The National Council on Disability's Cultural Diversity Advisory Committee:
Record of Public Meeting, August 15, 2003 -Teleconference, Washington, DC

I. Welcome and Call to order:

Dr. Gerrie Hawkins, the Designated Federal Official (DFO), called the meeting to order at 1:30 PM Eastern Daylight Time.

In the absence of Mr. Hubert Mintz, CDAC Chair, Dr. Hawkins welcomed all participants: Jean Lin; Claudia Gordon, Esq., Pamela O’Leary (Interpreter), Theda Zawaiza, Ph.D. (Independent Contractor); Ms. Josefina Duran (AZ) and Ms. Cappie Morgan (MD), Counterparts, Inc. Members Excused (work related): Deb Smith, Darrell Simmons, and Paul Leung.

II. NCD Cultural Diversity Initiative Forum: A follow-up summary from the July 28, 2003 “Outreach for All” held in Washington, DC at the Wyndham Washington Hotel was given. Dr. Zawaiza, who served as primary contractor and coordinator for the activity, presented an overview of the forum. She summarized the major recommendations and shared some of the participants’ input obtained from the forum evaluation forms. The forum was very well attended—meaning that all invited participants, including federal agency officials were present. The forum participants were actively involved in workgroup discussions a good deal of the day and recommendations on improving interagency outreach as well as collaboration were generated. As a part of the discussion during today’s teleconference, CDAC meeting participants reiterated the sincere desire to build upon the momentum that the forum generated and to hold federal officials to their commitments for follow-up contact with NCD and with people in the field (outside of Washington, DC). NCD anticipates making available a summary report about the outreach forum and an interactive toolkit on outreach resources during the fall of 2003.

IV. Reports and Updates.

• Communications and Outreach Workgroup.

  An introductory CDAC letter intended for Congressional Caucuses was reviewed. Members voted to proceed with sending the letter to the Congressional Black Caucus, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and the Disability Caucus. It was suggested that perhaps the letter should come from an interested Congressional member in the form of a “Dear Colleague” introducing the CDAC. The letter would have several enclosures including the CDAC brochure and possibly a copy of the We Are Here Because… fact sheet.

• Outreach to Organizations, Associations, and so forth:

  Claudia Gordon, Esq. reported that she has been participating in regular conference calls planning the second annual Congressional Black Caucus Health Braintrust to be held during the Congressional Black Caucus Legislative Weekend. She described the panel format of the Braintrust that would include a majority of people with disabilities and people from diverse cultures. She also indicated that the planning group had been quite receptive to numerous suggestions regarding disability etiquette provided by NCD staff as awareness/information sharing, as well as issues and accessibility concerns for the national meeting. Ms. Gordon welcomed any suggestions from CDAC the event.

V. NCD CDAC New Leadership Selection: The DFO indicated that CDAC members had been nominated for Chair and Vice Chair. Each person had been notified about consideration of the nomination. As DFO, Dr. Hawkins suggested a process for moving forward with the next step for the slate of nominated leaders. The nominees will be contacted regarding their willingness to serve for a term at least through September 2004. It was agreed that the communication with CDAC members could be accomplished electronically and as soon as possible. The DFO agreed to send CDAC members the information via e-mail. Outcome would be announced at the next public meeting.

VI. Announcements and Information Sharing.

A. Dr. Hawkins announced that the NCD report, People with Disabilities on Tribal Lands: Education, Health Care, Vocational Rehabilitation, and Independent Living, was released August 1, 2003. A companion toolkit guide, Understanding disabilities in American Indian & Alaska Native Communities, was also developed and both documents are available on the NCD website at:
http://www.ncd.gov/newsroom/publications/2003/tribal_lands.htm and
http://www.ncd.gov/newsroom/publications/2003/native_toolkit.htm

B. A tribal roundtable on issues impacting people with disabilities and Indian country is planned with Congressional staffers, including members of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs in August. CDAC Vice Chair, LaDonna Fowler served on the Technical Expert Panel that guided the contractor’s direction and development of the report and continues to serve on an ad hoc group of people from tribal communities providing advice to NCD on follow-up activities and dissemination of the report and toolkit guide.

C. Jean Lin reported that progress is being made on infusing cultural diversity issues into the agenda of the Respectability Conference in CA this fall. She informed the group that Sara Tom (one of NCD’s YAC members) is also an active participant in the conference planning.

D. The next meeting for CDAC will be posted in the Federal Register and CDAC members would also receive e-mail reminders.

VII. Adjournment. The DFO thanked all participants for their work efforts, accomplishments, and time and declared the meeting adjourned at 2:30 PM, Eastern Daylight Time.