People With Disabilities

Giving disabled an equal chance is not `inhumane'My husband is physically disabled. He recently obtained a job as a "sign walker" for a store that is going out of business.He is a conscientious worker and has chosen to work regardless of the weather conditions.On March 6, he went to work in the rain. The store received calls from people complaining about the "inhumane" way they were treating a man with a disability.I am sure these calls were made by well-meaning people. However, they put the store in a position where they may no longer be able to employ him.He has gained so much more from this job than a paycheck.

WHEN Tony Coelho first introduced the Americans with Disabilities Act in late 1986, the California Democrat expected a long and lonely fight, despite the influence he wielded as House majority whip.But he and his co-sponsor, Sen. Lowell P. Weicker, a Connecticut Republican, were soon joined by dozens of co-sponsors. The bill was signed into law in 1990, a fast pace indeed for a major piece of civil rights legislation.Popular supportMr. Coelho learned something heartening from that legislative initiative: The notion of guaranteeing rights for the disabled struck a chord with far more Americans than the 49 million people officially considered to be coping with a disability.

IN YOUR EDITORIAL "Lawmaking in an election year" (Jan. 11), I was disappointed that the Waiting List Initiative to provide about $30 million in critically needed funds for housing and services to people with disabilities was not discussed.For several years, Maryland has provided inadequate funding for these needs and has allowed the waiting lists to build up and become much more critical. At this point, only the disabled people whose parents die and who then become homeless have a chance at getting state financial assistance.

About the first week of May, if all goes well, 52-year-old Sheila Brashear of North Kansas City, Mo., will have trekked to the base camp on Mount Everest. On crutches.There, at 17,500 feet, Brashear will celebrate 32 years as a cancer survivor.She was just 20 when she lost a leg to bone cancer. Never comfortable with a prosthesis because of a high amputation, Brashear has walked on crutches ever since."I was very lucky. The odds were against me," said Brashear, about her cancer, a tumor on the upper thigh.

WASHINGTON -- President Clinton highlighted two new housing programs yesterday that will provide $822 million for low-income people who are elderly or disabled.In his weekly radio address, Clinton said the money would benefit 29,400 people in 48 states and the District of Columbia, Guam and Puerto Rico. Sparsely populated Montana and North Dakota are the only two states not slated to receive any of the money."For millions of struggling senior citizens and people with disabilities, the peace and security of a decent home is a distant dream and the threat of homelessness an ever-present nightmare," Clinton said, discussing the programs, which are included in the new budget for the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

After a car accident left him paralyzed from the waist down, truck driver Michael Holt thought he'd never work again. His chances looked slim -- more than half of Maryland's disabled residents are unemployed, their skills often underestimated.Hoping to change employers' attitudes -- bigger barriers, many times, than handicaps -- Gov. Parris N. Glendening and key legislators want to give tax breaks to businesses that hire the disabled.Today, during a ceremony at the Maryland Rehabilitation Center in Northeast Baltimore, Glendening is expected to highlight a proposal to offer credits of up to $1,200 a year for two years, or 20 percent of the first $6,000 in wages.

A Baltimore housing group that polices the federal Fair Housing Act has reached a $75,000 settlement with a Baltimore County developer accused in a lawsuit of failing to make its new condominiums accessible to disabled people.Martin A. Dyer, associate director of Baltimore Neighborhoods Inc., said the federal suit was filed last year on behalf of two disabled condo owners at Falls Gable Condominiums, inside the Baltimore Beltway near Old Pimlico Road and the Jones Falls Expressway.Dyer said one condo owner had no accessible pathway for wheelchairs to her apartment, as required by federal law. In another unit, he said, an owner who uses a walker could not fully use the bathroom because the door and shower stall are too small.

SAN DIEGO -- On eve of his nomination for president, Bob Dole returned yesterday to one of the earliest causes of his political career: fighting for the rights of the disabled.He watched a demonstration of dogs trained to help quadriplegics and paraplegics get around on their own. He also said he would not allow a weakening of the sweeping law requiring access for the disabled and used his own experience to demonstrate how far the disabled can rise if given the chance."I've always had the view that there is a lot of potential possessed by people with disabilities of all kinds," he told a gathering of disabled citizens at Balboa Park.

Students and teachers at Mount Airy Middle School found out a little of what it's like to be disabled -- and they did it by playing basketball.The game of wheelchair basketball was played yesterday as part of the school's Disability Awareness Week.Lois Dolan, a special needs teacher at the middle school, organized Disability Awareness Week to give mainstream students an idea of what life is like for disabled people. The awareness week coincides with the county's Special Olympics competition today at Westminster High School.

