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 –

1. 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
2. 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.