Fwd: [Disability-Rights-News-and-Views] Digest Number 727

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Posted February 18, 2004

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Posted February 18, 2004

From: "NIH OLIB (NIH/OD)" <olib@...><NIHPRESS@...>Sent: Tuesday, February 17, 2004 9:05 AMSubject: DATABASE ON BLOOD AND MARROW STEM CELL TRANSPLANTS NOW AVAILABLEONLINE> U.S. Department of Health and Human Services>> NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH>> NIH News>> National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases> http://www.niaid.nih.gov/default.htm>> National Library of Medicine> http://www.nlm.nih.gov/>> EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE> Saturday, February 14, 2004> 7:00 a.m. ET>> CONTACT:> > 301-402-1663> pwilliams@...>>> DATABASE ON BLOOD AND MARROW STEM CELL TRANSPLANTS NOW> AVAILABLE ONLINE>> The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases> (NIAID), the National Library of Medicine (NLM) and the> National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI),> components of the National Institutes of Health (NIH),> today launched the first public database of results from> clinical blood and marrow stem cell transplants involving> unrelated donors. Accessible at> http://www.ncbi.nih.gov/mhc, this centralized resource> provides genetic as well as age, gender and ethnicity data> on more than 1,300 transplant donors and recipients from> around the world.>> The database is scheduled to be unveiled at the 2004 Tandem> Bone Marrow Transplant Meetings in Orlando, FL. See> http://www.asbmt.org/A/annual.asp?ID=1 for the meeting> agenda.>> With the availability of this new database, researchers can> generate and test hypotheses on the role of donor matching> in blood and marrow stem cell transplants. The database> also provides survival rates of people who received cell> grafts, helping doctors and their patients evaluate the> potential risks and benefits of transplantation in treating> disorders such as leukemia.>> "This important new resource will make it easier for> physicians to predict outcomes of blood and marrow stem> cell transplants and to tailor therapies to the specific> needs of their patients," says S. Fauci, M.D.,> director of NIAID.>> "This effort is part of a long-range plan at NIAID to> develop and disseminate genetic tools that provide greater> predictive value for donor matching than current methods,"> says Rotrosen, M.D., director of NIAID's Division of> Allergy, Immunology and Transplantation.>> The database contains scientific and clinical data on the> relationship between major histocompatibility complex (MHC)> genes and transplantation. Human MHC genes encode molecules> on the surface of cells commonly known as human leukocyte> antigens or HLA. These molecules alert the immune system to> the presence of anything foreign in the body. MHC genes> vary widely throughout the general population, so blood and> marrow stem cells from one person may be rejected when> transplanted into a recipient who does not closely match> the donor's MHC type.>> The database allows scientists and physicians to search for> information in a variety of ways. For example, a doctor can> look for the results of transplants involving a recipient> with a given set of MHC genes and an unrelated donor with> another set of MHC genes.>> "The widespread availability of clinical transplant results> may help researchers recognize the limits of MHC> mismatching," says Effie Wang sdorf, M.D., professor> at the University of Washington School of Medicine and> Member of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, who> leads the team of researchers and clinicians contributing> transplant data to the project. "If we know which MHC> mismatches may be tolerable, it may increase the use of> transplantation as a curative therapy for patients who do> not have a matched donor.">> To ensure patient and donor privacy, none of the clinical> information in the database contains personal identifiers> such as birth dates. The available data include patient and> donor MHC types, ethnicity, age and gender as well as the> description of the transplant, the disease diagnosis and> the number of days the recipient survived after the> transplant.>> This transplant database is part of a broader MHC database> maintained by NCBI, and part of a larger effort supported> by NIAID. The MHC database presents information from the> International Histocompatibility Working Group in> Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation, an effort spearheaded> by NIAID with additional support from the Juvenile Diabetes> Research Foundation; other NIH components, including the> National Cancer Institute, the National Human Genome> Research Institute, and the National Institute of Diabetes> and Digestive and Kidney Diseases; and the Centers for> Disease Control and Prevention.>> NIAID, NLM and NCBI are components of the National> Institutes of Health (NIH), an agency of the U.S.> Department of Health and Human Services. NIAID supports> basic and applied research to prevent, diagnose and treat> infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS and other sexually> transmitted infections, influenza, tuberculosis, malaria> and illness from potential agents of bioterrorism. NIAID> also supports research on transplantation and immune-> related illnesses, including autoimmune disorders, asthma> and allergies.>> Press releases, fact sheets and other NIAID-related> materials are available on the NIAID Web site at> http://www.niaid.nih.gov.>> ##>> To subscribe (or unsubscribe) from this list, go to> http://list.nih.gov/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=nihpress & A=1.>

There are 25 messages in this issue.

Topics in this digest:

1. Fw: DATABASE ON BLOOD AND MARROW STEM CELL TRANSPLANTS NOW AVAILABLE

ONLINE

From: " Ruralal " <ruralal@...>

2. Fw: NIBIB AND CDRH SIGN INTERAGENCY AGREEMENT ESTABLISHING JOINT LABO

RATORY

From: " Ruralal " <ruralal@...>

3. Fw: Accessible Society E-Letter 2/17/2004

From: " Ruralal " <ruralal@...>

4. Fw: TRS New Voluntary & Mandatory Reporting Requirements Approved by

OMB

From: " Ruralal " <ruralal@...>

5. Fw: [NYAPRS E-News] Times Herald-Record: 's Law

AwaitsLegislature

From: " Ruralal " <ruralal@...>

6. Fw: [NYAPRS E-News] NYAPRS: Call to Stop the Cuts!

StateBudget/Legislative Advocacy Update

From: " Ruralal " <ruralal@...>

7. Fw: HHS NEWS -- TEXAS WAIVER

From: " Ruralal " <ruralal@...>

8. Fw: Hotels Dealing with Accessibility

From: " Ruralal " <ruralal@...>

9. Fw: NCSET E-News: February 2004

From: " Ruralal " <ruralal@...>

10. Fw: HHS MEDIA ADVISORY

From: " Ruralal " <ruralal@...>

11. Fw: STUDY SHOWS LINK BETWEEN ANTIBIOTIC USE AND INCREASED RISK OF BRE

AST CANCER

From: " Ruralal " <ruralal@...>

12. Fw: Memo to Members: February 6, 2004

From: " Ruralal " <ruralal@...>

13. Fwd: Check out HRSA - Office of Special Programs

From: disabledunited@...

14. Fw: Check out HRSA - Office of Special Programs

From: " Ruralal " <ruralal@...>

15. Fw: Check out HRSA - Office of Special Programs

From: " Ruralal " <ruralal@...>

16. Fw: Check out healthfinder® - Hill-Burton

From: " Ruralal " <ruralal@...>

17. Re: Fw: Check out HRSA - Office of Special Programs

From: Gardner <ldgardner@...>

18. Re: Fw: Check out HRSA -Office of Special Programs

From: " Ruralal " <ruralal@...>

19. Fw: [CWATCHDOG] URGENT - Don't let Congress take away your legal

rights!

From: " Ruralal " <ruralal@...>

20. Check out http://www.ph.ucla.edu/hs/hs_235_f99.html

From: disabledunited@...

21. Check out ENDO Messages for November, 1999A: Re: Need endo info

From: disabledunited@...

22. Check out Hospital Liability

From: disabledunited@...

23. Check out HRSA Information Center, Publication Detail Page

From: disabledunited@...

24. Re: Fw: Check out HRSA -Office of Special Programs

From: Gardner <ldgardner@...>

25. Re: Fw: Check out HRSA -Office of Special Programs

From: Gardner <ldgardner@...>

________________________________________________________________________

Message: 1

Date: Tue, 17 Feb 2004 16:58:43 -0500

From: " Ruralal " <ruralal@...>

Subject: Fw: DATABASE ON BLOOD AND MARROW STEM CELL TRANSPLANTS NOW AVAILABLE

ONLINE

----- Original Message -----

From: " NIH OLIB (NIH/OD) " <olib@...>

<NIHPRESS@...>

Sent: Tuesday, February 17, 2004 9:05 AM

Subject: DATABASE ON BLOOD AND MARROW STEM CELL TRANSPLANTS NOW AVAILABLE

ONLINE

> U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

> NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH

> NIH News

> National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

> http://www.niaid.nih.gov/default.htm

> National Library of Medicine

> http://www.nlm.nih.gov/

> EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE

> Saturday, February 14, 2004

> 7:00 a.m. ET

> CONTACT:

> 301-402-1663

> pwilliams@...

> DATABASE ON BLOOD AND MARROW STEM CELL TRANSPLANTS NOW

> AVAILABLE ONLINE

> The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

> (NIAID), the National Library of Medicine (NLM) and the

> National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI),

> components of the National Institutes of Health (NIH),

> today launched the first public database of results from

> clinical blood and marrow stem cell transplants involving

> unrelated donors. Accessible at

> http://www.ncbi.nih.gov/mhc, this centralized resource

> provides genetic as well as age, gender and ethnicity data

> on more than 1,300 transplant donors and recipients from

> around the world.

> The database is scheduled to be unveiled at the 2004 Tandem

> Bone Marrow Transplant Meetings in Orlando, FL. See

> http://www.asbmt.org/A/annual.asp?ID=1 for the meeting

> agenda.

> With the availability of this new database, researchers can

> generate and test hypotheses on the role of donor matching

> in blood and marrow stem cell transplants. The database

> also provides survival rates of people who received cell

> grafts, helping doctors and their patients evaluate the

> potential risks and benefits of transplantation in treating

> disorders such as leukemia.

> " This important new resource will make it easier for

> physicians to predict outcomes of blood and marrow stem

> cell transplants and to tailor therapies to the specific

> needs of their patients, " says S. Fauci, M.D.,

> director of NIAID.

> " This effort is part of a long-range plan at NIAID to

> develop and disseminate genetic tools that provide greater

> predictive value for donor matching than current methods, "

> says Rotrosen, M.D., director of NIAID's Division of

> Allergy, Immunology and Transplantation.

> The database contains scientific and clinical data on the

> relationship between major histocompatibility complex (MHC)

> genes and transplantation. Human MHC genes encode molecules

> on the surface of cells commonly known as human leukocyte

> antigens or HLA. These molecules alert the immune system to

> the presence of anything foreign in the body. MHC genes

> vary widely throughout the general population, so blood and

> marrow stem cells from one person may be rejected when

> transplanted into a recipient who does not closely match

> the donor's MHC type.

