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Greetings,
Please look out for our very important mailing, which will arrive in your mailbox later this week!
DPC is constantly looking for better ways to communicate with our members. Social networking has provided many great opportunities. As you might know, we are on Facebook and Twitter. In addition, we have begun a Facebook Cause page as well as a LinkedIn group. Please take a moment to make sure that you are fully connected to the DPC community!
As I am sure you know, the 20th Anniversary is right around the corner. Celebrations are taking place throughout the state, beginning this week. Please check out our website for a calendar of events near you!
A week from today, July 26th, there will be a very exciting celebration! This is the perfect for individuals and families alike! Please take a day out of your busy schedule to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the ADA, a day to reflect on how far we have come as well as how far we still must go.
Sincerely,
Robyn Powell
Assistant Director, Disability Policy Consortium
rpowell@dpcma.org| 617-542-3522
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Americans with Disabilities Act 20th Anniversary Celebration
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Monday, July 26th, 2010
12-3pm
Boston Common at the corner of Charles & Beacon Street
A march is planned to leave from the Common at the corner of Tremont and Boylston at approximately 11:15 am.
Enjoy live entertainment including Comedian Jonathan Katz, the Matt Savage Trio, the Tommy Filiault Band, and our keynote speaker, John Hockenberry!
Please bring food and drink with you to enjoy! Be prepared for extreme weather, heat or rain.
To learn more about how to be fully prepared for the celebration, visit:
http://adaptiveenvironments.org/neada/site/be_prepared
For more details, go to www.NewEnglandADA.org
If you need an accommodation, call 1-800-949-4232(v/tty) by July 15th.
For further information, please call the number listed above or e-mail at ADAinfo@NewEnglandADA.org
For information on public transportation visit-MassDOT or the MBTA.
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Seeking Volunteers for a Study on Detectability of Vehicles Sounds
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Recent studies indicate that hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) are difficult to hear and detect while operating in electric mode and low speeds. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has asked researchers at the U.S. DOT's Volpe National Transportation System Center (Volpe Center) in Cambridge to develop specification requirements for synthetic vehicle sounds to be employed as countermeasures in electric or hybrid-electric vehicles while operating in electric mode below 20 mph.
The Volpe Center team contacted me to assist them in finding qualified volunteers to participate in their study which will measure how quickly and accurately people can identify vehicle sounds. The Volpe Center has various vehicles and alternative sound systems for use in this study. They are looking for approximately 40 volunteers (male and female and age 18 or older) to listen to vehicles and indicate if, and when, they hear a vehicle in various operating conditions. Volunteers should be legally blind, travel by themselves on a regular basis, and have good hearing in both ears. An automated, audiometric screening test -- lasting about 5 minutes -- will be provided for each participant.
There will be three sessions to choose from: Saturday July 31, August 7 or August 14. Sunday will be reserved as an alternative in case of inclement weather. During the study, participants will be seated in a single line along a sidewalk. Each participant will be provided with a push button (similar to a "nurse call" button) to press at the instant the subject detects and recognizes the sound of a target vehicle. The session will last about two hours and will include testing time, time for greeting and screening, instructions, practice, breaks, and debriefing. A Volpe Center staff member will escort each participant to their seat. This person will occupy the adjacent seat and serve as a subject in the study. Alternatively, a companion could participate in the study and serve as a guide. All participants will be asked to wear a blindfold during the trials and to complete a hearing screening test. The study will be conducted on a parking lot located on the Volpe Center campus near the rear entrance with a street address for ride drop-offs at 44 Potter Street, Cambridge (enter from Third Street, near Kendall Square). For those that need transportation, buses or taxis will depart from the Carroll Center and the Perkins School at 1:00 PM for a 2:00 PM start of the study. Participants will be returned to Carroll or Perkins by 5 PM. Each participant will receive a $100 gift card upon completion of the test.
Bottled water, restroom facilities and water bowls for service animals will be available immediately adjacent to the participant seating area, which is shaded from the sun.
To participate in study or for more information, contact Catherine Guthy at the Volpe Center, 617-494-3089, catherine.guthy@dot.gov. For information about the research program please contact Dr. Lisandra Garay-Vega, 202-366-0413, lisandra.garay-vega@dot.gov.
