President signs hate crimes bill into law

President Barack Obama signed an expanded hate crimes bill into law Wednesday making it a federal offense to commit a crime against a person based on their disability. The law entitled the Matthew Shepard-James Byrd Hate Crimes Prevention Act, expands current hate crimes law to include violence based on gender, sexual orientation, gender identity and disability. The law is named after two murder victims from 1998 who were targeted for attack because of bigotry. Federal law already includes protections for crimes committed based on race, color, religion or national origin.

President Obama Stated, “No one in America should ever be afraid to walk down the street holding the hands of the person they love. No one in America should be forced to look over their shoulder because of who they are or because they live with a disability. At root, this isn't just about our laws; this is about who we are as a people. This is about whether we value one another -- whether we embrace our differences, rather than allowing them to become a source of animus.”

Quoting President Johnson from when he signed civil rights legislation into law in 1968, Obama said that "the bells of freedom ring out a little louder," when he signed the Act into law.

“You understood that we must stand against crimes that are meant not only to break bones, but to break spirits -- not only to inflict harm, but to instill fear,” Mr. Obama said, “You understand that the rights afforded every citizen under our Constitution mean nothing if we do not protect those rights -- both from unjust laws and violent acts. And you understand how necessary this law continues to be. “

People with disabilities are 50 percent more likely to experience nonfatal violent crime than those without disabilities, according to a Justice Department study released in early October. The study found that about one in five crime victims with disabilities believe their disability was the reason they were targeted.

Help End Institutional Bias

Join your fellow disability advocates for a second national Day of Advocacy this Thursday,
October 8 to ensure the CFC Option and the CLASS Act make it into the final health care reform bill.

You can call using this toll-free number: 866-324-0787. A switchboard operator will connect you directly with the Senate office you request.

In addition to calling your two Senators, the following Senators are influential in the processes of
merging the legislation, and our message must reach them:

• Jeff Bingaman, New Mexico


• John F. Kerry, Massachusetts


• Blanche L. Lincoln, Arkansas


• Ron Wyden, Oregon


• Charles E. Schumer, New York


• Bill Nelson, Florida


• Robert Menendez, New Jersey

I strongly support the Community First Choice Option and the CLASS Act as a part of
the final healthcare bill in the Senate. I urge the Senator to please support both of these
priorities for people with disabilities as the Senate Finance and HELP Committees merge their bills.

Background:

The Community First Choice (CFC) Option was proposed by Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) as a way to get
the key provisions of the Community Choice Act (CCA) in the healthcare reform bill. The option would
encourage states to provide Medicaid home and community based attendant services (rather than require them
as the CCA would do). The CFC Option would be a major step in helping to end Medicaid's institutional bias.
The CFC Option is included in the Senate Finance Committee's healthcare reform bill.

The Community Living Assistance Services and Supports (CLASS) Act (also called the CLASS Plan) would create
a national voluntary long term care insurance program. It was developed to help people better prepare for their
long term care needs and to help take pressure off of the Medicaid program. The CLASS Act is in the Health,
Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee's version of the healthcare reform bill. The CLASS plan would reduce the
federal deficit by an estimated $58 billion.

Whether the CFC option and the CLASS Act make it into the final Senate health care reform bill is up to us. The time to act is now!

Community First Choice Update & Action

Please contact your Senators and let them know that you support the Community First Choice Option in the Senate Finance Committee bill, and that it is critical that it be kept in the final version approved by the Senate. It is also important to thank those who have made this possible. Senator Baucus (MT) and David Schwartz (from the Senate Finance staff) were crucial in making this happen. NCIL also appreciates the efforts of Senator Schumer (D-NY) for submitting the CFC Option Amendment and Senator Harkin, our Senate champion who has tirelessly fought to eliminate the institutional bias. Call and thank them!

You can call using this toll-free number: 866-324-0787. A switchboard operator will connect you directly with the Senate office you request.

