DEAF WORKERS OF ORANGE COUNTY PROJECT -- DEAF WORKERS WEEKLY BULLETIN -- September 19, 1998 Greetings, Incompetency within our Deaf advocacy system is a very serious and grave problem our community faces every day. It was found that a Deaf support organization within Orange County had been sending their clients to a divorce lawyer to try remedy their employment complaints. Two clients of this Deaf organization brought to my attention they were sent to a lawyer who then was unable to help them with their employment related cases. After contacting this lawyer they were sent to, I found that he only handles family law and specializes in divorce law. Next February, the Orange County Deaf Advocacy Center will be in the business of certifying attorneys to handle disability related cases. Unlike the Deaf organization inside Orange County, Orange County Deaf Advocacy Center will be sending their clients to the right lawyers who will help them achieve justice. That is what competency is about. For the first time in history, on September 20 1998, people with hearing disabilities will be able to see the radio show "On A Roll" using the Internet. I want to commend RAPIDTEXT for being a pioneer participant in this great event that will pave the way toward radio accessibility for people with hearing disabilities. Richard Roehm ---- DEAF MILITARY NEWSLETTER HIGHLIGHTS DEAF PEOPLE IN THE MILITARY A new Deaf military newsletter highlights Operation Hearing Impaired. A successful program that allows people with hearing disabilities explore military life. This is located in Fort Stewart in the state of Georgia. It was just brought to our attention that, Curtis Pride, the Deaf Atlanta Braves player, will be sponsoring the Youth Challenge Academy for people with hearing disabilities at Ft. Stewart, Georgia. Curtis Pride will be at Ft. Stewart along with State Senator Crotts on September 24. 1998. Georgia State Senator Mike Crotts is credited with opening helping establish the programs needed to make it possible for people with hearing disabilities to explore military life. They have a website. http://www.geocities.com/Pentagon/Quarters/9809/index.html This is coordinated by Sgt. Steven Schrader who is Deaf. Lobbying is underway to have a similar program installed inside California. California National Guard's LT. Davis has been studying this project. This has the support of Assemblyman Jim Morrissey. Any support from you would also be appreciated. ---- NATIONAL COUNCIL ON DISABILITY TO HEAR TESTIMONY FROM THE DISABLED The National Council on Disability (NCD) will conduct a public hearing in Albany, New York, on federal policy issues impacting people with psychiatric disabilities. The hearing is being held in conjunction with NCD's quarterly meeting, and will take place on Friday, November 20, 1998, from 3:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the Albany Marriott, 189 Wolf Road, Albany, NY. As you may know, NCD is an independent federal agency that advises the President and Congress on public policy issues affecting people with disabilities. The purpose of the hearing is to receive testimony from interested members of the public on the following issues, among others: the growth of managed care within the health care industry and its impact on persons with psychiatric disabilities; occurrences of abuse and neglect of persons living in psychiatric institutions and in community settings, particularly the use of seclusion and restraints; how the implementation and enforcement of federal civil rights laws (i.e., the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Rehabilitation Act, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, the Fair Housing Act, the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act, etc.) impact persons with psychiatric disabilities; experiences with federal income support programs (e.g. SSI, SSDI, and TANF), work incentives, and barriers to employment; and access to integrated, independent, and affordable housing in the community by persons with psychiatric disabilities. The hearing is open to all members of the public. NCD recommends that anyone wishing to testify should register in advance so that they can be scheduled to speak. Limited on-site registration will also be available beginning at 2:30 p.m. on November 20 in front of the NCD hearing room. Those who wish to testify anonymously may do so by notifying NCD. Testimony taken during the hearing will be used to develop reports and recommendations to the President and Congress. Persons may also testify in alternate formats, such as videotape, audio tape, and written documents, and NCD welcomes additional written materials. NCD also especially urges people