Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
power
how and welcome to the disability connection
i'm your host walter nunes
the disability connection is produced by the disability law center which is
located eleven beacon street in boston
disability law center provides protection and advocacy for persons in
the commonwealth who have disabilities
uh... we can be reached at six one seven seven two three eight four five five or
toll-free at eight hundred eight seven two
nine nine nine two
or on the web
w_w_w_
dot d_l_c_
hyphen ami dot ***
today i'm joined by jonathan gail
jonathan is the cross disability advocacy coalition coordinator
for the disability law center
welcome jonathan and thank you for appearing on the disability connections
expert
soaked starting right off
what's the cross disability advocacy coalition
clusters
c coalition
is made up of
people who are strong
adult self advocates
and our basic goal is to work towards full inclusion for people
with all different types of disabilities movement
and just for those out there may not know what we mean by this
believe myself that it can lead to south africa herself advocate is a person who
regardless of
their disability
speaks up on behalf of
either their particular disability
and does advocacy work they do lobby in maybe they do legislative work hahaha
they might go to rallies based
develop support group support programs
things of that nature shut their own self advocate is somebody who sticks up
for themselves themselves end of the wider community of people with
disabilities
so within the coalition
what kinds of disabilities and being represented
the coalition
really represents people with all different types of disabilities
keep in mind uh...
that when you think of a person with a disability we often think of a person
who was visually impaired or death
uh... more or in a wheelchair
there are frankly a lot of disabilities that are not obvious
you have s burgers autism traumatic brain injury
so you have so many different disabilities
that are not obvious that are not easily recognized so we really cross the whole
spectrum
sometimes is a referred to as invisible disabilities they are mistaken
what's the goal
of your coalition what are you trying to do
the goal of their cross disabilities advocacy coalition
is to work on
ideas and develop activities data
promote full inclusion frankly
uh...
that promote public awareness
we
look at projects and short term and long term which allow us to
to get into doing lobbying potentially affect legislation
uh...
educational programs workshops and
so just because uh... you know a lot of times hope this is due to a lot of folks
so things like full inclusion ones that me conclusion full inclusion really
means because
if but not for the person having a disability
they want to be able to be involved
and allowed i can use that word mostly
to do the same things that everyone else does they don't want to be considered
as a different person necessarily they don't necessarily want to be treated
differently
leveraged and when you left that you know when we left that absolutely okay
how do you
accomplish this call of inclusion for persons with disabilities how these had
about two minutes
well we're where young organization so far we are
funded by a grant
the greatest from massachusetts developmental disability counsel
and we've only been in existence for just over six months you can
so we're really in our infancy stages where in the process
of learning how to work together
what what do you mean by that how do you work together
when you have people that have different disabilities uh...
we refer to them as as
partners our coalition
when you have
different people
at the same table if you will such as were seated table
uh... you have the plan is community the deaf community
artisan *** burgers traumatic brain injury developmental delay
you know cognitive skills for example
what it means is that before you can
get down to business
everybody has to learn to work
within each other's different disability
to be sensitive to be sensitive to it to understand the different need
uh...
as a quick example
you know somebody can go to a meeting in some cases and sat there for two hours
and understand everything and comprehend didn't take it in
whereas somebody
particular disabilities maybe only two able to focus for fifteen minutes for
half hour and then they kind of
you know going to for direction and it's hard to stay focused sure so how do you
deal with these different abilities
what i do is kendall
each iteration differently
uh... in some cases
i will communicate much more often and i might would be another person by email
whom or by telephone because that's what works better for them
uh... in our full meetings i will make it a point
responding or asking a person to respond because they may not
easily be able to say what they want to say
so i will make it a point of calling on them and giving them an opportunity
what happens really is the
the partners learn to work with together they learn to understand each other's
disability which is kind of
an interesting process mcm
so i think
which is saying is you have different methods to arrive at consensus
absolutely yes
how do you
how do you find these
you know we talked about people dairy disabilities and i suspect different
groups have different needs
so how do you sort of
get to that common denominator how do you get
say that yes this is important to all of us
i think
well you know we started this process in that respect sort of of the round table
the
coalition partners talking about what was important to them
by that by saying what's important to them
some in some cases they talked about employment in some cases loop they
talked about um...
