Secretary 's letter

[Guest guest]

The following is the text of Secretary 's letter

The President

White House

Washington, D.C. 20500

Dear Mr. President:

As one of your first acts in office this year, you unveiled

your New Freedom Initiative to carry out your commitment to

tear down remaining barriers to equality for the 54 million

Americans with disabilities. You acted upon this commitment

with Executive Order 13217: Community-Based Alternatives for

Individuals with Disabilities, asking federal agencies to

work together to identify and address barriers to community

integration. And so, before the year's end, I am submitting

to you this status report of our efforts to meet your charge,

entitled Delivering on the Promise: Preliminary Report of

Federal Agencies' Actions to Eliminate Barriers and Promote

Community Integration.

Your Executive Order provided federal agencies with an

opportunity to respond to and build upon your New Freedom

Initiative. During the past year, through comprehensive self

evaluations and extensive public input, a number of agencies

identified barriers in their policies, programs, regulations,

and statutes to community integration and developed priorities

and action steps to address these barriers. You initially

named the Departments of Justice, Health and Human Services,

Education, Labor, Housing and Urban Development, and the Social

Security Administration to carry out this vision.

Four additional agencies, the Department of Transportation,

Veterans Affairs, the Small Business Administration, and the

Office of Personnel Management, joined the implementation

effort on a voluntary basis. Other agencies, including the

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the National

Council on Disability, share responsibility for activities

that your Order addresses and also have offered to help

implement it and achieve its goals.

This report sets forth a summary of the actions that federal

agencies propose to take in the following key areas: health

care structure and financing; housing; personal assistance,

direct care services and community workers; caregiver and

family support; transportation; employment; education; access

to technology; accountability and legal compliance; public

awareness, outreach, and partnerships; income supports;

gathering, assessment and use of data; and cross-agency

collaboration and coordination.

The federal response to the tragic events of September 11, 2001,

brought a new sensitivity to the meaning and importance of

freedom. It also brought a heightened appreciation of

coordination and collaboration among federal agencies, and

their state and local counterparts and stakeholders and the

power of such combined efforts. This report was drafted in

this spirt. It is based on two premises. First, through

collaboration, more can be achieved. Second, through

demonstrations and continued efforts, positive effects can

be illustrated and then replicated to give persons with

disabilities the freedom to live as independently as possible.

The vision for change embodied in your New Freedom Initiative

and Executive Order is a broad one. Individuals with disabilities

will have access to health care that recognizes and provides

supports and services that promote independence and

productivity. Individuals with disabilities will have a place

to live in their community among family and friends.

Individuals with disabilities will have jobs, accessible

transportation, and enhanced, accessible technology.

Individuals with disabilities will benefit from education

along with peers without disabilities. The priorities and

actions outlined in this report will move our Nation in the

direction of this vision. They also will strengthen and

sustain families and expand opportunities for individuals

to participate in the full range of community life.

In the near future, we will present you with the individual

reports of the agencies involved in carrying out your

Executive Order. Together with this Preliminary Report, they

represent the initial steps that we believe are necessary to

enhanced community integration. But these are just the first

steps. We look forward to continued collaboration with federal,

state, and local governments, together with people with

disabilities, their families, and service providers, to develop

additional recommendations to fulfill our charge and the

promise of full community integration for all Americans

with disabilities.

Sincerely,

/s/

Tommy G.

Enclosure

Sharon Finney (sfinney@...)

ILRU (Independent Living Research Utilization)

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