> The database allows scientists and physicians to search for

> information in a variety of ways. For example, a doctor can

> look for the results of transplants involving a recipient

> with a given set of MHC genes and an unrelated donor with

> another set of MHC genes.

> " The widespread availability of clinical transplant results

> may help researchers recognize the limits of MHC

> mismatching, " says Effie Wang sdorf, M.D., professor

> at the University of Washington School of Medicine and

> Member of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, who

> leads the team of researchers and clinicians contributing

> transplant data to the project. " If we know which MHC

> mismatches may be tolerable, it may increase the use of

> transplantation as a curative therapy for patients who do

> not have a matched donor. "

> To ensure patient and donor privacy, none of the clinical

> information in the database contains personal identifiers

> such as birth dates. The available data include patient and

> donor MHC types, ethnicity, age and gender as well as the

> description of the transplant, the disease diagnosis and

> the number of days the recipient survived after the

> transplant.

> This transplant database is part of a broader MHC database

> maintained by NCBI, and part of a larger effort supported

> by NIAID. The MHC database presents information from the

> International Histocompatibility Working Group in

> Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation, an effort spearheaded

> by NIAID with additional support from the Juvenile Diabetes

> Research Foundation; other NIH components, including the

> National Cancer Institute, the National Human Genome

> Research Institute, and the National Institute of Diabetes

> and Digestive and Kidney Diseases; and the Centers for

> Disease Control and Prevention.

> NIAID, NLM and NCBI are components of the National

> Institutes of Health (NIH), an agency of the U.S.

> Department of Health and Human Services. NIAID supports

> basic and applied research to prevent, diagnose and treat

> infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS and other sexually

> transmitted infections, influenza, tuberculosis, malaria

> and illness from potential agents of bioterrorism. NIAID

> also supports research on transplantation and immune-

> related illnesses, including autoimmune disorders, asthma

> and allergies.

> Press releases, fact sheets and other NIAID-related

> materials are available on the NIAID Web site at

> http://www.niaid.nih.gov.

> ##

> To subscribe (or unsubscribe) from this list, go to

> http://list.nih.gov/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=nihpress & A=1.

________________________________________________________________________

Message: 2

Date: Tue, 17 Feb 2004 16:59:12 -0500

From: " Ruralal " <ruralal@...>

Subject: Fw: NIBIB AND CDRH SIGN INTERAGENCY AGREEMENT ESTABLISHING JOINT LABO

RATORY

----- Original Message -----

From: " NIH OLIB (NIH/OD) " <olib@...>

<NIHPRESS@...>

Sent: Tuesday, February 17, 2004 9:18 AM

Subject: NIBIB AND CDRH SIGN INTERAGENCY AGREEMENT ESTABLISHING JOINT LABO

RATORY

> U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

> NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH

> NIH News

> National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering

> (NIBIB)

> http://www.nibib1.nih.gov/

> FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

> Tuesday, February 17, 2004

> CONTACT:

> Cheryl Fee

> 301-451-6772

> NIBIB AND CDRH SIGN INTERAGENCY AGREEMENT ESTABLISHING

> JOINT LABORATORY

> BETHESDA, MARYLAND -- The National Institute of Biomedical

> Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) at the National

> Institutes of Health and the Center for Devices and

> Radiological Health (CDRH) at the Food and Drug

> Administration signed an interagency agreement recently

> establishing a joint Laboratory for the Assessment of

> Medical Imaging Systems (LAMIS). The purpose of this joint

> effort is to assess and optimize high-resolution, high-

> dimensional medical imaging systems.

> The goals of LAMIS are to develop evaluation methodology

> based on advanced statistical tools, determine fundamental

> limitations imposed on imaging systems, characterize and

> optimize medical imaging systems and components, build

> consensus, provide advanced image evaluation methods, and

> develop an environment conducive to rapid deployment of

> improved imaging systems and components to the patient

> community. In addition, optimal hardware designs and

> approaches for image reconstruction and extracting features

> will be pursued.

> " The joint agreement with CDRH is an exciting opportunity

> for the NIBIB, and will provide us with another avenue for

> exploring innovative and high-quality technologies and

> interdisciplinary research that will lead to improved

> healthcare. The CDRH medical imaging program is stellar,

> and we are proud to collaborate with an organization of

> this caliber, " said NIBIB Director Roderic I. Pettigrew,

> Ph.D., M.D.

> " CDRH welcomes this opportunity to collaborate with NIBIB, "

> said CDRH Director W. al, M.D., M.P.H. " Not only

> will this new agreement strengthen the imaging programs of

> both organizations, but it will also benefit the public by

> leading to the earlier availability of safe, effective

> medical imaging technologies. "

> To carry out the mission of the new laboratory, a

> multidisciplinary team of clinicians, scientists, and

> mathematicians/statisticians will be assembled. The team

> will work with visiting scientists and trainees - from

> graduate and medical students to senior researchers and

> clinicians. Visitors to the laboratory will apply

> assessment methods developed by the group to their own

> problems, and carry with them the principles and tools for

> longer-term use when they leave.

> The NIBIB and the CDRH have a mutual interest in the

> assessment of the performance of medical imaging systems.

> The mission of the NIBIB is to improve health by leading

> the development and application of emerging and

> breakthrough biomedical technologies based in the physical

> and engineering sciences, including the translation and

> assessment of technological capabilities in biomedical

> imaging. The CDRH, as a regulatory arm of the FDA, promotes

> and protects the health of the public by ensuring the

> safety and effectiveness of medical devices. The

> interagency agreement establishing LAMIS will benefit both

> organizations.

> Co-directors of the program are Kirchner, M.D.,

> Acting Director of the Intramural Science Program, NIBIB;

> and Brown, Ph.D., Director of the Division of

> Electronics and Computer Science, Office of Science and

> Technology, CDRH.

> ##

> To subscribe (or unsubscribe) from this list, go to

> http://list.nih.gov/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=nihpress & A=1.

________________________________________________________________________

Message: 3

Date: Tue, 17 Feb 2004 17:00:05 -0500

From: " Ruralal " <ruralal@...>

Subject: Fw: Accessible Society E-Letter 2/17/2004

----- Original Message -----

From: " Center Information " <info@...>

<info@...>

Sent: Tuesday, February 17, 2004 11:01 AM

Subject: Accessible Society E-Letter 2/17/2004

> Privacy, fraud and access to the right to vote

> In early January, the American Association of People with

> Disabilities announced that Washington, DC had become one of the

> first jurisdictions to meet the 2002 Help America Vote Act

> requirement " for one accessible touchscreen voting unit in every

> polling place. " (Read more at http://www.jfanow.org/cgi/getli.pl?1910)

> A week later, U.S. District Judge Wayne Alley ruled that counties

> must comply not only with HAVA " but also the more stringent Americans

> with Disabilities Act when holding elections, " and ordered Florida's

> Duval County (ville) to provide accessible voting machines by

> the Aug. 31 primary. The ruling came in a lawsuit against the county

> and the FL State Division of Elections filed by AAPD; the suit said

> Florida was required to put in the accessible machines under the ADA

> when it upgraded from a punch-card to an optical-scan system. A story

> in the Jan. 17 Tallahassee Democrat reported that Florida's

> supervisors of elections planned to appeal, insisting that they could

> not get ready in time. (Read more about the ruling at

> http://www.jfanow.org/cgi/getli.pl?1911)

> Such delays are not simply because of the slow pace of election

> officials. Just when you thought it might be safe to think the right

> to voting privacy was secured by means of new computerized voting

> machines, fears of the technology's openness to fraud have slowed the

> process.

> Shortly after last fall's election, California Sec. of State

> ordered that all voting machines by mid-2006 offer the

> printout known as the " voter-verifiable paper trail. " The move,

> advocates said, would delay touchstone voting. " Touchscreens

> represent the only real hope to bring millions of previously

> disenfranchised voters to the polls, especially those with

> disabilities, language and reading difficulties, " Eve Hill,

> director of the Western Law Center for Disability Rights, told

> Oakland Tribune reporter Ian Hoffman ( " Paper trail for e-votes

> mandated, " Nov. 22). Yet TrueMajority, a progressive activism

> website, seemingly unaware of disability voting access issues, has

> launched a campaign to get state election officials to hold off

> buying computerized voting machines " until we know they are safe and

> have a way to run reliable recounts. " Last fall, says the group, its

> members sent 63,000 faxes to members of Congress calling for action

> to delay touchscreen voting (learn more at

> http://www.truemajority.org)

> Our last look at voting issues was on Election Day. Read our Nov. 4

> E-Letter, " Voting progress for people with disabilities, " online at

> http://www.accessiblesociety.org/e_letters/eletter110403.html

> ****************

> Please visit the website of The Center for An Accessible Society at

> http://www.accessiblesociety.org, with more links to topics.

> To stop getting this e-mail letter, send an email to

> " info@... " with the word " unsubscribe " in the

> subject line.

> The Center for An Accessible Society is funded by the National

> Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research to focus public

> attention on disability and independent living issues. The Center is

> a project of Exploding Myths, Inc. a media enterprise company.

________________________________________________________________________

Message: 4

Date: Tue, 17 Feb 2004 17:00:33 -0500

From: " Ruralal " <ruralal@...>

Subject: Fw: TRS New Voluntary & Mandatory Reporting Requirements Approved by

OMB

Message

----- Original Message -----

From: Arlene

Disabilities Rights Office Information

Sent: Tuesday, February 17, 2004 10:57 AM

Subject: TRS New Voluntary & Mandatory Reporting Requirements Approved by OMB

DA 04-347

Released: February 11, 2004

TELECOMMUNICATIONS RELAY SERVICES (TRS) NEW VOLUNTARY AND MANDATORY REPORTING

REQUIREMENTS APPROVED BY THE OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET; AMENDED TRS RULES

EFFECTIVE FEBRUARY 24, 2004

CC Docket No. 98-67

On January 27, 2004, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approved for

three years the information collection requirements contained in the

Telecommunications Relay Services and Speech-to-Speech Services for Individuals

with Hearing and Speech Disabilities, Second Report and Order, Order on

Reconsideration, CC Docket No. 98-67, FCC 03-112, 18 FCC Rcd 12379 (rel. June

17, 2003) (Second Report and Order). See OMB No. 3060-1047. These information

collection requirements relate to new voluntary and mandatory reporting

requirements concerning the TRS mandatory minimum standards, which apply to the

providers of TRS. See 47 C.F.R. 64.604(a)(3) (reporting required if waiver

sought of various requirements); 47 C.F.R. 64.604©(2) (reporting contact

information). As stated in the Second Report and Order, the effective date of

these newly approved TRS rules is the date notice of the OMB approval is

published in the Federal Register.

