IN THIS ISSUE:
- Ready! Set!! VOTE!!!
- HAVA Hotline helps voters with disabilities access polls.
- It’s a New Idea 2007! Popular special education manual updated, available online.
- Action report: You are making a difference in the lives of people with disabilities!
- Mark your calendars now for DPC 2008 meetings!
- DPC member spotlight: Texas Center for Disability Studies
Ready! Set!! VOTE!!!
Have you voted yet? What are you waiting for? Early voting started Oct. 22. If you like to beat the crowd, you have until Nov. 2 to cast an early ballot. Otherwise, you can exercise your right to vote on Election Day—Nov. 6.
All Texas voters will decide the fate of 16 constitutional amendments. District 97 (part of Tarrant County) voters will also vote in a special election to fill the seat vacated by Rep. Anna Mowery.
The Secretary of State’s office has a wealth of useful information about everything from access for voters with disabilities to background on the proposed amendments. Check it out now!
There’s also information on voter registration. It’s too late to register in time for this election, but get registered for next time!
HAVA Hotline helps voters with disabilities access polls.
Texans with disabilities who run into problems accessing polling places or casting their ballots have a friend in the HAVA Hotline. With a grant from the Help America Vote Act (HAVA), Advocacy, Inc. is sponsoring a toll-free hotline: 1-888-796-VOTE (1-888-796-8683.) The line is equipped to handle voice and TTY calls.
People with disabilities who have general questions about the voting process are also welcome to call. In addition to assisting voters in this election, hotline workers will use information collected from callers to document discrimination and access problems at polling places throughout Texas.
It’s a New Idea 2007! Popular special education manual updated, available online.
DPC member organization Advocacy, Inc. and The Arc of Texas recently updated their extremely useful and popular special ed guide: It’s a New IDEA: The Manual for Parents and Students about Special Education Services in Texas. The 63-page publication is a user-friendly guide to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), the federal law that assures all students with disabilities a free and appropriate public education. The information is intended to help families understand the law and how they can participate as equal partners in planning their children’s education. The guide includes pointers for working with school staff to create an educational program that helps students achieve an independent and productive life.
The updated manual includes changes to the law dating back to 2004, along with new federal regulations that went into effect in October 2006. Most of the changes clarify or make it easier to implement IDEA—the basic requirements of the law haven’t changed.
Download your own free copy of the manual from Advocacy, Inc.
Action report: You are making a difference in the lives of people with disabilities!
Thanks to everyone who took time to participate in two recent action campaigns! Your contacts to state and federal lawmakers are having an impact. Here’s a quick update:
- Support State Schools Interim Committee: You informed state legislators of the immediate and urgent need to reform Texas’ state schools for persons with mental retardation. At this writing, we understand that the Texas House of Representatives will issue an interim charge on state schools later this year.
- It's time to create a national affordable Housing Trust Fund: You asked the U.S. House of Representatives to support the National Affordable Housing Trust Fund Act of 2007 to build or preserve housing affordable to extremely low-income Americans. Good news! The House approved $850 million. Now the Senate is expected to consider a similar measure before this session adjourns. Stay tuned for more information (and another action alert) on this important legislation.
Mark your calendars now for DPC 2008 meetings!
Chances are you’re already filling in your shiny, new calendar for next year. Don’t forget to include the dates for the Disability Policy Consortium’s regular meetings. Here are the dates for 2008: Jan.15, Feb. 19, March 18, April 15, May20, June 17, July 15, Aug.19, Sept. 16, Oct. 21, Nov. 18, and Dec. 16. (Notice a pattern? Meetings are the third Tuesday of each month.)
All meetings begin at 8:45 a.m. (come at 8:30 if you want some visiting time) and end no later than noon. They are held in the Advocacy, Inc. Board Room, 7800 Shoal Creek Blvd., Suite 171, in Austin.
