NCD Bulletin
A Monthly Newsletter from the National Council on Disability (NCD)                     

John R. Vaughn, Chairperson
April 2009

NCD—30 Years of Disability Policy Leadership—1978–2008

NCD Conducts Quarterly Meeting in Washington, DC
NCD’s Spring quarterly meeting was held in Washington, DC, March 30–April 1, 2009, with 70 people in attendance.

On March 30, speakers addressing NCD included: Stephanie Ortoleva, Foreign Affairs Officer, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, U.S. Department of State; Robert Horvath, U.S. Agency for International Development, Displaced Children and Orphans Fund/Leahy War Victims Fund; Eric Rosenthal, Board Member, United States International Council on Disabilities and Founder and Executive Director, Mental Disability Rights International; Susan Daniels, President, Daniels and Associates; and William A. Yasnoff, M.D., Ph.D., Managing Partner, NHII Advisors.

On March 31, NCD heard from several distinguished speakers and released two very important reports. The speakers included: Kareem Dale, Special Assistant to the President for Disability Policy; Connie Garner, Democratic Policy Director, Disability and Special Needs Populations, U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions; Sharon Lewis, Senior Disability Policy Advisor, U.S. House Committee on Education and Labor, representing the Committee Chairman George Miller; and Janet Smith, Co-Director, Nathalie P. Voorhees Center, Associate Professor, Urban Planning and Policy Program, University of Illinois at Chicago.

Summaries of the panel discussions will be posted at http://www.ncd.gov/newsroom/quarterly/quarterly.htm

NCD Releases Progress Report

On March 31, during the quarterly meeting, NCD released its annual report to the President and Congress calling for a new integrated approach to disability policy within the Federal Government.

The report, National Disability Policy: A Progress Report, can be found at http://www.ncd.gov/newsroom/publications/2009/Progress_Report_HTML/NCD_Progress_Report.html.

The release was followed by an expert panel reacting to the report. It included Elizabeth Leef, Policy Analyst, National Council on Independent Living; John Kemp, Principal, Powers Pyles, Sutter, & Verville; and Peter Thomas, Co-Chair, Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities Health Task Force.

NCD Releases Employment Paper

During the quarterly meeting, NCD also released an important policy paper, Federal Employment of People with Disabilities  (http://www.ncd.gov/newsroom/publications/2009/pdf/Federal_Employment_of_People_with_Disabilities.pdf).Among other findings, the paper concludes that current efforts to employ people with disabilities in the Federal Government have not worked well, and makes recommendations for reversing this trend.

As part of the employment paper release, Susan Parker, Director of Policy Development, Office of Disability Employment Policy, U.S. Department of Labor discussed her reaction to the paper.

NCD Web Page

During the business portion of the quarterly meeting, NCD voted to continue increasing accessibility and usability of its Web site at http://www.ncd.gov/. The site currently receives approximately 11 million successful hits per year with readers downloading nearly 600,000 publications per year. NCD is committed to having an accessible and user-friendly Web site. If you have any suggestions for improvements, please send them to ncd@ncd.gov.

NCD Needs Your Input—Economic Stimulus Package

NCD is also very interested in learning about examples of expenditures from the economic stimulus package being put to use in each state, and how it is affecting people with disabilities. For example, the Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) agency in Ohio is using stimulus money to hire back some retired VR counselors to handle the increased workload for the next year or two. Another example was received from Virginia, where the VR agency is opening up the order of selection list to allow more people with disabilities to receive services. If you know of other specific examples that will help people with disabilities, please send them to us at ncd@ncd.gov.

Future Quarterly Meetings

Summer 2009, July 20–22, Marriott City Center, 30 South 7th Street, Minneapolis, MN
Fall 2009, October 26–28, Holiday Inn Express, 920 Broadway, Nashville, TN
Winter 2010, January 19–21, Houston, TX
Spring 2010, April 26–28, Detroit, MI
Summer 2010, July 28–29, Renaissance Hotel, Washington, DC, immediately following the National Summit on Disability Policy at the same location. 

Please visit http://www.ncd.gov/newsroom/quarterly/quarterly.htm for updated information about all meetings when it becomes available.