The Exact Language of the Amendment:

To Accept with Modification Schumer Amendment #C13:

On page 50, at the end of the Long Term Services and Supports section

Insert - The Chairman’s Mark would establish the Community First Choice Option, which would create a state plan option under section 1915 of the Social Security Act to provide community based attendant supports and services to individuals with disabilities who are Medicaid eligible and who require an institutional level of care. These services and supports include assistance to individuals with disabilities in accomplishing activities of daily living and health related tasks. States who choose the Community First Choice Option would be eligible for enhanced federal match rate of an additional six percentage points for reimbursable expenses in the program. The option would sunset after five years.

-The Community First Choice Option also would require data collection to help determine how states are currently providing home and community based services, the cost of those services, and whether states are currently offering individuals with disabilities who otherwise qualify for institutional care under Medicaid the choice to instead receive home and community based services, as required by the U.S. Supreme Court in Olmstead v. L.C. (1999).

- The Community First Choice Option would also modify the Money Follows the Person Rebalancing Demonstration to reduce the amount of time required for individuals to qualify for that program to 90 days.

URGENT ACTION ALERT: PASS THE COMMUNITY FIRST CHOICE AMENDMENT!

This is huge news!

New York Senator Schumer introduced the Community First Choice amendment to the Senate Finance Committee's health care reform! The next step is to urge the Committee to pass the amendment.

The Community First Choice (CFC) Option has been included in the Chairman's Mark. This means that the CFC Option amendment offered by Senator Schumer is incorporated into the Senate Finance Committee bill and won't need to be debated or approved by the Committee.

Please contact your Senators and let them know that you support this language and that it is critical they keep it in the final version they approve. You can call using this toll-free number: 866-324-0787. A switchboard operator will connect you directly with the Senate office you request.

Now, we need to call on our friends and family across the country to contact their Senators and urge them to support the amendment. Have them call their senator using this script.

****************

Script:

"I support the Community First Choice amendment to the Senate's health care bill, and I want Senator [name] to help keep it in the final version! Everyone should have a choice to get home care and not be stuck in a nursing facility."

[If asked what the amendment does, here is more information] The amendment would give states increased federal Medicaid matching funds for providing attendant services and supports as an alternative to nursing facilities and institutions.

A recent study by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, found that home care costs taxpayers $44,000 a year less than a nursing home stay

****************

You can call the Senate switchboard using this toll-free number: 866-324-0787. A switchboard operator will connect you directly with the Senate office you request.

Bad Access Flickr group

Have pictures of bad accessibility? Want to show the world? Share photos and info about poor accessibility in your community. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) has been around for almost twenty years, but many places still have bad access. If we can't laugh about it, we might cry... share your photos and frustrations about ridiculous access. Check out the Flickr bad access group.

From Alabama Live (July 28, 2009):
Arrested in silence: Police use Taser, pepper spray on deaf man
By ROBERT McCLENDON and MARK R. KENT

Mobile, AL police used pepper spray and a Taser on a deaf and mentally disabled man Friday after they were unable to get him to come out of a bathroom at a Dollar General store, authorities said. After forcibly removing Antonio Love from the bathroom of the Azalea Road store, officers attempted to book the 37-year-old, on charges of resisting arrest, disorderly conduct and failure to obey a police officer, but the magistrate on duty at the jail refused to accept any of those charges......Police were called to the store at 12:22 p.m...When the officers arrived, they pounded on the door but got no answer, Bagsby said. They pounded again. No answer. Love...said he was in the bathroom because he was sick to his stomach. "I wait and sit toilet," Love's note read. "I think about someone try break door. I hold door hard." At that point, Bagsby said, the officers saw movement from under the door, indicating that there was someone inside. They then shot pepper spray under the door...
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Accessible Gardens

