National Council on Disability (NCD)
Quarterly Meeting
(Teleconference)
July 11, 2007

ATTENDANCE
John Vaughn, Chairperson
Pat Pound, First Vice Chairperson
Chad Colley
Graham Hill
Dr. Young Woo Kang
Kathy Martinez
Lisa Mattheiss
Lonnie Moore
Linda Wetters

STAFF
Michael Collins, Executive Director
Joan Durocher, Senior Attorney Advisor
Martin Gould, ED., Director of Research
Gerrie Hawkins, Ph.D., Senior Program Specialist
Mark S. Quigley, Director of Communications

GUESTS
Tom Brett
Terri Coleman, Office of Personnel Management (OPM)
Ken Lindbergh
Mitchell Rappaport, Center for People with Disabilities in Texas

Call to Order
The meeting was called to order by Chairperson John Vaughn at 1:00 p.m. eastern time.

Acceptance of the Agenda
Motion 1
Mr. Colley moved to accept the agenda as presented. Passed.

Chairperson’s Welcome
Mr. Vaughn welcomed Council Members, staff and members of the public to the teleconference. He stated that the purpose of this meeting was for Council Members and staff to discuss strategic planning and work on prioritizing our goals from now through 2009.                   

Strategic Planning
Ms. Wetters stated that project planning has been done as part of NCD project development. What we begin today on the agency’s FY ’09 budget we will continue and conclude at the Chicago quarterly meeting. She added that after the Council ranks its priority projects, staff will put costs to the projects based on whatever government processes are relevant. The Council then will place these projects into a proposed budget as resources allow.       

In general, the budgets of federal agencies are not increasing, while staff salaries and other fixed costs tend to be increasing. Recommendations of the Finance Committee in Chicago will be very important in terms of the final deliberations and number of activities we are able to complete.

Ms. Wetters explained the list that was provided to Members and staff and stated that if a project has not yet been started and if extra funds are available they could be used for a policy paper or for an unfilled vacancy, which means that a lot can transpire between now and the end of the fiscal year on September 30.

Ms. Wetters stated that the process that Members will be discussing today is a strategic process that is one part of the Council’s planning process. In addition there will be a discussion of the types of projects and activities the agency takes on. She stated that we need to take a look at personnel, housing, technology needs for staff, support of the Council and other kinds of strategic planning issues.

Ms. Wetters stated that the teleconference will focus on a list presented to Council Members, staff, and NCD committees. She stated that the plan is to discuss what transpires during this teleconference and take it to the Council’s Chicago quarterly meeting for further discussion. She added that some of the topics of discussion may no longer be priorities or we may have touched upon them in another way. It is a hard process because of the limited funds and it will require us to be direct and to compromise. During the second session in Chicago we will discuss the ranking of the projects that are identified.

Ms. Wetters gave a brief description of the projects that are underway at the Council. They are as follows:

• federal disability indicators-recommendations will come from the team that is looking at what federal agencies are being asked to do to make sure constituents are included in the national indicators used to measure performance and progress in federal programs.

Dr. Gould stated that the report is near completion and stated that he thinks progress has been made on trying to analyze which systems exist, not only in our federal government but in Canada and other places as well. The key phrase is quality of life indicators – what could really measure quality of life? There will be recommendations in the report (due to be released in the fall) that folks will have a chance to comment on. The team realized there were things outside the boundaries of the project that needed work.

• comprehensive employment review-the Council is releasing a major NCD employment report through Congress later this year (perhaps in August or September). The report has several recommendations that look at additional collaboration for employment programs, incentives and the establishment of an advisory council of employers at the federal level. There is a recommendation to conduct a follow-up project to look more closely at specific programs that target people with disabilities (for example the JWOD program).


• emergency preparedness-the Council has prepared an excellent report that illustrates best practices that include people with disabilities in disaster preparedness and recommends accommodations or activities that would keep people safe in the event of a disaster. This report will be a follow-up to look at what happened as a result of a lack of accessible mainstream shelters and whether those have been established or whether there is any support for them, the failure to involve people with disabilities in the planning processes at both the state and local levels and the status of efforts to educate people with disabilities on how they can best protect themselves against these kinds of disasters.

Ms. Pound clarified that the Council has received an additional $300,000 for homeland security work specifically for advising FEMA in various ways, mostly in an advisory role.

• veterans administration and people with disabilities-the primary focus is the outreach taking place between VA and other disability agencies, both public and private. There was a follow-up recommendation to look at veterans and the possibility of conducting a series of case studies.

Mr. Colley stated that if the Council were to attempt something in regard to veterans issues we need to keep in mind it is such a large issue that we need to be very specific about what it is we think we can accomplish because of the Council’s limited budget and resources. There are efforts being put forth by other entities and we don’t want to reinvent the wheel.

Mr. Collins stated that we could approach it in a unique way by addressing the community-based services that are out there that do or do not serve veterans objectively rather than focusing on the VA system itself.

• disability rights-a comprehensive look at disability rights and where we really are, with a look at eugenics and assisted suicide, housing discrimination, etc.


• collaboration of disability services at the federal level. One of the things this Council has talked about several times is what can be done to force collaboration since it doesn’t seem to be happening in all cases. How can collaboration take place to make sure that people with disabilities have an understanding of and access to federal programs. The Council has discussed the feasibility of a cabinet level position, a one-stop office for disability.


• legislative model development-Council Members have discussed establishing a model for what our role would be in educating and advocating for legislation or implementation of Council recommendations as the materials that John sent pointed out. We do have authority to accept proposed legislative language.


