[nfbmi-talk] and michigan is worse

Tue Nov 19 21:15:15 UTC 2013

In my opinion, apologies and expressions of regret don't make the grade for
non-compliance with the ADA and accessibility to programs, services, and
facilities by persons with disabilities.  Perhaps, just perhaps, cutting off
all federal funds will bring about compliance, and then likely only if it
eliminates the paycheck funding in positions of authority and the power to
make compliance reality.

For example, LARA director Steve Arwood and Deputy Director Mike Zimmer's
paycheck should be stopped until persons with disabilities can freely and
easily enter the north Ottawa building entrance designed in 1980 to permit
unemcumbered entrance to the state building where individuals should have a
shot at justice through the administrative hearing system.  Heck, in
Michigan, we don't even have the pleasure or honor, or should I say we even
lack the respect and dignity to even ring a second-class citizen bell.
Perhaps MPAS will sue for the bell.  Oh yeah, that's right, MPAS is busy
suing for the civil rights of dead persons!  We could sue Mr. Rodgers,
however to serve him the lawsuit complaint would be impossible, as he is
continuously out-of-state on taxpayer funded extended conference trips,
likely to avoid the media seeking his comment on stupidly planned services
for Tim Hortons, or to aboid service of process on a variety of law and
regulation violations, that unfortunately, do not benefit or serve the needs
of unemployed and under-employed blind citizens and clients.    

-----Original Message-----
From: nfbmi-talk [mailto:nfbmi-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of joe
harcz Comcast
Sent: Tuesday, November 19, 2013 1:29 PM
To: nfbmi-talk at nfbnet.org
Cc: BRIAN SABOURIN; Elmer Cerano MPAS; MARK CODY
Subject: [nfbmi-talk] and michigan is worse

Shoot are VR entities including BSBP and most CILs here aren't fully
accessible to the very people with disabilities they are to serve.

Joe Harcz
Disability studies meeting wasn't accessible to those with disabilities |
Inside Higher Ed

No Access

November 19, 2013

By

Megan Rogers

At a gathering for scholars interested in the intersection of health,
humanities and disabilities this weekend, a professor who uses a wheelchair
was asked

to ring a bell to gain access to the meeting.

William Peace, a visiting professor at Syracuse University, wrote in a

blog post

he hadn't seen a sign directing people to "ring bell for access"- which he
likened to "white only" signs - since the Americans with Disabilities Act
was

passed 23 years ago.

"Before the ADA was passed into law, I rang many such bells for access to
buildings. Half the time no one answered the bell. The other times after an
extended

wait someone would arrive to open the door," Peace wrote. "In short, I
quickly learned 'Ring bell for access' really meant there is no desire or
commitment

to wheelchair access."

The blog post has attracted considerable attention among disability
scholars, who report that they do regularly confront issues with
accessibility, but

that they expect better -- or should be able to expect better -- at meetings
that involve disability studies.

Peace's post elicited apologies from the president of Hobart and William
Smith Colleges, where the event was held, as well as from the organizers of
the

humanities, health and disabilities studies working group. The

group

is co-sponsored by the Central New York Humanities Corridor and the New York
Six Liberal Arts Consortium.

When Peace and Stephen Kuusisto, a professor of disability studies at
Syracuse University and honors program director, arrived at the working
group's meeting,

they first saw an "enter here" sign directly in front of a row of steps. The
pair navigated around the building to find a wheelchair accessible ramp,
Kuusisto

said, but when they entered the building they discovered more steps leading
to the meeting room.  They entered the meeting through a back entrance that

instructed them to ring a bell for access.

"These kinds of setbacks are so wearing and frustrating and humiliating that
it's hard to absorb," said Kuusisto. "The organizers of the conference are

well-meaning people and yet they were insufficiently mindful of ADA 101."

A spokeswoman from Hobart and William Smith Colleges released a statement on
Monday: "Hobart and William Smith Colleges regret the accessibility
challenges

faced by Professors Kuusisto and Peace. The conference organizers
immediately apologized and the president of Hobart and William Smith also
personally

expressed his regret. We remain committed to ensuring that our facilities
and programs are accessible to all members of the community. We have taken
immediate

steps to create more appropriate signage and to mitigate access issues."

Peace said the college has taken appropriate steps by issuing an apology and
he looks to see how the working group will make its meetings more inclusive.

Conference organizers did not respond to requests for comment. Peace said he
will only participate again if more scholars with disabilities are included

in the group.

But the incident is just one example of unequal access to higher education
facilities, Kuusisto said. He said he's never seen a lectern on a stage that

had a ramp, making the "passive assumption that nobody in a wheelchair would
be delivering a lecture." He also spoke of a university that has its student

disabilities office located in a basement with no emergency exit, which
would prevent those who used wheelchairs from exiting if the elevators
stopped

working. Peace said the issue of equal accommodations illustrates a larger
issue that higher education is not welcoming to scholars with disabilities.

 "Access is a problem. No thought is really put into cultivating professors
with a disability or students with a disability. And what happens is
disability

becomes a spectacle and it becomes a problem that has to be managed and
solved," Peace said. "What took place at Hobart and William Smith Colleges
was

a microcosm of what could happen at any place."

The ADA was passed almost 25 years ago, but those with disabilities must
continue to call ahead to make sure public and shared spaces will be
accommodating,

said Tammy Berberi, president of the Society for Disability Studies. She's
frustrated by colleges and universities that pay lip service to equal access

by insisting they'd like to offer equal access, but say they do not have the
resources to do so.

"The kind of accommodations we can make to benefit people with disabilities
would benefit everyone," said Berberi, an associate professor of French at
the

University of Minnesota at Morris. "Any one of us should be afforded access
to public and shared spaces."

She pointed to the Bodies of Work festival hosted by the University of
Illinois at Chicago as an example of an academic meeting that provides equal
access.

The festival provides an

accessibility manual

that outlines accessible travel to the conference, access to services
(including exhibitions, tour routes and lectures), access to amenities (such
as restrooms

and public phones) and empathetic and appropriate terminology. The Society
for Disability Studies also provides recommendations for presenters. The

recommendations

range from providing audio descriptions of all graphics to speaking at a
comfortable pace to allow for accurate American Sign Language interpretation
and

Communication Access Realtime Translation transcription.

Source:

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/11/19/disability-studies-meeting-was
nt-accessible-those-disabilities
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