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Boston Globe says Brown FMAP & Unemployment Bill Has No Support
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From our friends at ADDP:
Massachusetts Programs continue to suffer from FMAP loss. Will Brown now help Reid pass FMAP or continue to support GOP filibuster?
Saturday's Boston Globe front page carried a lengthy story essentially reporting that Senator Scott Brown's "alternative unemployment and FMAP bill" has attracted little to no support in the nation's Capitol.
Last month, in response to thousands of emails, letters and phone calls to his office, in addition to a renewed Vigil to Save the Safety Net in his Boston Office that brought dozens of people with disabilities to his office, Brown responded by offering what he called a bi-partisan bill to bridge the gap between Democrats and Republicans and bring needed dollars to the Commonwealth. Brown proposed reviving a GOP proposal to use unspent, but previously allocated stimulus dollars to fund a nearly $35 million unemployment benefits and FMAP proposal.
However, the Globe reports that not only did the bill fail to attract support from Democrats, it also was largely ignored by Brown's Republican colleagues.
With Brown's proposal sidelined, the next question on advocates minds is whether the Senator will now finally make a bi-partisan gesture and withdraw his support from the FMAP filibuster and allow the state to receive over $500 million in enhanced Medicaid assistance from the proposal supported by a majority of the U.S. Senate.
According to Washington, D.C. media reports, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Senator Brown and his colleagues will get one more final chance to address the issue of FMAP sometime before the onset of the August Congressional recess beginning on August 6th.
For citizens of the Commonwealth struggling to survive in the Great Recession, many dependent upon social service programs and many eager to work but frustrated by the economic wreckage of the last national Administration, we can only hope that the next vote on FMAP and unemployment assistance will be successful.
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Forum on Discrimination in Employment, Housing, and Public Places
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Spreading Education to End Discrimination
Please join us for a forum presented by
Mass. Commission Against Discrimination (MCAD)
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
6:00PM - 7:30PM
Medford City Hall
Howard Alden Council Chambers
Discrimination in;
Employment, Housing, & Public Places
Please RSVP to 781-393-2501 or dmcleod@medford.org by July 22, 2010 for attendance, accommodations, and linguistic translators
Sponsored by the Office of Human Diversity & Compliance, the Commission for Persons with Disabilities, & the Medford Human Rights Commission
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UMass Medical School Survey
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As leaders or people involved in the field of developmental disabilities, the UMass Medical School/E.K. Shriver Center would appreciate your help in identifying specific areas of focus for our Maternal Child Health-funded Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental Disabilities (LEND) program.
We are currently planning for the renewal of our next 5-year application, and are engaging in an overall strategic planning effort. This survey is an important part of that process.
We apologize if you have received duplicates of this email - we are trying to capture as many people as we can and are reaching out across the country.
We have two LEND training programs:
o The Leadership Fellowship program trains clinicians and qualified family members of persons with disability to become policy and organization leaders in meeting the needs of people with developmental disabilities and their families. Fellows may also earn a management degree in public administration via Suffolk University School of Public Management.
o The Leadership in Clinical Care program trains pre-service clinicians from a wide range of clinical disciplines to provide exemplary interdisciplinary services to children with developmental disabilities and their families. We train masters, doctoral, and post-doctoral clinicians to be clinical leaders in the field.
We are interested in your feedback about the content that you deem most important to include in each of these programs. The survey will take approximately 10 minutes to complete. Please click on the link below to complete the survey.
Please note your participation in this survey is anonymous; we will not be able to discern your identity from your answers.
SURVEY LINK: www.surveymonkey.com/s/ShriverLENDSurvey
We appreciate your participation in this survey. If you wish to receive survey results or have any questions, please contact Carol Curtin, LEND Associate Director/Training Director whose contact information is listed below.
Many thanks!
Sincerely yours,
Carol Curtin
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Carol Curtin, MSW
Associate Director, LEND Program
UMMS-E.K. Shriver Center LEND Program
UMass Medical School
200 Trapelo Road
Waltham, MA 02452
carol.curtin@umassmed.edu
Ph. 781.642.0256
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