"New Freedom Initiative 2004 Progress Report"

The White House has issued a report on progress regarding
President Bush's New Freedom Initiative.

The full text of the report is available at:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/newfreedom/toc-2004.html

The report covers technology, education, employment, and
promoting full access to community life.  The Executive
Summary is reproduced below.

Jonathan Young
JFA Moderator, AAPD

============================

The 2004 Progress Report: The President's New Freedom
Initiative for People with Disabilities

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

INTRODUCTION

Announced in February 2001, the New Freedom Initiative is
President George W. Bush's bold plan to tear down the
remaining barriers to full integration into American life
that many of this Nation's 54 million citizens with
disabilities still face. This Progress Report highlights
accomplishments under the New Freedom Initiative since the
issuance of the May 2002 Progress Report.

INCREASING ACCESS THROUGH TECHNOLOGY

Assistive and universally designed technology offers people
with disabilities better access than ever before to
education, the workplace, and community life. To promote
the development and dissemination of technology for
individuals with disabilities, the President has:

* Secured $120 million over three fiscal years (FY 2002
through FY 2004) to promote the development of assistive
and universally designed technology and to fund alternative
financing programs, such as low-interest, long-term loans
to put technology into the hands of more people with
disabilities;

* Created a working group of Federal agencies that
developed strategies for improving access to assistive
technology mobility devices (i.e., wheelchairs and
scooters);

* Established DisabilityInfo.gov, a web portal providing
information about the array of Federal programs that affect
people with disabilities; and

* Promoted full implementation of Section 508 of the
Rehabilitation Act, which requires that electronic and
information technology purchased, maintained, and used by
the Federal government be readily accessible to and usable
by individuals with disabilities.

Inspired by the vision of the New Freedom Initiative,
agencies did the following to further promote access to
technology for people with disabilities:

* Secretary of Commerce Donald Evans announced an eight-
point plan to promote the development of assistive and
universally designed technology nationally and
internationally.

* The Department of Defense significantly expanded its
Computer/Electronic Accommodations Program (CAP), which now
provides assistive technology for employees with
disabilities in 58 agencies.

EXPANDING EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES FOR YOUTH WITH
DISABILITIES

A quality education is critical to ensure that individuals
with disabilities can work and fully participate in their
communities. The President has done the following to ensure
that no child with a disability is left behind by our
Nation's education system:

* Secured more than $3.7 billion in additional annual
funding for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
Part B State Grants program since FY 2001 (for a total of
nearly $10.1 billion in FY 2004), and proposed an increase
of $1 billion in FY 2005; and

* Established the President's Commission on Excellence in
Special Education, which issued a report in July 2002
emphasizing, among other things, the importance of
accountability under the No Child Left Behind Act for the
educational outcomes of students with disabilities.

Additionally, agencies are advancing the New Freedom
Initiative's goal of ensuring a quality education for youth
with disabilities.

* The Department of Education, alone and in collaboration
with other agencies, has recently funded a number of grants
and studies to determine what strategies best enable
students with disabilities to access the general education
curriculum and what kinds of early interventions promote
the best results for students with disabilities.

* Several agencies have supported activities that reach out
to youth with disabilities who are making the transition
from high school education to other life goals, including
post-secondary education and work.

INTEGRATING AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES INTO THE WORKFORCE

More than a decade after passage of the Americans with
Disabilities Act, the unemployment rate of people with
severe disabilities remains stubbornly high. To bring more
people with disabilities into the workplace, the President
has:

* Secured $20 million for a fund to help individuals with
disabilities purchase technology needed to telework;

* Continued to support a proposal that would exclude from
an employee's taxable income the value of computers,
software, and other equipment provided for telecommuting;

* Ensured implementation of the landmark "Ticket to Work"
program, so that Social Security and Supplemental Security
Income (SSI) disability beneficiaries who want to work can
choose their own employment related services;

* Promoted vigorous enforcement of the ADA and challenged
Federal agencies to do innovative outreach to employers,
particularly small businesses; and

* Secured funding for a number of demonstration projects
aimed at removing disincentives to work that currently
exist in the Social Security and SSI disability benefit
system.

