Health disparities for people with disabilities

New Report from the University of New Hampshire Insititute on Disabilities Finds significant health disparities for people with disabilities.

An Overview of The Metropolitan Transit Commission Board Meeting

On the behalf of CIL, I represented and advocated for our consumers and for all people with disabilities who resides in the East Bay for the Metropolitan Transit Commission on keeping its headquarters on the East Bay in downtown Oakland at 1100 Broadway in a newly constructed building located on top of a Bart station rather than moving to a San Francisco building at 390 Main Street building, which was built by the U.S. Navy in the 1940s for military equipment assembly. More recently it has housed a major U.S. Postal Service office. 

Oakland Major Jean Quan, two Oakland City Council Members, people with disabilities and the elderly, including myself as well as other Oakland officials were present at the meeting to urge them to consider an alternate site here in downtown Oakland for easy access by public transportation and not as populated / crowded area as the San Francisco preferred site.  Oakland business leaders argued that the project at 1100 Broadway wasn't given adequate consideration. The site has already received its planning entitlements for a Class A, LEED-certified office tower and is located over a BART station according to the Oakland Tribune article.

Mayor Quan stated at the meeting is the following: For Oakland, the effort to keep the government agencies is a matter of pride as well as economics. The city does not collect property tax revenue on government-owned buildings, but the jobs and economic benefits of new construction would give a boost to the region by creating new jobs and putting many unemployed people to work, Quan said. As Oakland's economy goes, so goes the regional economy, she added.

When it was my turn to speak at the podium, I told them that I am a regular public transit user and rely on the transit system to get to places daily as so with many other disabled and elderly people.  I also told the MTC board that the alternate Oakland building site would be very much preferred and better situation to insure easier access to public transportation for people with disabilities and the elderly.  Someone from the board read my key points that I wanted to express to the body of the MTC, it was written out.  When the public comments concluded, one of the Oakland’s officials was impressed with my comments and thanked me for supporting their Oakland cause.  The vote entailed a closed meeting section so we the public couldn’t be there to witness the results of the votes.  In my opinion, the City of Oakland gave a better presentation and thought that we would win the argument of letting the Metropolitan Transit Commission continue its stay in Oakland, which has shared it current building for 40 years with the Association of Bay Area Governments, near the Lake Merritt BART station. I was pleased of my speech and glad that I was able to make a difference even though we didn’t achieve the preferred outcome that we wanted. 

However, the resulted of the votes stated that the Metropolitan Transit Commission will be moving its regional headquarters to its San Francisco location over the proposed Oakland site as stated below of their decision:

The Metropolitan Transportation Commission board of directors voted 12-2 Wednesday to leave Oakland and spend $180 million to buy and rehabilitate a San Francisco building to serve as its new headquarters.

The decision, opposed only by MTC board members Scott Haggardly, an Alameda County supervisor, and Mark Green, the mayor of Union City, was a blow to Oakland officials. Mayor Jean Quan had urged the commission to not rush into a decision to abandon Oakland in favor of buying an older building it knew little about.

After considering the pros and cons of several sites, the 500,000-square foot building in San Francisco's South of Market area emerged as the preferred location, although it is one-half mile from BART. The three combined agencies need less than half the space and the rest will be rented out to recoup costs. It also allows room for other government agencies such as Bay Conservation and Development Commission to move in.

{Date of the meeting: Wednesday, July 27^th, 2011 from 9:30 to 11:00am}

Disability Pride Parade

As a CIL intern and a woman activist I identify myself with a disability, I really enjoyed being a part of the 2nd annual west coast disability pride parade.  This parade celebrated the 21st birthday anniversary of the American with Disabilities Act and collaborated as one disability unit to fight the consistent and ongoing budget cuts and issues facing our community at large. 

Hundreds of participants walked and rolled down a mile-long stretch of North First Street in San Jose on Saturday morning, July 23rd chanting together during the Disability Pride Parade and a Festival following the parade festival held at Silicon Valley Independent Living Center headquarters.  During the festival, there were performances, poetry readings, speeches made by the three grand marshals and other disabled activists, and information booths that consists of different disability oriented organizations.

