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President's Proclamation: National Disability Employment Awareness Month

A Proclamation by the President of the United States of America

National Disability Employment Awareness Month is an opportunity to recognize the contributions and accomplishments of Americans with disabilities and to underscore our Nation's commitment to advancing employment opportunities for all our citizens.

Americans with disabilities strengthen our country's workforce, and their achievements help keep our Nation the world's economic leader. Landmark reforms such as the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 have helped to ensure that individuals with disabilities are better able to engage in productive work and participate fully in the life of our Nation. It is important that we continue to expand on these opportunities for Americans with disabilities by eliminating the barriers and false perceptions that hinder them from joining the workforce. By enhancing the workplace environment for people with disabilities, employers can help provide access to jobs that allow these individuals to demonstrate their potential and realize their dreams.

Since 2001, my New Freedom Initiative has helped promote the full participation of people with disabilities in all areas of society, including education, training, and employment Programs such as "Ticket to Work" and services at One-Stop Career Centers have helped improve access to employment training and placement services for individuals who want to work. Throughout the Federal Government, we have worked to improve access to jobs for individuals with disabilities and to promote greater inclusiveness in the workforce. Individuals and employers can learn more about the Federal Government's disability-related programs by visiting DisabilityInfo.gov. We will continue to build on the progress that has been made for individuals with disabilities and will work to ensure that our Nation remains a place of opportunity for all Americans.

To recognize the contributions of Americans with disabilities and to encourage all citizens to ensure equal opportunity in the workforce, the Congress (36 U.S.C. 121) has designated October of each year as "National Disability Employment Awareness Month."

NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim October 2007 as National Disability Employment Awareness Month. I call upon Government officials, labor leaders, employers, and the people of the United States to observe this month with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have here unto set my hand this twenty-eighth day of September, in the year of our Lord two thousand seven, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-second.

GEORGE W. BUSH

Secretary Leavitt Begins A Blog

Secretary Mike Leavitt of the US Dept of Health and Human Services has started writing a blog. It's not clear if this is an official government publication. The Secretary shares his observations and 'hopes to open conversation about health and the related challenges" that face the nation.

Bipartisan Majority Approves Mental Health Parity Bill

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Ways and Means Health Subcommittee today passed HR 1424, the Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act of 2007(September 19, 2007).

The bill, which has already passed the Education and Labor Committee and has been referred to the Energy and Commerce Committee, was approved 10 to 3.

The measure requires group health plans and group health insurers to establish parity with all mental illnesses and substance-related disorders benefits with medical and surgical benefits.

Specifically, the bill amends section 712 of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, section 2705 of the Public Health Service Act, and section 9812 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to require equity in the provision of mental health and substance-related disorder benefits under group health plans.

Over-the-Road Bus (OTRB) Accessibility Program Grants

The Department of Transportation's (DOT) Federal Transit Administration (FTA) has announced new funding for the Over-the-Road Bus (OTRB) Accessibility Program. This program requires that new buses must be accessible, with wheelchair lifts and accommodations that allow passengers to ride in their own wheelchairs. Grant application deadline is November 13.

No Longer One of "Jerry's Kids"

Ben was kind enough to share his thoughts from the Washington Post on this Labor Day with the National PASS Network.

Thanks Ben.

Daniel Scarborough

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Jerry Lewis' annual MDA Labor Day Telethon means well but misses the point.

By Ben Mattlin

When I was six years old, I appeared on the Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. I don't have muscular dystrophy, but I was born with spinal muscular atrophy, a similar progressive neuromuscular weakness. I have never walked or stood.

On the broadcast, I was asked for my name and age. That's about all. Then I was dismissed.

I never met Jerry Lewis. I never became famous, as I'd dreamed. I was cute, though, with big blue eyes and unruly blond curls, and I was in several magazine and newspaper ads for MDA. For one of them, I was positioned standing in leg braces -- which I'd used years earlier for physical therapy, before discovering the torture didn't actually do me any good -- and I was told the caption over my head would be, "If I grow up, I want to be a fireman."

I didn't like this. If? My prognosis was a normal life expectancy. Besides, I didn't want to be a fireman! I wanted to be a scientist or a detective. So, in the photo, I'm crossing my fingers, where no one can see. I never did another ad.

Many years later, when I was an adult, I used this image to protest the telethon's simplistic treatment of "Jerry's Kids." I found that many others were mounting similar demonstrations. Now I find myself asking whether our message was heard. The TV hosts still ask us to "help Jerry's kids." But does the public understand that, even more than help, those of us with disabilities want respect?

Perhaps. MDA now pays lip service at least to the idea of disability rights. The telethon now shows some kids with disabilities doing active things. Yet fundamental problems remain.

Today's telethon, for example, will feature nondisabled celebrities onstage raising money for disabled kids, who are mostly offstage. I know the purpose of the telethon is to raise money, and that people won't tune in unless there are performers they want to see. Nevertheless, can you imagine an NAACP fundraiser hosted exclusively by white people?

If you are not disabled, you may think this is a relatively minor issue. But it matters. The other day my wife and I were at the theater with our two young children. During the intermission, an usher dutifully came over and asked my wife if I needed to use the restroom.

"How should I know?" she answered. "If you have a question for my husband, why don't you ask him yourself?"

The usher did not make that mistake again.

The larger issue is one of respect. And while I understand the sympathetic impulse (and marketing power) of a slogan like "Help Jerry's Kids," I don't think it helps us gain respect.

Of course, MDA may respect the disabled more than its fund-raising tactics imply. If it wants to stand out as an advocate for disability rights, however, it should set a better example -- and demand that its corporate contributors do as well.

When most people see those of us with severe, progressive neurological conditions, they want to help, and I am not ungrateful. The desire to cure is probably human nature. And MDA's main mission is to be a medical charity; it claims to spend 77 cents of every dollar it raises on services, an admirable percentage, and finances hundreds of clinics and medical researchers.

Still, for the past 30 years, the message of the disability-rights movement has been as consistent as it is simple: We're fine as we are. We don't need fixing. We need access. We need respect. We need work. In other words, we need the same things everybody else does.

So today, I won't be watching the telethon. My wife and I and our two kids have better things to do.

Ben Mattlin is a writer and editor who lives in Los Angeles.