Free guide to Chicago for the disabled

Chicago is offering a new free guide for visitors with disabilities called "Easy Access Chicago."

Basic visitor information for city attractions like Millennium Park, Navy Pier, Wrigley Field and the Sears Tower are all in the guide, along with details on accommodations like ramps and elevators, handicapped parking, Braille signage and assistive listening devices, and accessible bathrooms, counters and ticket windows.

Other tips include how to get a 21-day pass for paratransit services or arrange free guided tours for visitors with disabilities through the Chicago Greeter program, which offers 40 special interest areas and 25 neighbourhoods to choose from (details at http://www.chicagogreeter.com or 312-744-8000).

"Easy Access Chicago" can be ordered by mail at no charge from the Illinois Bureau of Tourism at 800-226-6632 or by visiting http://www.enjoyillinois.com. It can also be downloaded in a PDF format from http://www.easyaccesschicago.org. You'll find the link near the bottom of the welcome screen.

Last year Chicago was named one of America's most disability-friendly cities by the National Organization on Disability. All the city's public buses are wheelchair-accessible. Each July, the city hosts the largest Disability Pride Parade in the nation as well as AccessChicago, a products and services expo.

Source: The Canadian Press

Marriott must provide golf carts for disabled

The world's largest golf resort management company has discriminated against disabled golfers and must provide carts that let them hit the ball without stepping on the course, a federal judge in San Francisco ruled Monday.

Marriott International, which owns or operates 26 courses nationwide including Half Moon Bay Golf Links, violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by denying mobility-impaired golfers the same access as their able-bodied counterparts, said U.S. District Judge Phyllis Hamilton.

Lawyers for three disabled golfers said it is the first ruling in the nation that requires private golf clubs to offer accessible carts, which are controlled by hand and have seats that swivel. A disabled player can use them to navigate an entire course, including putting greens and sand traps, without leaving the vehicle or damaging the course, said attorney Sid Wolinsky of Disability Rights Advocates in Berkeley.

In September, the Defense Department said it would provide similar golf carts at all U.S. military bases. The Justice Department negotiated a settlement in 2002 that required the city of Indianapolis to use the carts at its public courses.

In a statement through his lawyers, plaintiff Richard Thesing of Atherton said it was "particularly short-sighted for a corporation such as Marriott, with billions in annual revenue, to refuse to spend such a minimal amount to allow people with disabilities to enjoy a round of golf."

Thesing, who uses a wheelchair because of injuries from a traffic accident, heads an organization called Mobility Golf.

Marriott did not respond to a request for comment.

One ruling Hamilton cited was the 2001 Supreme Court decision allowing professional golfer Casey Martin, who suffers from a degenerative leg disorder, to use a golf cart in tournaments. The court found that the PGA was violating the Americans with Disabilities Act, rejecting the association argument that walking is an essential part of the sport.

Marriott argued that it was providing access to disabled golfers by allowing them to use their own specialized carts, and by a pilot project of providing the carts on four company-owned courses, a project that started after the suit was filed in 2006. The company also contended the carts posed safety hazards and said courts should await Justice Department regulations, which have been in the works since 2004.

But Hamilton said the plaintiffs wouldn't be able to load their own carts onto a trailer, couldn't take advantage of the pilot project at most Marriott courses, and wouldn't have equal access, or any access, under the company's current policy. She also said there was no evidence that the accessible carts had caused any injuries in 20 years of use and noted that the Justice Department regulations may be years away.

"Marriott's current policy does not provide plaintiffs, mobility-impaired golfers, with an experience that is functionally equivalent to that of other nondisabled golfers," the judge said. "Nondisabled golfers can simply show up at the course, and Marriott will provide them with a functional cart as part of the cost of their round of golf.

Source: San Francisco Chronicle

Institutional care for disabled people in EU not satisfactory

Institutional care for disabled people in the European Union (EU) continues to fall short of acceptable standards in many cases, a report released Tuesday by the European Commission says.

The report recommends a wider use of community-based quality services instead of institutional care.

"Quality of life in these institutions varies greatly and dignity for their residents is not always guaranteed," said Vladimir Spidla, EU commissioner for employment, social affairs and equal opportunities.

"I am confident this commission study, with a solid scientific basis, will help member states and stakeholders transform services for disabled people from institutions to quality social services in the community."

Over 1 million disabled people live in institutional care in the 27-member EU.

The European Commission financed a study on the development of community-based services for people with disabilities. The study was carried out by the University of Kent and the London School of Economics.

It confirmed that institutional care is often of unacceptably poor quality. Sometimes the conditions in institutional care may represent serious breaches of internationally accepted human rights standards.

Community-based services, when properly established and managed, can deliver better outcomes in terms of life quality and ensure that disabled people can live lives as full as able-bodied citizens.

The study found that services in the community are not more expensive than institutional care, once the needs of residents and quality of care are taken into account in calculating the costs.

Source: XinhuaNet

New Labour betrays disabled workers

Despite government promises, disabled workers at Remploy factories face closures and cuts. Simon Basketter spoke to some of the workers who are angry and fighting back

After months of false promises from Labour, it has emerged that more disabled workers at government-owned Remploy factories will lose their jobs than under the original proposal to close 43 factories.

