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Greetings!
There is a lot of good news that affects people with
disabilities this month! Read about
the Paralympian rower, Angela Madsden, who will
skipper an eight person crew in a race across the
Indiana Ocean. Also, check out our new Special
Assistant to the President for Disability Policy, Kareem
Dale. Need a little help on the job? Here is a great
source for work place accomodations for people with
disabilities. And, finally, Read about the UN treaty on
the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. We look to
President Obama to move ahead with this important
world-wide effort.
Read on,
and as always, if you have a
need or a question, we are
here for you!
| Kareem Dale to Serve as Special Assistant to the President for Disability Policy |
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Vice President Joe Biden says that President Barack
Obama is committed to programs designed to
improve the livelihood of Americans with disabilities
and special needs. To demonstrate his point, Biden
announced that Kareem Dale (center), a former
member of Obama's campaign in charge of
coordinating the vote of disabled Americans, has
been named the special assistant to the president for
disabilities policy. Biden made the announcement to a
small group of Special Olympics athletes, volunteers
and coordinators. The nation needs policy changes
that will ensure Americans with disabilities can get
and keep fulfilling jobs without worrying about losing
government-funded health insurance or other
assistance, Biden said.
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| L1 SCI Paralympian rower prepares to skipper Indian Ocean rowing race |
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Angela Madsen, a rower living with SCI, has already
completed a row across the Atlantic, and is preparing
to embark on her next rowing mission across the
Indian
Ocean. Madsen and her crew will begin their journey
on April 19 from Port Geraldton in West Australia and
continue on to Mauritius, an island east of
Madagascar. Madsen, a
paraplegic who has successfully rowed across the
Atlantic, will skipper an eight person crew in effort to
break a speed record among others record-breaking
efforts. For more information on this row, click
here.
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| Making workplace accommodations: Reasonable costs, big benefits |
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The Job Accommodation Network facilitates the
employment and retention of workers with disabilities
by providing employers, people with disabilities, and
other interested
parties with information on job accommodations, self-
employment, small business opportunities, and other
related subjects. The network represents the most
comprehensive resource
for job accommodations available. And the
information works. Seventy-five percent of employers
who implemented accommodations said that the
accommodations they implemented were
either "very effective" or "extremely effective." Clearly,
employers find that the benefits of making
accommodations in the workplace far outweigh the
costs. For little or no
cost, employers can meet the needs of people with
disabilities while enjoying benefits that extend to
coworkers and to the company as a whole.
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| For All Your Mobility Needs, Call Monroe Wheelchair! |
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You can depend on all of us at Monroe Wheelchair for
the latest
technology in medical equipment and the highest
quality healthcare.
Our staff has a combined 300 years of experience in
the medical equipment industry and Monroe's on-site
owner, Doug Westerdahl, continually monitors and
works together with his staff to improve customer
service.
Call us at 1-888-546-8595
today!
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Obama urged to sign Disability Convention |
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89 Countries have signed, but not U.S.
Eighty-nine nations
have signed the historic U.N. Convention
on the Rights of Persons with
Disabilities and Jamaica has
already ratified it. But the United States
has not yet added its name to the treaty.
Last year, an email response from the U.S.
State Department to a request for an explanation
from several disability organizations
said, "Early in the negotiations for
the Convention, the U.S. delegation
stated that given the complexity of regulations
and enforcement mechanisms
needed to ensure equal opportunity for
those with disabilities, it would be more
productive for nations to pursue reforms
at home rather than negotiate a new
United Nations convention."
In January, The American Association of People
with Disabilities launched an online
petition urging President Bush to sign the
treaty, saying "Let the
shameful wall of exclusion finally come
tumbling down.
"As a result of leadership with the ADA,
that wall has been crumbling, bit by bit,
and the landscape for people with disabilities
has experienced radical transformation
here in America.
Yet, for most of the more
than 650 million people with disabilities
worldwide, that wall is as strong as ever.
Eighty percent of the world's disabled live
in developing countries, many in destitute
circumstances, and they demand the liberation
of a transformative law that can point
the way toward true equality and full participation
in society."
President Bush left office without signing the U.N.
Disability Convention. It now falls to President Obama
to sign the treaty and put its tenants to work in the
U.S.
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