The Second Report and Order also adopted or modified regulations that do not

require OMB approval, and states that such regulations become effective 6 months

from the date of publication of the Second Report and Order in the Federal

Report and Order was published in the Federal Register on August 25, 2003. See

68 FR 50973. Accordingly, these new or modified rules will become effective on

February 24, 2004. A copy of the TRS rules, as amended, will appear after that

date on the Commission's website at: http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/dro/4regs.html.

For further information, contact Dana or Cheryl King of the Consumer &

Governmental Affairs Bureau at (202) 418-2517 (voice), (202) 418-7898 (TTY).

FCC NOTICE REQUIRED BY THE PAPERWORK REDUCTION ACT

As required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3507), the FCC is

notifying the public that it received approval from OMB on January 27, 2004 for

the collection(s) of information contained in the Commission's new voluntary and

mandatory reporting requirements in 47 C.F.R. sections 64.604(a)(3) and ©(2).

The OMB Control Number is 3060-1047. The annual reporting burden for the

collection(s) of information, including the time for gathering and maintaining

the collection of information, is estimated to be: 352 respondents, an average

of 5.311 hours per response per annum, for a total hour burden of 1,366 hours,

and no annual cost. If you have any comments on these burden estimates, or how

we can improve the collection(s) and reduce the burden(s) they cause you, please

write to Les , Federal Communications Commission, Room 1-A804, 445 12th

Street, SW, Washington, DC 20554. Please include the OMB Control Number,

3060-1047, in your correspondence. We will also accept your comments regarding

the Paperwork Reduction Act aspects of the collections via the Internet, if you

send them to .@... or call (202) 418-0217.

Under 5 C.F.R. section 1320, an agency may not conduct or sponsor a collection

of information unless it displays a current valid OMB Control Number. No person

shall be subject to any penalty for failing to comply with a collection of

information subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) that does not display a

valid OMB Control Number. The OMB Control Number is 3060-1047.

THE FOREGOING NOTICE IS REQUIRED BY THE PAPERWORK REDUCTION ACT OF 1995, PUBLIC

LAW 104-13, OCTOBER 1, 1995, 44 U.S.C. SECTION 3507.

To request materials in accessible formats for people with disabilities

(Braille, large print, electronic files, audio format), send an e-mail to

fcc504@... or call the Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau at (202)

418-0531 (voice), (202) 418-7365 (TTY).

- FCC -

We hope you find the information on disability issues in this bulletin helpful.

If you would be interested in receiving a similar electronic bulletin containing

more general FCC consumer information, please click on

www.fcc.gov/cgb/emailservice.html to subscribe.

---

You are currently subscribed to droinfo@... as: ruralal@...

To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-droinfo-26415A@...

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________________________________________________________________________

Message: 5

Date: Tue, 17 Feb 2004 17:01:18 -0500

From: " Ruralal " <ruralal@...>

Subject: Fw: [NYAPRS E-News] Times Herald-Record: 's Law

AwaitsLegislature

----- Original Message -----

From: NYAPRS@...

mental-health-enews@...

Sent: Tuesday, February 17, 2004 12:38 PM

Subject: [NYAPRS E-News] Times Herald-Record: 's Law AwaitsLegislature

's Law awaits Legislature

By Beth Quinn Middletown Times Herald-Record February 17, 2004

It was 's mother who found him hanging in the closet.

He was 12 years old.

O'Clair's parents had battled the system for five years to get their

child treated for clinical depression. Their efforts were stymied by limits on

mental-health coverage in their insurance policy.

In the end, they lost. On March 16, 2001, the Schenectady boy put a rope

around his neck and tossed it over a metal rod in his closet.

Despite losing the battle for their own son, Tom and Donna O'Clair are now

trying to win the war on behalf of all New Yorkers who suffer from mental

illness. They're traveling the state advocating the passage of a law named after

their youngest child - 's Law.

" This law would require health insurers to give the same coverage for mental

illness as they do for physical illness, " said Tom O'Clair during an editorial

board meeting yesterday at the Times Herald-Record. New York insurers are now

required to cover only 20 outpatient visits and 30 days' hospitalization

annually for treatment of mental illness.

But for people like , that's not even close to adequate, said

Seereiter, director of public policy for the state Mental Health Association.

needed weekly outpatient visits and periodic long-term

hospitalization. Instead, his treatment was rationed.

His parents paid out of pocket when they could scrape the money together. At

one point, they gave up custody of their child so he could qualify for Medicaid

coverage.

" But that led to a terrible foster care situation, " said O'Clair. " What kind

of system forces parents to give up a child just to get him the proper care?

Would we accept that if a child needed treatment for cancer? "

Mental health advocates statewide have been fighting to end this kind of

discrimination against the mentally ill for nearly two decades.

Last year, they came close. 's Law was approved in the Assembly but

never came up for a vote in the Senate. The O'Clairs, along with advocacy

organizations statewide, are trying again this year.

States elsewhere have gradually adopted similar laws, said Seereiter. There

are now 33 states that require health insurance coverage for mental illness and

substance abuse comparable to physical illness.

A study of those states shows that the cost to New Yorkers would be $1.26 per

person per month in premium costs.

While the Assembly is expected to approve the law again this year, advocates

are pressuring Senate Majority Leader ph Bruno to allow its passage in the

Senate.

In the past, Bruno has spoken out against 's Law, claiming that its

broad language would drive up insurance costs for everyone. But he does not have

numbers to dispute the $1.26 figure.

A spokesman for Bruno said last week that the bill's language might be

negotiated with the Assembly this year.

" Sen. Bruno has raised some concerns about bottom-line costs, " said his

spokesman, Mark Hansen. " But it's something he'd like to work out. He's hopeful

it can happen. "

For more information about 's Law, go to www.timothyslaw.org. The Web

site is maintained by 's older brother, .

Source: http://www.recordonline.com/cgi-bin/printstory/printstory.cgi

This 'Mental Health E-News' posting is a service of the New York Ass'n of

Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services,

a statewide coalition of people who use and/or provide community mental health

services

dedicated to improving services and social conditions for people with

psychiatric disabilities by promoting their recovery, rehabilitation and rights.

To join our list, e-mail us your request and, where appropriate, the name of

your organization to NYAPRSadm@....

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_______________________________________________

Mental-health-enews mailing list

Mental-health-enews@...

http://mail.nyaprs.org/mailman/listinfo/mental-health-enews_nyaprs.org

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Message: 6

Date: Tue, 17 Feb 2004 17:01:48 -0500

From: " Ruralal " <ruralal@...>

Subject: Fw: [NYAPRS E-News] NYAPRS: Call to Stop the Cuts!

StateBudget/Legislative Advocacy Update

----- Original Message -----

From: NYAPRS@...

mental-health-enews@...

Sent: Tuesday, February 17, 2004 12:38 PM

Subject: [NYAPRS E-News] NYAPRS: Call to Stop the Cuts! StateBudget/Legislative

Advocacy Update

NYAPRS Note: The following Albany advocacy update contains several additional

measures each of you can do to help advance several of our joint objectives this

year: please note this Thursday's and next Monday's Call-Your-Legislator

Campaigns to Stop the Commumnity Mental Health Cuts as well as the newly

announced March 16th's Rally in Albany for 's Law. Our success depends on

you: please make your calls against the cuts and make plans to come out to end

mental health insurance discrimination!

R E C O V E R Y R E P O R T

Albany Advocacy Update

NYAPRS Members and Friends February 17,

2004

From: Harvey Rosenthal Ray Schwartz

Executive Director Public Policy Committee Chair

Re: MH Committee Chairs , Libous Call for $7.7 Million Restoration:

Join 2-Stage Phone Call Drive Urging Legislative Leaders´ Support!

PROS Trend Campaign Intensifies; Reinvestment Update:

OMH `507´ Data Provides State Hospital `Right Sizing´ Perspective;

New Adult Home Initiatives Prioritized by Advocates, Residents;

`SHU´ Bill, Plight of Prisoners Gaining Mounting Public Attention;

´s Law Expected to Pass Assembly Next Week,

Advocates Step up Senate Advocacy:Come to Albany for March 16th Rally!

ECT Reporting Legislation on the Radar of Legislature, Administration

With every year, the NYAPRS mental health advocacy community steps up our

formidable efforts another notch in our efforts to advocate for state budget and

legislative actions that advance the recovery, rehabilitation and rights of New

Yorkers with psychiatric disabilities.

Last year, we saw a number of our priorities succeed or advance, including

restoration of the Community Reinvestment program, approval of 2,000 new housing

slots, the launching of several new adult home service initiatives, rejections

of plans to eliminate a COLA for SSI recipients and to limit medication choices

for Medicaid recipients and movement in the Legislature on ECT reporting, mental

health parity, OMH housing waiting list and prison reform legislation.

This past fall, almost a thousand NYAPRS members gathered in 12 local forums

across New York State to identify 6 state budget and 5 legislative priorities.

This year´s NYAPRS State Budget and Legislative agenda was introduced at a very

spirited January 27th Annual Legislative Day in Albany, highlighted by the

personal and passionate testimony of NYAPRS´ greatest strength, the inspired

voices of the people most effected by state policy, who powerfully drew upon

their own first-hand knowledge of life in a state hospital, state prison or

adult home to best make the case for needed reforms and state action.

Following is a progress report on efforts conducted by our Public Policy

Committee, members, staff and fellow advocates on these issues.

MH Committee Chairs , Libous Call for Restoration of $7.7 Million

NYAPRS members spent a good part of our recent Albany Day meeting with state

legislative leaders and urging them to restore almost $8 million of core

rehabilitative and support community-based services that were proposed for

elimination in the Executive Budget.

Included in the Aid to Localities mental health funding categories that would

be jeopardized by such a cut are crisis services, children´s services, clubhouse

rehabilitation centers, peer-run self-help programs, employment services,

multicultural initiatives and outreach and advocacy services!

Joining us in the fight to gain restoration of these programs are the Coalition

of Voluntary Mental Health Agencies, the NYS Council for Community Behavioral

Healthcare, the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill-NYS, the Association for

Community Living, the Mental Health Association of NYS, the NYS Rehabilitation

Association, Families Together, the NYS Coalition for Children´s Mental Health

Services and the Mental Health Associations of Westchester and New York City.

Our combined efforts have been heard! Last week, the campaign got a big boost

when both Assembly Mental Health Committee Chair and Senate Mental

Health Committee Chair Libous included in their recommendations to their

respective legislative leaders the restoration of funding for these services.

