United Spinal Association and 12 other national organizations are taking up the fight to ensure that the promise of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) becomes a reality to all it protects.
In the spirit of the ADA, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, United Spinal and the Justice For All Action Network (JFAAN) coalition are calling upon our elected officials to pass and amend
critical legislation so that hundreds of thousands of people with disabilities across the country can live life to the fullest and realize their potential.
The coalition’s goal: To enhance the lives of individuals with disabilities by creating a policy agenda that will safeguard human rights and respect human dignity, enhance self-determination, and make
technology work for everyone.
United Spinal’s 60-plus years of service to the disability community and involvement in drafting significant portions of the ADA is a valuable asset to JFAAN’s mission to spark change and influence future policy. United Spinal believes the time is now for politicians to get the job done!
What are the changes United Spinal and JFAAN are advocating for?
I. Safeguard Human Rights and Respect Human Dignity
- Pass a national healthcare reform bill that eliminates pre-existing condition exclusions; addresses the institutional bias in the Medicaid program by passing the Community First Choice Option; does not limit or deny services based on disability or “quality of life” judgments; and includes a benefits package that contains coverage for habilitative and rehabilitative services, durable medical equipment and
assistive technology devices and services so that people with disabilities can participate fully in the lives of their communities. - Pass the Hearing Aid Tax Credit Bill (HR 1646/S 1019) and ensure that any health care reform bill includes a benefits package that contains coverage for hearing aids and related services for children and
adults, and pass the Early Hearing Detection and Intervention Act (HR 1246) to amend the Public Health Service Act regarding early detection, diagnosis, and treatment of hearing loss. - End the institutional bias in Medicaid by passing the Community Choice Act (S 683/HR 1670) and working with the Obama Administration to enforce the Olmstead v. L.C. Supreme Court decision by directing the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Department of Justice to use monitoring, administrative sanctions and litigation, as needed, to hold States accountable for ensuring people can choose to receive services in the most integrated setting.
- Pass the Preventing Harmful Restraint and Seclusion in Schools Act (H.R. 4247/S. 2860) aimed at eliminating the use of aversives, seclusion and restraints in schools, including strong, comprehensive
national standards, an effective enforcement mechanism and the involvement of the self-advocacy community in technical assistance. - Phase out (and ultimately eliminate) Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act, which permits the payment of subminimum wage to workers with disabilities, and implement a multifaceted approach to achieve the goal of creating new competitive employment opportunities for workers earning subminimum wage. The phase out should prioritize creating new competitive employment opportunities for youth transitioning from school, and should include incentives for employers and community rehabilitation programs; expanding customized, supported, and self-employment, paid community service, job restructuring and other flex arrangements. Implementation of this policy shift must occur over time, with the shortest timeframe possible without diminishing employment opportunities for the 424,000 workers currently earning subminimum wage and those waiting for employment services.
- Create a bipartisan Congressional Task Force on Human Genetic Technologies and Disability Rights.
II. Enhance Self-Determination
- Amend the Developmental Disabilities Assistance and Bill of Rights Act to establish and fund self advocate-led peer support and advocacy organizations in every state.
- Engage with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) to ensure that at least 20% of a state’s Mental Health Block Grant money will be devoted to the developing and
sustaining of consumer-run statewide organizations which ensure the voice of consumers in state mental health planning and policy formulation. - Engage with Secretaries Sebelius, Shinseki, and Duncan, and Commissioner Astrue to ensure that advisory groups to the following agencies be required to include at least two persons with disabilities
from each of the major disability areas as the authentic, national voice of people with disabilities:SAMHSA, Social Security Administration
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
National Institute of Mental Health
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research at the U.S. Department of Education. - Reauthorize the Workforce Investment Act with changes including provisions improving employment services for underserved populations, such as adults on the autism spectrum and people with chemical and electrical sensitivities, and that further embraces consumer control over our lives and consumer control over our programs and services.
III. Make Technology Work for Everyone
- Pass the Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act of 2009 (HR 734/S.841).
- Pass the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act (HR 3101).
- Protect and enforce accessibility requirements in the Help America Vote Act so that every American can vote privately and independently and so that poll workers have the training they need to
implement this important law.
Justice For All (JFA) was established in 1995 by the American Association of People with Disabilities to defend and protect disability rights and disability programs specific to the 104th Congress.
The Justice For All Action Network is comprised of United Spinal Association, ADAPT, the American Association of People with Disabilities, the American Council of the Blind, the Autistic Self Advocacy Network, the Hearing Loss Association of America, Little People of America, the National Association of the Deaf, the National Coalition of Mental Health Consumer Survivor Organizations, the National Council on Independent Living, the National Federation of the Blind, Not Dead Yet, and Self Advocates Becoming Empowered.
If you would like to sign on to this agenda and get involved with this campaign, email jfaan@aapd.com.
Tom Scott
Editor
United Spinal Association
