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Investing in Independence:
Transition Recommendations for President George W. Bush National
Council on Disability
1331 F Street, NW, Suite 1050
Washington, DC 20004
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www.ncd.gov
January 2001
Executive Summary
As we inaugurate the first administration of the 21st
century, the Federal Government is poised to address long-standing
challenges to its performance and service to Americans with disabilities.
George W. Bush gave his commitment during his campaign that he and
his Administration would work to "ensure that all Americans with
disabilities...have every chance to pursue the American dream--to
use more of their own skills and make more of their own choices.
We must do everything we can to ensure that more Americans with
disabilities can live independently, hold jobs, and take part in
the life of their communities."
In various campaign speeches and in his New Freedom
Initiative (NFI), then-Governor Bush articulated a number of proposals
addressing Americans with disabilities, including the following:
- A commitment to end discrimination through
strong, steadfast support for and enforcement of disability civil
rights laws;
- Full workforce integration of Americans
with disabilities;
- Expanded access to technology for Americans
with disabilities to increase opportunities for productivity,
full participation, and independent living; and
- Increased access into community life for
Americans with disabilities by pursuing strong and coordinated
implementation of the Olmstead decision.
(See New Freedom Initiative (June 15, 2000)).
With strong, representative and experienced leadership
and open, ongoing input from the disability community, the challenge
to make the most of the opportunities facing us at the start of
this new Administration can be met. The National Council on Disability
(NCD) has completed civil rights policy evaluations over the past
several years directly related to the disability policy areas addressed
in the New Freedom Initiative. NCD invites the new Administration
to draw on the research and studies conducted by our agency for
information on how and where executive agencies can act to the maximum
benefit of their consumers.
Individuals with disabilities, advocates, and parents
are looking for vision and action from the new executive and congressional
leaders to advance the independence, full participation, and productivity
of people with disabilities. This transition document incorporates
recommendations developed through a series of summits and forums
held by NCD between 1996 and 2000. The outcomes of the 1996 national
summit of 300 disability rights leaders on disability policy in
Dallas, Texas are published in NCD's Report Achieving
Independence: The Challenge for the 21st Century (July 26,
1996). Subsequent NCD meetings held last year, Think Tank 2000:
Advancing the Civil and Human Rights of People with Disabilities
From Diverse Cultures and the Civil Rights Retreat, collectively
developed a strategic plan for more effective civil rights enforcement
(i.e., Closing the Gap: A Ten-Point
Strategy for the Next Decade of Disability Civil Rights Enforcement).
Specifically, NCD believes that these transition recommendations
will assist the new Administration to:
- Advance the federal commitment to quality education
for all children, including children and youth with disabilities
through strengthened compliance and enforcement of IDEA.
- Implement key recommendations identified by the
Presidential Task Force on the Employment of Adults with Disabilities
(PTFEAD) to significantly reduce the 75 percent unemployment
rate among individuals with disabilities (See, PTFEAD's Re-charting
the Course: If Not Now, When? (November 15, 1999)).
- Ensure that general education, health, workforce
development, housing, and other programs include appropriate
services to individuals with disabilities (especially in cases
where authority to develop service systems has been substantially
returned to the states).
- Establish a system of health care that supports
individualized care needs of people with disabilities for
continued work opportunities, prevention of secondary conditions,
and long-term care supports allowing individuals to live in their
homes or in the least restrictive environment.
- Take national and international steps to ensure
access to technology and participation in the global technological
economy.
- Preserve and enhance funding for programs that
further inclusion, integration, independent living and economic
self-sufficiency of individuals with disabilities through
the next decade under the goals and spending limits of the Balanced
Budget Act.
- Encourage adoption of universal design concepts
and create timely guidance and mechanisms for ensuring continuous
improvement to accessibility in the environment (i.e., physical
structures and pathways, transportation, and technology).
- Establish a foreign policy that supports the
goals of access, civil and human rights, inclusion, and poverty
reduction for people with disabilities throughout the world.
The following pages present a rationale, strategies,
and recommendations that NCD believes are essential to how President
Bush and the new Administration can fulfill America's promise to
its 54 million citizens with disabilities. NCD believes these recommendations
are consistent with, and incorporate, President Bush's New Freedom
Initiative.
Introduction
Ten years ago Congress passed and President George
H. W. Bush signed one of the most significant civil rights laws
since the Civil Rights Act of 1964--the Americans with Disabilities
Act (ADA). In so doing, the nation opened its door to a new age
for people with disabilities.
NCD first proposed the concept of an ADA and then
published the original draft that was introduced in Congress in
1988 (See, National Council on the Handicapped, Toward
Independence, pp. 18-21, February 1986; National Council
on the Handicapped, On the Threshold
of Independence, pp. 27-39, January 1988). The overall purpose
of NCD then and today is to promote policies, programs, practices,
and procedures that guarantee equal opportunity for individuals
with disabilities of all ages and backgrounds, regardless of the
nature or severity of the disability; and to empower individuals
with disabilities to achieve economic self-sufficiency, independent
living, and inclusion and integration into all aspects of society
(Public Law No. 98-221, Title I, Section 142, Stat. 27 (1984), codified
as amended at 29 U.S.C. Section 781).