That means that the top budget makers in the Assembly (Speaker Sheldon Silver

and Assembly Ways & Means Committee Chair Herman Farrell) and in the Senate

(Majority Leader ph Bruno and Senate Finance Committee Chair Owen )

have been asked by their own mental health experts to include the protection of

threatened community mental health services among their top priorities this

year.

Join 2-Stage Phone Call Drive Urging Legislative Leaders´ Support!

Given all of the other funding cuts that the Legislature is being asked to

protect or promote, we´ll need to do a lot more over the next few weeks to make

sure that restoring the funds to protect these services remains a top priority

until a potential budget deal that may be only a month away!

NYAPRS members and friends are therefore being encouraged to participate in two

phone call drives in support of these restorations:

o a February 19th Call-In to state legislators when they´re home at their local

district offices this Thursday (see below) and

o a February 23rd Call-In to legislative leaders Senator Bruno, Assemblyman

Silver and Finance/Ways & Means Committee chairs and Farrell upon their

return to Albany from this week´s break.

Please circulate the attached flyers and take action over the next few days to

protect our services!

PROS Trend Campaign Intensifies

On the apparent eve of the conversion of almost $50 million of state-funded

mental health rehabilitation and employment services to OMH´s new `PROS´

Medicaid outpatient license, NYAPRS has also been urging the Legislature to

build in an automatic rate increase for PROS programs (based on cost of living

trends) starting in the initiative´s second year, FY 2005-6.

This would help guarantee the financial stability of these core rehabilitative

services as they undergo the complex and uncertain process of converting to

Medicaid and remove the need for our annual efforts to gain a Cost of Living

Adjustment (COLA).

Our request has gained the attention of the legislative mental health committee

chairs: stay tuned for progress reports!

Update on Community Reinvestment Advocacy Efforts

OMH 507 Plan Provides State Hospital `Right Sizing´ Perspective

NYAPRS members strongly supported the State Legislature´s action last year to

pass and uphold legislation restoring New York´s landmark Reinvestment proposal

effective April 1, 2003. We continue to believe that New York needs to honor its

promise to use state hospital savings to address our most urgent unmet community

mental health needs.

Accordingly, NYAPRS strongly supports the Governor´s plan to resume $9.6 million

in Reinvestment funding to fund 600 new supported housing beds and $2.3 million

in new evidence-based children´s´ community mental health services.

Further, the Governor introduces a two-stage approach to future state hospital

downsizing. First, he seeks to avoid a $27 million capital expense at Middletown

PC, giving local planners a year to prepare for the facility´s consolidation

with neighboring Rockland PC and for the re-direction of $3.2 million of state

operated mental health services into community mental health systems in

surrounding Orange and Sullivan Counties. An additional $3.2 million will be

reinvested to boost community mental health services delivered by voluntary

agencies across NYS.

Finally, the Governor supports a proposal long backed by NYAPRS and our fellow

state mental health advocates to establish a Blue Ribbon State Hospital Closure

Commission to produce non-partisan recommendations as to which of the remaining

facilities should be closed or consolidated, based on current need, capacity and

operating costs.

NYAPRS supports the Governor´s proposal for `responsible state hospital

downsizing´ that that reinvests savings to boost both state operated and

voluntary community-based services in areas where closures occur, resumes

Reinvestment funding statewide and establishes a State Hospital Closure

Commission.

------------------------------------

The OMH 5-Year `507´ state mental health plan that was released recently

contains valuable information that puts in appropriate perspective New York´s

efforts to appropriately `right size´ our state hospital system. Following are

some experts:

" ..despite New York State's community integration efforts over the past years,

the use of inpatient beds within both State and local sectors continues to be

above that of other mid-Atlantic states. Although national discussions generally

describe inpatient usage within both state-operated and general hospital

sectors, of particular concern to state mental health directors is the

utilization of state-operated inpatient beds, because this commitment of

resources has historically been excluded from Federal cost sharing through

Medicaid reimbursement.

...The NRI 2000 study...noted that:

o Pennsylvania had 21 state psychiatric hospitals in 1955 and nine in 2000.

o California had 10 in 1958 and four in 2000.

o Illinois had 12 facilities in 1993 and four in 2000.

o Ohio had 25 in 1956 and had five located at nine sites in 2000.

.....New York's bed usage per capita is higher than other, similar urbanized

states such as California, Michigan, Texas, and Ohio. (NYAPRS Note: New York

currently operates 17 state-operated psychiatric centers for adults, six

state-operated psychiatric centers for children, three forensic psychiatric

centers and two research institutes).

.....Over the past five years, admissions to State adult psychiatric centers have

remained nearly constant and OMH assumes that this trend is likely to continue

for the next three years. ....For the past several years, the adult short stay

census has been around 1,850, and it is expected to remain at this level.

.....However, the OMH adult census is still projected to decline because there

will be a continued reduction in the adult population whose length of stay is

greater than one year. "

New Adult Home Initiatives Prioritized by Advocates, Residents

Through their emerging spokespeople, residents have made clear that their

priorities are for more OMH community housing slots and for additional state

funds to help them enhance the quality of their lives (to purchase clothing, air

conditioners and computers and to gain supports for their community living and

working goals).

Accordingly, NYAPRS has played a prominent role in the NYS Coalition for Adult

Home Reform´s efforts to press for both improved services and supports for

current residents and for alternative community housing for those who are ready

and prepared to move to more independent community settings.

This year, the Governor has proposed a $10 million adult home initiative that

would provide a $2 million fund for resident clothing, air conditioning and

other personal needs, with the remaining monies to fund resident assessments,

case management/peer support, social/recreational and medication assistance.

NYAPRS representatives have held numerous meetings and discussions with top

Assembly, Senate and Administration officials, urging all three sides to:

o fully support, if not enhance, the Governor´s service initiatives

o dedicate a portion of 4,400 new community alternative mental health housing

beds coming online in the coming years for current residents, especially those

who indicate a preference and readiness to leave per recently conducted

assessments.

o restore funding for the QUIP program to help support the efforts of qualified

operators to sustain their housing and resident services.

In addition, NYAPRS members and staff have been working vigorously with state

and local officials and advocates on behalf of almost 500 Suffolk County adult

home residents with psychiatric disabilities who have either been or are in

jeopardy of being displaced from the closure or anticipated closure of 9 local

adult homes.

Adult home residents will be coming to Albany next month to, for the first time,

conduct their own `Resident Speak Out´ at the Legislative Office Building at

noon on March 1st. They will be calling on state leaders to work together to

address a list of priorities they have collected from surveying residents

throughout the greater New York City area. Stay tuned!

`SHU´ Bill, Plight of Prisoners Gaining Mounting Public Attention

Perhaps the most stirring presentations at the January 27th NYAPRS Legislative

Day were from advocates for state prisoners with psychiatric disabilities,

exhorting the Governor, state legislators, fellow advocates and the media to

change current state policies to routinely confine distressed prisoners in

inhumane " 23- hours-a-day-in-the-dark " solitary confinements.

After presentations by Assembly Mental Health Committee Chair Jeffrion Aubry

and the Urban Justice Center´s Ortiz brought Hart Auditorium attendees

to their feet, Ortiz and fellow ex-prisoners

captured the attention of the Capitol press at a noon press conference that

yielded subsequent coverage on " Inside Albany, " the Times Union, Poughkeepsie

Journal and the Legislative Gazette (posted last week), with more stories

underway.

NYAPRS members have warmly welcomed the Executive Budget´s $13 million

allocation for new Office of Mental Health and Department of Corrections

treatment and security staffing as a good first step in expanding appropriate

prison mental health facilities.

Along with our colleagues in Mental Health Alternatives to Solitary Confinement

(MHASC), we also strongly seek the passage this year of A.8849 (Aubry) and an

identical Senate version to eliminate the use of solitary confinement for

inmates with severe psychiatric disabilities.

Advocates are planning to meet with key Senators and Senate and Administration

officials shortly. Stay tuned for more details...

´s Law Expected to Pass Assembly Next Week

Advocates Step up Senate Advocacy: Come to Albany for March 16th Rally!

The campaign for ´s Law is moving into high gear, with the NYS Assembly

expected to approve the bill next week and the campaign´s launch of several

advocacy efforts with the NYS Senate over the weeks to follow.

In several forums last week, Senate officials indicated that the " same as "

version that was supported by 37 Majority Republican Senators last year is not

viable as written for passage in that house this year, and must be amended or

re-drafted.

While advocates continue to provide national data refuting insurance industry

claims that the costs of instituting parity would be onerous, the Senate bill

remains stalled.

Accordingly, ´s Law Campaign has called for the following actions:

o February 23 and 24: All endorsing organizations will be submitting their memos

of support for ´s Law. NYAPRS-member organizations are encouraged to

e-mail us your own group´s memo of support for A.8301, S.5329 at nyaprs@...

or via fax at 518-436-0044.

o March 9th Phone-In to State Senators to Pass Parity

o March 16th Rally in Albany: on the anniversary of ´s death, advocates

for ´s Law will rally at the Capitol at 11:30 am and then conduct

meetings with their respective legislators from 12:45 pm to 3:00 pm.

ECT Reporting Legislation on the Radar of Legislature, Administration

Last week´s OMH briefing on their `507 Plan´ included an announcement that

Administration officials have been meeting regularly to enhance ECT reporting

and informed consent procedures, and will be sharing their recommendations with

bill sponsors Libous and and advocates shortly. Reportedly, both houses

are preparing to re-introduce ECT reporting legislation. Stay tuned for more

details.

-----------------------------------------------

February 19 Call-In Day

STOP THE CUTS

TO LOCAL COMMUNITY MENTAL HEALTH SAFETY NETS!

Urge Your State Legislator

TO REJECT PROPOSED CUTS TO

CRISIS SERVICES, CHILDREN´S SERVICES, CLUBHOUSE REHABILITATION CENTERS, PEER-RUN

SELF-HELP PROGRAMS, EMPLOYMENT SERVICES, MULTICULTURAL INITIATIVES, OUTREACH AND

ADVOCACY SERVICES!

o The Governor´s Budget Proposes A $7.7 Million Cut To `Aid To Localities´

Community Mental Health Funding That Would Take Down Essential Community

Services and Supports In Every County In NYS!

o County Mental Health Officials Would be Required To Either Cut or Eliminate

Core Programs That Adults And Children With Psychiatric Disabilities Rely On To

Support Their Recovery And To Avoid Painful And Costly Relapses!

o Given The State´s Recent Trend To Convert Community Mental Health Services To

Medicaid (PROS), These Damaging Cuts Will Further Jeopardize Rapidly Diminishing

Flexible `Wrap-Around´ Mental Health Care For Non-Medicaid Eligible New Yorkers!

