[Nfbf-l] too bad we were not included

[elizabeth McNally]

President Obama Meets Privately with 12 Disability Representatives, Promises
to Continue the Dialogue 

  

On July 24, President Obama invited a group of 12 representatives of the
disability community to meet privately with him, Attorney General Holder,
Secretary of Labor Solis, and senior White House officials in advance of an
East Room ceremony marking the 19th anniversary of the Americans with
Disabilities Act (ADA) and his announcement of the Administration's decision
to sign and seek Senate ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of
Persons with Disabilities. 

  

Attending the meeting for the disability community were Polly Arango of
Family Voices; Marca Bristo of the US International Council on Disabilities
and Access Living of Metropolitan Chicago; Kelly Buckland of the National
Council on Independent Living; former Congressman Tony Coelho; Michael
Fitzpatrick of the National Alliance on Mental Illness; Marty Ford of the
Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities and The Arc and UCP Disability
Policy Collaboration; Andy Imparato of AAPD; Ted Kennedy, Jr. of the AAPD
Board and The Marwood Group;  Michael May of the Sendero Group, a technology
company; Maria Veronica Reina of the Global Partnership for Disability and
Development; Jeff Rosen of Snap!VRS, a video relay and technology company;
and Bob Williams of the District of Columbia, former Deputy Assistant
Secretary for Disability and Long-Term Care Policy at the U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services. 

  

Joining the President at the meeting were Attorney General Eric Holder;
Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis; Melody Barnes, Assistant to the President
for Domestic Policy; Assistant to the President and Cabinet Secretary Chris
Lu; Kareem Dale, Special Assistant to the President for Disability Policy;
Paul Miller, Special Assistant to the President for Personnel; Lisa Brown,
Staff Secretary to the President; Michael Strautmanis, Chief of Staff to
Valerie Jarrett; Jeff Crowley, Director of the White House Office of
National AIDS Policy and Senior Advisor on Disability Issues to the Domestic
Policy Council; Tina Tchen, Director of the Office of Public Engagement; and
Kathy Martinez, Assistant Secretary of Labor for Disability Employment
Policy. 

  

The disability community representatives engaged in a productive dialogue
with Attorney General Holder and Secretary Solis before the President
arrived, discussing our priorities for civil rights enforcement at both
departments, including but not limited to internet accessibility, Olmstead
enforcement, reducing the waiting period for ADA complaints to be resolved,
using OFCCP to enforce the affirmative action provisions in the
Rehabilitation Act, protecting children from the use of aversives and
restraints; and implementing a government-wide strategy to improve the
representation of people with significant disabilities in the federal
workforce. Both Holder and Solis were very interested in continuing the
discussion in follow-up meetings with disability community representatives
in the weeks to come. 

  

When the President arrived, he noted that we had a wide-ranging agenda that
included employment, education, technology, health care, and civil rights
policy, and indicated his interest in using this first meeting as a
listening session.  We thanked him for the meeting and for his leadership in
signing the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and we
emphasized the importance of seeing disability policy issues as
fundamentally about fairness, civil rights and human rights.  We shared some
personal discrimination stories and expressed our desire to work with the
White House and agencies across the administration on a broad-based strategy
to make progress between now and next July 26, which will be the 20th
anniversary of the ADA.  A significant portion of our time with the
President was devoted to health care reform and the need to end the
institutional bias in Medicaid, and the President offered to have Nancy-Ann
DeParle and Peter Orszag and other members of his health reform team sit
down with us in the next few weeks to discuss our ideas, including making
the Community Choice Act a state option as part of the final bill that
emerges from Congress. 

  

The disability community representatives came away believing that the
President, his cabinet representatives, and his senior White House staff are
committed to working with our community to achieve the goals of the
Americans with Disabilities Act.  We look forward to following up on all of
the issues discussed at the meeting.  All in all, we felt that this historic
meeting represented a very important step forward for our community and for
the country. 

Important Note

The above information is provided as a service and is not necessarily the
opinion of the Center for Independent Living of Broward, its management,
members, sponsors or clients. If you have questions, concerns or problems
with this e-mail please contact dkuhn at cilbroward.org