Over the past three years, the National Council on
Disability (NCD) has documented findings of the strengths and weaknesses
in federal implementation and enforcement of civil rights laws (i.e.,
the Air Carrier Access Act (ACAA), the Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act (IDEA), and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA))
through a series of civil rights evaluations, leadership summits,
and grassroots community briefings. Each evaluation, leadership
summit, and community briefing confirmed that despite great strides
toward equality, people with disabilities still confront major ongoing
barriers of discrimination and suffer the consequences of weak federal
enforcement, such as:
- National diploma graduation rates for students
who receive special education and related services have stagnated
at 27 percent for the past three years, while rates are 75 percent
for students who do not rely on special education;
- Unemployment rates for working-age adults with
disabilities have hovered at the 70 percent level for at least
the past 12 years, while rates are in the low single digits for
working-age adults without disabilities;
- Home ownership rates for people with disabilities
are in the single digits, while rates for people without disabilities
are about 71 percent; and
- Computer usage and internet access for people with
disabilities is half that of people without disabilities.
Because of these persistent barriers, NCD believes
that the President must set a standard of greater federal commitment
to deliver on the promises of disability and other civil and human
rights laws, including the disability specific proposals made during
the recent presidential campaign. The vitality of the ADA, the IDEA,
Sections 504 and 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, the Fair Housing
Act, and the Civil Rights Act, to name just a few, depends in large
measure on the long-term vision and leadership of the Federal Government.
What Needs to Be Done?
In May of 2000 NCD convened Think Tank 2000: Advancing
the Civil and Human Rights of People with Disabilities from Diverse
Cultures. This group of experts from diverse cultural, professional
and disability backgrounds was charged with developing action steps
for fully implementing disability rights laws at the community level
for people from diverse cultures and other under-served groups.
Within a month after this meeting, NCD convened a second group,
the Civil Rights Retreat, to build upon the Think Tank 2000 plan
of action and NCD's civil rights policy evaluations. These experts,
also from diverse cultural, professional and disability backgrounds,
were charged with mapping out the elements of a ten-year strategy
for more effective civil rights enforcement.
The resulting ten-point strategy represents a collective
effort by people from many diverse backgrounds to reach past their
own community perspectives to understand and lend a hand to one
another on the road to full equality (NCD's draft Closing
the Gap: A Ten-Point Strategy For the Next Decade of Disability
Civil Rights Enforcement (August 10, 2000)). The following
recommendations to President Bush, validated by several hundred
Americans with disabilities during a series of 13 regional briefings
conducted in summer/fall 2000, point the way to achieving the spirit
and intent of America's civil rights laws for people with disabilities,
their families and other advocates.
The President should exercise strong leadership to:
- Install a disability-friendly
Administration--By appointing a highly talented and diverse
Administration, including the appointment of significant numbers
of people with disabilities in the White House and in key leadership
positions throughout the Federal Government, the Bush-Cheney Administration
will continue to elevate the standard established by previous
administrations toward: (a) more readily unifying the nation on
disability issues; (b) conducting broad and bipartisan education
outreach on the goals of inclusion, independence and the vital
importance of participation by people with disabilities in all
aspects of American life; and (c) developing strategies, with
input from the disability community, for engaging the disability
and civil rights communities in key congressional and state government
committees and other political activities geared to promote effective
civil rights enforcement, policy development and implementation.
In the White House, persons with disabilities should not only
be installed in its personnel, domestic policy, and public liaison
positions to benefit from their expertise on disability issues,
but also in jobs involving broader policy and budget making capacities,
such as those located in the Office of Management and Budget.
The Federal Government now employs more than 100,000 employees
with some type of disability. Section 501 of the Rehabilitation
Act established the Federal Government as a model employer for
people with disabilities (See 29 CFR 1614.203(b)), and President
Clinton instituted policies that promote accessibility, hiring,
and promotion of federal employees with a disability (See, e.g.,
Executive Order 13078 (March 13, 1998)). The incoming administration
should work hard to be supportive of these professionals and the
policies that create equal opportunity for people with disabilities
entering the workforce.
- Give disability issues high visibility
in the Administration--Disability issues must have strong
and visible priority at the highest level in the White House.
The President could appoint a top advisor/spokesperson such as
those in his Domestic Policy Council to work with NCD on issues
affecting disability policy. A function of this designee would
be to coordinate and integrate activities of all White House "policy
and political" offices, as well as all federal agencies responsible
for administering and enforcing disability rights laws and policy.
Another strategy could be to use the bully pulpit of the White
House to call attention to critical civil and human rights issues
facing the disability community.
- Exercise bold leadership in developing
federal strategy--President Bush said in his campaign "ending
discrimination is just the beginning of full participation" and
promised that the NFI would "expand opportunities for people with
disabilities to pursue the American dream." Findings from NCD's
recent evaluations of key civil rights laws' enforcement status
indicate a need for comprehensive, cohesive federal leadership
strategies for effective implementation of those laws (i.e.,
ADA, IDEA, ACAA).
The Bush-Cheney Administration should exercise bold leadership,
initially, by developing a federal plan - with stakeholder input-for
systematically implementing the NFI initiatives and NCD recommendations.
Next, they should lead an interagency effort-via the Interagency
Disability Coordinating Committee-by all federal agencies having
statutory enforcement responsibilities to coordinate their individual
agency enforcement plans and develop a joint strategic action
plan for vigorous overall implementation and enforcement of all
disability rights laws (See, for example, NCD's Promises
to Keep: A Decade of Federal Enforcement of the ADA (June
27, 2000)). The administration should direct that both plans include
specific outcome goals and performance indicators for measuring
progress toward enforcement goals.
