ADA Eagle and Turkey Award winners announced

[Guest guest]

DISABILITY RIGHTS ADVOCATES Presents its 9th Annual Turkey and Eagle

Awards

Each year Disability Rights Advocates (DRA), a major California-

based, national disability law center salutes those who have made

significant contributions to the advancement of people with

disabilities within society. The Eagle awards are being presented to

businesses and organizations who have led the way in improving levels

of access at work, at home, and in the community. The Turkey awards

are given to entities that demonstrate enormous insensitivity to the

needs of people with disabilities and therefore impede their progress

in employment, education, health care, transportation, or social

integration. The Eagle and Turkey awardees are nominated by the

disability community each year.

2006's first Eagle award is presented to Microtel, a national

franchise of economy hotels, for excellence in providing accessible

lodging for travelers with disabilities and for its " Opening Doors

Program " which provides all staff with training in disability

awareness and customer service.

Our second Eagle award is presented to Merrill Lynch for its pro-

disability employment policies and promotion of disability in the

workforce, and for its philanthropy and involvement in community

disability issues. Merrill Lynch has also shown extraordinary

commitment to serving its clients with disabilities by providing

statements and information in alternative formats such as large print

and Braille and by offering programs such as Special Needs Financial

Services for clients and parents of children with disabilities.

The third Eagle is awarded to Sesame Workshop, the creators of Sesame

Street and Dragon Tales. Since its inception in 1969, Sesame Street

has included characters, muppets and children with all types of

disabilities in its programming, videos and books.

Our final 2006 Eagle award goes to Interpretype, a Rochester, New

York based business, for its development of devices (also known as

ITY devices) that increase communication access for people who are

Deaf, hard of hearing or who have speech disabilities. ITY devices,

which allow for instantaneous face-to-face conversations, are being

used by hospitals, government agencies, retail stores and Rochester

International Airport.

California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) receives a Turkey

for failing to provide appropriate access at intersections, sidewalks

and Park and Rides lots, for putting people with disabilities in

danger and for its unresponsiveness to the public's demand that these

barriers be fixed.

The second Turkey award is presented to Northwest Airlines for its

draconian attitudes toward travelers with disabilities and for its

lack of disability awareness, and lack of disability customer service

training.

The final Turkey goes to Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services

(CMS). Never before has a Turkey been awarded to the same entity

twice. Back in 2004, a turkey was awarded when they have created a

policy stating that if wheelchair users require power chairs when

they go out of their houses but do not require them in their homes,

they will NOT be reimbursed for the chair. This year CMS has

continued its devastating program of exclusion by further increasing

eligibility restrictions while reducing reimbursement rates. These

policies, in effect, confine those who need power wheelchairs to

their homes.

To send a nomination for a 2007 Eagle or Turkey, visit our website

http://www.dralegal.org/