CALL YOUR STATE LEGISLATORS AT THEIR LOCAL DISTRICT OFFICES*

NEXT THURSDAY FEBRUARY 19

BETWEEN 10 am to 1 pm!

Please leave the following message:

" I´m a registered voter from (your locality) calling to urge you to stop the

proposed $7.7 million cut to Aid to Localities Mental Health Funding that is

proposed in the Governor´s Mental Health Budget! "

*look for phone list in tomorrow's posting

This 'Mental Health E-News' posting is a service of the New York Ass'n of

Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services,

a statewide coalition of people who use and/or provide community mental health

services

dedicated to improving services and social conditions for people with

psychiatric disabilities by promoting their recovery, rehabilitation and rights.

To join our list, e-mail us your request and, where appropriate, the name of

your organization to NYAPRSadm@....

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_______________________________________________

Mental-health-enews mailing list

Mental-health-enews@...

http://mail.nyaprs.org/mailman/listinfo/mental-health-enews_nyaprs.org

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[This message contained attachments]

________________________________________________________________________

Message: 7

Date: Tue, 17 Feb 2004 17:02:56 -0500

From: " Ruralal " <ruralal@...>

Subject: Fw: HHS NEWS -- TEXAS WAIVER

----- Original Message -----

From: " Henneghan, Martha (HHS/OS) " <MARTHA.HENNEGHAN@...>

<HHSPRESS@...>

Sent: Tuesday, February 17, 2004 1:53 PM

Subject: HHS NEWS -- TEXAS WAIVER

> Date: Feb. 17, 2004

> For Release: Immediately

> Contact: CMS Public Affairs (202) 690-6145

> HEADLINE: HHS APPROVES TEXAS PLANS TO HELP MORE DISABLED INDIVIDUALS AT

HOME

> HHS Secretary Tommy G. today approved a Texas plan to provide

help

> to disabled individuals so they can remain in their homes and out of

> institutions.

> " This waiver will give thousands of additional Texans the kind of benefits

> that they need so that they can continue to live in their homes and

> communities, " Secretary said. " It supports President Bush's New

> Freedom Initiative, which aims at eliminating barriers that can prevent

> people with disabilities from fully participating in all parts of

community

> life. "

> The new Texas Medicaid home and community-based services waiver will

provide

> services to persons who are developmentally disabled or mentally retarded

> who otherwise would require care in a nursing home or other institution.

> Those served under this waiver will receive respite care, minor home

> modifications, skilled nursing, adaptive aids, behavioral support,

> specialized therapies, dental treatment and other services.

> The waiver will help nearly 4,000 state residents, many of whom are

> currently on waiting lists for these services.

> In an effort to keep people in their communities, the Bush Administration

> has launched several initiatives including the New Freedom and

Independence

> Plus initiatives that are aimed at helping individuals with disabilities

> live with greater personal control and freedom outside institutions.

> Medicaid is a state-federal partnership to provide health care services to

> certain low-income populations, primarily children, disabled adults and

the

> elderly. States and the federal government share the cost of the Medicaid

> program.

> ###

> Note: All HHS press releases, fact sheets and other press materials are

> available at <http://www.hhs.gov/news>.

________________________________________________________________________

Message: 8

Date: Tue, 17 Feb 2004 17:04:18 -0500

From: " Ruralal " <ruralal@...>

Subject: Fw: Hotels Dealing with Accessibility

----- Original Message -----

From: " Justice For All Moderator " <jfa@...>

<justice@...>

Sent: Tuesday, February 17, 2004 2:08 PM

Subject: Hotels Dealing with Accessibility

> " Hotels Dealing with Accessibility "

> >From the New York Times:

> Hotels Learn to Deal With Disability

> By DAVID KOEPPEL

> Published: February 17, 2004

> It is one thing to mandate rights to the disabled and

> another for service providers to treat them with

> sensitivity and respect. But executives with disabilities

> say the travel industry finally seems to be getting it

> right.

> The 12-year-old Americans with Disabilities Act gets a lot

> of credit for forcing a national re-evaluation of attitudes

> toward the disabled. And with spending by disabled

> travelers exceeding $3 billion a year, an industry that

> operates on razor-thin profit margins has become eager to

> please, even hiring consultants to train employees on how

> to behave.

> Whatever the causes, the difference between now and then is

> striking. Just ask Sharon Myers, a medal-winning in the

> Para-Olympics.

> Paralyzed by polio since she was 3, Ms. Myers, a 56-year-

> old Virginian, recalled being carried onto a plane in

> Cincinnati more than 20 years ago, only to be kept waiting

> as the pilot and ground crew argued for 45 minutes about

> who was responsible for taking her to her seat.

> " I was sitting facing every person on that plane, " Ms.

> Myers, now the director for disability affairs at the

> Society for Accessible Travel and Hospitality, said at a

> conference that her nonprofit consulting group organized in

> Miami last month. " Here I was a world ambassador in sports,

> experiencing my most humiliating travel encounter. No one

> even apologized. "

> For Ms. Myers and other travelers with disabilities,

> however, such ordeals have become rarer as employees in

> hotels, restaurants, airports and car-rental agencies have

> learned more about their special needs, both physical and

> emotional.

> " In the last few years, I have been treated with the utmost

> respect whenever I fly, " Ms. Myers said. " There's been an

> absolute turnaround.''

> When she first started traveling for sports competitions

> and conference appearances in the 1960's and 70's, it was

> often impossible for her to get her wheelchair through the

> bedroom doors of hotels. These days, she generally has no

> such problem, especially if she specifies in advance that

> she wants an accessible room with roll-in showers and hand-

> held showerheads.

> Disabled travelers spend about $3.6 billion a year,

> according to a 2003 study by the Open Doors Organization, a

> Chicago-based group that researches services and products

> for disabled customers. The study showed that of America's

> 54 million disabled people, about 2.8 million travel solely

> for business and an additional 2.5 million combine business

> and leisure travel. It suggested that disabled people would

> travel more frequently and stay longer if the industry

> worked harder to accommodate their needs.

> Cheryl Duke, the president of WC Duke Associates in

> Woodford, Va., has heard plenty of horror stories about the

> rude behavior of service providers, like the hotel waiter

> who embarrassed a blind business traveler by shouting,

> " Who's going to pay this blind guy's bill, " and employees

> at another establishment who turned away blind customers

> with guide dogs because animals were not allowed on the

> premises.

> WC Duke runs a training program called Opening Doors to

> educate service providers on the dos and don'ts of dealing

> with disabled travelers. Ms. Duke, along with her husband

> and son , conduct about 60 training programs a

> year for hotel, airline and restaurant personnel of clients

> like American Airlines, Embassy Suites and the

> Intercontinental Hotel Groups, the parent of the Holiday

> Inn chain. She says the company's videos have been used

> about 75,000 times in the last five years, and that its

> revenues have more than doubled in that time.

> Murray Krasnoff, an Orlando tour operator and part-time

> trainer for the Opening Doors program, said that he had

> frequently seen employees ignore wheelchair customers by

> directing all their questions to an able-bodied companion.

> " I tell them it's their legs that don't work, not their

> mouths, " Mr. Krasnoff said at a workshop he led called the

> " Ten Commandments of Disability " at last month's Society

> for Accessible Travel and Hospitality conference. " People

> are so afraid of doing the wrong thing. Not doing anything

> is the worst thing you can do. "

> Hence the Second Commandment: " It's never wrong to offer

> help to persons having disabilities. " It is wrong, however,

> to call a disabled person, " crippled, " " handicapped " or any

> other antiquated or offensive expression. It is also wrong

> to ask someone how he became disabled or to lean on a

> wheelchair.

> Even though basic courtesy might seem like common sense,

> Constantine Zografopoulos, 41, a wheelchair user and

> frequent business traveler, said that only in the last two

> or three years have these basic rules been observed by many

> employees.

> Mr. Zografopoulos runs the Kostas Z Foundation, a Chicago

> advocacy group for the disabled. He was injured in a 1995

> car crash that led to the loss of both his legs, and says

> that in the first few years that followed, he frequently

> endured rude or tactless comments in his travels.

> Today, by contrast, he says, employees at hotels and

> airports are much more likely to take the initiative in

> helping him with what he needs and make a greater effort to

> make him feel comfortable. He has also been pleasantly

> surprised by the efforts of some companies to move beyond

> what is legally required by disabilities law.

> At the Hilton Miami Airport Hotel where the Society for

> Accessible Travel conference was held, for example, he was

> picked up at the airport by a van equipped with a

> wheelchair lift. When he arrived at the hotel, he was

> accompanied inside by the driver, and the concierge handled

> the check-in. (To be sure, given its guest list that day,

> the hotel had a strong motive to take special care.)

> Even so, he has a couple of suggestions for the hotel

> industry. First, standardize equipment, so disabled

> travelers can know what to expect wherever they go and will

> not have to search elsewhere. Second, given that the small

> number of disabled-accessible rooms are often all occupied,

> widen the doors to the other rooms, install larger lighting

> switches and mirrors and install movable sinks in more

> hotels.

> At the Miami convention, the Q Hammons Hotels were

> honored for placing grab bars in the baths and showers of

> every room, surpassing legal requirements, and the Microtel

> Inn chain got high marks for advertising itself as " the

> preferred chain for disabled travelers. "

> Microtel trains all employees with the Opening Doors

> disability etiquette program, said Roy Flora, the senior

> vice president for franchise operations of US Franchise

> Systems, Microtel's parent company. Mr. Flora said that

> employees received training every time a new Microtel hotel

> was opened and received annual or biannual refresher

> courses at existing locations. The company is also

> considering adding automatic doors at all locations and

> fitness equipment for disabled travelers. Changes in

> Microtel's Web site will allow disabled travelers to find

> accessible rooms at specific locations.

> Not every hotel chain believes that marketing to disabled

> travelers will prove profitable. Tom Riegelman, vice

> president of the Hyatt Hotel Corporation said there was

> " low demand " for the hotel's accessible rooms and estimated

> that only about one guest in a thousand request them. Mr.

> Riegelman does favor a move to a universal design within

> the hotel industry that would make all newly constructed

> properties accessible to both disabled and able-bodied

> customers.

