This is the Disability Rights Hawaii Newsletter for September 2008. It is available by email, print, Large Print, or Braille. Please contact ronald@hawaii.edu, or call 961-5601, to add or remove your name from the mailing list, or to change the format of your Newsletter.
……… CONTENTS ………
-- September 30 Meeting Announcement
-- July 29 DRH Board of Directors Minutes
-- July 29 General Meeting Notes
-- NewsNotes
……… September 30 Meeting Announcement ………
Disability
Rights Hawaii will meet on Tuesday, September 30, from 12:00 noon to 2:00 PM in
Conference Rooms B&C of the
Our meeting will begin at noon. The voting machine demonstration will begin at 12:30. Visits with the candidates will be from 1:00 to 2:00 PM.
……… July 29 DRH Board of Directors Minutes ………
7/29/2008:
Minutes of the Yearly Meeting of the Disability Rights
Board members present: Ron Amundson, Daniel Grant-Johnson, Linda Toms Barker, Donald Haumea, Chris Cholas.
Board member absent: Laura Tobosa.
Others present: Teri Spinola-Campbell, Robin L. Wong, Marianne Hodapp, Martin Hodapp
Because we inadvertantly missed the yearly meeting that the Bylaws specify for March or April, Linda moved to suspend the rules to allow this late Yearly Meeting. Donald seconded, and the motion passed unanimously.
The Slate was proposed Ron, and seconded by Donald.
Daniel Grant-Johnson President
Chris Cholas Vice President
Ron Amundson Secretary
Laura Tobosa Treasurer
Donald Haumea Board Member
Linda Toms Barker Board Member
Martin Hodapp Board Member
Note: Martin Hodapp is the new Board member. The Board discussed putting him on the slate after his excellent letter to the Vice Chancellor for Administrative Affairs of UHH regarding accessible parking on campus.
Because Treasurer Laura Tobosa was absent, Ron referred the meeting to the report from May. He believed that no financial activity had taken place since then.
Board business: Shall we make recommendations on DCAB’s comments regarding the new ADAAGs? (The recommendations were forwarded by Ron It’s two long files totalling 27 pages.) After discussion, the consensus was that Ron and Linda would forward information from DCAB and DREDF to the Board and we will decide on whether to take a position later. The deadline is August 18.
Ron proposed an amendment to the Bylaws: Email communications shall be a suitable substitute for postal mail for general purposes of the organization.
The wording of the amendment was questioned, because it might be taken to imply that we would not send the Newsletter in alternative formats, as we always have.
Linda proposes and Ron seconds the motion that Ron & Linda review the Bylaws for purposes of bringing email suitably into the Bylaw without ruling out other means of communication to individual DRH members who prefer it.
Danny brought the Board of Directors Meeting to a close, and began the General Meeting.
………July 29 General Meeting Notes ………
Present:
Daniel Grant-Johnson, Linda Toms Barker, Donald Haumea, Chris Cholas, Teri
Spinola-Campbell, Robin L. Wong, Marianne Hodapp, Martin Hodapp, Marty Mimmack,
Ron Amundson, Ron Thiel of the
Program: Ron Thiel, Danny and Teri discussing the accessibility of streetlights with “walk” pushbuttons to people who cannot push the button by hand.
The
County was asked to make the “walk” signals at crosswalks accessible to people
who cannot push the buttons. Ron Thiel reported on the research the County did
to locate solutions. One solution was high-tech surfaces that resemble the
yellow dotted surfaces that now mark crosswalks. These surfaces sense the
presence of walkers by their weight, and turn on the “walk” signal from that.
However these surfaces cost $10K per location, or $40K per intersection. There
are video cameras that sense the locations. But the County found that
The question was raised, Why not have automatic “walk” flashes every cycle? The answer is that those are only workable on “coordinated signals” which leave enough time for pedestrians to cross, such as the ones we already have on Kanoelehua. They are not installed for streetlights that are activated by approaching cars. Coordinated signals are timed so that traffic going in one direction will hit a series of green lights all the way out the road. The signals are not activated by a car approaching a cross street, or by a pedestrian walk button. The coordination can be timed for certain periods, so that walk buttons are turned back on in the evening when traffic is lower.
A new contractor has been hired to coordinate the signals on several County roadways. Where these coordated signals occur, the walk lights will automatically come on. Buttons will still be needed there, because the lights are not coordinated at all times.