from culturally diverse backgrounds and those living in rural areas to present testimony. To register to give testimony at the hearing, please contact NCD staff assistant Stacey Brown at 202-272-2004 (voice); 202-272-2074 (TTY); sbrown@ncd.gov (e-mail); 202-272-2022 (fax). The mailing address is National Council on Disability, 1331 F Street, NW, Suite 1050, Washington, DC 20004. NCD's Internet address is http://www.ncd.gov. Sincerely, Marca Bristo Chairperson Enc.: Testimony Guidelines NATIONAL COUNCIL ON DISABILITY PUBLIC HEARING ON FEDERAL POLICY ISSUES IMPACTING ON PEOPLE WITH PSYCHIATRIC DISABILITIES TESTIMONY GUIDELINES The National Council on Disability (NCD) cordially invites all interested individuals to testify at the public hearing to be held in Albany, New York, at the Albany Marriott Hotel on Friday, November 20, 1998, from 3:30 p.m. until 8:30 p.m. NCD is particularly seeking testimony on the following topics, although testimony that relates to any aspect of public policy as it impacts persons with psychiatric disabilities is welcome: -The growth of managed care within the health care industry and its impact on persons with psychiatric disabilities; -Occurrences of abuse and neglect of persons living in psychiatric institutions, particularly the use of seclusion and restraints; -How the implementation and enforcement of federal civil rights laws (i.e., the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Rehabilitation Act, Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, the Fair Housing Act, the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Person Act, the Air Carrier Access Act, etc.) impact persons with psychiatric disabilities; and -Access to integrated, independent and affordable housing in the community by persons with psychiatric disabilities. -Experience with federal income support programs (e.g. SSI, SSDI, and TANF), work incentives, and barriers to employment. We respectfully ask all who testify to observe the following guidelines: 1. Limit your remarks to no more than five minutes. A timekeeper will help you keep track of the time by holding up a sign (or by any means accessible to you) when there are two minutes and then one minute remaining, and when to stop. 2. State and spell your name (unless you are testifying anonymously), where you are from, and briefly describe the subject of your testimony. 3. State the problem, situation or occurrence that reflects a need for change in the area of federal public policy affecting the civil rights of persons with psychiatric disabilities. 4. Sharing personal experiences and anecdotes supporting your views is encouraged within the five minute allotted time frame. 5. State your recommendations for change to existing practices, regulations and laws impacting the civil rights of persons with psychiatric disabilities. Questions and answers are generally not part of the hearing format. However, representatives from government agencies and advocacy organizations will be available at the hearing to answer questions "off-line." The hearing moderator will ask the appropriate representatives to identify themselves when testimony given raises questions they may be able to answer. Although NCD does not provide individual case advocacy services, we do recognize the validity and importance of each person's experience. It is not within NCD's congressional mandate to investigate or attempt to resolve these issues. It should also be noted that while NCD' mission is not focused on impacting state laws (such as commitment laws), it could, for example, make a broad policy statement enunciating a position against the use of force or coercion of any kind. NCD is committed to doing more than just taking testimony. There will be follow-up action based on the testimony. If you have suggestions on what this action should be, please let us know. Mark S. Quigley Public Affairs Specialist National Council on Disability 1331 F Street, NW, Suite 1050 Washington, DC 20004 202-272-2004 Voice 202-272-2074 TTY 202-272-2022 Fax mquigley@ncd.gov http://www.ncd.gov ---- LANDMARK U.S. COURT OF APPEALS RULES IN FAVOR OF DISABLED LAW GRADUATE WASHINGTON—The National Council on Disability (NCD) commends the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit for its decision in a landmark case (Bartlett v. NY State Board of Law Examiners, Docket No. 97-9162) interpreting the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The case involved the appeal of a law school graduate, Marilyn Bartlett, who claimed that her learning disability entitled her to extra time and other reasonable accommodations on the New York State bar examination. The Court of Appeals said on Monday, September 14, 1998, when