> " The good news is that companies are beginning to recognize

> an important niche market, " said Ms. Duke of AC Duke

> Associates. " They see the disability market as a hot new

> trend, even though it's been around for years. "

> http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/17/business/17disabled.html

> # # #

> =====================

> All JFA postings from 1995 to present are available at:

> www.aapd-dc.org/JFA/JFAabout.html

> =====================

> NOTE: Some Internet Providers (including AOL, Earthlink and

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> We thank you for your understanding and continued

> outstanding advocacy!

> =====================

> JUSTICE FOR ALL -- A Service of the

> American Association of People with Disabilities

> www.aapd-dc.org/JFA/JFAabout.html

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Message: 9

Date: Tue, 17 Feb 2004 17:04:58 -0500

From: " Ruralal " <ruralal@...>

Subject: Fw: NCSET E-News: February 2004

----- Original Message -----

From: Listmaster

Housing & Disability Issues

Sent: Tuesday, February 17, 2004 3:20 PM

Subject: NCSET E-News: February 2004

Date: Thu, 05 Feb 2004 12:34:37 -0600

From: National Center on Secondary Education and Transition <ncset@...>

Multiple recipients of enews - Sent by <ncset@...>

Subject: NCSET E-News: February 2004

=============================================================

THE RESOURCE ZONE

A great place to learn about new and existing resources at low or no cost.

=============================================================

================================

NCSET Resources

================================

Critical Issues in Reform and Inclusion of Youth With Disabilities in

Secondary Education and Transition (July 2003)

(Capacity Building Institute Proceedings)

Proceedings of the institute held in July 2003 in Washington, D.C. in

conjunction with the 2003 Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP)

Research Project Directors' Conference. This institute provided researchers

with an opportunity to engage in reflective dialogue around issues of

reform, inclusion, and the intersection of reform and inclusion at the high

school level.

http://www.ncset.org/institutes/proceedings/2003_07.asp

_______________________________

A Review of the National Leadership Summit on Improving Results for Youth

(November 2003)

(Teleconference Transcript)

Transcript of the national teleconference call held in November of 2003.

Presenters on the call highlighted the outcomes of the National Leadership

Summit held on September 18-19, 2003 in Washington, DC. Included is the

purpose and format of the Summit; findings from the data, including the 10

priority content areas and three overarching themes that emerged;

perspectives from two states on how the Summit has instituted change for

them; and Summit follow-up technical strategies. Presented by ,

Director of the National Center on Secondary Education and Transition;

Collison, Education Program Specialist at the Arizona Department of

Education (AZ¹s State Team Leader at Summit); and Sienko, Office of

Special Needs, Rhode Island Department of Education (RI¹s State Team Leader

at Summit).

http://www.ncset.org/teleconferences/transcripts/2003_11.asp

================================

NCSET Partner Resources

================================

2003 State Special Education Outcomes: Marching On (2004)

(Report)

This report summarizes the National Center on Educational Outcomes¹ (NCEO)

ninth survey of state directors of special education. Results include all 50

states and nine of the eleven federally funded entities (unique states) and

provide a snapshot of the new initiatives, trends, accomplishments, and

emerging issues. The report addresses assessment participation and

performance, accommodations, out-of-level testing, alternate assessments,

universally designed assessments, computer-based assessments,

accountability, and assessment consequences. Available in PDF (47 pages).

http://education.umn.edu/nceo/OnlinePubs/2003StateSurveyReport.pdf

_______________________________

Preparing Educators to Teach Students with Disabilities in an Era of

Standards-based Reform and Accountability (2004)

(Report)

Based on principles of inclusive accountability systems developed by NCEO,

input by participants at a symposium conducted by the Education Policy

Reform Research Institute (EPRRI), and other research, this report puts

forth the key skills and knowledge that all educators need to increase the

participation and performance of students with disabilities in

standards-based environments. Available in PDF (74 pages).

http://education.umn.edu/nceo/OnlinePubs/EPRRI_TR5.pdf

================================

Other National Resources

================================

State Resource Directories on ADA Compliance and Technical Assistance (2004)

(Web Page)

The National Arts and Disability Center provides State resource directories

that contain organizations and agencies that provide technical assistance

regarding the ADA and the Arts. State listings include disability agencies

and organizations for creating an access and advisory committee or

conducting outreach to the disability community.

http://www.nadc.ucla.edu/states.htm

=============================================================

WHAT'S HAPPENING?

Connecting and learning through great new training opportunities!

=============================================================

February 11, 2004

Aligning Transition and Standards-Based Education

2:00 PM - 3:30 PM (Eastern)

(Web-based Event)

Implementing transition services in a standards-based education environment

presents a huge conceptual and practical challenge for educators, many who

see the principles and goals as mutually exclusive. However, IDEA 1997

emphasized both transition services and access to the general education

curriculum. State and local educational agencies must ensure both

appropriate transition planning through the IEP and secondary education

curriculum accommodations and redesign. This seminar will address how the

transition planning model can provide a bridge to standards-based education

as well as strategies that school systems can use to align these two

educational models. This Web seminar is sponsored by the Council for

Exceptional Children (CEC).

http://www.cec.sped.org/pd/webseminar/feb11_04.html

_____________________________

March 9, 2004

Community-Based Instruction

3:30 - 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time

(Web-based Event)

With so many changes occurring in today's schools, the need for functional

and authentic programs for all students, including students with

disabilities, remains a high priority for teachers, families, and

communities. This seminar, sponsored by the Council for Exceptional

Children, outlines the basic components of community-based instruction,

offers a systematic approach for implementing community learning into the

curriculum, and examines how to assess and generalize learned skills.

Participants will understand the fundamentals of community-based instruction

and conceptualize how to integrate the basic premises into the operations of

their local school program.

http://www.cec.sped.org/pd/webseminar/mar09_04.html

================================

Web Sites

================================

The Developmental Disabilities Database (DDD)

The purpose of this site is to provide a public resource of documents, Web

site links, and videos originally developed by the Mailman Center for online

training of health care professionals. Eight main categories are offered;

assistive technology, early care and education/child care, early

intervention, education-school age, employment, services and supports,

health care, and adults with developmental disabilities.

http://www.miami.edu/disability/

_____________________________

Disability is Natural

This Web site strives to change the current thinking about people with

disabilities. The site proclaims that disabilities are natural, just like

gender and ethnicity. The creators of the Web site strive to get rid of

descriptors such as ³mentally handicapped² and other words that focus on the

condition rather than the person. There is a book available for purchase as

well as articles and other resources.

http://www.disabilityisnatural.com/

_____________________________

Open Arms: People Living in Rural Areas

This Web site, developed by the National Mental Health Consumers' Self-Help

Clearinghouse, contains links to organizations that specialize in technical

assistance for people living in rural areas.

http://www.mhselfhelp.org/Rural.html

_____________________________

Real Choices: Access for All, More Choices for You

This Web site is designed to empower people of all ages and abilities giving

them the opportunity to make self-determined choices to participate in their

communities in ways meaningful to them. The user-friendly, universally

designed information system will provide consumers, professionals,

government agencies, and employers access to information and statewide

services.

http://www.realchoices.org/

_____________________________

The VSA arts Playwright Discovery Award invites middle and high school

students to take a closer look at the world around them, examine how

disability affects their lives and the lives of others, and express their

views through the art of playwriting. Playwrights may write from their own

experience or about an experience in the life of another person or fictional

character. Young playwrights with and without disabilities are encouraged to

submit a script. Entries may be the work of an individual student or

collaboration by a group or class of students. Application deadline: April

15, 2004.

http://www.vsarts.org/programs/pdp/2004_PDA_Application_Form.pdf

_____________________________

----------------------------------------------------------------

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[This message contained attachments]

________________________________________________________________________

Message: 10

Date: Tue, 17 Feb 2004 17:06:23 -0500

From: " Ruralal " <ruralal@...>

Subject: Fw: HHS MEDIA ADVISORY

----- Original Message -----

From: " Henneghan, Martha (HHS/OS) " <MARTHA.HENNEGHAN@...>

<HHSPRESS@...>

Sent: Tuesday, February 17, 2004 3:41 PM

Subject: HHS MEDIA ADVISORY

> Date: Feb. 17, 2004

> For Release: Immediately

> MEDIA ADVISORY

> For Wednesday, Feb. 18

> PRESS CONFERENCE TO ANNOUNCE FDA COUNTERFEIT DRUG TASK FORCE REPORT

> WHO: HHS Secretary Tommy G.

> FDA Commissioner Mark B. McClellan

> WHEN: 11:30 a.m.

> Wednesday, Feb. 18

> WHERE: Humphrey Building Auditorium (1st floor)

> 200 Independence Ave., S.W.

> CONTACT: HHS Press Office at (202) 690-6343

> ###

________________________________________________________________________

Message: 11

Date: Tue, 17 Feb 2004 17:06:55 -0500

From: " Ruralal " <ruralal@...>

Subject: Fw: STUDY SHOWS LINK BETWEEN ANTIBIOTIC USE AND INCREASED RISK OF BRE

AST CANCER

----- Original Message -----

From: " NIH OLIB (NIH/OD) " <olib@...>

<NIHPRESS@...>

Sent: Tuesday, February 17, 2004 4:01 PM

Subject: STUDY SHOWS LINK BETWEEN ANTIBIOTIC USE AND INCREASED RISK OF BRE

AST CANCER

> U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

> NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH

> NIH News

> National Cancer Institute (NCI)

> http://www.nci.nih.gov/

> EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE

> Tuesday, February 17, 2004

> 4:00 p.m. E.T.

> CONTACT:

> Gottlieb

> NCI Press Office

> 301-496-6641

> STUDY SHOWS LINK BETWEEN ANTIBIOTIC USE AND INCREASED RISK

> OF BREAST CANCER

> A study published today in the " Journal of the American

> Medical Association " ( " JAMA " )* provides evidence that use

> of antibiotics is associated with an increased risk of

> breast cancer. The authors -- from Group Health ative

> (GHC) in Seattle; the National Cancer Institute (NCI), a

> part of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda,

> land; the University of Washington, Seattle; and the

> Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, also in Seattle -- concluded

> that the more antibiotics the women in the study used, the

> higher their risk of breast cancer.

> The results of this study do not mean that antibiotics

> cause breast cancer. " These results only show that there is

> an association between the two, " explained co-author

> H. Taplin, M.D., of NCI's Division of Cancer

> Control and Population Sciences and formerly of the GHC.