other two other types of things that might have been medical needs and might
have been housing needs that might have been transportation
i think what we alternately
found out which is part of the process is that
they're really are a lot of common denominators we all have even though we
have so many different disabilities
our needs are more common than we realize
so now that you've
been able to accomplish things get all these
men and women in a room with varying abilities and
and challenges
identifying ecom incall
what what is it that you decided that you want to spend time working on
we're working on a couple of different things right now
where we have some short term goals for example we we've been involved in
the n_b_a_ ta
situation a lot of people care about right now read about in the news right
uh... there is a
the governor's commission it's called the five-thirty commission
and there in the process of wrapping up but what we did as a coalition with
similar position paper to them
that was important for us to be able to do
by doing that we're able to voiced the concerns of people with disabilities
uh... we are statewide coalition so let's roll back a little bit on that
uh... talk to you about what the five-thirty commission is
what the governor is looking for input on
and what is the input that you are providing to the governor
well with the five-thirty commission the
governor's office established a commission
with the goal of looking at
para transit
throughout the state
and para transit really means
all forms of transportation that affect persons who are disabled for seniors
uh... there's a whole
difference subset there it's not just in the boston area
these people to write
the right as part of para transit but it's not just the right
there are a lot of other
programs throughout the state
they could be programs for seniors run-through elderly centers around
through housing programs
uh... different cities different towns have different programs
they're all consider para transit when they were for two persons with
disabilities or who are seniors
so what are in the
what's the proper
some problem with the right of perry transferred needs attention
there are a lot of problems but the biggest one is that or or or at least we
feel a lot of some of the biggest ones is that the programs are not seamless
their aren't
ways in which
different different programs throughout the state or different parties
which regional transit authorities
tied their services in their programs together
so
for example you have some programs that may run in ninety and others in the next
carrie don't
you have so procure some programs that one on the weekends in
next how to count it doesn't
you have some programs that may not even run during the day
uh... but only the key hours the rush hours if you will
there's a lot of
problems there are a lot of problems and issues with regard to
people being able to go to medical appointments for example from one
authority to another authority with regard to
connections that might have to make as an example
for those of us who
uh... don't deal with para transit he'd understand these
are you saying that they re different hard-hit is indifferent companies were
different parts of the state that uh... oh
cooperate or coordinate with each other as are those some of the issues or i
mean i don't want to say that they don't cooperate
but they don't coordinate
so that if an individual say
lives in a community
and they need to take a bus tour right to get to a doctor's appointment they
may
be able to get there and not be able to get back or
when we give you a simple example uh...
you have
in the boston area you have several
companies to provide services for the right program went so
if you live
in stoking
there is a particular company that provides services that shuts down at six
o'clock at night
but the services in the greater boston area three companies the service the
boston area where the one south of the city
goes as far as can't
which is right next to stone
now that one will run until
upwards of one o'clock in the morning
but suppose you are
in boston and a medical appointment
or simply visited somebody and
you have a disability
and you're you're on the program and you want to get back to stand at nine
o'clock at night
or your medical appointments late
and you can even get out of the city until five thirty at night
if the drop-off for transfer point is in canton
but the stoughton company shuts down at six o'clock
how do you get home
if you don't have the money to take a taxi which can be very expensive so how
do you get home
well that's the issue then you have to rely on friends family expensive taxis
so this is an example of part of what we're working towards to try to make the
system
one more seamlessly
it would be great
for example if this if already
uh... that covers stone
if they can't run after six o'clock because of a number of reasons and one
of the navy cost prohibitive
if there was subcontracts with taxi services when island in the city of
boston i take cabs
not very often
because they're very expensive how how is sticking it out the solution
in a lot of situations
the cost of the
programs that exist
right now rate sample the ride program
that exist in the boston actuary that
uh... people were talking about today and who are watching this replete with
you're right trip
for example may be billed out at forty dollars per trip even if you're only
going three or four miles
if you're able to take a taxi
or there was a a subcontractor taxi
it may actually cost on the meter
eighteen dollars cc
so in some instances the cabinets lefts
in some instances probably in a lot of instances the packs it would be blessed
but i also will say as a as a caveat to that
consider that if you're gonna den provide
a taxi through subcontract
you also have to have the taxi drivers trained in court and so forth and how to
work with persons
who are elderly or see or dislike disabled
so i am the vehicles available
i think if i heard you correctly said corey
yes why would a cab driver need to be korean ordered to specifically in order
to transport a press with a disability as opposed to transporting somebody else
that argument i supposed to go back and forth as to where they should or whether
shouldn't simply if they're transporting people period
so this just it just a policy that generally folks who work with disabled
folks
our work are required to be quarried 'cause we know that there have been
incidents in the past nursing homes et cetera with urban problems
is that the genesis of they are supposed to be korea guess okay
so four recommendations and you or
response to the governor's request what do you guys asking
well we're asking for a lot of things but one of those things is to
work to develop a seamless network as as we just discussed huh-uh so that if
people have to go from
uh...