Twenty-six new lowered pushbuttons will be installed at the cost of about $100 per button. Danny is happy about the prompt installation of the buttons. Ron Thiel reported that the Traffic Division is changing tactics. It has a group within the group to do special projects, not just maintenance. The people who work in this section need an electical/electronic background.
Ron
(Amundson) reported on a letter from a DRH member who wanted to contact the
County for sidewalk improvement, but the return address was bad. We had to ask
around to see who knew the member. Eventually Teri Spinola-Campbell located him
and discovered the problem walkway was on
Ron also reported on UHH handicap parking spaces changes. He attended a meeting with UHH VCAA Debra Fitzsimons. The outcome of the meeting was that UHH will be increasing the number of accessible parking spaces on campus. There will be 9 new spaces for the coming school year. During the year, UHH will consult with DCAB about the proper number and location of the accessible parking spaces. This is very good news. The original proposal had been for the campus accessible spaces to be cut back.
We learned that several DRH members had made contact with the VCAA. Martin Hodapp wrote a letter on behalf of the members at the May DRH meeting. Other members contacted her individually. We appreciate her responsiveness to our concerns.
The Palace Theater flier contained an announcement that they new wheelchair accessible seating area, with improved doorway accessibility, will soo be completed. Quack Moore, the President of the Friends of the Palace, also contacted DRH directly to let us know. President of the Board email. Members were impressed with the fact that the new accessibility was made “front page news” on the Friends of the Palace Theater flier. This shows that the Palace’s accessibility is truly valued by its Board. There was discussion of how to congratulate the Palace on its new achievement. (We discussed the possibility of window signs indicating that a particular location was especially accessible.) This is a great success after a long time. We’re waiting for the first reports on the new accessibility.
Teri
discussed changes in the County’s decision to do a sidewalk inventory. This was
because of details of the lawsuit on curb cuts, which specifically stated that
funds would be spent on increasing accessibility instead of doing inventories.
Teri
also reported on the accessible surf day that she and Alisa Mitchener organized
at Kahalu’u Beach Park. They used a Mobi-mat to get access to ocean. The Fire
Department attended to help get people on surf boards. The County has purchased
two Mobi-mats to be used for special occasions. (The surf conditions do not
allow them to be permanently deployed.) The County has ordered four “Hippocamp”
beach-accessible wheelchairs. Plans for use are not established yet. Teri also
reported that consultants are at work on designing accessibility improvements
to
Danny
reported on visit to Building Department about new buildings that we see going up.
One is a six-unit apartment building, 3 up 3 down. No elevator, but one downstairs
unit will be fully accessible. Another building is coded as a warehouse, and so
has no
Chris gave a report on Concrete Change and visitability. The Journal of the American Planning Association published a study that concluded the value of accessibility in a building is very large because of the large number of people in families who would be disabled at some time in their lives. This is a very progressive outcome.
Teri
said that the
……… NewsNotes………
-- State of
The
State (finally) apologized for the century of segregation laws that made exiles
out of Hansen’s Disease patients at Kalaupapa. The law
was in force from 1865 through 1969. (!) A memorial is being planned. The
Tribune Herald had a nice front page article (I believe on August 18), but
online stories only came out in the
http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008808140333
http://starbulletin.com/2008/08/18/editorial/editorial02.html
-- Department of Justice Action
DOJ filed suits against large apartment developers in NY city. These lawsuits are have been very rare in recent years, but this is finally a big one. Many developers simply ignore the requirements to create accessible units in large apartment complexes. This, of course, increases the segregation of people with disabilities.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/19/nyregion/19disabled.html
-- Olympic athletes with disabilities
This story covers an amputee distance swimmer competing in the “regular” Olympics. They also report on an amputee table tennis player. Both will stay on for the Paralympics. Also mentions American gymnast George Eyser, who competed as a gymnast “on a wooden leg” in the 1904 St. Louis Olympics. Eyser won three golds and five medals overall.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,406829,00.html
-- Justice for All
“Justice for All” is a weekly email disability news service of the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD). Many of these NewsNotes were found in the Justice For All emails. You too can sign up for their email list at the following link:
http://visitor.constantcontact.com/email.jsp
And if you’re on Facebook, MySpace, or LinkedIn, you can connect to AAPD. I’m not exactly sure how you do it on each service, but I can send you the links if you want them -- they’re published in the August 21 JFA email.
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