A monthly report of advocacy & policymaking, research, leadership development, and knowledge translation by the Burton Blatt Institute (BBI) and its Projects in the focus areas of: Employment, Entrepreneurship, Economic Empowerment, Civil Rights, Community Participation, Publications, and Presentations.
BBI received notice from the Department of Education National Institute on Disability Research and Rehabilitation (NIDRR) about the award to BBI of a new 5-year research grant for $2.5 million to study effective rehabilitation technology practices in publicly funded employment and training programs and with small and large employers.
BBI developed amendments to the Small Business Act to increase support for current and future small business owners with disabilities and authorize 8A preferred status for business owned by people with disabilities to have equal status to federal procurement as other socially disadvantaged groups including women, veterans and other minorities. We met with the Senate Small Business Committee about the Amendments, as well as Senator Harkin’s staff who have now asked for more information.
BBI received a $35,000 grant from the Disabled American Veterans Charitable Service Trust to support the Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans program.
BBI met with White House representatives from the Domestic Policy Council, the National Economic Council and the Office of Public Liaison and presented a briefing paper on a seven-point plan that President Obama could adopt to improve employment and economic opportunities for persons with disabilities.
BBI organized a letter from 23 disability rights law professors to the Senate Judiciary Committee supporting the confirmation of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court. BBI also joined in a letter supporting Judge Sotomayor’s confirmation by numerous national disability organizations. In addition to being a person with a disability, herself (diabetes), Judge Sotomayor’s opinions on a variety of disability legal issues have demonstrated an excellent understanding of disability law concepts.
BBI submitted proposals for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to improve its assessment and enforcement of the fair housing obligations of funding recipients for people with disabilities and will meet with the HUD Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity to discuss proposals for regulatory changes to improve accessibility of federally funded housing.
Peter Blanck and María Verónica Reina attended the ceremony at the United Nations at which the U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations signed the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Eve Hill and María Verónica Reina attended the ceremony at the White House at which the President and Secretary of State announced the United States' intention to sign the Convention.
BBI signed onto several letters to Congress regarding aspects of health care reform bills:
BBI supported H.R. 1675 (Frank Melville Supportive Housing Investment Act of 2009) and its inclusion on the House Suspension calendar. This bill will increase the number of permanent supportive housing units for people with disabilities, which will help people with disabilities get out or stay out of institutions.
In response to advocacy by BBI and Syracuse University’s library, the American Library Association (ALA) passed two resolutions during ALA Annual Conference in July, strongly recommending that libraries offer websites that are accessible for users with disabilities and ensure that their technology vendors guarantee accessible products. Many libraries have not understood their responsibility and authority to insist on accessible technology from their vendors. As a result, some libraries have purchased or licensed electronic databases, e-books, and other resources that are not accessible to people with disabilities. Web accessibility initiatives ensure that online resources are available to all people, including, for example, those with visual impairments or learning disabilities who may use screen readers or other assistive software, people who need multimedia to be captioned or described, and people who use an alternative to a mouse input device. These resolutions build awareness among libraries about web accessibility laws and standards.
The Global Partnership on Disability and Development (GPDD) hosted a meeting of international , national, and local representatives to develop plans for a global alliance to make leading historic cities accessible.
The DBTAC: Southeast ADA Center developed a 2009 ADA Anniversary Toolkit, which was adopted by all the DBTACs to become the nationwide ADA Anniversary Toolkit at adaanniversary.org