Thursday, August 27, 2009

Wildfires, Earthquakes, and Hurricanes, oh my...

Are people with disabilities ready for a disaster?

Listen to program. 29 min

We talk to Ana-Marie Jones and Tracy Baker of Collaborating Agencies Responding to Disaster (CARD) about how to prepare.

Karla Gilbride, of Disability Rights Advocates, a Berkeley legal non-profit, also talks about their suit against both Oakland and L.A. for their lack disability access in emergency planning. The suit changes Oakland with
* The failure to conduct adequate surveys of the accessibility of potential shelter sites, resulting in a list that contains many inaccessible shelters;
* The failure to revise the City’s Mass Care and Shelter Plan from the 1980s to address the needs of men, women, and children with disabilities;
* The failure to make arrangements to provide prescriptions, medical supplies and equipment, or accessible transportation to people with disabilities in an emergency.

On August 12, the National Council on Disabilities released a Report on Emergency Management sub-titled "Making Improvements for Communities and People with Disabilities." Here's some inclusive planning, except--oops -- they forgot prisons.

We can't ever forget that more and more people with disabilities, especially mental disabilities, are housed in prisons and jails. Many baby boomers live within the enormous U.S. prison-industrial complex and they aren't becoming more able-bodied as the months pass by.

Hosted by John Healy, with tips by Adrienne Lauby.

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Settling for Defeat?

Listen to the show
28 minutes

UPDATE: 9-23-09

Has a private attorney (with t
he cooperation of just three people with disabilities) gone too far in concocting an unusual class action settlement agreement affecting fourteen cities in Contra Costa? The proposed settlement allots five percent of a city’s gas tax on the condition that people with disabilities be prohibited from taking legal action having to do with pedestrian access--for the next 30 years.

Disability access specialist Richard Skaff and attorney Terry Kilpatrick discuss this controversy with hosts Adrienne Lauby and Eddie Ytuarte.


The 14 cities are Antioch, Brentwood, Concord, Danville, El Cerrito, Martinez, Moraga, Orinda, Pinole, Pittsburg, Pleasant Hill, Richmond, San Pablo, and Walnut Creek


If you to object to the proposed class-action settlement, do something about it. Please be aware that all objections must be in writing and postmarked no later than September 8, 2009. You can either object in writing or you can write to the attorneys and the court to let them know that you plan to appear at the Superior Court hearing in Martinez at 9 a.m on September 22, 2009. You can also go to the hearing and hope to be allowed to speak. Either way, please write and get your objections on file by September 8th. A copy of your objection must be sent to each of the following people:


1. Morse Mehrban, Esq.
Law Offices of Morse Mehrban
12100 Wilshire Blvd., 8th Floor
Los Angeles, CA 90005-1206
(Attorney for Plaintiffs)



2. Eugene B. Elliot
Bertrand, Fox & Elliot
The Waterfront Building
2749 Hyde Street
San Francisco, CA 94109
(Attorney for Defendants)



3. Honorable David B. Flinn, Dep. 6
Contra Costa County Superior Court
725 Court Street
Martinez, CA 94553
(Judge Assigned to the Case)

Thursday, August 6, 2009

Smoke and Vaporizers --


Medical Marijuana and Disability

The fascinating intersection between disability and medical marijuana.


Guests:
Bill Fold aka the man who replaced his anti-depressant, Wellbutrin, with medical marijuana.
photo: cannabisculture.com
Steve Howdyshell, a gulf war vet who lives
with the multiple side effects of war.


Lisa Gygax, an attorney living with a disability,
who represents The Organic Cannabis Foundation
of
Northern California, a collective of patients and their
primary caregivers, which runs the largest
medical marijuana
dispensary in the top half of the state.


Hosted by Shelley Berman and Adrienne Lauby.
Original air date: 8-7-09

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Correction-SSI Cuts

There is a reduction in SSI/SSP grants in this California Budget. On Friday's program we said that SSI had gotten a pass. However, starting October 1, 2009, SSI/SSP will cut $5-per-month from individuals and cut couples to the federal minimum. The maximum grant for an individual will drop from $850 to $845, and the maximum grant for couples will drop from $1,489 to $1,407. This is especially traumatic for many couples.

In addition, the Democrats also agreed to put our Cost Of Living Allowances (COLA) into the pot that requires a 2/3rd majority vote. Will we ever get a yearly 5-15 buck raise again? Stay
tuned....

Thanks to the listener who first brought this to our attention.