Hi Carl,
I'd like to encourage you and all members of this list to give disability
coalitions a chance. I am a founding member of the Disability Policy
Consortium, (DPC) here in massachusetts. The DPC has been a powerful voice
in creating and changing disability policy here in Mass. AS with any other
coalition, things are not always perfect, but I believe that by banding
together, we have achieved things we could not have achieved separately. I
will always remember how state officials reacted to us when we began shaking
things up in the mid-1990's. They were dumbfounded that blind folks like me
were asking them tough questions about PcA services. Same thing happened
when deaf folks advocated for the availability of all state produced
documents related to service delivery in accessible formats for blind and
visually impaired persons. Instead of fighting over a few crumbs, we were
banding together for the benefit of all. Obviously, there wer times when our
various constituencies were not in complete agreement, but we made a
conscious decition to downplay those disagreemens and seek common ground.
Over the years, DPC victories included:
1. vastly improved accessibility of one of the oldest state houses in the
nation;
2. Increased funding for VR services at the Commission for the blind focused
on technology;
3. Increased fudning for independent living centers;
4. Increased funding for ASL interpreters;
5. Improved accessibility of state government web sites;
6. a continuation of categorical services for the deaf and flind;
7. The creation of the Deaf-Blind Community Access Network which provides
one-on-one services which allow the deaf-blind to go shopping, attend
parties and socialize, manage households with a greater level of
independence, etc.
Bob Hachey
