[nfbmi-talk] will there be braille on his room?

joe harcz Comcast joeharcz at comcast.net
Sat Mar 22 12:53:32 UTC 2014


These appointments are very important to many NFB initiatives. For example 
this agency sets standards for things like web access and this would be the 
agency delegated to develop standards for access under the TEACH ACT.

Now, given past experience of Mr. Cannon on not implementing existing 
standards in this state which haunt us to this day I think it is a very 
poor, and simply political choice.

By the way and not to rehash the Detectable Warning debate they are the 
required accommodation under the Federal Highway Administration Regulations 
and thus the law of this land and have been so since 2002.

If properly spaced and installed and in accordence with the requirements of 
the ADAAG then they do not pose issues for those with orthopedic conditions. 
I know and am friends with many wc users who did have concerns and who did 
have input to the process which again eliminated those concerns. The rub, of 
course as always is in the proper attention to the requirements in the 
field. The goofballs at MDOT, for example have difficulties in building a 
proper curb cut, let alone in following the DT requirements.

Again though if properly spaced wheelchair users have no issues.

Oh and by the way as we all know Cannon did not follow, or enforce other 
aspects of the ADA and the ADAAG even in the Victor Office Building and that 
includes required accommodations for wheelchair users. Bathrooms had severe 
issues and even the mounting height and other elements in the elevator were 
non-complient. Those were but two issues and he was also the state ADA 
coordiator at the time.

In fact several state owned buildings had severe compliance issues as 
denoted in the bbelated 2008 DTMB survey which in itself is partially 
innaccessable to screen reader users as the check marks are image based.

Now, so-called State ADA Compliance officer Sharon Alton Ellis, another 
political hack is supposedly looking in to this.

But, wait, an ADA transition Plan was to have been thoroughly conducted 
identifying barriers as of January 26, 1992 (the implementing date of ADA, 
Title II regulations), and all barriers to program access were to have been 
removed by no later than January 26, 1995, the 5th Anniversary of the ADA.

The fact that literally thousands of barriers exist even in state owned 
buildings to this day which are documented in the DTMB survey, as bad as it 
was, leads me to one logical conclusion. That is: The State of Michigan is a 
willful scofflaw to the fundamental civil rights of people with physical and 
sensory disabilities including those, of course, like us who are blind.

Access is a fundamental civil right. And we've still got even restrooms, let 
alone other rooms where a blind person cannot independently and upon first 
instant identify it though those requirements have been regulated for more 
than twenty plus years?

It's a civil rights outrage! And goes to wilful indifference and malicious 
discrimination by both Democrats and Republicans in this scofflaw state.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Christine Boone" <christineboone2 at gmail.com>
To: "NFB of Michigan Internet Mailing List" <nfbmi-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, March 21, 2014 4:17 PM
Subject: Re: [nfbmi-talk] will there be braille on his room?


It will be alright as long as he does not make any suggestions.

Wasn't it enough that he endangered the lives and safety of thousands of 
older and orthopedically disabled persons by bringing us the truncated 
domes?  You know, those dreadful bumps on the sidewalks that cause havoc for 
anyone with an orthopedic or balance issue, while helping blind persons not 
at all?

On Mar 21, 2014, at 1:54 PM, joe harcz Comcast <joeharcz at comcast.net> wrote:

> Yup, Pat is back....
> President Obama Announces More Key Administration Posts
>
>
>
> By
>
> Newsroom America Feeds
>
> at 20 Mar 17:57
>
>
>
> WASHINGTON, DC – Today, President Barack Obama announced his intent to 
> appoint the following individuals to key Administration posts:
>
> Patrick D. Cannon – Member, Architectural and Transportation Barriers 
> Compliance Access Board Howard A. Rosenblum – Member, Architectural and 
> Transportation
>
> Barriers Compliance Access Board Deborah A. Ryan – Member, Architectural 
> and Transportation Barriers Compliance Access Board Gary Blumenthal – 
> Member,
>
> National Council on Disability Ari Ne’eman – Member, National Council on 
> Disability Clyde E. Terry – Member, National Council on Disability
>
>
>
> President Obama said, “I am grateful that these impressive individuals 
> have chosen to dedicate their talents to serving the American people at 
> this important
>
> time for our country.  I look forward to working with them in the months 
> and years ahead.”
>
>
>
> President Obama announced his intent to appoint the following individuals 
> to key Administration posts:
>
>
>
> Patrick D. Cannon, Appointee for Member, Architectural and Transportation 
> Barriers Compliance Access Board
>
> Patrick D. Cannon was State Director of the Michigan Commission for the 
> Blind, a position he held from 1997 to 2012.  He was also President of the 
> National
>
> Council of State Agencies for the Blind, and previously served as Director 
> of the Michigan Commission on Disability Concerns for 10 years.  He has 
> served
>
> as Vice-Chair of the Board of Directors of the Capital Area Transportation 
> Authority in Lansing, Michigan since 1991.  In 1995, he was appointed to 
> the
>
> Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Access Board, where 
> he served two terms as a public member and as the Board’s Chairperson from 
> 1997
>
> to 1998.  Previously, Mr. Cannon was a member of the National 
> Rehabilitation Association, the Council of State Administrators in 
> Vocational Rehabilitation,
>
> and the Executive Board of the President’s Committee on the Employment of 
> People With Disabilities.
>
>
>
> Howard A. Rosenblum, Appointee for Member, Architectural and 
> Transportation Barriers Compliance Access Board
>
> Howard A. Rosenblum is CEO at the National Association of the Deaf, a 
> position he has held since 2011.  Previously, he was an attorney at Equip 
> for Equality,
>
> the designated Protection & Advocacy entity in Illinois from 2002 to 2011. 
> He was an attorney at the firm of Monahan and Cohen in Chicago from 1992 
> to
>
> 2002, and a Civil Rights Enforcement Advocate at Access Living of 
> Metropolitan Chicago from 1992 to 1993.  Mr. Rosenblum is the co-founder 
> and former Chairperson
>
> of the Midwest Center on Law.  He was a participant on the Disability 
> Policy Committee of Obama for America in 2008.  Mr. Rosenblum received a 
> B.S. from
>
> the University of Arizona and a J.D. from IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law.
>
>
>
> Deborah A. Ryan, Appointee for Member, Architectural and Transportation 
> Barriers Compliance Access Board
>
> Deborah A. Ryan is the founder and Director of Deborah A. Ryan & 
> Associates, a consulting firm specializing in ensuring compliance with 
> state and federal
>
> accessibility requirements.  Previously, she was Executive Director of the 
> Massachusetts Architectural Access Board from 1987 to 2002.  Ms. Ryan was 
> first
>
> appointed to the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance 
> Access Board in 2011, and she previously served on its Public Rights of 
> Way Access
>
> Advisory Committee.  She is also a member of the Boston Society of 
> Architects Access Committee.  Ms. Ryan received a B.A. from the University 
> of Massachusetts
>
> and a J.D. from Suffolk University Law School.
>
>
>
> Gary Blumenthal, Appointee for Member, National Council on Disability
>
> Gary Blumenthal is President and CEO of the Association of Developmental 
> Disabilities Providers of Massachusetts, a position he has held since 
> 2010.  Previously,
>
> he served as the organization’s Executive Director from 2007 to 2010.  He 
> was Executive Director of the Alta California Regional Center from 2005 to 
> 2006
>
> and Wichita Regional Director of the Kansas State Department of Social and 
> Rehabilitation Services from 2003 to 2005.  Mr. Blumenthal was CEO of the 
> Florida
>
> State Protection and Advocacy Programs for People with Developmental 
> Disabilities from 1998 to 2003.  He served as Director of the President’s 
> Committee
>
> on Mental Retardation from 1993 to 1998, and as a member of the Kansas 
> State House of Representatives from 1983 to 1993.  He was first appointed 
> to the
>
> National Council on Disability in 2010.  Mr. Blumenthal received a B.S. 
> from the University of Kansas at Lawrence and an M.A. from the University 
> of Missouri
>
> at Kansas City.
>
>
>
> Ari Ne’eman, Appointee for Member, National Council on Disability
>
> Ari Ne’eman is the President of the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network, an 
> organization he founded in 2006.  He was first appointed to the National 
> Council
>
> on Disability in 2010.  He is a member of the Board of Directors of TASH. 
> He served as a Public Member of the Inter-Agency Autism Coordinating 
> Committee
>
> from 2010 to 2012.  Mr. Ne’eman also served as Vice Chair of the New 
> Jersey Adults with Autism Task Force from 2008 to 2009 and as a Public 
> Member of the
>
> New Jersey Special Education Review Commission from 2006 to 2007.  In 
> 2008, he received the Advocates in Disability award from the HSC 
> Foundation.  Mr.
>
> Ne’eman received a B.A. from the University of Maryland-Baltimore County.
>
>
>
> Clyde E. Terry, Appointee for Member, National Council on Disability
>
> Clyde E. Terry is CEO of Granite State Independent Living, where he has 
> worked since 2002.  Previously, he worked at the New Hampshire 
> Developmental Disabilities
>
> Council as Executive Director from 2001 to 2002 and as Director of Policy 
> and Planning from 1994 to 2001.  In 1996, Mr. Terry was also an adjunct 
> professor
>
> at the University of New Hampshire.  Earlier in his career, he was Hearing 
> Officer/ADA Coordinator at the New Hampshire Division of Mental Health and 
> Developmental
>
> Disabilities’ Office of Client and Legal Services from 1988 to 1994.  He 
> was first appointed to the National Council on Disability in 2011.  Mr. 
> Terry
>
> has served on the boards of the National Task Force on Accessible 
> Elections and the ADA Watch Advisory Council.  Mr. Terry received a B.S. 
> from Emerson
>
> College and a J.D. from the University of New Hampshire School of Law.
>
>
>
> http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/03/20/president-obama-announces-more-key-administration-posts
>
>
>
> Source:
>
> http://www.newsroomamerica.com/story/413412.html
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