it released the ruling, “Dr. Bartlett is among those for whom Congress provided protection under the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act. Reasonable accommodation of this disability will enable her to compete fairly with others in taking the examination....” According to Marca Bristo, NCD chairperson, “NCD commends the Second Circuit Court of Appeals for recognizing the right of bar applicants with learning disabilities to receive reasonable accommodations that enable them to demonstrate their capabilities fairly to the administrators of the bar exam.” “As the agency that first proposed ADA, NCD applauds the appeals court for its landmark decision that will open up the legal profession to qualified law school graduates with disabilities. This case is a victory for civil rights, for the legal profession, and for all of us who believe in equal opportunity under law.” NCD is an independent federal agency currently coordinating a multi- year study on ADA enforcement for the President and Congress. For more information, contact NCD general counsel Andrew J. Imparato at 202-272-2112 or public affairs specialist Mark S. Quigley at 202-272-2008. Mark S. Quigley Public Affairs Specialist National Council on Disability 1331 F Street, NW, Suite 1050 Washington, DC 20004 202-272-2004 Voice 202-272-2074 TTY 202-272-2022 Fax mquigley@ncd.gov http://www.ncd.gov ---- FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION SIDES WITH US AND REMOVES EXEMPTIONS! A Captioning Victory!! Last August, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued comprehensive requirements on the closed captioning of television programming. Dissatisfied with several of the exemptions contained in those rules, the National Association of the Deaf (NAD) filed a Request for Reconsideration with the FCC. Today, the FCC ruled on our request, and for the most part, granted us a significant victory. Today the FCC amended its captioning order as follows: 1. 100% of all new, non-exempt programming must be captioned within 8 years (The original order only directed 95% to be captioned.) 2. Beginning Jan. 1, 2000, certain classes of video providers are prohibited from using electronic newsroom reporting (ENR) to count toward their compliance with the transition schedule for captioning. These providers are: (i) the 4 major broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox), (ii) broadcast stations affliliated with those networks in the top 25 television markets as defined by Nielsen's Designated Market Areas, and (iii) nonbroadcast networks serving 50% or more of the households receiving multichannel video programming (e.g., cable, satellite TV) Networks have 8 years to caption their programming - basically, they must caption around 25% during the first 2 years, 50% by 4 years, etc. Networks may choose which programs they wish to caption. Thus, technically, they are not obligated to caption news programs within the next few years, although they must caption those programs within 8 years, when 100% of all new television programming must be captioned. This new rule still does not require stations to provide real time captioning of news programs during the next few years. BUT if they do wish to count their news programs toward their captioning percentages, they must caption those programs in in real time. (The original order had allowed ENR to count toward compliance with the captioning mandates). 3. Spanish language new programming must be captioned over a 12 year transition schedule. Pre-rule Spanish language programming must be captioned over 14 years. (The original order had exempted all foreign language programming) 4. At least 30% of a channel's pre-rule programming (programming first published or exhibited prior to January 1, 1998, when the FCC captioning rules first took effect) must be captioned by January 1, 2003. (The original rule required 75% of all such programming to be captioned within 10 years, but set no benchmarks. Arguably, then the networks could have waited the full 10 years to caption). We did not prevail on our request for captioning of short advertisements (under 5 minutes), although a separate statement presented by Kennard strongly dissented from the group's decision not to apply the captioning requirements to advertisements. For more information on the ruling, you may visit: http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Cable/News_Releases/1998/nrcb8021.html http://www.fcc.gov/Speeches/Kennard/Statements/stwek871.html Additionally, I will be explaining the new ruling and its significance for the deaf and hard of hearing community in more detail in the next NAD Broadcaster. Congratulations to all! Karen Peltz Strauss