NEWS BRIEFSAt AbilityMaine we are developing a special page for events, committee meetings, board meetings, etc. that are of interest to people with disabilities. The calendar link will still be on our site, but this special page will be specifically for disability related meetings and events. If you have items to add to this page, if you are a committee member who can provide dates for your meetings,or if you are planning an event, send items to Mainefun40@hotmail.com with CALENDAR in the subject line. We're always looking for news and information at Abilitymaine. If you have items you think we can use, send them to Mainefun40@hotmail.com with NEWS in the subject line. NewsBriefs This edition of News Briefs contains information on downloads of audio books, employing people with disabilities in the government, a workshop opportunity, sailing, and lots more! Do you know about HealthCareCoach? Measuring Transition Success: Shalom House Hope Awards Honors Leaders Richard Berman, Berman and Associates, will be honored with the Community Excellence Award for his smart growth projects that integrates affordable mixed housing into a community process. He is known for utilizing urban areas, rather than suburban sprawl. Some of his projects have included the redevelopment of the Long Creek Youth Development Center, now Brickhill, and Unity House in Portland. Berman received his Bachelor of Landscape Architecture and Masters Degrees from the University of Massachusetts and later completed independent study at Harvard Graduate School of Design and the Boston Architectural Center. The Shalom House Hope Awards are named after the organization’s founders Birger Johnson and Thor and Connie Korda, who with the help of others, spearheaded the first group home in Maine, which is now part of Shalom House’s nineteen properties and support services for people with serious mental illnesses. The event is free to the public, but reservations will be accepted by contacting the Development Department at Shalom House, 874-1080. Visit http://www.shalomhouseinc.org for additional agency information. Studies Expose Serious Challenges in Direct Care at Home The report on backup services can be found at The report on wages can be found at E E O C Moves to Stem Decline in Disabled Workforce "The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission plans to sponsor educational events and seminars aimed at reversing the steady decline in the number of federal employees with severe disabilities. The agency this week launched a special section on its Web site (http://www.eeoc.gov/initiatives/lead), where announcements and information on federal hiring of the disabled will be posted. The initiative -- Leadership for the Employment of Americans With Disabilities, or LEAD -- will be headed by EEOC Commissioner Christine M. Griffin…. People with severe disabilities have dropped to less than 1 percent of the full-time federal workforce, according to data released by the EEOC in June. Targeted disabilities include blindness, deafness, paralysis, mental retardation, mental illness, convulsive disorders, and distortion of limbs or the spine…. From fiscal 2001 to 2005, disabled federal employees left the government at more than twice the rate at which they were hired, the EEOC said. The EEOC said LEAD will try to increase awareness among federal hiring officials about the drop-off in employment of the disabled and educate agencies on how to use special rules to bring the disabled on board. LEAD also will seek to educate job applicants with severe disabilities on how to apply under the special rules. Focus groups will be set up with federal hiring officials, managers and experts to explore the issue of declining employment of the disabled, the EEOC said. The 1973 Rehabilitation Act banned discrimination against people with disabilities in federal hiring and required agencies to develop affirmative-action plans to hire and promote more people with disabilities." Between Me, You and Liberation: Starting a Group for Girls with Disabilities The creators of a groundbreaking program for girls with disabilities are hosting a 3-day intensive national workshop for women interested in learning more about how to build a gender-concious, disability proud, safe space for girls. This very interactive workshop will take you through everything you need to think about to start your own group for girls with disabilities including: recruitment curriculum development group dynamics capacity building and more! When: May 2007 (exact days to be announced) Where: Access Living of Metropolitan Chicago (one of the country's best known Centers for Independent Living) Cost: FREE ($500 stipend available to help you cover costs of attending) Only 12 participants accepted. It will be designed and facilitated by the co-coordinators of the Empowered Fe Fes (Fe Fes is slang for female), an ongoing group for girls with disabilities since 1999. The Fe Fes are best known for their award-winning movies about disability identity, bullying, and sexuality. Are you interested? Mobility Cup 2006 The regatta gives adaptive sailors a chance for serious competition, but is also a social event. In addition, organizers the Disabled Sailing Association of BC (DSA BC) also had a behind-the-scenes remit to further the cause of adaptive sailing by inspiring competitors to go home and introduce best practices in their local clubs, as well as engaging media coverage to raise the profile of adaptive sailing overall. Many people remain unaware that solo sailing is an option for people with all levels of disability, which is because of a variety of adaptive craft currently available. Furthermore, sailing is a truly inclusive accessible sport: participants are not segregated by the nature of their