Your checklist of the good, the bad and the to-do
Story by April Reed
Victories:
- SB 1296: Government Communications; Emergency Response Interpreting
Auxiliary aides and services must now be provided in emergency communications to ensure people with communication disabilities have equal access to real-time emergency response.
- SB 1162: Silver Alert Notification; Developmental Disability
The preexisting, statewide silver alert system may now be issued by police for a missing person with a developmental disability if they have disappeared under suspicious circumstances and may be in danger.
- SB 1198: Blind Persons’ Rights; Adoption; Custody
Prohibits the court and the Department of Child Safety (DCS) to discriminate against a parent with blindness on the sole basis of their blindness in cases regarding custody, adoption, guardianship, and fostering a child.
Setback:
- SB 1040: Service Animals; Misrepresentation
May impose a civil penalty of $250 to a person misrepresenting an animal as a service animal.
Advocates argued that the public is frustrated about pets, not service animals, and businesses already have the right to exclude pets. This law disproportionately and negatively affects people with disabilities and could lead to people with being questioned on their use of a service animal or defending their use in court.
What’s on My Summer To- Do List?
I hope you’ll spend the summer enjoying a vacation with family or sitting by the pool with friends. But just because the AZ legislative session is over doesn’t mean we don’t have work to do.
My Summer To-Do List for Advocates:
- Register to vote–
“Vote as if your life depended it on it, because it does”-Justin Dart, Advocate and Father of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Represent the disability perspective and say what programs and services matter to you. Remind family and friends to register, too.
Register to Vote at Service Arizona EZ Voter Registration serviceaz.com
Register by July 30th, 2018 for the Primary Elections August 28th, 2018
Register by October 9th, 2018 for the General Election November 6th, 2018
Have questions about mail-in-ballots, voting rights restoration, or finding your polling place? Visit azsos.gov/elections to learn more.
- Celebrate–
Join us on Thursday, July 26th from 11am-2pm to celebrate the 28th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA): “This Day Belongs to Us!” Presentations include what is the ADA, how to use it, and importantly, how do we protect the ADA right now.
Register at 2018adacelebration.eventbrite.com or call David Carey at 602-443-0723.
- Contact your Legislators
The Disability Integration Act (S 910 / HR 2472) would ensure that seniors and people with disabilities are able to receive home and community-based services opposed to institutionalization.
Contact your Congressional Representatives and ask them to Cosponsor DIA
The ADA Education and Reform Act of 2017 (HR 620) would require a person with a disability to send a written notice to a business when they encounter an access barrier. This bill undermines the power of the Americans with Disabilities Act. No other civil rights group is forced to wait to enforce their civil rights.
HR 620 already passed the House, we don’t want an ADA Notification bill introduced in the Senate. Contact Senator McCain and Senator Flake and ask them to add their voice to this fight.
- Find your Congressional Representatives contactingcongress.org
April Reed
Vice President of Advocacy, Ability360