I am reposting this as the current postitng is not readable.

The President's stimulus package contains $200 million for the Independent
Living Centers nationwide to help make people with disabilities more
independent. A problem arises because the political stratification of the
independent living movement.  Disabilities with the most political power
will likely get the biggest share of that $200 million.  The nature of
certain disabilities enables them to be better organized and to be allotted
a far greater proportion of the available resources than their percentage of
the population would dictate. 
I urge the Obama administration to stipulate that the $200 million will be
distributed proportionally based on population. My particular concern is for
the 1-2 million Americans with speech disabilities and their need for such
things as training to use the national telephone assistance service
federally mandated for them (see www.speechtospeech.org). They also need a
national network of trained interpreters (called re-voicers)who can help
others understand garbled speech in face to face situation such as medical
and business appointments. The deaf population was able to establish such an
interpreter network because of their superior political organization.    
The Obama Administration must protect those segments of the disabled
population that cannot adequately represent themselves in the distribution
of this $200 million.  

Bob Segalman PhD

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