Finally, the administration should direct continual and substantial
input from the stakeholders in the enforcement process, including
disability, civil and human rights communities, in developing
the action plans and monitoring their implementation. Putting
in place a mechanism for citizen feedback and subsequent agency
actions to resolve emerging concerns will be essential to show
the administration's accountability.
- Require federal agency accountability,
particularly for compliance, monitoring, and enforcement responsibilities--The
President should require federal enforcement agencies to disclose
their enforcement plans and activities to the public for feedback.
Agency enforcement plans should be published periodically in the
languages appropriate to their constituent communities. Stakeholder
groups, including people with disabilities and their family members
as consumer advocates, must be involved in giving feedback to
the agencies on their enforcement plans, which should address
the following:
- Agency enforcement missions, goals,
and objectives, including Government Performance and Results Act
(GPRA) outcomes measures for meeting agency objectives;
- Budgetary and other resource allocations
for disability civil and human rights enforcement;
- Compliance monitoring and enforcement
priorities, how they were established and the distribution of
resources among enforcement activities such as compliance reviews,
case findings, complaint processing and adjudication, post-adjudication
monitoring, and others;
- Mediation and settlement policies and
factors influencing settlement outcomes, (i.e., case backlog,
quality of available cases, number of referrals to mediation,
etc.);
- Sanctions imposed and other enforcement
actions such as corrective action plans, compliance agreements,
or withholding of funds, initiated in response to persistent noncompliance;
- Coordination of enforcement activities,
policies, record keeping and resources with those of other agencies;
- Outreach methods for obtaining and using
community input and feedback on enforcement methods and priorities;
and
- Criteria for determining when a civil
or human rights law requires an amendment to successfully achieve
its objectives.
- Oppose any legislative or judicial
weakening of disability civil rights protections by Congress or
the Courts--In an interview with John M. Williams from
Business Week Online (June 21, 2000), George W. Bush said, "Let
me lay this principle out. No law should undermine the Americans
with Disabilities Act. The ADA must stand. The ADA is a good law.
I want your readers and followers to know that George W. Bush,
the son of President Bush who signed the Americans with Disabilities
Act, fully supports the ADA in spirit and in law. I would not
do otherwise. There is a role to enhance the ADA: I want to make
sure the law is fully complied with. The Federal Government has
made a commitment to protecting civil rights. The ADA is a civil-rights
legislation." In the same interview, President Bush declared his
opposition to the "ADA Notification Act (also known as the Foley
Amendment) because it would "open up the whole law" to changes.
President Bush has said that in regards to the constitutionality
of the ADA, which recently has been called into question by the
U.S. Supreme Court, that he "believe[s] in the full force and
effect of the ADA." See Interview, Id. His father has called his
decision to "embrace" and "press" for the enactment of the ADA
while he was president a "landmark occasion" for him and all Americans
and dedicated his "direct and personal interest in the defense
of the ADA and the preservation of the important safeguards it
provides to disabled Americans." (Statement of Former President
George H. W. Bush as Amicus Curiae in Support of Respondents,
The Board of Trustees of the University of Alabama et al. v.
Patricia Garrett et al., No. 99-1240 S. Ct. (to be decided
in spring 2001).
The Transition Period
One of the most critical and time-sensitive transition
goals is to create an administration that looks like America; one
that recognizes and includes 54 million Americans with disabilities.
In addition to top-notch experience and credentials, presidential
appointments must reflect the diversity of types of disabilities,
talent, geography, culture, and socio-economic status of America.
Former President Clinton has compiled a record of an unprecedented
number of presidential appointees with disabilities. It is essential
that the new administration act immediately to ensure that the more
than seven thousand presidential appointees represent the broad
diversity of America including people with disabilities. While President
Bush has made a progressive start in the minority representation
in his nominations of Cabinet members, there has been no public
indication that individuals with disabilities were considered for
head administrative positions. There has also been great concern
expressed by the disability community about not being included in
the current group of hundreds of transition advisors to the incoming
administration.
Challenge and Opportunity
"Governor Bush believes that all
Americans should have the opportunity to learn and develop skills,
engage in productive work, choose where to live, and participate
in community life. Although progress has been made over the last
two decades--most prominently with passage of the Americans with
Disabilities Act in 1990--Governor Bush believes that much more
needs to be done. Governor Bush has proposed a "New Freedom Initiative,"
$1.025 billion over 5 years to expand access to assistive technology,
to integrate more Americans with disabilities into the workforce,
and remove barriers to full participation in community life for
all Americans."
(Bush-Cheney 2000 Campaign Statement)
Strengthening Compliance With Disability Civil
Rights Laws
The New Freedom Initiative promulgated by President
Bush during his campaign addresses a number of civil rights issues
that are directly related to NCD's report recommendations. The following
pages are a set of recommended activities that flow from the NFI
and NCD's recent series of civil rights reports.
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
President Bush has affirmed that he will "support full
enforcement of the Americans with Disabilities Act, and provide
$25 million in technical assistance to help small businesses comply
with the Act."
NCD acknowledges this commitment and also recommends
that based on its extensive assessment study of the ADA (NCD, Promises
to Keep: A Decade of Federal Enforcement of the Americans with Disabilities
Act (June 27, 2000)):
- The Department of Justice should provide robust
and assertive leadership for ADA implementation in developing
a strategic vision and plan for ADA enforcement across the Federal
Government;
- Federal enforcement agencies should engage in more
outreach, training, and collaboration with the disability community
on enforcement priorities;
- The Department of Justice should conduct outreach
and training on the legal protections of the ADA in collaboration
with the disability community, specifically targeting people with
disabilities from underserved populations (i.e., those with severe
cognitive and learning disabilities, and those living in institutions
due to severe physical and mental disabilities).
