National Council on Disability
International Watch Federal Advisory Committee
Meeting Minutes
November 3, 2005

Roll Call

Welcome

Present:
Kathleen Martinez
Joan Durocher
Jeff Rosen
Pamela O’Leary
Felicia Rovegno
Susan Sygall
Rebecca Russo for Arlene Kanter
Tina Minkowitz
Mark Engman
Katherine Guernsey
Christopher Tester
Tina Singleton
Judy Heumann
Judi Chamberlain
Anita Keller
Yerker Andersson
Maria Reina
Sylvia Caras
Cara Halbraith
Cindy Lewis
Catherine Henry

National Council on Disability Meeting with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)

Joan Durocher reported that Ms. Durocher and Mr. Rosen met with Lloyd Feinberg and Rob Horvath from USAID to discuss how USAID is implementing its 1997 disability policy and recent directives. Mr. Feinberg’s response was that USAID is using a three-pronged approach. The first prong is strengthening internal policy and practice at USAID, such as hiring more staff who have disabilities. The second is strengthening the capacity of disability organizations, such as USAID’s contract with Mobility International. The final prong is providing broad-based training to their missions on inclusiveness (i.e., their online training module).

Ms. Durocher also reported that they discussed the $2.5 million appropriation Congress gave to USAID to help build capacity. USAID indicated that they are looking to partner big organizations with small organizations so that there will be a role for U.S. disability organizations in the process. Ms. Heumann asked whether there has been any discussion about how the staff in the country offices could be reaching out into the disability community to learn about the needs of people with disabilities. Mr. Rosen responded that in NCD’s meeting with USAID, NCD asked what resources AID has at its disposal to monitor implementation of its disability policy but received no response. Mr. Rosen suggested that part of the problem with USAID is that it lacks the resources to implement their disability policy. Mr. Rosen stated that NCD’s annual progress report will continue to report on the State Department’s and USAID’s progress in this area.

Ms. Keller, who is from the Vietnam Veterans Foundation, asked when USAID plans to start including the new disability language in their grants and cooperative agreements. She indicated that she has not seen any of the new language in current RFPs and RFAs.

Ms. Durocher responded that the appropriate language is in some of USAID’s RFAs and RFPs, but it has not yet made it into all of them. Ms. Durocher stated that USAID indicated that they would like the disability community’s input on how best to monitor whether RFPs and RFAs contain the appropriate language.

Ms. Keller asked whether the money that has been appropriated for AID to build capacity is being drawn away from other programs, for example, the Leahy War Victims Fund.

Ms. Heumann responded that it is her understanding that these are separate appropriations and therefore, would not take any funding from the Leahy War Victims Fund.

Ms. Sygall mentioned that it will be interesting to see what impact the new online training course has on AID’s missions.

Ms. Chamberlain stated it will be important to remember as we continue to meet with USAID and the State Department to emphasize that disability does not just mean mobility impairments, but people with intellectual disabilities as well.

Overview of National Council on Disability/American University/Mental Disability Rights International Monitoring Symposium

Ms. Guernsey reported on a symposium that was hosted by NCD, AU, and MDRI at American University during the week of October 24th. The purpose of the symposium was to discuss the potential monitoring mechanisms for the disability treaty that is currently being negotiated at the United Nations. Besides having non-governmental and governmental organizations from the disability community and from human rights groups, other governmental groups present at the symposium included representatives from the Mexican government; the World Bank, the arms control arena; and the environmental arena, which allowed for an excellent cross disciplinary educational discussion. According to Ms. Guernsey, a report is in the process of being drafted that will first be circulated amongst those that attended the meeting to ensure that all the ideas are expressed succinctly. Once the draft is approved, the report will be made available via emails and to the ad hoc committee negotiating the international treaty.

Update on Tsunami Reconstruction

Ms. Reina reported that the Center for International Rehabilitation (CIR) released a report in August of this year based on a questionnaire about how first response and relief activities post-tsunami included people with disabilities. One of the reasons for looking into the relief efforts of the tsunami disaster was because that relief effort was so well funded that the excuse of lack of resources could not be used to explain why people with disabilities were ignored.

Ms. Reina asked Catherine Henry, who was Director of the tsunami report to explain further. Ms. Henry stated that CIR found that people with disabilities were not included in relief activities despite the availability of resources and funding. A common finding discovered through organized and coordinated meetings was that a lack of expertise and lack of awareness were the main reasons for the exclusion of relief plans for people with disabilities. A recommendation that stems from this report is the need to change the lack of accessible shelters offered to people with disabilities in disasters, such as the tsunami. In addition, people with apparent disabilities were not able to be accounted for in the shelters; the reason is unknown, although speculation was there weren’t very many people with disabilities because of the high fatality rate in the disability population.

Announcements

The next Ad Hoc Committee Meeting will start January 16, 2006 and be three weeks long.

Adjournment

The meeting adjourned at 1:11 PM.