DPC Member Spotlight: Texas Center for Disability Studies
Editor’s Note: Thanks to the Texas Center for Disability Studies for participating in the DPC Member Spotlight, a regular feature of the Action Update. Don't wait to be asked! If you want your own organization to be featured in an upcoming issue, drop us a line (info@dpctexas.org) and we’ll send the questions to you right away.
What is your organization’s mission and/or purpose?
Our mission is to serve as a catalyst so that people with disabilities are living the lives they choose in supportive communities. This mission is accomplished through a coordinated program of interdisciplinary personnel preparation, community education and technical assistance, provision of model services, research, evaluation, policy analysis and dissemination of information.
Briefly describe your organizational structure (membership, staff, board, etc.) as well as your service area, etc.
The Texas Center for Disability Studies is part of a national network of 67 University Centers for Excellence in Developmental Disability Education, Research, and Service funded by the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration on Developmental Disabilities. We were funded at UT Austin in 1989, and we are a statewide organization. We work with an advisory council with representatives from the Texas A&M University Center on Disability and Development, the Texas Council for Developmental Disabilities, Advocacy, Inc., and UT, people with disabilities, parents or family members and advocates. In addition, a member of the advisory committee of the state Tech Act project, Texas Technology Access Program, is on the advisory council. These members are from all areas of the state, including the Rio Grande Valley, and the group is culturally and linguistically diverse.
Our work is funded through federal and state grants and contracts to teach undergraduate and graduate students; conduct training and technical assistance activities; conduct research, evaluation, and policy analysis activities; and disseminate information regarding best practices. We administer the state Tech Act program, the Texas Technology Access Program, as well as a number of other projects. Our major areas of focus are assistive technology, self-determination and disability studies. Cultural and linguistic diversity, including a recognition and acceptance of an individual’s sexuality, religion, race, ethnicity, culture, language, disability and diverse family systems serves as a foundation for our work because of the need to develop more appropriate, sensitive and responsive services for our increasingly diverse population.
What were your three best achievements in the past year?
- Actively working to provide information during the legislative session.
- Responding to varied needs and requests from a wide audience that includes people with disabilities, family members, state agency personnel, providers, the legislature, federal agencies and others.
- Developing programs to support new leaders.
What are your three greatest challenges currently?
- Maintaining the capacity to work effectively with all relevant groups in Texas to improve the system for people with disabilities of all ages.
- Prioritizing the needs in the state and determining the best strategies to address them.
- Developing resources to reach across the state.
If your organization could change one public policy right this minute, what would it be?
It is extremely difficult to identify one public policy, but addressing and changing the policies in long-term care to promote community-based services rather than institutional services is certainly very important. This change would increase the opportunities for self-determination and change the provider environment in positive directions.
How has your organization benefited from being part of the DPC?
There is so much work to be done in Texas, and membership in the DPC allows for some division of labor. The various committees within the DPC make it possible to focus on specific areas and know that other areas are being addressed by other members. It is always possible to provide input, and there are opportunities to discuss policy implications and learn from these discussions.
Contact: Penny Seay, Executive Director
Address: University of Texas at Austin, Pickle Research Campus
10100 Burnet Road, Building 137, Suite 1.1.54
Austin, TX 78758
Phone: 512-232-0740
Toll free: 800-828-7839
E-mail:txcds@uttcds.org
Website: http://tcds.edb.utexas.edu/
The Texas Access Technology Program (part of the Texas Center for Disability Studies) will make a presentation at the Nov. 13th DPC meeting at 10:30 a.m. in the Advocacy, Inc. board room, 7800 Shoal Creek Blvd., Suite 171, in Austin.
About the Disability Policy Consortium
The DPC is made up of a diverse assortment of disability advocacy groups that have joined forces to advance the rights, inclusion and independence of Texans with disabilities. Each member organization contributes its unique perspective and resources to the collective effort to promote effective public policy for a variety of issues important to people with disabilities and their families.
Let your friends know about the Texas Action Center:
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[Send email to the Disability Policy Consortium]
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