporations, such
as Wal-Mart, have abysmal records.

Yet accessibility to transportation, education and even employment has
improved around the country. Advocates for the disabled say slow progress is
being made with small businesses and some large corporations, such as
Microsoft, which has worked assiduously to make its software accessible, and
Verizon, get high marks.

This dichotomy springs from the promise of the landmark 1990 Americans
with Disabilities Act (ADA). It doesn't surprise Andy Imparato, head of the
American Association of People with Disabilities. "It's useful to think of
the ADA in two phases," he notes. "One is bricks and mortars;
transportation, budget and telecommunications all are essentially more
accessible. These are very tangible ways in which the ADA has enabled more
disabled people to participate in society. But the rest is attitudinal; we
still have a long way to go with how people think. We need much more
dialogue, public education and positive experiences."

This underscores the stakes in this year's presidential race. The ADA was
pushed and signed into law by George Herbert Walker Bush in 1990 --
overriding the objections of his chief of staff; he is a hero to many with
disabilities. His son inexplicably has shown little interest in the issue
and through executive actions and judicial appointments threatens to roll
back much of his father's top domestic legacy.

That would be tragic. The ADA has made America a much better place. Just
look around and notice how differently those with disabilities are treated
compared to a decade ago. (I have two sons, one of whom is disabled; the
other was a CNN intern at last month's Democratic convention; two of his
fellow interns were deaf.)

Politically, the picture is mixed. In Congress, support for the disabled
crosses party lines. There is no more important champion than Ted Kennedy,
and there are Republican supporters like John McCain, not surprisingly, but
also staunch conservatives such as Congressman Pete Sessions in the House
and Orrin Hatch in the Senate. Yet the GOP-run House leadership recently
blocked a bill to provide more health-care services for lower income
families with disabled children because it wasn't financed with offsetting
budget cuts, an issue it ignored when a big tax cut for special interests
sailed through.

Some of the most notable champions are on the local level, including
America's most notable Democratic and Republican mayors -- Chicago's Richard
Daley and New York's Michael Bloomberg. Mayor Daley has vowed to make
Chicago "the most accessible city in the nation." His Disabilities office is
cabinet rank and no politician has worked more effectively with a sometimes
skeptical business community than Rich Daley. There are 149 Chicago schools
that are accessible today up from almost none when Mayor Daley took office.

In New York, advocates say, Michael Bloomberg was that city's first mayor
to really reach out to those with disabilities. He has increased the number
of accessible taxicabs, made numerous buildings and sidewalks more
accessible and pushed career exploration and job-shadowing programs.

But there are other state and local officials as bad as Messrs. Daley and
Bloomberg are good. At the top of that list is the newly elected governor of
Mississippi, Haley Barbour. Facing a budget squeeze, the former Republican
Party chair, and tobacco lobbyist, rejected measures like increasing the
state's small cigarette tax and instead is slashing Medicaid benefits for
poorer Mississippians. For thousands of disabled, this means a reduction in
prescription drug benefits and access to necessary medical care and a loss
of transportation services to those who need it.

These cuts will be devastating for people like Traci Alsup, a 36-year-old
Jackson, Miss., quadriplegic. She's scheduled to lose her prescription drug
coverage, amounting to about $800 a month or just about what she gets from
disability payments; she'd face additional expenses from any hospitalization
and for her wheelchair. This would necessitate giving up her inexpensive
apartment and having to move back to a nursing home: "I am full of anxiety
and I'm depressed. This isn't right."

In the presidential race, John Kerry hasn't said much -- there was no
mention in his Boston acceptance speech -- and George W. Bush has been a
disaster. Cutbacks in health care and housing proposed by the White House
disproportionately affect those with disabilities. Five years ago the
government set a goal to dramatically increase the number of disabled
federal employees; there are less today than when this president first took
office. Tragically, he has choked off promising research with embryonic stem
cells that eventually could profoundly affect many disabilities.

Mr. Bush rarely uses the presidential bully pulpit for public dialogue or
education. "This White House considers us a nuisance, too high maintenance,"
says one leading disabilities advocate.

Bush judicial nominees, like Jeffrey Sutton and William Pryor, are openly
hostile to the Americans with Disabilities Act, following the lead of
Antonin Scalia; the Supreme Court justice, from the bench, refers to people
with disabilities as "handicaps," and belittles the notion they have basic
rights. The High Court has eroded some of the ADA and on 5-to-4 votes
narrowly upheld other parts. Many legal analysts believe that with any
vacancies filled by Scalia wannabes the court may well gut the act.

If you're blind, deaf or in a wheelchair, the stakes on Nov. 2 are
enormous.
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