Indiana SILC questions whether to follow the ADA

	The Indiana SILC (ICOIL) questioned whether or not they actually
had to follow the Americans with Disabilities Act and provide an
accommodation which has been repeatedly requested for over a year. 

	I knew that the Indiana Statewide Independent Living council (Made
up largely of Center Directors) had no problems with pretending like it
did one thing on paper, while doing another thing all together.  I knew
that the council operates not to empower people with disabilities in
Indiana, but rather it is used as a tool to keep 'us', people with
disabilities suppressed, and ensure that there is no real change that
would give us the protections and services we need in order to stay out of
nursing homes and live our own lives. I after all began my journey just
last May through the Empowerment Hell known as ICOIL. See
http://www.onecandream.com/writings/EmpowermentHell.htm and the
Secretary's Chronicles http://www.onecandream.com/ICOIL

	But I never dreamed I would witness what I witnessed yesterday
when I attended an illegally scheduled April council meeting that the
council actively tried to keep secret from the public. Yesterday before
the 'meeting' could even begin a member of the council requested an
audio-loop they had been requesting for at least a year.  Everyone in the
room was aware of this, and that in August $3000 dollars had been
allocated to purchase the loop in response to an official ADA complaint. 

	Dee Ann Hart the 'chair' of the council tried to blow off the
request stating that while the ADA might require such an accommodation,
the open door did not and she honestly seemed to believe that her
obligations for providing an accommodation for a member of the council to
be able to participate in the meeting was fulfilled by offered
sign-language interpreters. Even though she knew the person making the
request could not sign.  Dee Ann Hart was not even going to check and see
if she could get the needed speaker system.  She preferred instead to try
and make the person who made the request look like she was being
unreasonable.  It is no wonder that Teresa Torres got upset. 

	One way they tried to solve the problem (and make Teresa look
unreasonable) was the council offered Teresa and FM amplification system
with no speakers....that is just as bad as offering the interpreter for a
language you don't speak. 

	It would be like someone holding a meeting on the second floor of
a building where there were only stairs and trying to accommodate me by
carrying me to the second floor...but then saying when I get to the second
floor they aren't going to let me have my wheelchair and further there are
a few steps to get into the meeting room so I can't actually go to the
meeting ...but I am welcome to crawl over close to the door and because
they almost actually accommodated me (though I still can't participate) I
might be able to hear more then you could have from the first floor.  Who
would not get angry if they were repeatedly treated like that? 

	If it was not for members of the public and one brave council
member who noted that the request was absolutely valid, and stated that if
the council was not going to provide the requested audio-loop
accommodation that there needed to not be a meeting...the council would
not have even tried to find the equipment they needed. 

	A speaker system was brought in and a couple of people worked on
getting that set up.  While that was going on, and everyone including
Teresa Torres waited patiently to see the outcome...and Dee Ann Hart and
the council called the police. 

	After the police had arrived, Dee Ann came back into the room and
announced to the public that the meeting was cancelled.  At this point I
requested again to be kept informed of all public meetings by e-mail.  Dee
Ann Hart specifically stated that she was not going to honor direct
requests from the public that they be kept informed of any meetings (or
apparently any meeting changes that are inconsistent with the schedule the
council officially voted on).  She announced that she would not send
announcements to the public through the e-mail list, and that it was not
her job as chair to keep the public informed. 

	Then when Teresa asked why the meeting was being cancelled she was
told immediately that it was being cancelled for her 'behavior' when
really the reason was because the of the councils lack of an audio-loop
that should have been bought last year and automatically set up before
every meeting. 

	I understand that Dee Ann Hart does not like Teresa, and that Dee
Ann thinks that Teresa is faking her hearing loss (see
http://seriouslyil.blogspot.com/2006/12/dee-ann-hart-is-concerned.html ). 
But Teresa Torres is not faking her hearing loss, and if Dee Ann did not
wish to take on the responsibilities of being a chair, then she should not
have been so eager to accept the position without at least attending more
then one council meeting. She should have gotten all the facts about what
was going on before she jumped in with a crowd willing to slander people
without even allowing those individuals to respond to any accusations. 

	Dee Ann was so eager to have the title of 'chair' because she
thinks it gives her power and makes her important, that she neglected to
consider the responsibilities involved.  She forgets that she is supposed
to be representing the people, and that the council should be going out of
their way to accommodate people with disabilities of all types not just
the types she is personally comfortable with... 

	I would not have believed it if I was not there, but the council
which claims to be a leader in the Independent Living Movement in Indiana,
decided that they did not have to provide accommodations because only the
ADA requires it and not the open door law...and only one council member,
aside from the one making the request, objected. 

	You know if that is the direction our leaders are going to take
us, then it is time we stopped following them.  If the Independent Living
Movement is really going in that direction then something needs to
change....and if it doesn't I'm scared, because I really don't want to end
up in a nursing home. 


Ramona Harvey

We the people with disabilities can think for ourselves.  We can ask our
own questions and come to our own decisions.  We know what it is like to
be treated differently, and we know what it is like to be excluded because
we cannot get in the door or because people are afraid we will be hurt. 
We are important.  Our lives, needs, and dreams are important and we
deserve respect.  We are just like every other person driving down the
road. We demand our needs be met and that we be included in the decisions
that impact our lives - we do not wish to sit on the sidelines anymore and
watch others play.  We want to be allowed on the playground just like
anybody else. www.onecandream.com