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)
The New Freedom Initiative indicates
that the Bush Administration "will work with Congress to increase
funding for special education with the goal of meeting the federal
obligation under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act,
focus Title I funds on earlier grades to identify children with
disabilities, and invest $5 billion over five years to establish
the "Reading First" program." NCD concurs with this initiative.
Among the many findings of NCD's January 25, 2000
report entitled Back to
School on Civil Rights was that enforcement of the law has
too often been solely the burden of parents who must invoke formal
complaint procedures and request due process hearings to obtain
the services and supports to which their children are entitled under
law. NCD made numerous recommendations for improving the federal
track record and getting better results for children. Of these recommendations,
NCD urges the new administration to take the following actions:
- Work with Congress to amend IDEA to provide the
Department of Justice with independent authority to investigate
and litigate cases brought under IDEA;
- The Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative
Services in the Department of Education should continue to expand
its initiatives to serve non-English speaking groups and/or people
with limited English proficiency and create culturally appropriate
training materials; and
- The Department of Education should establish and
use national compliance standards and objective measures for assessing
state progress toward better performance outcomes for children
with disabilities and for achieving full compliance with Part
B.
With respect to the last recommendation, NCD is presently
working in collaboration with the Office of Special Education Programs
(OSEP) and a group of stakeholders to review OSEP's Continuous Monitoring
Improvement System, and develop recommendations regarding performance
benchmarks and enforcement triggers.
NCD has deep concerns regarding certain proposals
to the new administration and Congress pertaining to (1) private
school voucher plans; (2) regular testing of students; and (3) increased
flexibility for states - such proposals have the potential of seriously
undermining the education and civil rights of children with disabilities
if they are unable to gain the provision of IDEA services and supports
to eligible students with disabilities. Any "reform" of IDEA must
also safeguard against exclusion of students with disabilities from
services and/or supports on disciplinary grounds (See, NCD's Discipline
of Students with Disabilities: A Position Statement (May
1998)).
Air Carrier Access Act (ACAA)
In its February 26, 1999 report entitled Enforcing
the Civil Rights Of Air Travelers with Disabilities: Recommendations
For the Department Of Transportation and Congress, NCD found
that the Department of Transportation's (DOT) efforts to ensure
airline compliance with ACAA were inconsistent and largely ineffective.
DOT's model for ACAA enforcement relies heavily on monitoring of
complaints and voluntary compliance by air carriers. This approach
does not emphasize traditional investigation and prosecution of
complaints similar to other federal civil rights enforcement agencies.
Even the formal complaint process focuses only on issues of broad
public interest, so that individual complainants have no reliable
administrative means to obtain satisfaction unless the airline voluntarily
cooperates. Accordingly, NCD found DOT's approach is critically
lacking in the key areas of compliance monitoring, complaint handling,
and leadership by the Department of Transportation.
Research data show that a long-standing lack of resources
has substantially limited DOT's leadership in addressing difficult
compliance problems (i.e., providing lifts and other boarding devices,
providing regular training of airline personnel, and ensuring that
new aircraft meet accessibility standards). To remedy this situation,
NCD recommends that the President Bush and the U.S. Congress ensure
that DOT:
- Gives the disability community substantive input
to designating priorities for allocating new DOT funding for ACAA
enforcement.
- Targets persistent airline compliance issues for
corrective action and monitoring;
- Investigates all complaints, levies civil penalties
for pattern and practice violations, and grants damages to plaintiffs;
- Applies more vigorous enforcement, including increased
penalties for violations;
- Is adequately funded for a credible enforcement
program;
- Requires the airlines to track and report the numbers
and types of disability complaints to DOT at regular intervals;
and
- Greatly steps up the quality and quantity of education
outreach to the public, especially to air travelers with disabilities.
Cultural Diversity
The United States consists of a diverse population
and we must make a conscious effort to meet the needs of all our
people. Through increased outreach to underserved and unserved people
with disabilities across the country (e.g., people with disabilities
who are African American, Native American, Hispanic/Latino American,
Asian American, Pacific Islanders or who identify with other racial
and ethnic groups), NCD has collected and reported first-hand information
that disclosed a number of the barriers to full inclusion in society
(See, NCD's Carrying on the Good
Fight: Summary Paper from Think Tank 2000--Advancing the Civil and
Human Rights of People with Disabilities from Diverse Cultures
(August 23, 2000)). Our groundbreaking report Meeting
the Unique Needs of Minorities with Disabilities (April
26, 1993) and a recent follow-up report, Lift
Every Voice: Modernizing Disability Policies and Programs to Serve
a Diverse Nation (December 1, 1999), provided data on interactions
among cultural group, disability and factors such as poverty, opportunities
for appropriate education or training, receiving information about
services, including health care, transportation, housing and many
of the other essentials for full participation in all aspects of
society.
The Bush Administration must establish an inclusive
agenda for America that makes ongoing and emerging issues that impact
people with disabilities from diverse cultures an integral part
of all work regarding federal agency program administration and
implementation, public policy, and legislative/regulatory work.
