Disability Day 2012 Earns Great Media Coverage
The 14th Annual Disability Day on February 16, 2012 was a great success despite the rainy weather. Several news channels and reporters from throughout Georgia traveled to the Capitol to cover the annual rally on the Capitol steps. The following are several media coverage articles that feature Disability Day 2012.
- Print: Gainesville Times: http://www.gainesvilletimes.com/archives/63434/ (This link is no longer active.)
GOVERNOR OFFERS COMPROMISE ON DISABILITY SERVICES
Flowery Branch students introduced Deal
By Ashley Fielding
ATLANTA — Addressing a crowd that largely stood in opposition of one of his proposals to reorganize disability services in the state, Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal offered a compromise Thursday.
Deal, the keynote speaker at the Georgia Council for Developmental Disabilities' annual "Disability Day," announced plans to change controversial House Bill 831.
The bill seeks to move the Division of Rehabilitation Services from the Department of Labor to the Department of Human Services.
As Deal stood on the Capitol steps in its defense Thursday, facing him were at least a hundred people who had come to advocate for their cause, and many were wearing pins showing their distaste for the proposal.
Facing them, Deal announced a slight change in plans that would make what is commonly called Vocational Rehab an independent program.
While Deal still supports the move to the Department of Human Services, he told the crowd that, if the proposal passes, the Vocational Rehabilitation program will operate much the same as the Environmental Protection Division operates under the state's Department of Natural Resources.
The move will make Vocational Rehab a stand-alone program, which Deal said would "better serve tens of thousands of Georgians" and help the program reach its potential.
"This move will give new priority to this work," said Deal.
"We can't settle for the status quo, and making Vocational Rehab a stand-alone program is a big step in the right direction," said Deal. "This new structure will put the decision-making power in the hands of experts who understand vocational rehabilitation."
The governor said the move from the Department of Labor to the Department of Human Services will make the agency more accountable to the public and ensure that the state is using money efficiently and "taking advantage of all outside assistance" for vocational rehabilitation programs.
"This is big government getting out of the way, allowing direct management by those who are closest to the work," Deal said.
He said the change would result in more jobs for adults with disabilities. He promised that the new oversight wouldn't mean budget cuts or disrupted services.
There were a few cheers, but there were boos, too.
Scott Crain, a parent mentor for Hall County's special education program, said it was a good move.
"I think them being a stand-alone agency will allow them a little more flexibility to do the kinds of work that we would like to see them doing in the community as far as disability is concerned," said Crain.
Eric Jacobson, executive director of the Georgia Council on Developmental Disabilities, said it would help people with disabilities get to work faster.
"The way it was going before, people often went home after high school and didn't get a job or they went into a sheltered-workshop type of setting ..." said Jacobson.
The idea for the agency change, Jacobson said, is to combine the support system that people with disabilities need to go to work with the actual opportunity to work.
But behind them was Betsy Grenevitch, a blind woman from Social Circle, who yelled "no" when Deal brought up the proposal. She stood on the Capitol steps holding a sign showing her opposition to the proposal.
She and others who said they opposed the bill said that people with disabilities should be able to seek employment through the Department of Labor just like anyone else."If you look at the mission of the Department of Human Services versus the Department of Labor, the Department of Labor's mission is to get you employed," said Grenevitch. "Department of Human Services is more of an agency that hands things out to you."
She expressed fears that the agency would lose access to some $8.2 million in federal money due to the move.
House Bill 831 is being carried in the house by Rep. Doug Collins, R-Gainesville, and Elberton Republican Tom McCall, who both have had children with disabilities.
Collins said he was disappointed by the concern around the bill. He said he thinks much of it is due to the spread of misinformation about the bill's intent. Collins said the move won't cause Vocational Rehab to lose money.
Instead, he said, it might ensure that none is left on the table. Collins said the state could have accessed about $1 million for vocational rehabilitation services last year that it didn't.
"We're putting it in a position that it can actually thrive, do better," said Collins.
Thursday's rally at the Capitol was touted as the biggest ever in 14 years of lobbying for people with disabilities.
Some 2,500 people were expected to attend. Among them were between 200 and 300 students from Hall County school system's Partnerships for Success program, which seeks to build relationships between students who have disabilities and those who do not.
Three students from Flowery Branch High School introduced Deal before he made his announcement.
- Print: The Republic: http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/900bcf5b33d146d9b9af73bb3a520eb6/GA--Disability-Day-Georgia/ (Link is no longer active)
- Online: Macon.com: http://www.macon.com/2012/02/16/1908395/about-2k-hold-disability-day-rally.html (Link is no longer active)
- Blog Post: http://disabilitiesnews.blogspot.com/2012/02/2000-rally-in-atlanta-to-protest-cuts.html
Thursday, February 16, 2012
2,000 Rally in Atlanta to Protest Cuts
ATLANTA, Ga. -- About 2,000 people rallied in front of the State Capitol Thursday to call on the state to increase the amount of money it spends on the disabled. Advocates used the annual gathering to talk to the disabled and to lawmakers.
