National Council on Disability
Cultural Diversity Advisory Committee (CDAC)
September 24, 2004 - Public Meeting Record
Participants: CDAC members – Michael
Blatchford, Lilly Rangel-Diaz,
The DFO called the meeting to order at 4:11 p.m. Eastern Daylight
Time.
Roll Call and Welcome were
followed by brief introductions and statements by CDAC’s four new members—Elaine
Mbionwu, Michael Blatchford, Jerry Lang, and Wendy Alegra Jones.
After the propose d meeting agenda was reviewed, the meeting proceeded
as follows.
Previous focus - Discussion
occurred around work and/or considerations of two areas for CDAC
members and/or workgroups the previous year –
- Reauthorization of federal laws. This effort
has involved CDAC members’ review of issues and could
also generate future recommendations about certain federal
legislation due for reauthorization in the coming months. A
goal is also to keep abreast of what progress Congress has
made/is making on moving forward with the various laws; and
- Outreach and Networking Efforts. When CDAC began looking at
this area in 2003, interest was expressed in being able to reach
broader than the mainstream civil rights community and to develop
potential partnerships with civil and human rights groups around
common issues. Goals included:
- Identify issues and address needs around employment, health,
housing, transportation, technology, and education (this list
was not considered exhaustive)
- Identify organizations already addressing these issues in
their agendas for people from diverse cultural backgrounds
and look for common ground to work with disability entities
- Identify stakeholders to be invited for dialogue and to provide
suggestions for product dissemination to underserved and/unserved
populations, as well as how to engage effectively in awareness
raising about rights, disability and self
Continuing Focus - An outcome
of this portion of the public meeting was that members expressed
being in favor of continuing to look at and taking advantage
of opportunities to provide input to the National Council on
Disability’s
(NCD) work priorities through which some of the CDAC concerns and
interests can be shared. For example, Dr. Leung expressed that
reauthorization of the federal laws will still need attention regardless
of how swiftly (or not) the legislative process moves. Keeping
in mind that diverse cultural aspects do not always get attention
needed, he underscored the need to keep on top of the issues. Mr.
Lang, Ms. Lin, and Ms. Fowler’s comments were along a similar
vein of agreement.
In response to a CDAC member’s inquiry, NCD’s Director
of Policy, Mr. Rosen gave brief overview of some of the NCD’s
actions with respect to several of the federal laws up for reauthorization.
Mr. Rosen also indicated that there were several on the table still
unresolved at the time of this meeting (such as the welfare reform
law called Temporary Assistance to Needy Families or TANF, the
Higher Education Act, and the Transportation Equity Act for the
21 st Century or TEA-21).
CDAC members were encouraged by NCD Council
members on the call as well as members of NCD staff to think
about how the committee might “weigh in.” This was of particular concern, since
it was pointed out that cultural diversity issues per se had not
been specifically integrated into a number of points NCD made to
Congress about reauthorization. The specifics of what CDAC does
to provide input would need to be based on CDAC’s determination
of what are the priorities for this committee and what time commitments
members can make to carrying out some of the tasks.
Participants discussed concerns not clearly
addressed by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
and its enforcement, as well as No Child Left Behind. The discussion
focused on disproportional representation of children and youth
from diverse cultures who are also among students failing to
receive appropriate supports and services. Dr. Fujiura, Ms. Rangel-Diaz,
and Mr. Simmons all provided perspectives on the need for greater
accountability for all students. Appropriate services and supports
could help more students identified with disabilities to stay
and succeed in school rather than take historical paths into
the juvenile justice system—also
unproven to meet their needs for becoming productive members of
society. The notion of developing future recommendations to NCD
that could include background information and correspondence to
Congress was also mentioned for consideration. CDAC’s Ms.
Alegra-Jones and Ms. Mbionwu volunteered to engage in follow-up
dialogue with NCD staff on this topic and to share results with
the larger group.
There was also mention of other new laws (not yet enacted) that
are being discussed among law makers and not yet introduced for
action. CDAC members were encouraged to continue their watch for
opportunities that might be provided for public input.
Unfinished Business – Included
were items as follows:
- Cultural Diversity Initiative Toolkit. At
the time of this meeting, not all of the federal partners had
responded to NCD’s
request for final input and/or revisions to each agency section.
Once the federal responses are received, NCD staff would use
the content management system to invoke changes.
- Civil Rights Project 2005. Planning for the November 2004 panel
and dialogue session as a part of the NCD Quarterly meeting was
underway. The contractor for the project was identified as the
American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD). CDAC
members were invited to participate in upcoming teleconference
with NCD staff and AAPD for an update on the plans including
format and potential list of invited participants. CDAC input
was also asked with respect to suggesting participants for the
November session, as well as the spring forum.
Adjournment - The meeting was
adjourned by the Designated Federal Official. |