As reported in NCD's Achieving
Independence, disability leaders have called upon federal
and state governments to invest resources in working with tribal
governments and indigenous people with disabilities to ensure that
all policies affecting people with disabilities are culturally appropriate
and extend beyond the federal or state government to include tribal
governments. Many federal policies, such as ADA, were not developed
in conjunction with tribal governments; thus their applicability
to indigenous people and tribal governments is still being delineated.
In the future, Congress and federal and state governments should
work together to ensure appropriate applicability of disability
laws to tribal governments and Native Americans.
The following are recommended to effectively address
cultural diversity issues among our nations citizens with disabilities:
- NCD has learned from grassroots witnesses that
the best way to empower minorities with disabilities and their
families to take full advantage of federal laws, programs, and
services is to provide them with easy-to-understand, culturally
appropriate information about what their rights are under various
federal laws and how best to exercise those rights when a violation
occurs.
- A federal interagency team should develop and implement
a large-scale outreach and training program targeted to people
with disabilities from diverse cultural backgrounds and their
families that will provide such information directly to the target
audiences through a series of forums, workshops, and seminars
across the country. These trainings should be repeated on a regular
basis so that new people are trained each year and materials routinely
updated.
- This interagency team should work with disability
communities, minority communities, other disability, minority,
and religious organizations, and other interested organizations
to develop a work plan, timetables, and appropriate consultation
as it begins its work. In addition, a core group of people with
disabilities from diverse cultural backgrounds and their family
members should be recruited to help develop the written materials
and programs that will be used for the trainings, translate them
into different languages with awareness of the cultural appropriateness
of terminology, and conduct the trainings once the materials are
produced.
Increasing Independent Living
The three cornerstones of the independent living philosophy
are consumer sovereignty, self-reliance, and political and economic
rights. Essential features of the independent living service model
include consumer control, a cross-disability emphasis (inclusion
of people with all types of disabilities--mental, physical, and
sensory), a community-based and community-responsive approach, peer
role modeling, availability of a wide range of services, a community
advocacy orientation and open, ongoing access to services. The independent
living philosophy views disability as an interaction with the society
and the environment rather than as a medical condition or physical
or mental impairment and rejects the supremacy of professionals
as decision makers.
This philosophy has permeated public policy and programs
(e.g., for assistive technology, health care, housing, transportation,
employment, to name a few areas) in the United States throughout
the 1980s and 1990s. This trend will continue as more and more barriers
to self-sufficiency and economic independence are removed from the
forward paths of Americans with disabilities in the 21st Century.
Assistive Technology Act
Through his New Freedom Initiative,
President Bush has committed to "increase access to technology for
Americans with disabilities and expand opportunities to function,
learn, and live independently, by: a) tripling the Rehabilitative
Engineering Research Centers' budget for assistive technologies,
b) creating a new fund to help bring assistive technologies to market,
and c) increasing tenfold the funding for low-interest loan programs
to purchase assistive technologies. NCD endorses these efforts.
In addition, as a result of its research work, NCD
recommends that:
- The Department of Education and Department of Health
and Human Services ensure adequate support for assistive technology
competency development within and across a variety of personnel
preparation and training programs such as instructional technology,
computer sciences, information sciences, special education, rehabilitation
counseling, social work, medicine, nursing, and related services
(occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech-language pathology,
and audiology) (See, NCD's Federal
Policy Barriers to Assistive Technology (May 31, 2000)).
- The administration and Congress ensure that the
Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) revises the Medicare
and Medicaid definitions and description of "medical care," "medical
necessity," and "durable medical equipment" to broaden the range
of assistive technology provided.
NCD's Technology Watch advisory committee assists
NCD in monitoring, analyzing, and promoting assistive and information
technology access issues. For example, it recommended that the Federal
Communications Commission (FCC) more clearly articulate the legal
requirements under ADA, IDEA, and the Rehabilitation Act that are
applicable to the schools, libraries, or consortia that apply for
its "e-rate" program that provides discounted rates for telecommunications
services and technologies to eligible schools and libraries under
the FCC's Universal Service program. As a result, FCC revised the
application to include a reminder of the applicability of these
laws. NCD is also currently conducting a study of federal enforcement
of key laws (i.e., ADA, Section 255 of the Telecommunications Act
of 1996, and Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act) as they relate
to information technology (IT). During the nine-month study, NCD
will examine federal entities responsible for implementing those
laws that protect the rights of persons with disabilities that relate
to accessible information technology. A report will be published
in 2001.
Health Care
The October 2000 release of a Harvard Medical School-led
study funded by the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
reported that people enrolled in managed health care plans from
locations with relatively high percentages of residents on welfare
or who were African American or Hispanic received generally poorer
quality health care than people with other demographic characteristics.
This information is consistent with findings from previous studies
and is important to the disability community because of the linkages
between poverty, disability, and patterns of inequality of benefit
for underserved populations in our country.
NCD has consistently addressed concerns about health
care for people with disabilities in its reports. (See, e.g., NCD's
last two Progress Reports; Achieving
Independence; Disability
Perspectives and Recommendations on Proposals to Reform the Medicaid
and Medicare Programs (November 9, 1995); and Making
Health Care Reform Work for Americans with Disabilities
(July 26, 1994)). Legislation to protect the rights of all people
with disabilities and their families who need access to quality
health care has not been enacted by the 106th Congress. The primary
area of controversy among proponents and opponents continues to
focus on how to define and who determines "medical necessity." (For
more information on this term, see e.g., http://www.c-c-d.org/Medical.html).