> " More studies must be conducted to determine whether there

> is indeed a direct cause-and-effect relationship. "

> " This trial suggests another piece in the puzzle of factors

> that may potentially be involved in the development of

> breast cancer, " said NCI Director C. von Eschenbach,

> M.D. " The NCI will continue to support research into

> underlying mechanisms of cancer risk. "

> The authors of this " JAMA " study found that women who took

> antibiotics for more than 500 days -- or had more than 25

> prescriptions -- over an average period of 17 years had

> more than twice the risk of breast cancer as women who had

> not taken any antibiotics. The risk was smaller for women

> who took antibiotics for fewer days. However, even women

> who had between one and 25 prescriptions over an average

> period of 17 years had an increased risk; they were about

> 1.5 times more likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer

> than women who didn't take any antibiotics. The authors

> found an increased risk in all classes of antibiotics that

> they studied.

> " Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths

> among women in the United States -- with an estimated

> 40,000 deaths this year -- and is the most common cancer in

> women worldwide, " said first author Velicer,

> Ph.D., of GHC's Center for Health Studies. " Antibiotics are

> used extensively in this country and in many parts of the

> world. The possible association between breast cancer and

> antibiotic use was important to examine. "

> To gather the necessary data, the researchers used

> computerized pharmacy and breast cancer screening databases

> at GHC, a large, non-profit health plan in Washington

> state. They compared the antibiotic use of 2,266 women with

> breast cancer to similar information from 7,953 women

> without breast cancer. All the women in the study were age

> 20 and older, and the researchers examined a wide variety

> of the most frequently prescribed antibiotic medications.

> The authors offer a few possible explanations for the

> observed association between antibiotic use and increased

> breast cancer risk. Antibiotics can affect bacteria in the

> intestine, which may impact how certain foods that might

> prevent cancer are broken down in the body. Another

> hypothesis focuses on antibiotics' effects on the body's

> immune response and response to inflammation, which could

> also be related to the development of cancer. It is also

> possible that the underlying conditions that led to the

> antibiotics prescriptions caused the increased risk, or

> that a weakened immune system -- either alone, or in

> combination with the use of antibiotics -- is the cause of

> this association.

> The results of the study are consistent with an earlier

> Finnish study of almost 10,000 women. " Further studies must

> be conducted, though, for us to know why we see this

> increased risk and the full implications of these

> findings, " said Velicer. Studies are also necessary to

> clarify whether specific indications for antibiotic use,

> such as respiratory infection or urinary tract infection,

> or times of use, such as adolescence, pregnancy or

> menopause, are associated with increased breast cancer

> risk. Additionally, breast cancer risks could differ

> between women who take low-dose antibiotics for a long

> period of time and women who take high-dose antibiotics

> only once in a while.

> Antibiotics are regularly prescribed for conditions such as

> respiratory infections, acne, and urinary tract infections,

> in addition to a wide range of other conditions or

> illnesses. In this " JAMA " study, for example, more than 70

> percent of women had used between one and 25 prescriptions

> for antibiotics to treat various conditions over an average

> 17-year period, and only 18 percent of women in the study

> had not filled any antibiotic prescriptions during their

> enrollment in the health plan.

> Over the past decade, overuse of antibiotics has become a

> serious problem. According to the Centers for Disease

> Control and Prevention (CDC), tens of millions of

> antibiotics are prescribed for viral infections that are

> not treatable with antibiotics, contributing to the

> troubling growth of antibiotic resistance. Efforts are

> underway such as the " Get Smart: Know When Antibiotics

> Work " campaign -- unveiled last year by the Department of

> Health and Human Services' CDC and the Food and Drug

> Administration (FDA) and other partners -- to lower the

> rate of antibiotic overuse.

> " These study results do not mean that women should stop

> using antibiotics to treat bacterial infections, " stressed

> Taplin. " Until we understand more about the association

> between antibiotics and cancer, people should take into

> account the substantial benefits that antibiotics can have,

> but should continue to use these medicines wisely. "

> To view Questions and Answers about this study, please go

> to

> http://www.cancer.gov/newscenter/pressreleases/AntibioticsQ

> andA.

> To learn more about the " Get Smart: Know When Antibiotics

> Work " campaign, go to

> http://www.cdc.gov/drugresistance/community.

> For information about cancer, please visit the NCI home

> page at http://cancer.gov or call the NCI's Cancer

> Information Service at 1-800-4-CANCER (1-800-422-6237).

> ------------------------------------------

> * Velicer CM, Heckbert SR, Lampe JW, Potter JD, on

> CA, Taplin SH. Antibiotic Use in Relation to the Risk of

> Breast Cancer. " Journal of the American Medical

> Association " , Feb. 18, 2004;291(7):827-835.

> ##

> To subscribe (or unsubscribe) from this list, go to

> http://list.nih.gov/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=nihpress & A=1.

________________________________________________________________________

Message: 12

Date: Tue, 17 Feb 2004 17:07:17 -0500

From: " Ruralal " <ruralal@...>

Subject: Fw: Memo to Members: February 6, 2004

----- Original Message -----

From: Listmaster

Housing & Disability Issues

Sent: Tuesday, February 17, 2004 4:26 PM

Subject: Memo to Members: February 6, 2004

----- Original Message -----

From: National Low Income Housing Coalition

Sent: Monday, February 09, 2004 11:46 AM

Subject: Memo to Members: February 6, 2004

THE ADMINISTRATION

***Administration Releases Troubling Budget for FY05

President Bush presented his proposed budget for FY05 on February 2, and the

news was even worse than advocates had expected, with housing

programs-specifically the housing voucher program-facing some of the most

drastic cuts and changes. Defense and homeland security received a combined

increase of 17%, while domestic programs increased by .5% over FY04 levels.

Sixty-five discretionary programs, including a number of housing programs, are

proposed for termination in the FY05 budget.

The overall HUD discretionary budget authority request for FY05 is $31.264

billion, a nominal .8% increase over FY04. Acting Secretary Alphonso is

quoted in HUD's press release as saying " this budget shows how committed this

Administration is to the people and places who need help. "

Key housing programs and how they fared include:

*Housing Vouchers and Section 8 Project-Based Assistance

Once again, President Bush's budget underfunds the Housing Choice Voucher

program, and once again, he proposes devastating changes to the structure of the

program that are even more damaging than the ones proposed in his FY04 budget.

The request for the entire Housing Certificate Fund is $18.465 billion, with

$16.920 billion for all Section 8 renewals. While the budget fully funds all

project-based renewals, it is at least $1 billion short what is needed to fund

all currently authorized vouchers and would reduce currently authorized vouchers

by about 250,000.

In addition, PHAs may find themselves short of funds to effectively administer

their programs, as funding for PHA administrative fees is $59 million below FY04

appropriations, and the Administration proposes capping administrative fees at

7% of the total agency funding level. The President's budget also does not

include funding for Family Self Sufficiency (FSS) coordinators, a program that

was funded at $48 million in FY04. The FSS program provides funding for job

training, child care, and other supportive services.

The President's proposal to restructure the Housing Choice Voucher program would

turn it into a block grant to public housing agencies (unlike last year's

proposal to block grant the voucher program to the states). Under the so-called

" Flexible Voucher Program " proposal, the changes include:

· Funding will change from a unit-based to a dollar-based system. This

means that instead of determining the appropriation each year by the actual cost

of housing, the annual appropriation would be a set amount distributed to PHAs

by formula. This is a fundamental shift in the design of the program from

market-based funding to whatever Congress decides it can afford.

· PHAs will be granted wide latitude in use of voucher dollars. Many of

the program's current features would no longer be mandatory. The most radical

changes are the repeal of income targeting requirements that direct 75% of new

vouchers to those with the most serious housing problems - extremely low income

households (30% of area median income or less). Under the new proposal, all new

vouchers could go to households with income up to 80% of area median income.

Further, PHAs would also be allowed to develop their own rent systems, thus

eliminating the " Rule " that limits tenants' portion of the rent to 30% of

their adjusted income.

· The proposal explicitly does not include protections for families

currently using vouchers for rental assistance that would allow them to continue

to be served under the new program. Indeed, given that PHAs would be under

pressure to serve the same number of families with fewer dollars, families with

extremely low incomes could be at risk of losing their vouchers to families with

higher incomes. Homeownership voucher holders are protected.

· Further, PHAs would be financially rewarded for " graduating " tenants

out of the voucher program. In the budget, the Administration asserts that this

new program would " promote the concept that voucher assistance is a 'transition'

program. "

· Vouchers could lose value. PHAs could determine the maximum amount of

rent that would be covered as long as the amount is deemed " reasonable " based on

the market. The subsidy amount does not have to be based on the FMRs. As a

result, individuals may have limited choice of neighborhoods. This could cause

segregation and a concentration of poverty, two issues that vouchers were

created to address.

· Enhanced vouchers, vouchers that are given to families that reside in a

project-based unit that is converting to market rate, would be valid only for

one year. After the initial year, families would be subject to the current PHA

rules. Under the current program, enhanced vouchers allow the family to stay in

the converted unit indefinitely, while they continue to pay 30% of their

adjusted income in rent.

· Vouchers would no longer be portable. Under the new program, no family

could move outside of the issuing PHAs jurisdiction in the first year of

assistance. This change would limits a family's ability to move closer to jobs

or transportation.

· PHAs could use all of their vouchers for homeownership.

The proposed changes reflect the Administration's displeasure with " rising

costs " of the voucher program. HUD officials are explicit in their preference

that the program serve more people with higher incomes, who require less of a

subsidy. " Many people working are considered poor, but are locked out " of the

voucher program, Assistant Secretary for Public and Indian Housing Liu

said in a press call after the budget's release.

The Administration touts this program as providing more " flexibility " to PHAs.

HUD officials say they were responding to many of the requests for change made

by public housing authorities. However, it is unlikely that public housing

authorities would be willing to exchange increased flexibility for deeply

diminished funding.

*Public and Indian Housing

While there continues to be at least a $20 billion backlog in unmet capital

needs, the President requested $2.674 billion for the capital fund-$21 million

below the FY04 appropriation. This amount includes a $55 million set-aside for

the Resident Opportunity and Self Sufficiency Program (ROSS) and a $50 million

set-aside to fund emergency capital needs resulting from emergencies and natural

disasters.

The Public Housing Operating Fund, which PHAs use to cover operating expenses

including utility payments and maintenance costs, is funded at $3.6 billion, $21

million less than the President's FY04 request. This fund includes a $15 million

set-aside to award bonuses to PHAs that " move program recipients away from

dependency on public housing assistance programs. "

Modeled after the Moving to Work program, the Administration has proposed $5

million for a " Freedom to House " demonstration project, with 50 PHAs in an

experimental group and 50 PHAs in a control group. The experimental group would

be allowed to set their own rules without a waiver from HUD if they operated

under an asset-based management and accounting system. The control group would

not have the same flexibility.