"We just want the community to know that we're paying attention to what the issues are that they're faced with," said Georgia Council on Developmental Disabilities deputy director Patricia Nobbie. "We want legislators to know that there's a community out there that's active and paying attention to what they're doing up here at the Capitol."
- Blog post: http://disabilitylink.wordpress.com/2012/02/16/disability-day-at-the-capitol/
Disability Day at the Capitol
Posted on February 16, 2012
Today’s Disability Day was a pretty awesome event. The morning kicked off with getting to meet people from all over the state who came in to be heard and support disability rights. This was my second year attending the event and it certainly won’t be my last. Getting together with the disability community leaves me with a sense of empowerment. Seeing people with physical, sensory, developmental and various other disabilities coming together is fantastic. Oftentimes people with disabilities can be segregated, either in institutions, or in our own communities. The blind community, of which I am a part, can sometimes feel a bit separate.
This event, much like disABILITY LINK, is cross disability. We all come together to tackle the issues that we have in common: unacceptably long waiting lists, the need for home and community based services, transportation, employment, and many others. We may not share a common disability, but we all share a common struggle. We are an underserved and under appreciated segment of society. As Mark Periello stated, we are the only group in America forced to leave out the back door and this is seen as acceptable. We need to come together more often to achieve our goals. With an election year coming up we especially need to come together as an organized to let our elected (or those that hope to be elected) officials know what issues are important to us.
At disABILITY LINK we are organizing an effort to get people with disabilities educated about their elected officials and those that will be on the ballot. We want them to have information about important issues so they can decide who they want to represent them. Our advocacy theme for the year is “Nothing About Us Without Us!” Being locked away from society, being forced to take menial jobs with subminimum wages, these are not things that we chose, these were decisions that were made for us not by us.
Participating in Disability Day reminds me of how unique our community is and how far we have come as well as how far we need to go. Hopefully, we can come together, be heard and enact some change for the better of our community.
- Online: CBS Atlanta: http://www.cbsatlanta.com/story/16950084/14th-annual (This link is no longer active.)
14th Annual Disability Day held at Capitol
Posted: Feb 16, 2012 9:34 AM EST Updated: Mar 16, 2012 9:16 AM EDT
By Mandi Milligan - email
ATLANTA (CBS ATLANTA) - The 14th Annual Disability Day is being held a the Georgia State Capitol on Thursday.
The day emphasizes the statewide need for community-based services and vital supports for people with developmental disabilities.
"My Life is FOR REAL!" is the theme for this year's rally in which 2,500 people are expected to be in attendance.
Pre-registered guests include about 650 young people, including a group of 300 high school and middle school students from Hall County. Youth will have a variety of roles including staffing exhibits at the Georgia Freight Depot, gathering signatures in support of people with disabilities, and even introducing the Governor for his Rally keynote address.
The rally will take place at 11 a.m., with other events scheduled before and after the rally.
- Online: The Ledger-Enquirer.com: http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/2012/02/16/1936135/about-2k-hold-disability-day-rally.html (Link is no longer active)
- Radio: WABE FM radio (NPR) by Charles Edwards: http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wabe/news.newsmain/article/1/0/1905319/Atlanta./A.rally.for.the.disabled (Link is no longer active)
- TV: Channel 46-CBS by Christopher King: http://www.cbsatlanta.com/story/16954805/people-with-disabilities-call-on-state-to-do-more
People with disabilities call on state to do more
Posted: Feb 16, 2012 5:54 PM EST Updated: Mar 15, 2012 5:55 PM EDT
By Christopher King - email
ATLANTA (CBS ATLANTA) - Hundreds of people with disabilities rallied outside the state Capitol on Thursday morning.
The Georgia Council on Developmental Disabilities flooded the Capitol steps and called on the lawmakers to pass policies to make transportation more accessible for people with disabilities, to pump more money into programs for their care as well as crack down on job and housing discrimination during the 14th annual Disability Day.
Valerie Suber is the public information director for the council. For Suber the issue is more than just professional. It's personal. Suber is visually impaired.
"We are sharing the message that people with disabilities can work. They have dreams and aspirations and gifts and talents," Suber said.
Shelly Simmons said people with disabilities deal with challenges most people never consider. "It's always a struggle, especially trying to find a place to live," Simmons said.
Simmons lives with muscular dystrophy and is confined to a wheelchair. She needed a home health aid to help get dressed to come to the rally. Simmons said one of her biggest challenges, however, is finding an affordable place to live that can accommodate her needs. "Just trying to find accessible housing, not just to be able to get into a home, but to be able to get around, wide enough doorways, accessible bathrooms," Simmons said.
Ralliers said they want lawmakers to know they will not be overlooked.
"They want to work, they want to live, worship and play all over the state. We want access, we want inclusion and we want our rights," Suber said.