NCD recommends that the incoming administration and the current
Congress:
- Ensure that people with disabilities and their
families will have access to the quality health care they require,
and that people with disabilities receive necessary supports and
services.
- Ensure the necessary funding for Ticket to Work
and Work Incentives Improvement Act (TTWWIIA) to continue state
demonstration projects.
- Ensure passage of the Family Opportunity Act of
2000 (FOA). While the popular bipartisan bill had over 200 co
sponsors in the House and Senate, it did not receive the necessary
support for passage in the 106th Congress. The most critical provisions
of the bill would allow states (state option) to offer Medicaid
coverage to children with severe disabilities-physical or mental--who
live in middle-income families. Passage of FOA promises improved
health; the prevention of future disabilities; and a better chance
for these children to live full and healthy lives with their families
in their home communities. NCD strongly urges President-elect
Bush and the new Congress to pass this bill immediately at the
beginning of the 107th Congress.
Finally, there is no clear national policy regarding
assisted suicide, which is of great concern to Americans with disabilities
(See, NCD's Assisted Suicide: A
Disability Perspective Position Paper (March 27, 1997) as
an example for national policy).
Housing
The New Freedom Initiative calls
for a reform of HUD's Section 8 rental voucher program for people
with disabilities to permit recipients to use up to a year's worth
of vouchers to finance the down payment on a home. NCD supports
such a recommendation, and any other home ownership initiatives
considered by the new administration.
During the past decade, housing problems confronting
people with disabilities and people with low incomes, and the lack
of affordable housing have reached crisis proportions. According
to HUD's most recent Annual Performance report, estimates of home
ownership indicate that only two percent of all people with disabilities
are homeowners and less than five percent of the 6.5 million people
with disabilities living on Social Security Income (SSI)/Social
Security Disability Income (SSDI) are homeowners. Nationwide, the
income of a person with a disability receiving SSI benefits is only
24.4 percent of the average one-person income. At this income level
a person with a disability receiving SSI must spend approximately
69 percent of his or her income to rent a modest one-bedroom apartment.
Many people with disabilities live on limited or fixed incomes that
prohibit accumulating enough savings to enable them to afford the
costs of owning a home. These restrictions, added to institutional
barriers and long-term stigma against people with disabilities,
have precluded many financial institutions and government housing
officials from viewing home ownership as a viable option for people
with disabilities.
In addition, HUD released its Report to Congress entitled
Rental Assistance--The Worsening Crisis in March 2000. The
report found that the number of non-elderly adults with disabilities
in families with worst case housing needs was between 1.1 million
and 1.4 million.
NCD encourages HUD to create a national home modification
fund for low-income people with disabilities, both renters and owners.
HUD thereby will empower more people with disabilities to become
homeowners or tenants in community settings.
NCD recommends that HUD reform the programs under
which people with disabilities receive assistance with housing to
ensure that these programs reflect the most integrated setting requirement
of section 504 and the independent living philosophy of the disability
rights movement.
NCD also recognizes that the number one cause of a
chronic shortage of appropriate housing for people with disabilities
in America continues to be persistent and pervasive discrimination.
NCD is currently evaluating the implementation and enforcement of
the Fair Housing Amendments Act and expects to publish the results
of its work this year.
Transportation
Transportation is a linchpin to independence for people
with disabilities. Despite important progress in increased accessibility
through funding and implementation of civil rights laws and federal
technical assistance, transportation remains a major obstacle to
their employment and participation in the community. Serious deficiencies
in paratransit services and the irregular availability of accessible
mass transit persist in many urban and rural communities.
President Bush has stated his desire
to promote innovative transportation solutions for people with disabilities
by providing $45 million in funding for 10 pilot programs run by
state or local governments in regional, urban, and rural areas.
Additionally, he proposed to establish a competitive, $100 million
matching grant program to promote access to community-based alternative
methods of transportation. NCD urges the new Administration
to place the highest priority on measures that will ensure the availability
and consistent operation of accessible public transportation to
people with disabilities in every community in America. NCD and
stakeholders should be consulted in developing and implementing
accessible transportation initiatives to ensure that these measures
truly have maximal impact.
Expanding Work Opportunity
Under ADA, workplaces are less forbidding than they
once were. But many still find it difficult or impossible to get
to the workplace. The Federal Government must press ahead with its
work to reduce the astronomically high unemployment rate among people
with disabilities in America. The costs to America of high unemployment
exceeds $300 billion annually when Supplemental Security Income
or Social Security Disability Income, Medicaid and Medicare expenditures,
and other direct costs of unemployment are considered (such as housing
supports, welfare and Worker's Compensation), and indirect costs
of unemployment are factored in (such as lost taxes and productivity).
Former President Clinton recognized the need to modernize
and coordinate federal policy to promote employment of people with
disabilities by establishing a national task force on employment
of adults with disabilities (PTFEAD)(Executive Order 13078 (March
13, 1988)), which was a key recommendation from NCD's 1996 report
Achieving Independence.
President Clinton also signed an Executive Order on January 10,
2001, establishing the President's Disability Employment Partnership
Board to provide advice and information with respect to facilitating
the employment of people with disabilities. The President's Committee
on Employment of People with Disabilities is now operating under
the Department of Labor (DOL) as the Office on Disability Policy.
The new administration should ensure the continued coordination
of these DOL entities in their work and provide disability employment
advocates the opportunity to forge alliances for full inclusion
of people with disabilities with the DOL agencies to create a coordinated
and aggressive national policy to bring working-age individuals
with disabilities into gainful employment at a rate equal to that
of the general adult population.