The government has approved the closure of 28 factories. Remploy also wants at least 650 voluntary redundancies from factories that aren’t closing plus one extra redundancy for every worker who transfers to a new site.

That means the decimation of Remploy jobs and will undoubtedly result in more factory closures.

Execution

Remploy is rushing to wind down operations in the factories earmarked for closure – even though they were supposed to have a stay of execution until the end of March.

In some factories, promotional material for Remploy products are simply being dumped in their thousands. In others, management are attempting to remove machines and leave workers sitting in empty sites until March.

Workers at the York Remploy site last Friday saw their machines packed away and ready to be removed. But the workers fought back.

The 51 workers have vowed to keep the factory open, so they stood in the way of vans which arrived to take sewing machines and other equipment away. The site’s gates were locked and the removal team was twice forced to turn back.

Caroline Johnson, who is 60 and has worked at Remploy for 11 years, joined the blockade. She told Socialist Worker, “We’re not just doing this for ourselves – we’re doing it for other disabled people who will struggle to find another job.

“We are like a family, a community, and that is being torn apart for no good reason.

“But we’ll believe there is a chance to keep the factory open right until the last minute.”

John Wilson, the GMB union’s assistant shop steward at the factory, said, “Preventing these machines being removed shows we are prepared to fight on a moral issue. It’s another example of what we see as bully-boy tactics from Remploy.

Disgrace

“We are doing this because we think what has happened to Remploy is a disgrace, not just for those working there now, but for disabled people in the future.

“As far as we’re concerned, new jobs for these people are not there and, even if they are, they will be at the lowest end of the service sector. We have called off industrial action once before as a peace gesture and been kicked in the teeth as a result.

“Now we are determined to do whatever we can to keep it open. Where there’s life, there’s hope.”

The workers at the York factory are voting on strike action, as are workers at factories in Hartlepool, St Helens, Treforest, Ystradgynlais near Swansea and Brynammon in South Wales.

Workers in Unite and GMB at two Merseyside factories have already voted to strike.

Some 73 percent at Aintree voted in favour of strike action, while 100 percent at the Central Cutting Unit in Wallasey, Birkenhead, voted in favour.

There was a national protest of Remploy workers at the employers’ forum on disability at Bradford Football Club on Tuesday.

GMB senior steward Paul Bragg told Socialist Worker, “We want a reversal of the policy. If the Labour government can get Northern Rock out of a £55 billion hole using taxpayers’ money, it can help us.”

There is a lesson here for all trade unionists. Last year the unions made a deal not to embarrass the government at the Labour Party conference over the Remploy job cuts. That was a costly mistake.

So was the GMB’s decision to hand over £15,000 of the union’s money to former work and pensions secretary Peter Hain, who pushed through the closures.

Paul Kenny, general secretary of the GMB, points out, “Remploy workers have been betrayed by the Labour government. This whole exercise has been a sham and a disgrace which will taint the relationship between the GMB and the government.”

Labour should not be allowed to get away with their betrayal of the Remploy workers.

That means supporting the workers’ fight and recognising that funding the Labour Party is simply paying for the government to attack us.

Source: SocialistWorker.co.uk

How the elderly and disabled are being left to fend for themselves

A growing number of elderly and disabled people are being denied help with washing, dressing and eating as more local authorities ration social care.

A report showed that seven out of ten councils restrict help to very serious cases, leaving others to pay for themselves or rely on family and friends.

The annual report from the Commission for Social Care Inspection found that thousands fewer people qualify for care now compared with three years ago, despite a 3 per cent rise in the number of people over 75. Only 840,000 people received social care services in 2006 compared with 867,000 in 2003. Those receiving funded care at home declined from 479,000 in 1997 to 358,000 last year.

The commission is also worried about the lack of help when an old or disabled person fails to meet the strict eligibility criteria. In many cases families get no help to find private services, or are sent to charities for advice.

“People who only five years ago qualified for council-arranged help are today excluded by the system and left to fend for themselves,” said Dame Denise Platt, chairman of the commission. “The poor experiences of people and their carers trying and failing to get sufficient help contrast starkly with those people who do qualify for council arranged care. People unable to rely on families or friends and unable to pay for care services themselves are simply left to cope with everyday life, while some become virtually trapped in their own home.”

In response to this latest report, the Government announced a review into the eligibility criteria used by local authorities, saying that regional variations were unacceptable. The report found variations in how local authorities interpret “critical” and “substantial” cases, even within the same local authority, where the rules were sometimes applied inconsistently.

West Berkshire, Wokingham and Northumberland have the tightest restrictions, offering help in “life and death” cases only. Many others are planning to follow suit, but are waiting to see the result of a legal challenge against Harrow Council, which attempted to toughen its criteria last year. Sunderland and Calderdale in West Yorkshire are the only councils that still offer help with care in cases judged to have low-level needs.

The latest review brings to five the number of government-backed investigations under way into social care. Others are examining dementia, palliative care and the role of unpaid family carers. Government underfunding is largely to blame for the looming crisis, campaigners say. In the three-year spending round, funding for social care increased by just £190 million to £1.5 billion in 2010. Political pressure is mounting, largely from Britain’s six million carers who look after elderly or disabled relatives.

Sources: Times Online

Author: Rosemary Bennett' Social Affairs Editor