[nfbwatlk] Fw: Possible next steps for the Committee for Establishment of a Seattle DisAbility Commission

[Jacob Struiksma]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Chris Leman" <cleman at oo.net>
To: "Zurfluh, David L." <davidlzurfluh at msn.com>; "Wheeler, Julian F." 
<julianfwheeler at aol.com>; "United Blind of Seattle" 
<jbrannon0612 at comcast.net>; "Trent, Sandy" <sandytrent_vet at yahoo.com>; 
"Struiksma, Jacob" <jacobstruiksma at gmail.com>; <skashdan at cablespeed.com>; 
"Shockley, Tim" <timothy.shockley at spl.org>; "Seattle Lighthouse for the 
Blind" <mwimmenauer at seattlelh.org>; "Ranger, Charity" <chariqy at hotmail.com>; 
"Paralyzed Veterans of America" <pvachnw at mindspring.com>; "National 
Federation of the Blind Grtr Seattle Chapter" <tishgifts at gmail.com>; 
"National Federation of the Blind" <cardonations at nfbw.org>; "Miller, David" 
<dmiller at seattlelh.org>; "McLauchlan, A. B." <abmclauchlan at msn.com>; 
"Mattson, Rob" <Rob.Mattson at Seattle.Gov>; <marybeth at disabilitypride.org>; 
"Lum, Mary Beth" <mblum08 at gmail.com>; "Kaizen Program" 
<kaizen at literacyworks.org>; "Johnson, Karen" <kljsea at comcast.net>; "Hildie, 
Doug" <hjelde at comcast.net>; "Healy, Jean" <jhirish at earthlink.net>; "Gladys" 
<gladys at disabilitypride.org>; "Gajos, Kryzsztof" <kgajos at gmail.com>; "Egan, 
David" <david.egan at earthlink.net>; <dhmrm at yahoo.com>; "Denooyer, John" 
<megadutch at gmail.com>; "Deaf-Blind Service Center" <info at seattledbsc.org>; 
"Cornwell, Dorene" <dorenefc at aol.com>; "Community Services for the Blind and 
Partially Sighted" <mthompson at csbps.com>; "Canamar, Robert" 
<robert_canamar at yahoo.com>; "Butler, Ernie" <email4ebutler at aol.com>; "Bush, 
Jim" <jbwa2 at yahoo.com>; <barbgal at drizzle.com>; "Alliance of People with 
Disabilities" <robert at disabilitypride.org>; "Hoffman, Paula" 
<phoffman at seattlelh.org>
Sent: Wednesday, January 14, 2009 2:48 PM
Subject: Possible next steps for the Committee for Establishment of a 
Seattle DisAbility Commission



Friends--

The next meeting of the Committee for Establishment of a Seattle DisAbility
Commission will be Friday, January 30, 4 p.m.  I believe that the location
is still to be determined, and those on this e-mail list will be notified.

I am hoping that someone will volunteer to create and host a web site.  I
realize that a Facebook page has been created and will be a valuable way for
our groups to share ideas.  But my understanding is that this is not as
obvious to those surfing the web, nor is it likely to have maximum
accessibility for those who need to convert it to large type, voice, or
another language.  (I'll admit I'm not familiar with Facebook, and I'm sure
I'm not the only one.  Could someone send us a message explaining how it
works and how to join?)

We would benefit from having a simple web site that would include basic
documents (such as the blank resolution and petition, and the letters we're
getting from City Councilmembers), links (such as to John and Doug's
comments at Monday's City Council meeting), and announcements of future
opportunities to comment.  Is there anyone out there who can create and host
a web site?  A possible domain name could be DisAbilitiesCommissionNow.org
(it would not be case-sensitive, so one could find it whether using capitals
or not).

In case you didn't see it, an article in this morning's P-I says that Meg
Paulsen, who has spina bifida, is suing some Seattle restaurants under the
ADA.  A summary and link are below.  What is not said is that the City of
Seattle Department of Planning and Development almost certainly approved the
designs that Paulsen finds inaccessible.  Or if the City lacks adequate
regulations, it certainly can adopt some, or can encourage businesses to be
more accessible.

This is one of many examples of issues that are being missed because the
City lacks a DisAbilities Commission.  We need to start compiling a list and
some case studies of issues that the City is neglecting, and which a
DisAbilities Commission would attend to.  Examples I have heard so far
include:  (1) discrimination in housing; (2) sidewalk cafes and other
sidewalk obstructions, such as parking kiosks; (3) need for better planning
in the placement and design of audible and vibrating crossing signals; (4)
barriers to the riders of bus and rail; (5) barriers in restaurants and
other commercial establishments; (6) taxi regulation (move to
wheelchair-inaccessible taxis); (7) lack of closed captioning on Seattle
Channel 21; (8)  inaccessible parts of the City's web site, seattle.gov
(e.g. heavy use of graphics and pdfs without alternatives); and (9) City's
increasing reliance on exclusive use of the web and e-mails for outreach,
with little or no use of U.S. mail or the telephone.   Let's all brainstorm
of possible additions to (or subtractions from) this list.

Chris Leman
(206) 322-5463

ARTICLE IN THE JANUARY 14 SEATTLE P-I:

> Restaurants sued for better access

> A woman who requires a wheelchair for mobility sued two Seattle
> restaurant groups Tuesday alleging that architectural barriers
> prevent her from gaining full access to the waterfront
> restaurants on Piers 56 and 57
>
> * Read the full article at:
> http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/395919_ada14.html
>