Tele work
The New Freedom Initiative indicates
that President Bush will provide $20 million in federal matching
funds to states to guarantee low-interest loans for individuals
with disabilities to purchase computers and other equipment necessary
to Tele work from home. In addition, the President has committed
his support of legislation to make a company's contribution of computer
and Internet access for home use by employees with disabilities
a tax-free benefit. NCD urges the initiation and implementation
of both efforts.
Ticket To Work-Work Incentives Improvement Act
(TTWWIIA)
On December 17, 1999, President Clinton signed TTWIIA.
This landmark legislation gives people with disabilities the opportunity
to move into employment and reduce their dependence on benefits
and other assistance. It provides beneficiaries with disabilities
both choice and expanded options in pursuing employment and employment
supports.
The New Freedom Initiative states
that President Bush plans to sign an Executive Order to support
effective and swift implementation of the "Ticket-to-Work and Work
Incentives Improvement Act" that gives Americans with disabilities
the ability to choose their own support services and maintain their
health benefits when they return to work. NCD endorses such
executive action, and strongly urges the President to include provisions
for accountability. This should include incentives to state and
other grantees to demonstrate meaningful TTWWIIA grant results and
consistent employment and quality of life outcomes for individuals
with disabilities. NCD endorses the use of executive directives
or other means for pressing the states to opt into the TTWWIIA program.
Furthermore, NCD endorses the provision and use of consumer feedback
mechanisms in TTWWIIA programs to maximize the impact of the initiative.
Youth
Despite advances in education, disability rights policy,
the support of federal mandates, and increased funding of programs
and initiatives that impact all youth, the post-school outcomes
for far too many of our nation's youth and young adults are still
poor. The current status translates not only into untapped talent
and potential and unfulfilled dreams, but severely limits America's
preparation of today's youth for full participation in tomorrow's
society. The Social Security Administration and NCD's joint November
2000 report entitled Transition
and Post-School Outcomes for Youth with Disabilities: Closing the
Gaps to Post-Secondary Education and Employment brings attention
to a persistent crisis situation for youth with disabilities documented
by various national studies on post-school outcomes. A national
initiative focusing on coordinated actions to address system reform
is required. The new system must be effective in changing an antiquated
system that has not accomplished widespread or favorable results
from the beginning.
NCD urges the President and Congress to:
- Ensure that the tools (e.g., information technology,
telecommunications) necessary for obtaining education and employment
goals are provided to today's youth who will shape our nation's
future;
- Remove federal-level administrative disincentives
(e.g., conflicting federal policies between OSEP and SSA) for
cross-cutting agency collaboration and coordination of efforts;
and
- Ensure that relevant federal agencies and their
state grantees, document and share information about what works,
including integration of preparation for transition into daily
school life and greater involvement of community resources at
all levels, and innovation in ways of reaching diverse cultures,
underserved and unserved populations (e.g., the application of
the Department of Education's Program Effectiveness Panel to all
transition and school-to-work efforts); and
- Support the efforts of federal agencies to establish
youth advisory committees comprised of nationally representative
young people with disabilities for advice on issues impacting
their lives.
Providing Access to Community Living
Americans recognize that all branches of the Federal
Government must work together, as well as in cooperation with state
and local government and the private sector, to eliminate barriers
to full participation in civic life. Americans with disabilities
should have full access to community-based care, quality mental
health services, access to the political process, and access to
ADA-exempt organizations such as religious organizations and clubs.
Community-based Care
In the summer of 1999, the U.S. Supreme Court handed
down the landmark decision of Olmstead v. L.C., 527 U.S.
581 (1999) The Court recognized that unjustified isolation and segregation
of persons with disabilities in institutional settings is a form
of discrimination prohibited by the ADA. The Court sent a simple
yet profound message that long-term services and supports for people
of all ages must be based on what is appropriate for and desired
by the individual.
The New Freedom Initiative indicates
that President Bush will sign an Executive Order supporting the
most integrated community-based setting for individuals with disabilities,
pursuant to the Supreme Court decision in Olmstead. NCD
applauds this promise and strongly encourages the administration
to expedite such an order. In addition, NCD recommends that people
with disabilities have appropriate input to the allocation of the
newly approved 50 million dollars in the Health Care Financing Administration's
budget to assist with demonstration projects and a range of community-based
activities throughout the life of the initiative.
Finally, NCD gives its strongest recommendation that
the new administration and Congress work together from the outset
to pass MiCASSA to meet the needs and desires of older Americans
and citizens with disabilities to live in their own homes to the
fullest extent possible.
Access to Political Process
In the wake of the recent Presidential election there
are a plethora of legislative proposals for improving the elections
process. NCD urges the new administration-and congressional leadership-to
ensure that upcoming legislative vehicles include accessibility
provisions in their package.
The National Organization on Disability/Harris Poll
reports that 14 million Americans with disabilities--41 percent--voted
in the last Presidential election, a substantial increase from 30
percent (about 11 million) in the 1996 election. However, people
with disabilities vote at a rate that is 20 percent below non-disabled
voters. Poor voter turnout among the disability population is partly
a result of low registration rates--most disability service providers
are in violation of the National Voter Registration Act (The Motor
Voter Law), which requires them to offer voter registration to their
clients (See NCD's Implementation
of the National Voter Registration Act by State Vocational Rehabilitation
Agencies (October 1, 1999). In local areas, disability issues
seldom surface in election campaigns, and inaccessible polling places
often discourage citizens with disabilities from voting. The Federal
Election Commission reports that there are more than 20,000 inaccessible
polling places nationwide.
