Print Friendly VersionJanuary 2008, Issue 121
Monthly News Bulletin Published by IndependenceFirst
Advocacy Action News
January 2008, Issue 121
WISCONSIN
LOCAL
ADA/FAIR HOUSING
RESOURCES ON THE WEB
ANNOUNCEMENTS
SOMEWHERE, ED ROBERTS IS SMILING…
A one-of-a-kind regional campus named in honor of the pioneering disability rights activist won its final round of funding when the Berkeley, California City Council voted unanimously to pay the remaining $2 million.
The Ed Roberts Campus will be a Bay Area center for disability services, policy research and education. Ground will be broken in May or June, after 12 years of fundraising.
The $45 million campus will be a one-stop-shop for people with disabilities and their families. It will house about a dozen nonprofits, a cafe, fitness center, child care center, art gallery and other public amenities.
Advocates say there will be nothing else like it in the world. The design itself sets a new standard for accessibility, with a sweeping circular ramp visible through two-story glass walls, Braille maps, automatic doors, extra-large elevators operated by foot paddles and other creative flourishes.
Funding came from the Bay Area Rapid Transit , the federal government, private foundations, the City of Berkeley and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission.
Ed Roberts, who died in 1995, founded the independent living movement in the United States in early 1970s. Left nearly immobile from polio as a teenager, Roberts was the first student with significant disabilities admitted to UC Berkeley; he lived at Cowell Hospital.
While at Cal, he started the disabled students' association, which later became the Center for Independent Living in Berkeley. Bates was an Alameda County.There are now more than 200 Centers for Independent Living across the nation. Berkeley's founding center plans to be among the first groups to move to the Ed Roberts Campus when it opens.
One reason Roberts was so successful was the force of his personality and his ability to bring people together, his supporters say. He joined forces with other minority groups to bring disability rights into the larger umbrella of civil rights issues.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ED!
January 23rd is Ed Robert’s Birthday!
QUOTE OF THE MONTH
“Thou shalt not be a victim. Thou shalt not be a perpetrator. Above all, thou shalt not be a bystander.” (From the Holocaust Museum, Washington, DC)
WISCONSIN
WISCONSIN RANKS 30TH IN STUDY ON DEPRESSION STATUS
According to Ranking America’s Mental Health: An Analysis of Depression Across the States, Wisconsin ranked 30th in rates of depression and 26th in suicide in a first-of-its-kind report by Mental Health America. The report analyzed data from all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The study found that 8.4% of Wisconsin’s adult population and 9.4% of Wisconsin’s youth population experienced a major depressive episode in 2004-2005. 662 Wisconsinites completed suicide in 2004.
Mental Health America found the following factors to be statistically significantly associated with better depression status and lower suicide rates:
Mental health resources – On average, the higher the number of psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers per capita in a state, the lower the suicide rate.
Barriers to treatment – The lower the percentage of the population reporting that they could not obtain healthcare because of costs, the lower the suicide rate and the better the state’s depression status. In addition, the lower the percentage of the population that reported unmet mental healthcare needs, the better the state’s depression status.
Mental health treatment utilization – Holding the baseline level of depression in the state constant, the higher the percentage of the population receiving mental health treatment, the lower the suicide rate.
Socioeconomic characteristics – The more educated the population and the greater the percentage with health insurance, the lower the suicide rate. The more educated the population, the better the state’s depression status.
This suggests that Wisconsin can lower depression and suicide rates by improving access to mental health services.
Mental Health America of Wisconsin (MHA) (formerly the Mental Health Association of Wisconsin) is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting mental health, preventing mental disorders and achieving victory over mental illness through advocacy, education, information and service. You can find out more about MHA at: www.mhawisconsin.org.
For a copy of the full report, visit www.mentalhealthamerica.net.
Source: MHA Press Release (edited)
LOCAL
IF Collaborates with the Milwaukee Asset-Building Coalition to Provide FREE Income Tax Preparation Assistance
WHAT
• Free E-Filing of your tax return
• Assistance with the Earned Income Tax Credit
• Assistance with other credits
• Opportunity to Receive Your Refund in as few as 7-10 days with direct deposit
and Refund Splitting
• Free preparation of Prior-Years’ Tax Returns
WHO
FREE tax preparation service at IndependenceFirst is available if you earned less than $45,000 annually
WHEN
Monday, February 18th and Monday, February 25, 2008
Tax preparers will be available from 2pm – 7pm
WHERE
IndependenceFirst, 600 W. Virginia St, Room 601
WHAT TO BRING
• Social Security cards (or ITIN cards) for you, your spouse (if joint return is filed) and
all dependents
• Picture identification
• Taxpayers filing a joint return must both be present when the tax returns are
prepared. Both spouses must sign a joint tax return
• All informational statements, including but not limited to:
Wages statements - (Form(s) W-2) and 1099;
Interest and Dividend statements - (Form(s) 1099-INT and 1099-DIV);
Mortgage interest statements - (Form(s) 1098);
Pension and Social Security statements - (Form(s) 1099-R and SSA-1099);
Tuition payments statements - (Form(s) 1098-T); and
Property tax receipts for any property taxes paid in 2007
• Information about any other sources of income, both taxable and nontaxable, and deductions and expenses you may have such as charitable contributions and child care expenses. If you have childcare expenses please have your childcare providers’ taxpayer id number
• A completed signed rent certificate or copy of your 2007 property tax bill if you are claiming the Wisconsin Homestead
credit. You will also need a printout of any Wisconsin Works (W-2) payments, child support, or kinship payments you
have received
• A voided check for a checking account direct deposit or a deposit slip for a savings account direct deposit of your
refund. Direct deposit is the fastest way to get your refund.