Once again, the FY05 budget would zero out the HOPE VI program. Congress

opposed the President's request to eliminate the program in FY04 and

reauthorized the program. But funding was only $150 million, a substantial

decrease from the $570 million appropriated in FY03. In a February 5 article,

( " Some Pet Programs Are Targeted for Cuts " ), The Washington Post reports that in

2002 President Bush lauded a public housing development that received HOPE VI

funds as a positive and successful housing program.

The Native American Housing Block Grant, which provides funding to Indian tribes

and tribally designated entities to provide affordable housing in Native

American communities, would be funded at $647 million.

*HOME

The HOME program would receive $2.084 billion. Of that amount, $200 million of

HOME would be set aside for the President's American Dream downpayment

initiative. The downpayment program was only funded at $87 million last year.

The amount available for the formula distribution increases by only $5 million.

*CDBG

The Community Development Fund, which includes the Community Development Block

Grant (CDBG), would receive $4.6 billion, down from $4.9 billion last year. The

FY05 proposal does not provide for Congressional earmarks, funded at $290

million last year, and zeroes out urban empowerment zones, funded at $15 million

last year.

*Homeless Assistance

The existing Homeless Assistance programs would receive $1.257 billion, a $3

million decreased from FY04 even accounting for full renewal of all expiring

Shelter Plus Care contracts. The language also requires that no less than 30%

of the funds appropriated, except funds for the renewals of Shelter Plus Care

contracts, be used for permanent housing. The budget also includes, as did the

FY04 budget, a proposal to consolidate homeless assistance programs into a

single program.

There is an increase of $25 million in the McKinney program for the Prisoner

Re-Entry Initiative, which the President noted in his State of the Union address

he was proposing to fund at $300 million for four years. It is not clear why

this program is housed with other HUD homeless assistance, as the point of the

Prisoner Re-Entry Initiative is to keep ex-offenders out of the homeless service

system upon release. Further, CPD Assistant Secretary Roy Bernardi said at the

HUD budget briefing that HUD would simply serve as the pass through for these

funds on their way to the Department of Labor.

The President once again proposes the Samaritan Housing Initiative Fund, which

provides funding for local collaborative strategies to move people experiencing

long-term homelessness into permanent housing, at $50 million. Congress rejected

this proposal in FY04.

The President also proposed, for another year, that the Emergency Food and

Shelter program be transferred to HUD from the Federal Emergency Management

Agency, with flat funding at $153 million. Congress has rejected this proposal

as well.

*Other HUD Programs

Funding for housing for people with disabilities, Section 811, and for seniors,

Section 202, would be flat funded at $249 million and $773 million respectively.

Housing Opportunities for People With Aids (HOPWA) would remain relatively flat

funded at $295 million. The Lead Hazard Reduction fund received $139 million,

down from $174 million in FY04. Funding for Fair Housing Activities received

flat funding at $48 million.

For the third year in a row, the President has requested no funds for the Rural

Housing and Economic Development program. Advocates are circulating a sign on

letter requesting at least the FY04 appropriation of $25 million. Congress

consistently funds RHED despite HUD's desire to eliminate it.

Once again, the President has requested no funds for the Brownfields

Redevelopment program, which is intended to redevelop contaminated sites and

provide jobs to low income people. The Administration said that this program

duplicates efforts of the Environmental Protection Agency. As with HOPE VI, The

Washington Post reports that " two years ago, President Bush went to Pennsylvania

to highlight his administration's commitment to Brownfields. "

*Homeownership Initiatives

As previously announced, HUD is proposing a new FHA program that would insure

no-down payment mortgages for credit-worthy applicants, who would be required to

pay a higher insurance premium and to participate in homeowner counseling. FHA

Commissioner Weicher reported at the HUD budget briefing that the program

is expected to net an additional $180 million a year in revenue for HUD.

For another year, the Administration has proposed a separate account for housing

counseling, and has proposed moving the program from the Office of Community

Planning and Development to the Office of Housing, with funding at $45 million.

The President also included in his budget again this year the Single Family

Affordable Housing Tax Credit, a proposal to offer tax credits to developers who

build single family homes in low income neighborhoods. The tax credit would

provide up to 50% of the cost of constructing a new home or rehabilitating a new

home. Despite it being a campaign promise, and despite bipartisan support, the

Administration has not made any effort to move this proposal forward.

*Rural Housing

Rural programs under USDA take cuts in the President's FY05 budget. The budget

proposes a steep reduction in the USDA Rural Housing Service's Section 515

program, from $116 million in FY04 to $60 million in FY05. As in the FY04

proposal (which Congress rejected), no new construction would be supported.

Funds would be available only for repairs and rehabilitation of current

projects.

But, in a positive comment on Section 515, USDA's departmental budget release

recognizes " concerns...about the ramifications of allowing projects to leave the

program, particularly, the potential impact on existing tenants and other low

income people [and] on the availability of affordable housing. " With

prepayments and loss of the Section 515 stock a growing problem, RHS is

currently conducting a study to determine strategies for managing and retaining

units.

The budget also would cut Section 502 direct loans for low income homeownership,

from $1.367 billion in FY04 to $1.1 billion in FY05. Section 521 rental

assistance would get a small increase from $584 million to $592 million, but the

program remains below the FY03 levels because contracts would be issued for four

years (as they are in FY04) rather than five (as in FY03). Other rural housing

programs mostly would stay at FY04 levels. The budget would eliminate USDA's

capacity-building Rural Community Development Initiative, funded at $6 million

in FY04.

For more information on rural housing programs, visit the Housing Assistance

Council at

http://www.ruralhome.org

----------------------------------------------------------------

Housing & Disability Issues (formerly NHOYO) is a moderated

informational list. It consists of disability issues concerning,

but not limited to: Individuals, Home ownership, and Affordable

housing. If you would like to be on our mailing list, send an

email message to:

HOUSING.DISABILITY.ISSUES-request@...

stating your wishes.

Since this is not a discussion list, you will not be able to send

questions directly to the list. However, if you have any

information that you feel is relevant to this list, please feel

free to send this information to: <drv@...> If we feel

this information is appropriate, we will post it to the list.

If you wish to be removed from this list please send an email

message to:

HOUSING.DISABILITY.ISSUES-request@...

stating your wishes.

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for information on home ownership for people with disabilities.

----------------------------------------------------------------

[This message contained attachments]

________________________________________________________________________

Message: 13

Date: Tue, 17 Feb 2004 18:21:51 EST

From: disabledunited@...

Subject: Fwd: Check out HRSA - Office of Special Programs

ANYONE INTERESTED OIN KNOWING ABOUT REDUCED RATES IN SOME MEDICAL LOOK UP

UNDER YOUR STATE, CONCERNING THE HILL BURTON ACT AND IF THEY SAY,, I DONT KNOW

WHAT YOURE TALKING ABOUT,,

TELL THEM IF THEY CAN READ TO GET ON THE INTERNET AND READ IT OR PRINT IT OUT

AND SHOW THEM IN BLACK AND WHITE

DISABLEDUNITED

[This message contained attachments]

________________________________________________________________________

Message: 14

Date: Tue, 17 Feb 2004 18:47:06 -0500

From: " Ruralal " <ruralal@...>

Subject: Fw: Check out HRSA - Office of Special Programs

----- Original Message -----

From: DisabledUnited@...

ruralal@...

Cc: DisabledUnited@...

Sent: Tuesday, February 17, 2004 5:49 PM

Subject: Check out HRSA - Office of Special Programs

Click here: HRSA - Office of Special Programs

GEE, IT SEEMS THERE IS THE HILL BURTON ACT IN NORTH CAROLINA I JUST LOOKED THIS

UP I WILL SEND THE PART BEFORE THIS TO SHOW

IF YOUD CARE TO SHARE THIS WITH THE GROUP, YOURE MORE THAN WELCOME FOR WHAT I

FOUND

DISABLEDUNITED

[This message contained attachments]

________________________________________________________________________

Message: 15

Date: Tue, 17 Feb 2004 18:47:20 -0500

From: " Ruralal " <ruralal@...>

Subject: Fw: Check out HRSA - Office of Special Programs

----- Original Message -----

From: DisabledUnited@...

ruralal@...

Cc: DisabledUnited@...

Sent: Tuesday, February 17, 2004 5:50 PM

Subject: Check out HRSA - Office of Special Programs

Click here: HRSA - Office of Special Programs

THIS IS THE PART FOR ANY STAE CONCERNING THE HILL BURTON ACT

DISABLED UNITED

[This message contained attachments]

________________________________________________________________________

Message: 16

Date: Tue, 17 Feb 2004 18:47:35 -0500

From: " Ruralal " <ruralal@...>

Subject: Fw: Check out healthfinder® - Hill-Burton

----- Original Message -----

From: DisabledUnited@...

ruralal@...

Cc: DisabledUnited@...

Sent: Tuesday, February 17, 2004 5:51 PM

Subject: Check out healthfinder® - Hill-Burton

Click here: healthfinder® - Hill-Burton

THIS IS ALSO CONNECTED FOR ANYONE WANTING INFORMATION ABOUT THE HILL BURTON ACT

DISABLEDUNITED

[This message contained attachments]

________________________________________________________________________

Message: 17

Date: Tue, 17 Feb 2004 17:05:50 -0700

From: Gardner <ldgardner@...>

Subject: Re: Fw: Check out HRSA - Office of Special Programs

hey,

i looked and there is nothing in maricopa county arizona, there darn well

better be cause my taxes got raised this year to pay for medical, what is up

with that?

laura

________________________________________________________________________

Message: 18

Date: Tue, 17 Feb 2004 19:08:27 -0500

From: " Ruralal " <ruralal@...>

Subject: Re: Fw: Check out HRSA -Office of Special Programs

My taxes go up too and my services go down

----- Original Message -----

From: " Gardner " <ldgardner@...>

<Disability-Rights-News-and-Views >

Sent: Tuesday, February 17, 2004 7:05 PM

Subject: Re: [Disability-Rights-News-and-Views] Fw: Check out HRSA -Office

of Special Programs

> hey,

> i looked and there is nothing in maricopa county arizona, there darn well

> better be cause my taxes got raised this year to pay for medical, what is

> with that?

> laura

> To change your setting to digest, send a blank e-mail to:

> Disability-Rights-News-and-Views-Digest

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