Emily Keller-O'Donnell, Journalist

Celebrating the Americans with Disabilities Act

   

    Disability rights activist Elaine Kolb (pictured) and about 30 other people celebrated the 19th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act yesterday with music, poetry and speeches in Central Park. 

    The landmark legislation prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities in transportation as well as employment, access to government, commercial or public facilities, and telecommunications. It was signed into law on July 26, 1990.

    Published on Transportation Access.

    Read the story and view photos.

Paratransit Eligibility Assessments Required at More Transit Agencies

    The nation’s transit agencies are increasing their oversight of people with disabilities who apply for federally mandated transportation service.

     Applicants to the paratransit program are more likely to undergo functional assessments and in-person interviews than in years past, when registration was often completed by mail with a doctor’s note. Assessments were traditionally used for people whose need for the shared ride service was difficult to prove by mail. Now many cities are requiring all applicants to apply in person, following the lead of Pittsburgh, which has used assessments since the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 took effect. Since 2001, in-person assessments also became mandatory in New York City, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, St. Louis, Chicago and Washington D.C.

    Published on Transportation Access. Read the story.

National Study Examines Paratransit Eligibility Testing

    A national research institute in Tampa, Florida spent more than $100,000 to study the human impacts of paratransit eligibility testing without interviewing any customers.

    Two senior researchers for the National Center for Transit Research examined industry data and spoke with 39 transit agencies through written surveys, ten phone interviews and one in-person conversation for the study, "Impacts of More Rigorous ADA Paratransit Eligibility Assessments on Riders with Disabilities." The researchers, Jay Goodwill and Deborah Sapper, did not interview paratransit applicants or customers or include transit riders groups in the data analysis that spanned 18 months with funds from the Florida Department of Transportation.

    Published on Transportation Access. Read the story.

Street Named for Frieda Zames, Advocate for Accessibility

     A New York City street has been named for a disability rights advocate who fought for accessibility all the way up to the top of the Empire State Building.

    A green sign on the corner of 1st Avenue and East 4th Street in Manhattan now reads "Frieda Zames Way," named for a woman who used lawsuits, civil disobedience and writing to improve the accessibility of public transportation, sidewalk curb cuts, polling places and public buildings.

    Zames' three decades of advocacy also included pushing for access to the 88th floor observatory of New York's iconic Empire State Building, which is now accessible.

    Published on Transportation Access.  Read the story and view photos.

Utah Transit Authority May Raise Paratransit Fares

    Seniors and people with disabilities who use paratransit service in the Salt Lake City area may soon be charged a substantially higher fare than public transit riders.

    The Utah Transit Authority, which serves Salt Lake City, is holding public hearings this month about a proposal to raise fares for its paratransit service this summer from $2.50 or $2.75 to $4 per trip. That would be double the expected public transit fare of $2. According to the Salt Lake Tribune, the authority has 4,200 paratransit customers.

    Published on Transportation Access. Read the story.

One Case Against Wal-Mart

    On June 19, Cynthia Haddad and her husband, Bill, walked across Wendell Avenue from the Berkshire Superior Court to the public library in Pittsfield, Mass., to talk. There they waited as a jury in the Park Square courthouse deliberated over the lawsuit Haddad had filed against her former employer Wal-Mart Stores for gender discrimination and defamation. As they exited the library hand-in-hand, the sun shone, filling Haddad with an impending sense of closure. "It was the first day of the rest of our lives no matter what the verdict," says the 45-year-old mother of four. "My story was told and I did the fight. My life would go on after that."

Shortly thereafter, Haddad was in tears. The jury awarded her nearly $2 million in punitive and compensatory damages. "It vindicated me," says Haddad. "It started to bring life back into me. Someone listened."

    Published by Bloomberg (formerly BusinessWeek.com). Read the story.

Home Scammers Set to Repay Victims: Attorney General

    A mortgage fraud ring in Brooklyn agreed to pay $1.8 million in restitution to victims, according to an agreement with Attorney General Andrew Cuomo. This article was published in the New York Daily News. Click on the article to enlarge it.

Umoja Founder Visits Brooklyn

    Rebecca Lolosoli of Samburu, Kenya visited the Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture to talk about how she created a village for women raped by British soldiers and rejected by their families. The event was organized by the international women’s rights organization MADRE. Published in Courier-Life Publications. (Sorry - the link for this article is currently unavailable.)

 

 

Some Shut Down Shops In Solidarity With Immigrants

    Workers on Coney Island Avenue and Fifth Avenue in Sunset Park and celebrated International Workers’ Day by shutting down their stores in the middle of the afternoon. To show solidarity with recent immigrants who could be deported or detained if a pending House of Representatives bill becomes law, they joined hands to form human chains. Published in Courier-Life Publications. (Sorry - the link for this article is currently unavailable.)

Holocaust Survivor Publishes ‘Bitter’ Memories

    Jafa Wallach tells the story of how she survived the Holocaust in the book "Bitter Freedom: Memoirs of a Holocaust Survivor," nearly half a centry after she wrote it. Published in Courier-Life Publications. (Sorry - the link for this article is currently unavailable.)