During the route of the parade, we said the following: "We're here, we're loud, we're disabled and we're proud," marchers chanted as they celebrated the 21st anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act's signing. For participants of all ages and disabilities, the parade was a chance to share a sense of community and raise awareness especially in these storming economic times where the disabled; people need to know we're a large group of people that are horribly affected by budget cuts here in California and across the country.  Many disabled people and their friends, marched for disability rights, and many walked by the banner for Communities United in Defense of Olmstead, pushing for continued adherence to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 1999 that said people with disabilities have the right to live in a community instead of being relegated to nursing homes.

"We're fighting for equal access 95 percent of the time," said Sarah Triano, executive director of the Silicon Valley Independent Living Center. "This is our 5 percent time to celebrate."  As a disabled activist myself, I feel like that I am always fighting for my rights daily.  It was nice to just sit back, be myself, and do nothing for once with my extended disabled family.  The highlight of that day was that I got featured as a photograph in the San Jose Mercury News along with other disability activists as well as being visibly recognized on several nightly televised news channels. 



Articles about CIL interns

Article about CIL Intern John Drennan

Article about CIL volunteer Nathan Dyer

Medical Access & Accommodations

Admit it, going to the doctor can be a drag and annoying experience.  It involves a lot of waiting, talking about personal subjects, being told to do more or one thing less of another, and etc.  Now imagine getting into the office is physically hard, or the examination room is too small for you turn around in.  Even worse, the doctor’s equipment does not work because you can not access it easily.  This is what people with disabilities have to deal with at times when they go to the doctor.  Even though much of todays society has become much more keen to disability awareness and accessibility, there are important places, such as a doctors office, that are essential yet still not accessible in terms of ADA accomodations, though legally they are required to be.

The first rule of thumb for doctors’ offices is how big the actual examination needs to physically able to have a clear space on the floor of at lest 30”x 48”.  The examination table needs to be adjustable and there needs to be space for the patient to do a side transfer on to the table.  There need to be space between the table and wall need to be adequate enough for the staff to assist a patient, all routes through public spaces need to be accessible, and the door way has to be at least 32” to enable a wheelchair to go through.  There also is a need for accessible equipment that can be adjustable for a person in a wheel chair such as mammogram machines and x-ray machines.  In addition, all bathrooms gurneys, and grab bars need to be made available to a person in a wheelchair or who need them.

The ADA states “Reasonable modifications to policies, practices, and procedures when necessary to make health care services fully available to individuals with disabilities, unless the modifications would fundamentally alter the nature of services( i.e. alter the essential nature of the services.)” http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/civilrights/understanding/disability/adamobilityimpairmentsgudiance.pdfdividuals with disabilities…” This means that all people are eligible and have the civil rights to a good doctor.  A medical service can not deny anyone their services on the basics of disability.  An attendant comes to help a patient at an appointment if he needs it, but patients are not required to bring their own attendants.  If an attendant is provided, they help the patient un dress and dress. but usually they are supposed to go into the waiting room during the actual examination time.

The patient with disabilities is completely able to make decisions for themselves.  The doctor should directly address the patients and not their attendants when talking to them.  A doctor can not make a patient with a disability to wait longer than a person without.  There needs to be an adequate amount of room that are wheelchair accessible, just like any business needs to have an adequate amount of disabled parking places.

This information and stories on personal experiences and tips were shared at Lauren Steinberg’s Rights in a Bag workshop on patients' right in the medical world.  People were able to get information on what their rights were and learned ideas for doctors that are not as commonly known as they should be. In the workshop, it was also discussed that  doctors should have a protocol as to the rights of  disabled patients and what they need to do to accommodate them. It is a growing phenomenon that doctors need to learn more about disability. Luckily for some people, the respect that people with disabilities in doctor’s offices have become better in recent times.