President Bush indicated in his
New Freedom Initiative his intent to create a National Commission
to support improving access to the polls and ballot secrecy for
people with disabilities. NCD heartily endorses such an effort
as timely and pertinent to current voting reform efforts and recommends
that the goals contained in this initiative should be integrated
in mainstream efforts in voting reform. The new administration should
work with a broad coalition of national disability, civil and human
rights organizations to plan and help implement such a crucial endeavor.
Mental Health Services
Based on testimony received at its hearings, NCD believes
that people with psychiatric disabilities, especially those living
in institutions, may be deprived of their most fundamental rights
systematically. Practices that would often be illegal if administered
to people without disabilities are used routinely on people with
psychiatric disabilities in the name of "treatment." (See NCD's
From Privileges to Rights: People
Labeled with Psychiatric Disabilities Speak for Themselves
(January 20, 2000)). NCD believes that drastic change is necessary
in a number of systems that deal with this population to guarantee
their fundamental rights as American citizens.
NCD calls on the President and Congress to ensure
that people with psychiatric disabilities themselves are involved
in a major way in making the policy changes that will enable them
to claim their full citizenship rights.
NCD recommends that the use of involuntary treatments,
such as forced drugging and inpatient and outpatient commitment
laws, should be viewed as inherently suspect and as incompatible
with the principles of self-determination. Public policy should
be directed toward establishing a totally voluntary mental health
system. NCD also recommends that aversive treatments, which involve
the infliction of pain or the restriction of movement for purposes
of changing behavior, should be banned.
The New Freedom Initiative calls
for the creation of a National Commission to recommend reforms of
the mental health service delivery system. Based on the research
and public hearings into the concerns of people with psychiatric
disabilities that include problems with the nation's mental health
system, described above, NCD wholeheartedly endorses this and recommends
that the administration adhere to the precept "Nothing about us
without us" by including people who are psychiatric survivors as
key members of that national commission. Most critically, the voices
of psychiatric survivors would lend the commission the credibility
necessary to garner public support for its recommendations.
Foreign Policy
NCD has worked cooperatively with the U.S. Department
of State, providing advice and recommendations on how U.S. foreign
policy can and must mirror our domestic policy agenda. The Department
of State designated NCD as the official contact point within the
U.S. government for disability issues.
NCD recommends that the Bush Administration act decisively
to further the integration of people with disabilities in all spheres
of U.S. operation, including the international arena. NCD strongly
urges that the Department of State, under the direction of Secretary-designee
Colin Powell, adopt an ambitious timetable for fully implementing
the provisions of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act (See NCD's
Foreign Policy and Disability
(August 1, 1996)). Full implementation of this statute will eliminate
many of the remaining barriers to full inclusion of people with
disabilities, including discrimination against foreign travelers
with disabilities and the inclusion of people with disabilities
in the programs sponsored by the Department of State overseas. In
particular, NCD urges this administration to require that all foreign
assistance programs ensure that people with disabilities are equal
beneficiaries of such programs and are fully included in all programs
intended for the general population (See, NCD's Achieving
Independence).
Among national and international disability organizations,
NCD has noted burgeoning support for an international convention
on the human rights of people with disabilities. Despite the human
rights conventions, declarations and resolutions of the past fifty
years, the quality of life for people with disabilities in the majority
of the world's countries has remained dismal. The U.N. Panel of
Experts on disability issues, Rehabilitation International, the
World Blind Union, World Federation of the Deaf, Disability Peoples'
International, Inclusion International, and World Network of Psychiatric
Users and Survivors have agreed to work jointly on a disability
human rights convention, and the convention initiatives have also
been endorsed by NCD's International Watch advisory committee.
Conclusions
This year, the Federal Government and states must
implement a groundswell of new and effective education and habilitation/rehabilitation
strategies to ensure that the overwhelming majority of the next
generation of people with disabilities participates in the prosperity
of work. Public policy and legislation must no longer force anyone
into mere survival on income maintenance programs.
This year, we must provide a continuum of long-term
care services to ensure that nursing home or other institutional
care is not the "default solution." Access and adequate support
to live where they choose is fundamental to people with disabilities
to exercise their civil, political, social, religious, and cultural
rights in society.
This year we must ensure that the new world economy,
an economy already defined by technology, is also defined as an
economy with the ability to unlock the potential of people with
disabilities. Worldwide accessible technology is imperative.
This transition document reflects the large and small
steps that should be taken by the new administration in the first
100 days--and beyond--to ensure that people with disabilities enjoy
the full benefits of American citizenship and prosperity. Within
these pages are the incremental events, program endeavors, legislative
proposals, and policy actions that comprise a coherent agenda for
civil and human rights and access to society for people with disabilities.
These transition initiatives offer the new administration
opportunities to reinvigorate federal enforcement of disability,
civil, and human rights laws so that more Americans with disabilities
and their families can realize the dream of equal access to full
participation in American society. We must commit the leadership
and resources to enforce our civil and human rights laws to ensure
that protections in law are protections in fact.
Let the new administration mark a realignment of commitment
from government, private sectors, and society to support the enormous
energy of the grassroots movement for civil and human rights and
access to society for individuals with disabilities. |