Current Issues

NCD’s list of current and proposed research projects include studies and reports on:

• The Current State of Healthcare for People with Disabilities
• Effective Emergency Preparedness Practices for Use by Communities and People with Disabilities
• National Disability Policy: A Progress Report
• Housing
• Developmental Disabilities Assistance and Bill of Rights Act: Implementation Evaluation and Recommendations for Reauthorization
• Workforce Infrastructure in Support of People with Disabilities: Matching Human Resources to Service Needs
• The Accessibility of United States Overseas Development Projects and Embassies

2010 National Summit on Disability Policy Update

Planning continues for NCD’s invitation-only 2010 National Summit on Disability Policy, which will take place July 26–27, 2010, in Washington, DC.

The purpose of the Summit will be to exchange ideas on significant themes for all people with disabilities and develop policy recommendations for the next decade. It will also be a commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which was signed into law on July 26, 1990. Three hundred people with disabilities and other stakeholders, including federal, community, and private sector disability experts, will be invited to participate as delegates to this summit.

Issue papers are being prepared to identify key factors surrounding important issues, and will become the foundation of discussion for Summit delegates as they develop policy recommendations for the future. Topics include Civil Rights (including voting issues), Employment (including asset accumulation and finance), Disability Statistics and Data Education, Healthcare (including Mental Health Care, i.e. whole health), Homeland Security (including emergency preparedness), Housing, International issues, Telecommunications and Technology, and Transportation.

NCD is currently seeking co-sponsors who may be interested in supporting this worthwhile endeavor. Interested parties should contact NCD Executive Director Mike Collins at ncd@ncd.gov. A dedicated Summit Web page is nearing completion. Please visit http://www.ncd.gov/newsroom/publications/2009/2010NationalSummit.html this Spring to find the link.

NCD Member Activities

On April 8, NCD Vice Chairperson Pat Pound participated in a wrap session for Health/Special Needs at the National Hurricane Conference in Austin, TX. She highlighted NCD's soon-to-be-released report on homeland security and the input NCD received from around the country.

Ms. Pound will also participate April 30–May 1 in The Galveston Brain Injury Conference sponsored annually by The University of Texas Medical Branch and the Transitional Learning Center. This is an invitation-only conference that brings together leaders in brain injury to discuss various topics—this year's topic is emergencies and people with head injuries. 

NCD Board Members Kathy Martinez and Linda Wetters will provide public policy updates on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and emergency preparedness, respectively, at the Ninth Annual Multiple Perspectives on Access, Inclusion & Disability: Change, Challenge & Collaboration Conference April 28–29 at the Ohio State University Columbus Campus.

Ticket to Work

The U.S. Department of Labor has posted a calendar of events for the Ticket to Work Program to make people aware of local Work Incentives Seminar Events in their areas. More information is available at: http://www.cessi.net/WISE.

ADA Update

The U.S. Department of Justice issued a reminder to state and local governments, business owners, and building professionals about their obligations under the Americans with Disabilities Act as they build or alter facilities using American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding. For more information, please call
800-514-0301 (Voice), 800-514-0383 (TTY), or visit the ADA Website www.ada.gov.

DTV Update

The TV Converter Box Coupon Program is now accepting applications from consumers whose coupons expired without being redeemed. Replacement coupons will only be issued to eligible households upon request. Please visit https://www.dtv2009.gov/.

Also, the Coupon Program has completed processing approved coupon applications that were placed on a waiting list beginning in January 2009. Consumers who had been notified they were approved for coupons but placed on a waiting list due to a lack of program funds will be issued coupons.

The transition to digital will be effective by June 12, 2009.

About the NCD Bulletin

The Bulletin, which is also available at NCD’s Web site (http://www.ncd.gov), brings you the latest issues and news affecting people with disabilities. To subscribe to the NCD listserv, go to http://listserv.access.gpo.gov/, click on Online mailing list archives, select NCD-NEWS-L, click on Join or leave the list, then complete the short subscription form.

Editorial comments can be sent to Bulletin editor Mark S. Quigley at mquigley@ncd.gov.

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