point a to point b_ or point a to point b point c and they have to transfer
there is a methodology that allows them to do that in a seamless matter
whether that means
uh... subcontracting out a lot
uh... to taxi companies
whether that means using the resources of other transportation services for
example that transport
children with special needs but don't have
uh... their services available whether vehicles available other hours
and maybe
utilizing some of those as well
keep in mind that you know there are a lot of issues when you're transporting a
person with a disability in many cases
you need wiltshire ability for example uh...
other people can only travel innocent and because of necro back injury issues
injuries
so there really is a lot to think about
it's not all about the dollar value uh... although the dollar value
is a significant part we really do believe
that there are a lot of cost cost-cutting measures that can be done
i'll be talking about internal cost writings and these are key easier one
there is a lot of internal cost cutting that could be done this a lot of
overlapping at times
there's a lot of scheduling issues schedule in the wake ships are scheduled
the routes that they take
um...
there's a lot that can be done internally
and part of our recommendation
acknowledges that there's a lot of internal changes we think should be made
what we don't think is that
the changes that
might happen
should be up completely put on the backs of persons who are disabled procedures
so uh... this is came to be but it seems like
uh... is there another model per example if these different are keys hereby
connor county to county
is there any thought of making them more statewide or universal so that there is
in these
you know it's okay if you're in tom has been yelling trying to go to john then
come back to time but when you're going across state are three different
counties who seems to be more problematic
i think that those are things that we we are recommending you proposed we've
suggested for example
regional dispatch sectors haha uh... from work were naked coordination is a
poster
you know everybody talking to everybody to anybody right now
and very melodic cases when you're doing transfers involves one company fax in
the material to another company that's archaic
is the indian today's date
so uh...
when do you want to get together to makes and
decisions on miss the violations the five pretty commission is supposed to
have its recommendations to the governor
by the end of february two mid-march them with the governor will do with them
as a separate issue
i'm not going to go there to just what he might do although i do hope
sparked the the recommendations themselves from the five thirty
commission
will take into account the recommendations of
c dac as well as a number of other organizations that have made responsible
you know cost-effective suggestions fantastic
where it about ten minutes out
uh... i had to take this opportunity to let folks know that if you're watching
onslaught
and you'd like to call it with a question for jonathan myself you could
call it six one seven
seven zero eight
three to nine zero
uh... now i understand there are other things you working in you mentioned on
short term projects although that last projects increase of scheduled for a
short term project
one of the other long-term things you're working on
i well i will say that i'm going to say this quickly 'cause i'd like to talk
about the long-term projects but on the short term we are also involved in
a lot of the other things that are happy with the abt eight para hacer right now
the proposals for the
the elimination of bus lines and commuter rail lines and so forth and
were heavily involved in effect icant haven't persons with disabilities
i have to tenants are enemy to drop by
i live in the fenway section of boston they're talking about
uh... giving the axe to the fifty-five now my neighborhood there are lots of
persons with disabilities and lots of seniors and i know folks are speaking
out
against uh... cutting down the fifty five
which would be uh... really devastating to a large number of people in that
department
their are
twenty four hearings they're taking place
and i would encourage people to go to the end bt a website
and look at the schedule of hearings that are out there and if they're
hearing scheduled in your neighborhoods to go and voice your opinions it's
important to be heard
regardless of whether you have a disability or not
i think that's very important and uh... i certainly restate that
understand
major also working on
the issue with this i found really disturbing and really liked being to be
personally
i'm a disability rights attorney
is that
the bully of persons with disabilities i was sort of shocked about that talk to
me about that
back to our audience
short bullying
one of the one of the things that came out with the
quest disability partners
is that
all of the people
at that at the table if you will
have at one time or another were continuously still
face polly
as a person with a disability
what came out is that it doesn't matter whether
a person is a traveling on the literal contribute kroll as they say
but whether you're a child or you're an adult whether you're in a
public's cold war for that matter you're in a work environment
people with disabilities
face
a lot of issues when it comes to be in bowling you know the
good bowling is not just the cruelty of other children the bully is also
the way you're treated by co-workers that we're treated by bosses uh...
