Partnering with Your Child's School: A Guide for Parents

The HSC Foundation, in partnership with George Washington
University's Graduate School of Education and Human Development,
offers a new resource for parents. The booklet available online
and in hard copy in English and in Spanish, is designed to help
parents of children who have been diagnosed with health or mental
health care needs to learn about available resources and to
develop a partnership with their children's schools. The booklet's
content has been reviewed and validated by groups of parents,
youth, and educators and is produced in partnership with the
Council for Exceptional Children and the National Association of
State Directors of Special Education.

For more information, go to:
http://www.hscfoundation.org/whatwedo/familysupports.php

Hapy Columbus Day!

Today is a Federal holiday-- with selected state, local offices and schools closed. You may want to debate the contributions of Christopher Columbus:

- he was trying to find a route to China, and thought he got to India
- modern history states didn't prove the world was flat-- that was the current thinking of the time
- he spread small pox to Native American tribes
- he owned slaves
- he died broke.

He did:

- expanded trade and the influence of Christianity
- made Europe aware there was another continent
- exported foods of the Americans (hot peppers, tomatoes) around the world.

Enjoy your day!

The 911 Modernization & Public Safety Act of 2007

This is important legislation, so that people who are deaf or hard of hearing can use IM and online technology to get 9-1-1 information. Let your Congressman know about this, and that they need to support it!
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Emergency Issues: Disability Coalition supports H.R. 3403, The 911
Modernization and Public Safety Act of 2007

The Coalition of Organizations for Accessible Technology (COAT),
comprising over 120 national and local disability groups, sent a
letter of support to the Congressional sponsors of H.R. 3403, "The
911 Modernization and Public Safety Act of 2007." This
legislation, if enacted, will help ensure that people with
disabilities have equal access to 9-1-1 emergency public safety
answering points ("911 centers") as these centers start using
Internet technologies. For instance, barriers must be identified
and solutions implemented for devices and services that connect to
911 centers when using Internet Protocol (IP). The bill would
require also that telecommunications relay service providers must
be involved in the development of the new national 9-1-1 plan and
must have the same protections from liability and
nondiscriminatory access to 9-1-1 centers that currently protect
wireline and wireless telephone carriers.

The Disability Coalition letter can be found on the AAPD website
at http://www.aapd.com/News/tech/070921coat.htm

Action Step: To show support for this effort, please send a letter
to your Congressperson urging them to vote for H.R. 3403 because
of these important disability provisions.

More on the COAT coalition at http://www.coataccess.org

SOURCE: AAPD
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Online Survey to Improve Employment Program for Persons with
Significant Disabilities

NISH is asking our community to participate in its online survey
to obtain feedback on the awareness and familiarity of, as well as
preference for the AbilityOne (formerly Javits-Wagner-O'Day)
Program within the disability community. NISH is a national,
nonprofit agency that provides employment opportunities for people
who are blind or have other severe disabilities by procuring
Federal contracts for goods and services.

NISH encourages you to respond to this brief survey that takes
less than 8-10 minutes, at:
www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=xZB5seGvfyekj1FXwNY1LA_3d_3d

The intent of the survey is to help NISH modernize the AbilityOne
program. In addition, NISH will use this feedback to help improve
customer service to the nearly 48,000 individuals with severe
disabilities working in the AbilityOne Program. An alternative
copy of the survey is also available in MS Word format; please
contact Rachel Kelly at (703) 584-3938 or rkelly@... for the
MS Word version of the survey.

NISH contact: Larissa Timmerberg, Director, Workforce Development
at (571) 226-4521 or ltimmerberg@...

Further information at NISH website at http://www.nish.org

SOURCE: AAPD

ADA Restoration Hearing Scheduled in House Judiciary Committee

ADA Restoration Hearing Scheduled in House Judiciary Committee

It's confirmed - the first hearing on ADA Restoration is scheduled
for NEXT THURSDAY, October 4 in the House Judiciary Committee.

If you're available, please plan on packing the room to show your
support! Alternately, the Committee's website indicates that there
will be a live webcast during the hearing into which you can
"tune" from wherever you are, if you're unable to come in person.

Here are the details from the House Judiciary Committee's website:

Thursday 10/04/2007
10:00 AM
2141 Rayburn House Office Building
Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil
Rights, and Civil Liberties
Hearing on H.R. 3195, the "ADA Restoration Act of 2007"

*Information about the webcast is also available on the House
Judiciary Committee website at:
http://judiciary.house.gov/schedule.aspx
(click on October 4).

To read more about ADA Restoration, visit the ADA Restoration blog
at: www.adarestoration.blogspot.com