Legal Counsel for Telecommunications Policy National Association of the Deaf ---- ON A ROLL RADIO TO CAPTION THEIR RADIO SHOWS USING THE INTERNET ON A ROLL Radio & RAPIDTEXT Launch Technology Breakthrough - - 28 Million Deaf/Hard-of-Hearing can SEE Radio for the First Time on the Web in Honor of NATIONAL DEAF AWARENESS WEEK ON A ROLL, America's only live, weekly, nationally syndicated, commercial radio talk show on disability issues joins forces with Newport Beach, CA-based RAPIDTEXT (the nation's leading-edge corporation specializing in voice-to-text applications) to create a broadcast milestone for 28 million Deaf & Hard-of- Hearing Americans. For the first time in history, deaf people will be able to SEE radio on the Internet. RAPIDTEXT Website, WWW.RAPIDTEXT.COM will simulcast the September 20, 1998 program via Realtime Captioning, to create this technology breakthrough. ON A ROLL host and creator Greg Smith and Glory Johnson, vice president of RAPIDTEXT are re-launching this technology breakthrough in honor of National Deaf Awareness Week (September 20 - 26, 1998). The guest on September 20th will be Pam Gregory from the Disabilities Issues Task Force of Federal Communications Commission. According to the FCC Chairman, "The agency is committed to ensuring that the telecommunications revolution does not become segregated, between 'haves' and 'have nots.' People with disabilities must have equal access to the information age; the Federal Communications Commission has an obligation to ensure that telecommunications are accessible and usable to the 54 million Americans with disabilities." Ms. Gregory will identify the barriers to accessibility and discuss what is being done to overcome them. According to Libby Pollard, newly elected President of the National Association of the Deaf (NAD), "The National Association of the Deaf is working to make all media accessible to deaf and hard of hearing people, and this realtime captioning on the Web is certainly a very positive step." NAD represents the nation's 28 million deaf and hard of hearing citizens, and has state chapters throughout the U.S. At the helm of ON A ROLL is Greg Smith, a 20 year broadcast veteran and leading disability rights advocate who knows what makes the disability community tick. Under his leadership, ON A ROLL was first syndicated in February 1997, and has emerged from a fledging local Phoenix show to a network of 18 radio stations across the nation with the capacity to broadcast live on the Internet to computer users. - m o r e - ON A ROLL mission is to empower people with disabilities to live as independently as possible in mainstream community life and to promote benefits of integration of people with disabilities to non-disabled talk radio listeners. Their web site, WWW.ONAROLLRADIO.COM, hosts hundreds of hits per week from the grass-roots of the disability community, to the board rooms of Corporate America and is linked to hundreds of other disability-related web sites, thus providing corporate sponsors maximum penetration into the heart of this untapped consumer market. Recent ON A ROLL guests include Christopher Reeve; Senator Bob Dole, reflecting upon the late Paul Hearne, President of The Dole Foundation and the American Association of People with Disabilities; Jim Williams, CEO of National Easter Seal Society; Jeff Taylor, Sr. Area Business Manager, General Mills; Sandy Spoonemore, Director of Corporate Resources for the Disabled, NationsBank. ON A ROLL features a weekly three minute segment by Tony Coelho, Chair, President's Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities & Co- Chair, Presidential Task Force on Employment of Adults with Disabilities. Rapidtext, Inc., founded in 1988, is the technology services group of US Legal Sup-port, Inc., a national legal services company. RAPIDTEXT provides high- tech voice-to-text services including realtime & closed captioning for broadcast TV & public events, legal & medical transcription, language translation & software development. They are the nation's largest provider of classroom captioning for Deaf & Hard-of-Hearing people in educational classrooms. Their latest technological service is RAPID Textcasting, broadcast of realtime text from radio, TV or public event onto the Internet, with text available worldwide, meeting all accessibility requirements. Complete text is available to download at the end of the event. ON A ROLL markets include: Atlanta; Phoenix; Sacramento; Dallas; El Paso; Kansas City; Birmingham; Dayton; Topeka; Hays, KS; Tallahassee; Marathon/Key West; Melbourne, FL; Huntsville, AL; Abbeville, SC; Hickory, NC; Jamestown, NY; Martinsburg, WV; Markets and stations grow every week. If it is