One candidate’s disability platform
I received an e-mail from Marie Johns saying how good it was to meet me at the Candidate’s Forum last week. She also sent me a Disability Questionnaire that she filled out early this summer. I don’t know who put this out, but here it is, with her responses:
2006 Mayoral Disability Issues Voter Education Guide
1. What experiences do you have with issues related to people with disabilities, and how have those experiences prepared you to support DC residents with
disabilities as Mayor?
Most of my experience serving people with disabilities is from my tenure as CEO of
Verizon, DC, where I identified and implemented real solutions in the telecom world,
using technological advances to improve communications access for people with
disabilities. This experience prepared me to support DC residents with disabilities in
critical ways. First, as an experienced manager with strategic planning acumen, I have
and will continuously identify methods to ensure and improve the District’s inclusion of
people with disabilities by ensuring access, whether to information, to services, to
District agencies, or to the John Wilson Building. Second, I understand the benefit of
investing upfront in assistive technology in order to save money in the long run. For
example, the District of Columbia Public School system spends $300 million, which is
approximately 30% of its budget to provide special education services, much of which is
out-of-state private tuition. One alternative would be to invest in trained teachers and
assistive technology, thereby reducing the cost of providing these services and most
important including and instructing our children in our community schools. I will use my
management experience to work with the Superintendent to restructure the provision of
special education services and ensure fiscal management of the budget.
2. What do you see as the most pressing issues facing children, youth and adults
with disabilities in the District of Columbia, and how will you work to address
those issues?
Two pressing issues facing people with disabilities that my Administration will address
immediately are the District’s failure to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act
(ADA) and the struggling management structure of the Mental Retardation and
Developmental Disabilities Administration (MRDDA). First, District employment
practices, services and supports, facilities, telecommunications, and many general
policies and practices are woefully out of compliance with the Americans with
Disabilities Act, the federal Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and the disability rights
provisions of the District of Columbia Human Rights Act of 1977 (collectively
“Disability Laws”). We must restore the office of ADA Compliance. Currently, every
agency has appointed a staff member to be the ADA compliance officer for that particular
agency. The current system, though, is lacking organization and management of the
compliance officers. I will restore that by creating an Office of ADA Compliance that
will be responsible for investigating actions or inactions of District agencies reported to
be in violation of the Disability Laws. Second, there can be no doubt that MRDDA must
be the first agency within the Human Services cluster that I focus my attention. My two
priorities will be 1) ensuring the completion of the Medicaid waiver amendment so that
the District may maximize the use of federal dollars and 2) developing an effective
management structure for the provision of services for both Evans parties and non-Evans
parties residents.
In addition, another issue that my Administration will address is emergency
preparedness. As CEO of Verizon, DC, I drafted and implemented an emergency
preparedness strategy ensuring that telephones and modes of communication were
operable during and after each hurricane and storm. As mayor, one of my top priorities
will be to work with the ANCs to identify the residences of persons with disabilities and
seniors, so that in the event of an evacuation or any type of emergency we have a plan to
ensure that all residents receive services
3. What will you do to create high quality services and supports for residents with
disabilities?
As stated above, I will restore the office of ADA Compliance to ensure evaluation of
every agency’s compliance with the Disability Laws, reporting of deficiencies,
recommendations to address those deficiencies, and enforcement and compliance with
those recommendations. Also, amongst the Human Services cluster agencies, my
priority will be the restructuring of MRDDA to ensure that all District residents have the
opportunity to receive services in the least restrictive setting. The day after I win the
November election, I commit to setting up a meeting with MRRDA, the Evans Court
monitor, the Quality Trust, and the community stakeholders to draft standards for
delivery of services and performance measures, and a strategic plan to achieve the
benchmarks of the Evans plan so that the District can exit the Evans action. I commit to
meeting with this task force monthly to regularly assess the District’s progress and
compliance with the strategic plan.
4. How will you work to ensure that people with disabilities have the opportunity to participate fully in all aspects of community life?
I will work to ensure that people with disabilities have the opportunity to particpate fully
in all aspects of community life, by addressing four areas: education and transportation,
recreation, economic development, and employment. With regard to education and
transportation, DCPS needs a permanent Special Education Director who is committed to
providing children and youth with an inclusive education in their neighborhood.
Improving and ensuring that special education services are provided at the neighborhood
level will necessarily result in the improvement of transportation and the reduction of
these costs. As to recreation, I will work to ensure that all community recreation centers
are accessible to all residents and that all staff members and volunteers are trained on
respect and accommodating all individuals. In addition, I will ensure that all new plans
for development of Recreation Centers will utilize universal design strategies for
accessibility. Within the economic development cluster, one of my administration’s
priorities will be to strengthen the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs
(DCRA). Critical to that will be to ensure that all DCRA staff members are trained on
the requirements of the ADA, and that they require compliance from every housing and
commercial developer. Finally, I will also work with the Chamber of Commerce on
developing a policy and plan of diversity and inclusion within the private sector.
I think that this platform is a very good start towards full inclusion of people with disabilities as citizens of the District. I am going to see if the other candidates have responded to this questionnaire, or have similar ideas for full inclusion of our community.