disability. It is also unusual in that participants are out of their wheelchairs - observing the line of empty wheelchairs lining the dock at an event of this nature is one of life's experiences. The Mobility Cup featured the Canadian-designed Martin 16 sloop, which allows joystick control. High-level quadriplegics used Sip 'n’ Puff interfaces connected to power assisted steering. People with varying levels of disability raced each other, and the best sailor won. “Sailing is a way of getting out an enjoying the sunshine and water, which is not readily available to someone in a wheelchair,” explained Zoltan Pegan, 48, of Budapest, “It’s an alternative way to get an adrenalin rush. “There was a pack coming in to the finish line. It’s more exciting to come in a very close second rather than to win by a lot. It’s good to win, but it’s exciting to have a close finish.” Countries represented included Canada, USA, Australia, New Zealand, Hungary and England. The Riot, a quarterly magazine for self advocates! You’re invited to read the October issue of The Riot! Download The Riot! as an adobe PDF document by clicking here: Download The Riot! as a Rich Text file: You can also download and read The Riot! by visiting our website click
here: Remember, if you have something to say about the Riot!, we’d love to
hear from you. Visit our website at We’d like to remind you that the current issue and back issues of
The Riot! are always available on our website at Contact us: The Spoken Alexandria Project is creating a free library of spoken word recordings, consisting of classics in the public domain and modern works (with permission). LibriVox: free audiobooks LibriVox volunteers record chapters of books in the public domain and release the audio files back onto the net (via podcast and catalog). Our goal is to make all public domain books available as free audio books. We are a totally volunteer, open source, free content, public domain project. http://www.librivox.org/ Potential changes to the Air Carrier Access Act October 8, 2006 "The act prohibits discrimination against passengers who have a disability. The U.S. Department of Transportation, charged with implementing it, is re-evaluating some of its regulations. The goal, agency spokesman Bill Mosley said, is to update the act and clarify it, because amendments and new interpretations had made it a patchwork. The department issued its proposed new rules in late 2004 and then accepted comments and suggestions; a final set of regulations will be published as soon as possible, Mosley said. One suggested change proposes that owners of large guide dogs whose animals couldn't fit under the seat be offered several options — moving to another available seat that could accommodate the passenger and dog, buying a second seat, taking another flight or putting the dog in cargo hold. Mosley emphasizes that buying another seat is simply an option. "Airlines cannot require you to pay," he said. Kimberly Riddle, also from the agency, gave more details. "The airline cannot force a passenger to transport a service animal in the cargo hold. However, if the service animal will not fit under the seat or a collection of seats in the cabin [and the passenger hasn't bought a separate seat], the animal must be removed from the airline cabin. FAA rules require that items of mass be stowed safely. This includes service animals." Some of the other proposed changes are also triggering debate from the traveling public. The airline industry is protesting the increased costs of implementing the changes. … The department is evaluating the input from the industry and the public. (To read comments, go to dms.dot.gov, click on "Simple Search" and enter Docket No. 19482. [There are also new proposed] rules on accessibility for wheelchair air passengers, Organizations such as the Guide Dogs for the Blind and the National Assn. of the Deaf are among those that have submitted comments and protests. [Said Michael Hingson,] a spokesman for the San Rafael, Calif.-based Guide Dogs for the Blind which opposes the proposal’s provisions about the cargo hold and buying an extra seat, "The allergy issue keeps coming up but a guide dog and a traveler who suffers from allergies can be seated far enough apart so it's not an issue. Dr. Marc Riedl, an allergist and assistant professor of allergy and immunology at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine [said,] … "There may be exceptions to that, especially if the air circulating system is poor or if the patient is extremely sensitive to the allergen."… The proposed new rules also seek to increase accommodations for hearing-impaired passengers by requiring U.S. and foreign carriers to caption all safety and informational videos on aircraft. On new planes, it would require captions on entertainment videos, DVDs and other audiovisual displays. Carriers must be sure that those with a visual or hearing impairment have access to the same safety and other information as everyone else, the rule says. The National Assn. of the Deaf, among other organizations, has submitted comments backing the new rules that require more accessibility. But the Air Transport Assn., the trade organization of the principal U.S. airlines, does not support the proposed new rules. In comments filed with the
Department of Transportation, the organization contends that the agency "has conflated civil rights with customer service matters that it should leave
to the competitive marketplace."
The association reasons that many of the new rules would burden air carriers, many of which are already struggling with financial problems.
In the comments to the department, the airline industry organization said the agency had underestimated the costs of adding the suggested accessibility
improvements." |