Planting seeds: Accessible gardens available for people with disabilities
Ron Hornsby demonstartes the tools and beds used at the Cache Community Garden in Hyde Park on Monday. (Meegan M. Reid/Herald Journal)
Published:
Wednesday, August 5, 2009 3:12 AM CDT
Arie Kirk Community gardens are places where locals can grow food and harvest friendships but Kate Stephens said often times, those gardens are not easily accessible to people with physical disabilities. For local residents that have physical limitations, members of the Utah Conservation Corps have changed that by constructing table top gardens, raised gardens and adaptive gardening tools available for use at the Cache Valley Community Garden.“This garden was designed with accessibility in mind so that people with disabilities, who represent about 20 percent of the population, can come out and be a part of the community garden so it’s truly representative of everyone in the community,” said Stephens, assistant director of Utah Conservation Corps. Located on about two acres of land west of the Saint Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church in Hyde Park, the community garden features accessible gardens that were completed and ready for use this spring, Stephens said.

Designed to look like a native Utah orchid from an aerial view, the accessible gardens feature nine raised beds, two table top gardens, five transfer sit-down beds and hardened pathways, said Utah Conservation Corps member Luke Leclair-Marzolf. As Ron Hornsby worked in a raised garden Monday, he said, “I’m able to weed the garden, plant the garden, harvest the garden from my wheelchair. And down on the ground like that, that’s a little difficult, can do it but it’s uncomfortable and hard.” “And for some people, it’s impossible,” Stephens added.“Exactly,” Hornsby said. “And I’m very fortunate that I can get out of my chair. Some people cannot so they have a very difficult time trying to do their gardening. Gardening is work and, often times, hard work and for people in a wheelchair; they’re a little bit restricted.” Hornsby then began working on a bed that has tiled seating. Transferring from his wheelchair to a seat, he inspected the tomatoes, rhubarb, peas and cabbage that are growing in the plot.Cache Valley Community Garden opened two years ago. In respect to the accessible gardens, Stephens said they spent the first summer developing tools and some raised gardens. There are now 25-30 accessible plots. To have a plot, Stephens said there is a nominal fee.Over time, Stephens said about 40 people, including Conservation Corps members and community volunteers, have helped develop the area. The Utah Conservation Corps inclusive crew, which currently has eight members, was the driving force behind the adaptive gardens. Stephens said half of the group have physical disabilities which makes the group one of the first, if not the first, to have an inclusive crew.“The neat thing I guess about all of this is it’s an accessible garden that was designed by people with disabilities for people with disabilities so people with disabilities have been a part of the process from start to finish,” she said. The gardens may be ready for planting or already growing, but the crew still has plans to broaden its accessibility. Crew leader Quintin Williams said they are considering putting Braille signs in the garden. In addition to the basic gardening hand tools, Leclair-Marzolf said they also offer an adaptive wheelchair that works well in rough terrain. To raise awareness and encourage public use of the accessible gardens, Utah Conservation Corps is hosting a workshop Friday, Aug. 7 at the garden. Williams said they are hoping the workshop will be educational and also get people to the Cache Valley Community Garden.From 9 to 10 a.m. there will be a class about accessible gardening and the available tools. Afterward, from 10 a.m. to noon, attendees will be able to work in the gardens.Stephens said they will plant fall crops Friday. Hornsby said these could include lettuce or broccoli but will depend on who comes and what they’d like to plant. Hornsby will be one of the instructors at the workshop. Williams said the garden “gives community members an opportunity to serve and get involved and kind of see what they are capable of.” Members of the inclusive crew agreed the project has proved to be a learning experience for all who participated. “Even I, who have lived in the community of people with disabilities for a long time, had no idea what it was like for a wheelchair user or someone with limited mobility so it’s definitely been a learning experience for everybody involved, not just those with disabilities ... everybody comes to the table with something to offer and that’s sort of the whole joy of the project,” Williams said. Crew member Zak Young said working on the gardens has made him realize how much people take for granted every day. Having a crew that included people with physical disabilities also offered a much-needed perspective in the creation of the gardens and tools, he said. “It’s not just people with disabilities that we have. We’ve included people of diverse abilities in this crew and so I think those of us who are not disabled have learned so much,” he said. Even for new crew members, the accessible gardens have made an impression. Dan Varela, whose first day in the gardens was Monday, said, “I think it’s an amazing idea.”