• livable communities-significant work by the Council has been done in this area over the last couple years. This proposal would bring together a group of people with disabilities to make recommendations on what makes a livable community and what are necessary long-term services and supports. We would be using our previous work and would bring together people who would benefit from those programs.


• public campaign on disability awareness-we have explored the possibility of going with a PR agency to look at a public awareness campaign that would identify some of the current issues regarding housing, independent living, transportation, and so forth.


• implementation of the AmeriWell Concept-this was included in NCD’s report on long-term services and supports and also is addressed or will be addressed in the progress report. This was a recommendation the Council made that would produce income through a charge for stock transactions, to fund independent care and support for people with disabilities. The goal of this project would be to move towards implementing the AmeriWell concept.


• anti-bullying educational program-Mr. Collins stated that he had seen public service announcements around this subject


• educational outcomes-this would build on work the Council has done previously and would look at some of the specific programs available to kids without disabilities to make sure that people with disabilities are participating in and benefiting from them. It also would look at how children with disabilities are doing in the assessment of their educational performance. We have some work being done on this in terms of data, but certainly it is timely. Again, this was a recommendation from the youth advisory committee.

Ms. Pound stated that the study is almost completed on outcomes related to No Child Left Behind.

• higher education and disability policies-this will take a look at the outcomes of initiatives that improve access to and participation in higher education by people with disabilities. This has been brought up before based on figures comparing people with disabilities to people without disabilities and their access to higher education and access to jobs they are trained for.


• self advocacy leadership campaign-this would look at a development program that would help people with disabilities across many different cultures to promote and be better trained in promoting leadership and self advocacy skills.


• foster care-in 2005 significant funding was added to the foster care program, with the target being additional help for people with disabilities in the foster care program. This project would review and assess whether the additional money has made its way to people with disabilities and whether it has been helpful. We are in the process of working on a paper that addresses issues related to the reauthorization of the DD Act, and that would include an examination of the State Protection and Advocacy systems.


• comprehensive review of mental health systems-this will be a big research paper that would explore all the features of mental health disabilities including stigma, and existence of appropriate programs and would offer recommendations.


• VR study-would look at transition of school-aged youth, with a follow-up report that would build upon the recommendations. The thinking is that economic self-sufficiency of people with disabilities becomes more and more important during this transition period.


• Technology-this would look at the gaps in training people with disabilities to use and access technology.


• International-there were 3 projects related to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with disabilities. NCD basically has supported the concept of the UN Treaty. The first project would look at what would happen if the U.S. were to ratify this particular Convention and what we would have to do to be in compliance. The second project would be a topical paper or report to identify and discuss issues that develop with the ratification of the Convention. The third project would be an examination of what we could do or what could be done by the disability community to target promoting the disability community around the world in the event we do not ratify the Treaty.

Mr. Vaughn stated that Dr. Gould circulated a report card on school systems dealing with kids with disabilities that clearly showed there is a problem associated with transition.

He stated that maybe there will be some point at which we could get enough studies and have some mini summit to bring folks together and figure out why we can’t solve the problem of transition.

Mr. Vaughn stated that there may be some patent standards and indicators to put in for state VR programs around transition and that one of the goals of RSA is to make transitions for core independent living centers. So there are some changes there that Congress could have a hand in.

Mr. Colley encouraged Council members to look at the FY 08 budget, NCD’s mission statement and narrative, which is the justification for implementing the Council’s mission through its various studies.

Mr. Vaughn stated that one of the things we talked about at the meeting was maybe looking at having some kind of summit in Washington to bring in the various players in the housing business to try to figure out how we can get designs of accessible housing built into things so that it is happening as a matter of course and not as an exception. He referenced the presenter at the Atlanta board meeting from Concrete Change.

Mr. Collins stated that there are three or four big conferences on universal design every year in this country. He suggested that the Council pull together a panel from the local communities and bring in experts.

Mr. Vaughn suggested getting people who maybe would have some power over federal agencies that guarantee loans that could be very instrumental in seeing that loans would be made only on new homes with certain door widths and so forth.

Dr. Gould stated that the Council did an evaluation on housing in 2000 and 2001. There were a series of follow-up reports requested by the House and Senate to update those reports that were done in 2004 and 2005. The Council heard from communities about looking at programs and services and home ownership issues and in that regard they became a part of the FY 2008 housing evaluation study.

Ms. Martinez stated that the Council should expand on the anti-bullying piece and include crimes or violence against people with disabilities but it would be a good idea to keep it separate from bullying because this was a recommendation from the Youth Advisory Committee and their interest is to make sure educational materials made it to schools and into organizations that deal with kids.

Mr. Rappaport stated that he knows of several organizations that are trying to address the issue, but in terms of people with disabilities there is a long road ahead. Therefore, he stated that he believes that organizations should focus on the issue and knows that there are efforts underway. It is a major problem that people have been trying to address for years.

Dr. Kang stated that he has raised $265,000 for funds that support the rehabilitation of wounded warriors. Major General Cabell identified special needs for wounded warriors that can be made more effective through working together with government and private organizations. Private organizations offer seminars and courses that aid in making wounded soldiers more empowered. He added that he was impressed to hear that more and more private organizations are developing partnership programs with the government both in Europe and in the U.S.

In summary Mr. Vaughn stated that the Council will have two hours in Chicago to review an updated chart based on this afternoon teleconference and will have a dialogue on reasons we think certain things should take priority over others, knowing that most everything is a good project. We will conduct an agreed-upon voting process to rank and prioritize the items we end up with in the first session.

Adjournment

The meeting adjourned at 2:45 p.m.