happening in the disability community, you'll hear - and now see - it first on ON A ROLL. The reliable source of news & information for America's 54 million citizens with disabilities. For information about the exciting ON A ROLL & RAPIDTEXT partnership contact Tari Susan Hartman, EIN SOF Communications; 6380 Wilshire Blvd, Suite # 125; Los Angeles, CA 90048; 310/578-5955 (phone); fax/578-6065 or EINSOFTSH @aol.com ---- Current job list on the Jobs for Deaf page. Santa Ana, California (2-15-98) Carson City, Nevada (2-23-98) Framingham, Massachusetts (3-2-98) Nationwide USA (3-22-98) Santa Fe, New Mexico (4-9-98) Robert Chapman from Goodwill Industries Deafinately Jobs program assists people with hearing disabilities in locating jobs. If you need help in finding work, give Robert a call or email. Robert Chapman Job Developer, Deafinately Jobs program of Goodwill Industries robertc@ocgoodwill.org 714-541-6816 TDD 714-237-9193 Pager 714-547-6308 V 714-541-2387 Fax ---------------------- Letters I just read your note posted to the ADA law list. It is important work you are doing and I wish you a great deal of success. I am a profoundly late deafened adult. I use translan from interpreters and voice for myself. I just graduated from law school here in Kentucky. I won a couple of writing awards, including the award for best paper produced by any graduating student in any year for any purpose for my journal articles on the ADA and termination of parental rights actions. I am desperately looking for work. VR has proved to be less than worthless in assisting me in finding employment. I am currently waiting for the results of my Kentucky Bar Examination which will be released Oct. 2. I am attaching a copy of my resume. I see a desperate need in this area for legal services for the deaf and for people with disabilities, my long term goal is to establish a nonprofit legal assistance organization to fill that need, however first I must acquire some practical experience in the field to gain credibility with grant sources. TLMosier@aol.com ---- Hi Mr. Roehm, I was given a copy of your email message by Robert Traina, and I want you to know how much I appreciate your activism in getting others to give the FCC input on closed captioning. If you will not mind, please add me to your list of addresses, and send me everytime you send something out in the name of telecommunications advocacy. Thanks for your committment and wish we have many, many more people like you. You are S P E C I A L!!! Regards, Claude Stout TDI Executive Director --- Hi Folks, CVF is now hiring! The California Voter Foundation is now accepting applications for our new position of Membership Director. Below is the job announcement. As you will see, this is a special job that will require a very special person. You can help CVF by circulating this announcement far and wide! This position is open until filled, but we do hope to hire someone soon, so please share this announcement with anyone who you think may be interested ASAP. The announcement is also posted on the California Voter Foundation web site at http://www.calvoter.org/membershipdirector.html Thanks a bunch! Kim Alexander ============================================================== DEAF WORKERS OF ORANGE COUNTY Orange County, California Richard Roehm President Internet : Deaf@activist.com Deaf_Workers_OC@usa.net Website Nesmuth@worldnet.att.net Http://www.i-sphere.com/eyedeaf/dwoc.htm =============================================================== Circulation Information Direct Email subscribers : 46 Indirect Email Subscribers : 33 Feel free to redistribute this newsletter in it's entirety and if you are planning to add a mailing list as a subscriber then let me know for my records. Thank you. =============================================================== Deaf Workers of Orange County will continue to aggressively pursue justice, fairness, and equality for the Deaf Community. =============================================================== Education is the best gift that lasts a lifetime! Help someone subscribe to Deaf Workers Weekly Bulletin =============================================================== SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION To be added to the mailing list, send "ADD WORKERS BULLETIN" To be deleted from the mailing list send "DELETE WORKERS BULLETIN" to this address Deaf_Workers_OC@usa.net Mailing lists are never sold/given to anyone. =============================================================== Need to stay on the net? Try DeafWatch's own "Keeping You Connected" page which is packed with graphical links to FREE email providers. ===============================================================