Federal agencies have also undertaken the following
activities to promote increased employment opportunities
for people with disabilities:

* The Department of Labor and other agencies have worked to
improve the capacity of community One-Stop Career Centers
to provide employment-related services to people with
disabilities.

* The Department of Labor and the Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission are each working to promote employer
best practices for the hiring and retention of qualified
individuals with disabilities.

* The Office of Personnel Management and other Federal
agencies have worked to promote the Federal government as a
model employer of people with disabilities.

* Several agencies have complemented outreach efforts to
employers with outreach to people with disabilities,
educating them about their rights and responsibilities
under the ADA as future employees.

PROMOTING FULL ACCESS TO COMMUNITY LIFE

The Supreme Court's decision in Olmstead v. L.C., 527 U.S.
581 (1999), said that, wherever possible, people with
disabilities should be provided services in the community,
rather than in institutions. For the promise of full
integration into the community to become a reality, people
with disabilities need safe and affordable housing, access
to transportation, access to the political process, and the
right to enjoy whatever services, programs, and activities
are offered to all members of the community at both public
and private facilities. The President has done the
following to promote full integration of individuals with
disabilities into the community:

* Issued an Executive Order calling for swift
implementation of Olmstead, which resulted in a report
identifying barriers to full integration that exist in
Federal programs and proposing more than 400 solutions for
removal of these barriers;

* Proposed a budget increase of $2.2 billion over the next
five years for the Department of Health and Human Services
to fund demonstration projects that promote community-based
services for people with disabilities;

* Proposed $918 million over six years to remove
transportation barriers still faced by individuals with
disabilities;

* Established the New Freedom Commission on Mental Health,
which issued a report recommending ways to improve
America's mental health care delivery system; and

* Secured $15 million under the Help America Vote Act to
improve access to voting for people with disabilities.

Agencies have also done or are doing the following to
advance the goal of full integration of people with
disabilities into the community:

Implementation of Olmstead

* Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson
established the Office on Disability to coordinate
disability programs across HHS agencies.

* The Department of Health and Human Services has awarded
nearly $160 million in Real Systems Change Grants since
2001 to support community-based services for people with
disabilities.

* In FY 2003, the Department of Health and Human Services'
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services funded a $6
million demonstration grant that enables state and
community-based providers to test new strategies for
recruiting, training, and retaining direct service workers.

* The Departments of Justice and Health and Human Services
have entered into an agreement under which HHS refers
Olmstead-related complaints to DOJ's ADA mediation program.
To date, several complaints have been successfully
mediated.

Housing

* Thirty percent of the families participating in the
Department of Housing and Urban Development's home
ownership voucher program include family members with
disabilities.

* During FY 2003, the Department of Housing and Urban
Development trained more than 1,500 housing professionals
under its Fair Housing Accessibility FIRST initiative,
which helps architects and builders to design and construct
apartments and condominiums with legally required
accessibility features.

* The Department of Housing and Urban Development has
funded grants to enable older individuals and individuals
with disabilities to remain in their homes and live
independently in their communities.

* The Department of Justice has vigorously enforced the
Fair Housing Act, filing fifteen lawsuits during the past
two years against developers, architects, and civil
engineers who designed inaccessible multi-family housing,
and resolving another fifteen cases through consent
decrees.

Transportation

* The Department of Transportation's Bureau of
Transportation Statistics issued a report, entitled
"Freedom to Travel," based on the first national survey of
the views of people with disabilities about transportation.

* The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
(NHTSA) recently issued a Final Rule regulating platform
lifts and their installation in new motor vehicles.

* Since the inception of its Job Access and Reverse Commute
Program, the Department of Transportation has funded over
200 state and local grantees in 44 states to provide new
employment transportation services for low-income persons,
including persons with disabilities.

* The Departments of Transportation, Education, Labor, and
Health and Human Services are sponsoring "United We Ride,"
a five-part initiative to assist states and communities in
coordinating human service transportation.

Improving Access

* The Solicitor General intervened in the Supreme Court
case of Tennessee v. Lane to defend the constitutionality
of Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act as
applied to state governments.

* The Department of Justice has reached 36 agreements with
towns and cities under "Project Civic Access," an effort to
ensure that towns and cities across America are fully
accessible to people with disabilities.

* In 2003, the Department of Justice has achieved favorable
action for persons with disabilities in well over 350
matters.

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