I
FIFTH ANNIVERSARY EDITION
-?-- 1 *C
a(k-
A Letter To Newt - 9
bd
Annuallndex-I2
5.
Ta,,'
, A
-b&
SOURCES
-
-
I RESOURCES
I
I
Five Years Later
r
m *
I
ARE WE WINNING OR LOSING? Moving Forward On The slippery Slope, A Challenae , -
II A'Ptacks On ADA Escalate by Justin Dart 'hanksto your advocacy, the
I I
I
Unfunded Mandate Act, signed Mar& 22n4 does not impact civil rights laws like the ADA, or the existing provisions ofthe IDEA. But there are far more serious threats to our IiRhts. For more than two years, the ADA andthe IDEA have been subject to increasingly frequent, increasing hostile attacks in the public media by anti-civil rights lobbyists, politicians and other public figures, by members of the inedia itself. It hasbeen called a "Regulatory Black Hole", "Disabling Mandate*, "Lunatic Lawn. We, lobbying for the disabled, are called "stop at-nothing zealots" and accused of "waging war with every citizen".
On April 18th, Majority Leader Dick Armey told 700 people at an Irving, Teias public forum, "The ADA in its current state is a disaster," ...an "abomination." He said he would "work to make h e language in it tight.." We know
what that means. In 1990Mr. Armey voted for every weakening amendmentto the ADA, and against the bill on every final vote. Now, as majority leader, he has much more power. When other minorities are publicly attacked, they attack back withinminutes. Not with one oped or ten calls, but with an eruption of outrageby thousands of angry citizens - thousands of calls to the TV station orradio, the newspaper, the ofice of the offender. The counter attack is usually more visible than the original offense. There are instant claims that, "1 was misquoted," and fmally apologies. Often offenders lose their jobs. Not so with the disability community.
nesses, schools, communities and states - in the m i t e House, the federal agencies and the Congress. When we losethebattleofthemind, it is only a m e e r of time mtjl we lase o w laws, and & dollars for our programs. Because if you are not legally a full citizen, if you are not perceived as acitizen with political clout, yourprograms will always be last on the list for finding. MONITOR THE MEDIA. BASH BACK. When the ADA, the IDEA, our rights, are attacked by public figures with misinformation, attack back, with truth. Imrnediately ! Join or organize an ADAIDEA Truth Team in your community or your state. Don't wait for others. Start with yourself. One person celebrating truth, protesting lies, can make a big difference..
Every time the ADA and the IDEA are bashed, and we don't bash back, misinformation and lies come to be accepted as reality. Our rights (Editor 3 Note: See page 9 are repealed where it matters for Justin's letter to Newt most, in the minds of all the Gingrich) Americans who m w hple-
.*tspriq, of ,.@+putthe whole pmgram in q k Was w r t a ever Rather 1
~
,
mble
sins;e.
~arV~mielebn1h"i's'pa~t his letter on page 9).
ti~n, wthan demand adequate fundw s chairman of Metro Mo- in& the miwed Universal Health Care was Pr* . bility and was responding to amounts of operating alloca- issue in the l99@pkid&m-
demands fordequate sewice withaseriesofpromises. The first of the mainline accessible busses were just being delivered,completewith demonstration rides and lots of ing 11 new
-
and '
paign so we asked candidates for their views. Said candidate Arne Carlson, "The cornerstone of the Carlson administratiatwillbe the policy 0fPriwmtim Its will be access to health care for all tans. The Canadian program . demonstratesthe feasibility of assuring medical can for all tbmugh a government prow tinaced by progressive taxatimr
tions over the next four years and tried to compensate by raising fares; then made the horrendm*mw@' a new fleetofhu%e4*hd contracted for management services from a company whose performance was so bad the riders successfully sued-
total time for complae version ten to twelve years. be Metro Mobility was not to be Now mat me %qb, come part of the Meseen as a competitor for funding, but a separate compli- cil? the Pattern is k i n g rementaqt service to be funded peated. There is no real advo&ompfopeqm-. Apolicy cacy for improvement, but an of"NoTripDeni#-tobe acceptance of inadequate implemented imme&mb for funding as inevitable. This the 17,000 certified users. Year we'll h v e major cutbacks in senrice,higher fares, , Five years later we do have and a ridiculous two weeks momaccessiblemainlinebus advance reservation time. ses in service, but have a long There are about 24,000 certiway to go to have them on all fied users now, probably a lot routes. This year's cutbacks less than the r ~ m b e rwho will reduce service on most could be eligible. Given the ."regular"lines, especiallyeve- State of the SYStem, a lot of , nings and weekends. Fares these potential Users will neVhave been increased to the er bother signing UP. There estimatedmaxim~mpr~ctical. are rumors now of another Metro Mobility services are rider lawsuit over this violaalso being cut substantially, tion of ADA's mandate for with a corresponding fare in- equal service. SO much for I crease. To Mr.Ehriichmann7s the good intentions of 1990. credit Metro Mobility tried I "NO rip wnialw for a few ADA was in the debate stage months in 1990, proving that in May of 1990. We covered it was a great step forward in the celebration of it's passage rider convenience. Unfortu- that summer and now have to nately,the cost was not part of re~rtonthecurrentcongresthe 1990budget and s m e d a sional attempts to weaken it's
~~-
,
1 ,
'
Although M innesotaCate came into existence until a few years later, Governor Carlson is in no huny to cover our 400 thousand uninsured Minnesotans, and in fact advocates slowing down the whole program. The formerly stronglegislative advocates have also backed off and the time table is now subject to annual debates over priority. So much for the political cornmitment of Candidate Carison. PCA programs were examined and modified, and clients were recertified as to entitlement over the past five years, only to face a whole new analysis of each individual this year, and a loss of funding amounting to a 15% cut in service effective July 1996.
'
a;P1