things that they do
uh... that can affect you were hurt you whether it's the name-calling
joking
uh... the isolation
uh... in some cases deliberately making your life more miserable whatever it
might be
and i must be the most naive person on the planet
i completely understand how kids can be and particularly when anyone is
different for any reason
and eighties and made on things we know this flat legislation in massachusetts
buydig
law in massachusetts about bullying
you're talking about
an adult worker
in an office
where other adults
or basically making their life miserable
some kids never grow up
caso uh...
acting
what what we're doing
he's considering a couple of things where we are
look at it from different directions
uh... very quickly were
where developing a public service campaign around going
for persons with disabilities
and that's as much to talk about
the component of people with disabilities people in as much as it is
to open some eyes and educate
uh... the general public out there who may be watching this
so about people with disabilities and how they shouldn't be built
i'm always careful what we
things or p_s_a_s for public service
what are we talking about here we're talking about television radio would
easily be we're talking about a television campaign and radio campaign
to do specifically what
to educate people about
bowling persons with disabilities y it hurts how it makes a difference exceeds
what can be done about it
another side of it is we will all two million people being
a website
to educate again to educate and provide resource information for people who have
disabilities who were boli
to give the resources that they can go to for information
and we're cayenne people
with disabilities hoof
field as though
they're being bullied
or mistreated
in the work environment i think this would be in public accommodations well
in the library and anywhere absolutely so
when you go
right now they have the same reported sources as anybody else i would love to
hear from if they want to contact me at my office they can do that i'd love to
hear their stories bullets capitalize on that how can people contact you and your
office
i can be contacted display law center
my direct phone number is six one seven seven two three
eight four five five my extension is one
and is there a web address for email address tonight to give up
i will be happy to give out my keynote address we don't have a web address yet
when the process of putting that together okay
the email address for me is j gail that's j
treaty help me
detail c
dash amake
dot co archie
okay so that's jate
act d_l_c_ i think and they dot o_ r_ g_
and the telephone number is six one seven
seven two three
eight four five five extension
three eight
there other things that you doing regarding this problems of
third prong to your activities could you talk about that a lot more were also
hoping that
opening up the discussion
between
the website
haha and of the public service announcements that we can affect
legislation
and future legislation so that there's more teeth
as a defect specifically people with disabilities uh...
you know the reporting mechanisms right now are
are wide open to discussion and and how they would be interpreted some people
think that believe the person with a disability should be more for crime
mhm uh...
that is 'cause obviously open to debate by
by different quarters
but what we really want to do is we want to look at what we do legislatively
uh... can we increase the the role of mc a d when it comes to people who have a
disability her being bullied
is it something that uh... can be done in a different venue is there something
we can provide to school systems
to educate them so that we can
you know there's so many directions we're going right now were in the
process of really trying to hone in on what's the best target jonathan this has
been
so insightful and so important i can't thank you enough and i really hope
that folks out there and not just folks with disabilities but seniors and
in the community among disabled people
uh... refer to all of us are temporarily
sooner or later as we age we will have to listen we will have limitations of
this affects us all
uh... i'd like to sum up that
at this
conversation in all of the work disability law center
has more to do with
people being
here in the community in the movie theater on the bus
in your neighborhood
segregated and apart from everyone else and
the activities of jonathan another strong advocates are too
create inclusion
and like to close with that i'd like to thank you again jonathan
for having uh... taken the time of your busy day to share
uh... what u doing with us
hex you're welcome thank you very much
thanks to all of you
or