Social Security secrets
Social Security posts its own regulations — the complex rules so many of us live by — on the web. But when you get to their site, it’s a bitch to find what you want and harder still to download.
Barbara Knowlen’s new site, www.barrierbreakers.com, puts those regs where you can find and download exactly what you want. Only some of regs (for PASS) are up now but Barb vows she’ll have them all up very soon. She’ll also post disability rights action alerts so we can move on them in time to make a difference.
How to self-advocate
The Center on Human Policy often helps folks start self-advocacy groups — for free. They have put on record what they believe self advocacy is about, how they started their own group, and how others can start theirs.
Michael Kennedy, one of the coordinators, says, "One thing that amazes me still is that although self advocacy has been around for a long time now, there are still some people who don’t know anything about it." Here’s your chance to get how-tos to people who can put them to use.
Write to Michael Kennedy at Center on Human Policy, Syra-cuse University, 805 S. Crouse Avenue, Syracuse NY 13244- 2280. You can also call Rachel Zubal or Pam Walker at 800-894- 0826. Ask for their Materials on Self Advocacy.
The prisoners of disability want a minute of your time.
Maryland’s Disability Law Center, where real live advocates go into action every day of the week, recently introduced state legislators to fourteen ordinary people. All are citizens who have been or are being incarcerated for the crime of having a disability. The meeting place was a 30-page booklet, "To Breathe Free," that puts a human face — with photos by P. Sue Kullen — on state-sponsored imprisonment. Each of the fourteen told her or his own story to the Center’s Kim Stevens who brought their stories to the page both artfully and faithfully. Deeneen, above, who was for 23 years imprisoned for being different, says, "I kept saying year after year that I wanted to move... It seemed to take forever." Now in a group home, she marvels at the commonplace. "I like," she says, "having a refrigerator in the kitchen that I can get into."
John, a nursing home inmate, remembers the sanctity of his own home and says, "My living area here is no bigger than a jail cell.... I want to do something with my life, something I can’t do here."
If your state’s legislators have not met the people they so blithely imprison, "To Breathe Free" can show you the way to make the necessary introductions. Advocates who would put a free copy to good use should call 410-727-6352, extension 245.
Your video primer for educating the educators
While school officials may be educable, who’s got the time or training to bring them up to speed? Here’s some real help. Parents can actually demonstrate the workings of inclusion with a new 20-minute video, "The ADA and Public Schools." At its conclusion Mom or Dad can simply say, "There. See? That’s all we want. It’s what the law says has to happen. When does it start happening here?" The video by Adaptive Environments illustrates inclusive and integrated school settings with students, teachers, parents and staff at schools both urban and rural. At $30, we call that a real bargain. Call 800- 893-1225 (v/tty) to get yours.
You
can order this "No Access" sticker in packages of nine for $4.50
plus postage at the Attitude
Store.