Lex Frieden, Chairperson
June 2006

The Bulletin, which is free of charge and at NCD’s award-winning Web site (www.ncd.gov), brings you the latest issues and news affecting people with disabilities. To subscribe to the new NCD listserv, go to http://listserv.access.gpo.gov, click on Online mailing list archives, select NCD-NEWS-L, click on Join or leave the list, then complete the short subscription form. Please send your editorial comments to Bulletin editor Mark S. Quigley (mquigley@ncd.gov).

ADA Town Hall Meeting 2006

NCD and its federal partners continue to plan for this year’s ADA interactive town hall meeting, which will celebrate the 16th anniversary of ADA. The meeting, which is officially known as “A National Dialogue on the State of Disability,” will be held July 26, 2006, from 9:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m., at the National Press Club, National Press Building, 529 14th Street, NW, 13th Floor, Washington, DC.

The agenda includes presentations by NCD Chairperson Lex Frieden on the current state of disability and a keynote address by Veterans Affairs Deputy Secretary Gordon Mansfield.

We will then move to the interactive portion of the town hall meeting, with three consecutive panels and an opportunity for audience members to question all the panelists. The Equality of Opportunity and Full Participation panel includes John H. Hager, Assistant Secretary, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, U.S. Department of Education; Loretta King, Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Civil Rights Division, U.S. Department of Justice; Sharon D. Eller, Director, Office of Civil Rights, U.S. Department of the Interior; Dan Sutherland, Officer for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, U.S. Department of Homeland Security; Gary Talbot, Member, U.S. Access Board; Thomas Chandler, Chief, Disability Rights Office, Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau, Federal Communications Commission; and Gina Semenza, Chair, NCD Youth Advisory Committee.

The Independent Living panel includes Olegario D. Cantos VII, Esq., Associate Director on Disabilities, Domestic Policy Council, The White House; Kim Kendrick, Assistant Secretary, Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development; Tyler Duvall, Assistant Secretary for Policy, U.S. Department of Transportation; Margaret J. Giannini, M.D., F.A.A.P., Director, Office on Disability, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; Bobby Coward, Member, NCD Cultural Diversity Advisory Committee and Betsy Valnes, Executive Director, National Youth Leadership Network.

The final panel, Economic Self-Sufficiency, consists of Cari M. Dominguez, Chair, U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission; W. Roy Grizzard, Jr., Ed.D., Assistant Secretary, Office of Disability Employment Policy, U.S. Department of Labor; Martin H. Gerry, Deputy Commissioner, Disability and Income Security Programs, Social Security Administration; Berthy De la Rosa-Aponte, Chair, Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Advisory Panel, Social Security Administration; Rebecca Hare, Project Coordinator, National Consortium on Leadership and Disability for Youth, Institute for Educational Leadership; and Djuna Parmley Mitchell, Consumer Legal Affairs, ENDependence Center of Northern Virginia, Inc.

This town hall meeting is open to the public and free of charge. Registration is not required.

Voluntary Voting System Guidelines

On June 23, NCD issued a statement on voluntary voting system guidelines.

Consistent with its legislative mandate as an independent federal agency, NCD provides advice to the President and Congress by making recommendations on how to enhance the quality of life for all Americans with disabilities and their families. In Inclusive Federal Election Reform (www.ncd.gov/newsroom/publications/2001/electionreform.htm), NCD made recommendations to Congress and the President on how to improve the accessibility of voting systems. This NCD statement shows alignment of those recommendations with the current efforts of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC), established under the Help America Vote Act of 2002, to establish guidelines for accessible voting systems. As more fully described below, NCD calls on the EAC to make voting systems more accessible to people with disabilities by requiring privacy protections for paper ballots, comprehensible audio for electronic voting machines, and paper ballots that are accessible to voters with poor vision.

The entire statement can be found at www.ncd.gov/newsroom/publications/2006/voluntary_voting.htm.

IDEA Update

On June 26, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that parents may not recover expert fees under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).

For more on IDEA, please see NCD’s June 13 letter to Congress at www.ncd.gov/newsroom/correspondence/2006/mckeon_06-13-06.htm.

NCD’s Executive Director Retires

On June 16, NCD announced the retirement of its long-standing executive director, Ethel D. Briggs, who served the agency for 21 years.

Ms. Briggs, a longtime disability advocate, retired on June 30, 2006, after more than 30 years of public service. Since joining the NCD staff in 1985, she has also served as deputy director and director of adult services. She is a former chief of the Office of Staff Development and Training of the Washington, D.C., Rehabilitation Services Administration.

In the words of NCD chairperson Lex Frieden, “Ethel Briggs has committed a substantial part of her life to NCD, serving the agency from its infancy, through the development and drafting of the Americans with Disabilities Act, to its enactment, and on to the present day. Through her loyalty and dedicated service, she has helped NCD improve the lives of millions of Americans with disabilities. We wish her well in her future endeavors.”

Ms. Briggs received her bachelor’s degree in psychology from North Carolina Central University and her graduate degree in counseling from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

Legislative Update

On June 13, 2006, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 5117. This legislation exempts people with disabilities from the prohibition against providing Section 8 rental assistance to college students. The bill was received for consideration in the U.S. Senate on June 14, 2006.

Quarterly Meeting

NCD’s next quarterly meeting will be held July 25, 2006, from 9:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m., at the Embassy Suites Hotel, 1300 Jefferson Davis Highway, Arlington, VA. This meeting will be open to the public and free of charge.

Note:

To subscribe to the NCD listserv, go to http://listserv.access.gpo.gov, click on Online mailing list archives, select NCD-NEWS-L, click on Join or leave the list, then complete the short subscription form. It’s easy and it’s free.

With your free subscription, you will receive critical information on issues affecting people with disabilities, including a monthly newsletter known as the NCD Bulletin, news releases, legislative updates, and other newsworthy items.

Thank you.

Mark S. Quigley

Director of Communications
National Council on Disability
1331 F Street, NW Suite 850
Washington, DC 20004