October 2023 Advocacy Update
A Letter From Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority
Dear Riders,
We’re incredibly excited to announce the rollout of “Access in Motion,” our new system-wide campaign promoting accessibility at the MBTA. For much of this year, we worked in collaboration with riders with disabilities to create advertisements in multiple mediums highlighting the accessibility of our fixed-route services.
Some of our goals for the campaign include:
Communicating that accessibility improvements benefit all MBTA riders
Raising awareness among riders and the general public about key accessibility policies and services
Sharing the progress we’ve made toward system-wide accessibility over the last 15 years and will continue to make in the future
Input from our partners in the disability community, including members of the Daniels-Finegold plaintiff group and the Riders’ Transportation Access Group (RTAG), was essential to making this campaign a reality. We’re proud to feature many of them, along with other longtime advocates and riders, as photography models in the “Access in Motion” ads you’ll be seeing in MBTA stations and vehicles throughout the fall. You can also visit Access in Motion to view accessible versions of all the print, digital, audio, and video ads appearing across the campaign.
We can’t wait for you to experience the “Access in Motion” campaign and its story of the past, present, and future of accessibility at the T! As always, send us your feedback by emailing accessibility@mbta.com.
Safe and Accessible Travels,
The Department of System-Wide Accessibility
From The Disability Policy Consortium
LEGISLATIVE ACCESS AGENDA
DPC’s mission is to bring the perspectives of people with disabilities to the table on key issues, empower our community through healthcare support and advocacy, participatory research, and expert policy analysis, and lead grassroots campaigns that make Massachusetts more accessible and inclusive. Our credo is "About Us, By Us" — the belief that when decisions are made about people with disabilities, people with disabilities should be the ones making them.
Click here to download the Legislative Access Agenda PDF booklet from the DPC.
Long a sore spot for riders with disabilities, service on the RIDE has gotten worse because of staffing shortages:
"Jim Wice’s afternoon lunch was about to become an all-day affair.
The South Boston resident, who uses a powered wheelchair to get around, had requested a noon pickup from the MBTA’s paratransit service, the RIDE, for a 1 p.m. lunch with a friend. The night before, a RIDE dispatcher called to tell Wice he could expect the van outside his apartment at 11:45 a.m.
But the van arrived early, sometime before 11:25 a.m, forcing Wice to cut preparations short and greet his driver for fear of being labeled a no-show. His journey back would also come with its share of time-warping trouble.
The RIDE provides transit service for Boston-area residents with disabilities who may be unable to use fixed-route service, such as buses and subways. Long a sore spot, service has gotten worse for some users as the acute labor shortage that has hit so many parts of the economy has left the RIDE well short of drivers and staffers for its call center."
Read the full story here: https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/07/28/metro/long-sore-spot-riders-with-disabilities-service-ride-has-gotten-worse-because-staffing-shortages/?s_campaign=breakingnews:newsletter
Your Mental Health Matters – Invitation to Participate in a Mental Health Program for people with a Spinal Cord Injury:
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is an emerging, evidence-based, psychotherapy approach that can improve mental health through mindfulness, acceptance processes and behavior change. Lakeshore Foundation is helping to recruitfor a remote, ACT study with the following requirements:
1. Adults who have acquired an SCI within 5 years
2. Participation in 8 weekly videoconference sessions with a coach
3. Completion of questionnaires 3 times
4. Participants must have access to a computer or smart phone with internet access in their home.
5. This study is remote and is open to anyone living in the USA.
The purpose of this project is to understand how well a coach-guided 8-week online acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) program improves mental health of individuals living with spinal cord injury (SCI) within five years.
Participants who complete the study will be compensated up to $215!
For questions and more information, contact Jessica Hawkins at jshawkins@uabmc.edu or 205-975-2882.
Click the image to the right for more information:
Ask Your Legislators to Co-Sponsor the Wheelchair Warranty Bill (H.378/S.152)
We need your help to build support for the wheelchair warranty bill (H.378/S.152)! Please use the "Take Action" form below to reach out to your state legislators and ask them to co-sponsor the bill. If they are already co-sponsoring, you'll be able to thank them instead. We encourage you to add a personal story and make the email your own, because legislators want to hear why the bill is important to you!
H.378/S.152, "An Act expanding wheelchair warranty protections for consumers with disabilities", will build on the existing wheelchair warranty law to cover more people and hold wheelchair companies accountable to consumers. Click "Learn More" below for more details.
If you would like to do more you can testify on this bill, please contact the Disability Policy Consortium, and they'll be happy to work with you to help prepare testimony and keep you updated on when the hearing is/other actions!
For more info contact Harry Weissman at hweissman@dpcma.org or 617-977-4084.
From United Spinal National
News from the U.S. Access Board
U.S. Access Board Celebrates 50th Anniversary of its Formation and the Rehabilitation Act
Today marks the 50th anniversary of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, a federal law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in programs conducted by federal agencies, programs receiving federal financial assistance, federal employment, and the employment practices of federal contractors. It was a milestone for individuals with disabilities across the nation, and it serves as the foundation for many other disability-related legislation. Section 502 of the law also created the U.S. Access Board (originally named the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board) to ensure access to federal buildings and facilities under the Architectural Barriers Act (ABA) of 1968.
“Our first duty as an agency was to ensure that the federal government is a model of accessibility, and we continue to carry out this important work,” stated Sachin Pavithran, the Board’s Executive Director. “But the Rehabilitation Act and the Architectural Barriers Act also blazed the trail for accessibility beyond the federal sector, as well as expand our mission and further establish us as a leading source of information on accessible design. We continue to work hard to achieve our vision of a nation that is fully accessible to and inclusive of all people with disabilities, and we look forward to dedicating the next fifty years and more to serving the American public.”