Julie Hope Dennis, 28, hopes a victory in the Ms. Wheelchair Maryland competition Sunday would give her the chance to make her life a testimonial for other handicapped people.Eleven years ago, a drug addict severely beat Ms. Dennis and left her for dead in a clump of woods near Harundale Mall. She was a Glen Burnie schoolgirl at the time, returning home after buying prom shoes. That attack put her in a wheelchair.Sunday's competition will be the third for Ms. Dennis, who will be joined by 11 other women at Florian Hall in Bowie.

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration is about to propose far-reaching new rules that would give people with disabilities greater access to tens of thousands of courtrooms, swimming pools, golf courses, stadiums, theaters, hotels and retail stores. The proposal would substantially update and rewrite federal standards for enforcement of the Americans With Disabilities Act, a landmark civil rights law passed with bipartisan support in 1990. The new rules would set more stringent requirements in many areas and address some issues for the first time, in an effort to meet the needs of an aging population and growing numbers of disabled war veterans.

Unemployment in Maryland is 3.9 percent, which is better than the nation's rate of 4.7 percent. But the unemployment picture for disabled residents in the state is dismal: 60 percent. Nearly 18 percent, or 850,000 residents, of the state's population are classified as disabled, according to the 2000 U.S. Census. The Maryland Department of Disabilities, which became a Cabinet-level agency in 2004, works to coordinate the policies of public and private agencies serving disabled residents, identifies and recommends ways to improve services and provides information and referrals.

Poll woes rob many of chance to vote For a little while on Election Day, it felt like Florida or Ohio in Baltimore ("Electronic system beset by problems," Sept. 13). After being turned away from the unopened polls in the morning, I was fortunate that I was able to return after work. But all day I thought about those who got discouraged, traveled too far to return or worked until after the polls closed. We will never know the consequences for the election results of the disenfranchisement of many potential voters - particularly among the poor, the first-time voters, African-Americans and the working people of Baltimore.

Local artists -- Howard County Center for the Arts is presenting its HoCo Open, a biennial nonjuried exhibit open on a first-come, first-served basis to adult artists who live, work or study in Howard County, in Gallery I. No Boundaries, a display of work by people with disabilities, is in Gallery II. The shows run through Aug. 18. Gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, and noon to 4 p.m. Sunday. 410-313-ARTS.

The state and lawyers for people with disabilities are expected to announce today a settlement in a lawsuit filed two years ago to address chronic problems with the state's transit service for disabled riders. The agreement was reached after significant improvements in that service, called Mobility and run by the Maryland Transit Administration. The service's on-time rate has increased from 77 percent to 90 percent, and customer complaints have been cut in half, according to state officials.

One of the nation's largest developers of apartment buildings agreed yesterday to spend an estimated $20 million to correct design and construction flaws in its complexes in 15 states, including Maryland, that made life more difficult for disabled residents. The plaintiffs - the Equal Rights Center, the American Association of People with Disabilities and the United Spinal Association - described the settlement of the federal housing discrimination lawsuit filed in Baltimore as the largest of its kind.

Howard County Executive James N. Robey presented six awards at yesterday's 10th Howard County Commission on Disability Issues breakfast to residents and local businesses for making a difference by inspiring or helping people with disabilities. Tim Daly, a Columbia resident with ataxia, a rare neuromuscular disease that limits mobility and coordination, was given the individual achievement award. Working with college engineering students, Daly tailored his scooter and mower so that he could mow his lawn.

City is working to find housing for the disabled The Housing Authority of Baltimore City (HABC) recognizes the problems associated with housing for the disabled in Baltimore ("For disabled, a long wait for homes," April 16). This administration has taken a number of steps to tackle long-standing problems and bring the agency into full compliance with federal disability laws and we are working hard to resolve issues mentioned in The Sun's article. Steps we have taken include: HABC has budgeted $25 million to renovate approximately 600 units for disabled residents in public housing and engaged architects to design modifications to units that will make them fully accessible, in accordance with federal standards.

Arthur A. Nierenberg, a disabled activist who spent his life tearing down barriers to employment, died of a heart attack Thursday at Sinai Hospital. He was 75. Mr. Nierenberg was a co-founder in 1952 of Abilities Inc. in Albertson, N.Y., which grew into a world-renowned work demonstration center that trained thousands of the seriously physically and mentally disabled for gainful employment in competitive industries. "He challenged everything. He expanded our sense of what was possible," said Daniel F. Goldstein, a Baltimore lawyer and longtime friend.

Rows of wheelchairs lined the rear of the overflowing function room at Inner Harbor Hyatt Regency, and the visually impaired tapped canes along crowded aisles. The temperature rose inside, along with passions of disabled voters, family members and advocates who wanted to know how Maryland's candidates for governor would address the housing, transportation, education and rehabilitation issues that touch their daily lives. Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend and Kendel Ehrlich, standing in for her husband, Rep. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., fielded question after detailed question yesterday at a Maryland Disabilities Forum that attracted an audience of more than 800. A woman asked who could figure out why her son came off his bus one day apparently beaten.