FW: Candidates Should Pay More Than Lip Service to Disability Issues

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Columnist: Candidates Should Pay More Than Lip Service to Disability Issues

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Columnist: Candidates Should Pay More Than Lip Service to Disability Issues

Side-by-Side Comparison Chart of Presidential Candidates' Positions on Disability-Related Issues

Including People in Institutions as 'Homeless'

Montana Couples with Disabilities Take on the SSI Marriage Penalty

HHS Announces $36 Million to Help Older Americans and Veterans Remain Independent

Photos of President Bush Signing the ADA Amendments Act

Massachusetts and Blindness Group Announce Agreement with Apple to Make iTunes Fully Accessible

Survey: States See Rising Enrollment in Medicaid as Economy Falters

Columnist: Candidates Should Pay More Than Lip Service to Disability Issues

From The News & Observer (Raleigh, NC, 9/24):KATHI WOLFE: Campaigns need to address disability issuesAt last, the issue of disability has surfaced in a presidential race.Republican vice-presidential nominee Palin has repeatedly pledged to be an advocate for parents of children with special needs. On the Democratic side, Sen. Joe Biden has voiced his concern for children with disabilities.Yet neither campaign is addressing the issues - from health care to education to employment to access to technology - that are of vital concern to people with disabilities, like myself...

>>Read more

Side-by-Side Comparison Chart of Presidential Candidates' Positions on Disability-Related Issues

The Ohio Legal Rights Service has prepared a side-by-side comparison chart of the presidential candidates' positions on disability-related issues.AAPD provides a link to this comparison as an educational resource only and does not corroborate its accuracy or comprehensiveness, nor supports or endorses any political candidate or party.

View the comparison

Including People in Institutions as 'Homeless.'

From Steve Gold (9/26):Including People in Institutions as 'Homeless.'Information Bulletin #262This is a very brief FYI. Last week in the NY Times, it was reported that 'lawmakers in Congress are debating who should be considered homeless.'This is a very important definition, because different Congressional and HUD programs are targeted to persons who are 'homeless' and are denied to persons who do not meet the definition.The NY Times stated that the House and Senate are considering an expansion of the definition 'to include people precariously housed: those doubled up with friends or relatives or living day to day in motels, with money and options running out.' Also being discussed is whether to include 'families in desperate need of stable housing' or 'people fleeing their homes because of domestic violence and those who can prove they will lose their housing within 14 days.'Missing, obviously, are all the elderly and people with disabilities who are institutionalized in nursing facilities, and especially the 22.6% (309,580 people) of those institutionalized who stated they want to leave the institution and live in the community.Residing in a nursing facility is not by any stretch a 'home.'...

>>Read the rest of Steve's information bulletin

State NewsMontana Couples with Disabilities Take on the SSI Marriage Penalty

From Montana ADAPT:Missoula, MT--- In a packed room, with U.S. Senate Finance Committee staff linked in by phone, Montana People First members and others offered personal testimony about the pain and suffering caused by the SSI 'marriage penalty.' Following the testimony, they presented over 2500 petition signatures they had collected from citizens all over Montana to a local staff member of Sen. Max Baucus, who chairs the Senate Finance Committee. In addition to the monetary penalty suffered by SSI recipients who marry, those presenting testimony cited additional penalties such as:

Not being able to openly celebrate their love and commitment to one another in the company of friends and family

Not being able to inherit one another's estates as a spouse

Not being able to get information when their partner is in the hospital

Not being able to make end of life decisions for their partner when necessary

Not being able to make funeral arrangements for their partner

Not being able to live openly as husband and wifeMontana People First members hope that their efforts will inspire others around the country to join them in asking their Senators and Representatives to take legal action to remove the marriage penalty from the SSI program.

>>Read the Disability Rights Montana Media AdvisoryReplicate this action in your community!For more information about the petition and testimony offered by the disability community in Montana and how you can copy this model in your own community, consider contacting:

Marsha Katz, Montana ADAPT, adaptmt@...

Raylynn Lauderdale, Disability Rights Montana, raylynn@...

HHS Announces $36 Million to Help Older Americans and Veterans Remain Independent

Date: September 29, 2008For Release: ImmediatelyContact: AoA Press OfficeVA Office of Public AffairsHHS Announces $36 Million to Help Older Americans and Veterans Remain IndependentGrants include first-time collaboration with VA to support America's veteransThe U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) today announced$36 million in new grant programs to 28 states to help older Americans and veterans remain independent and to support people with Alzheimer's disease to remain in their homes and communities. Just over $19 million of this funding involves a new collaboration with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt and VA Secretary Peake, M.D., announced the joint effort to provide essential consumer-directed home and community-based services to older Americans and veterans of all ages, as part of a Nursing Home Diversion (NHD) grants program. The new initiative builds on the similar missions of HHS and the VA with regard to caring for the populations they serve. In addition, Secretary Leavitt announced a $17 million investment to improve the delivery of home and community-based services to people with Alzheimer's disease and their family caregivers.In announcing the collaboration, Secretary Leavitt said, 'This historic HHS-VA initiative combines the expertise of the HHS' national network of aging services providers with the resources of the Veterans Health Administration to provide more people, including our nation's veterans, with improved long-term care options. This unique effort supports the President's New Freedom Initiative which calls upon all federal agencies to help people who need long-term care and prefer to live in their own homes and communities to do so. Through this joint program, many people who would have previously been placed in nursing homes will be able to remain at home.'

>>Read the rest of the press release.

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