• A complete copy of your 2006 federal and state income tax returns is helpful but not required.
The Milwaukee Asset Building Coalition (MABC) is a private/public partnership that through education, planning, and income, assists low-income Milwaukee County residents achieve financial independence. The Social Development Commission (SDC) is the lead agency for the MABC. The Coalition focuses on three facets: education/awareness, free tax filing services, and asset development and outcome evaluation.
ADA/FAIR HOUSING
JUSTICE DEPARTMENT OBTAINS COURT APPROVAL TO DISTRIBUTE $700,000 IN FAIR HOUSING LAWSUIT
The U.S. Justice Department recently announced that it had obtained approval from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan to distribute $700,000 in monetary damages to 37 persons with disabilities pursuant to the consent decree entered in United States v. Edward Rose and Sons, et al., a case that was resolved by a consent decree entered in the Eastern District of Michigan in September 2005.
The consent decree resolved two lawsuits filed by the United States in
2001 and 2002 alleging that Michigan apartment owner Edward Rose and Sons, along with their architects and affiliated companies, had failed to design and construct 49 apartment complexes in Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Wisconsin, Virginia, and Nebraska in accordance with the accessibility requirements of the Fair Housing Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act. Among other things, the decree required the Rose companies to set aside $950,000 to compensate persons who had been harmed by the lack of accessible features at the complexes and to take steps to notify tenants and other persons of their right to apply for compensation.
The United States identified 37 persons who should be compensated, and today the Court approved the distribution of $700,000 to those persons.
Under the terms of the decree, the remaining $250,000 in the settlement fund will go toward increasing housing opportunities for disabled persons in communities where Edward Rose and Sons operates, in a manner to be determined later by the Court.
Since January 1, 2001, the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division has filed 241 cases to enforce the Fair Housing Act, 114 of which have alleged discrimination based on disability. More information about the Civil Rights Division and the laws it enforces is available at http://www.usdoj.gov/crt.
CHICAGO AGREES TO PAY LARGEST ADA CURB RAMP SETTLEMENT EVER
The Council for Disability Rights announced the settlement of its lawsuit demanding the City of Chicago comply with the law when it resurfaces streets. Chicago will spend over $140,000,000 in the next 5 years installing curb ramps that comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). This includes $50,000,000 in new money to repair and replace curb ramps and sidewalks in high traffic areas which are not on the City’s schedule for repair or replacement, which is annually funded at about $18,000,000. This is the largest ADA settlement ever.
RESOURCES ON THE WEB
www.medicarerights.org/Index.html
Medicare Rights Center (MRC) is the largest independent source of health care information and assistance in the United States for people with Medicare.
MRC enrollment projects help people with limited incomes access benefits that can help pay their Medicare premiums, deductibles and copays.
MRC provides telephone hotline services to individuals who need answers to Medicare questions or help securing coverage and getting the health care they need.
MRC education department works to teach people with Medicare and those who counsel them--health care providers, social service workers, family members, and others--about Medicare benefits and rights.
Through public policy efforts, MRC brings the consumer voice to the national debate on Medicare reform.
And through communications efforts, MRC works closely with local and national media outlets to ensure public awareness and understanding of Medicare issues.
Dear Marci is a weekly e-newsletter designed to keep people with Medicare, social workers, health care providers and other professionals in the loop about health care benefits, rights and options for older Americans and people with disabilities. Dear Marci is a free service of the Medicare Rights Center. You can subscribe by visiting the web site and signing up.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
The mission of the ITEM Coalition (Independence Through Enhancement of Medicare and Medicaid) is to raise awareness and build support for policies that will improve access to assistive devices, technologies and services for people of all ages with disabilities and chronic conditions.
The ITEM Coalition is consumer-led and seeks to:
• raise awareness about:
the importance of assistive devices, technologies, and related services in enhancing the function, independence, health status, and quality of life of people with disabilities and chronic conditions of all ages;
the barriers to access to necessary devices and technologies under Medicare and Medicaid as well as other federal health programs and private plans; and
• build support for broad-based legislative and regulatory changes to address the problems of inadequate access to assistive devices, technologies and related services.
For more information, go to:
www.itemcoalition.org/index.html
Advocacy Action News is published by IndependenceFirst on or about the 1st of each month. Submissions of articles are due by the 15th of each month prior to publication. For consideration, send your articles or announcements to the Editor, Karen Avery, via e-mail to kavery@independencefirst.org.
Advocacy Action News is available by request in alternative formats such as Braille, large print, on disk or audiotape. It is also made available via our website.You may also receive Advocacy Action News via email instead of print copy. Contact Karen at 414-291-7520 (V/TTY) or kavery@independencefirst.org.
If you do not have access to the internet, and would like assistance in obtaining any of the internet-based items described in this news bulletin, please contact Karen at 414-291-7520 (V/TTY).
IndependenceFirst
The Resource for People with Disabilities…
600 W. Virginia Street, 4th Floor
Milwaukee, WI 53204
414-291-7520 (V/TTY)
414-291-7525 (FAX)
www.independencefirst.org