2003-COD-ltr (Article 27) - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

STATEMENT SUPPORTING ARTICLE 27 – TOWN WARRANT 2003 My name is Victoria Buckley and I am the chair of the Enablement Committee. I am speaking about Article 27 – the establishment of a commission on disability. Currently the Enablement Committee is a subcommittee of the Human Services Committee. The Committee is composed of Lexington residents as appointed by the Town Manager who are committed to addressing the needs of the disabled. This covers a wide variety of disabled individuals, including, but not limited to: those with mobility problems, those with sensory limitations, and those who have cognitive and/or emotional limitations. The Committee strives to make all public buildings, spaces, town programs, and places of public accommodations accessible and safe for all people to use, regardless of disability.Access includes physical access as well as communication access. Access impacts many of our citizens – those with permanent or temporary disabilities, senior citizens, people with small children. Some of the issues addressed by the Committee include: getting rid of architectural barriers, setting up a grievance procedure, and ensuring compliance with the law, the ADA, the Americans with Disabilities Act. The ADA has been the law since 1990 and we need to get more active in order to get into full compliance and reduce the town liability. We need to embrace full access. Some examples of town problems are: how a disabled student in a wheelchair cannot get into the high school from Worthen Road, since there is no automatic door opener at that entry; how snow removal piles are always put in the handicapped parking spaces; how disabled individuals cannot do business inside the police station since they cannot open the doors, how a disabled individual cannot go to the fire station for business. People need to be more aware of these issues. For disabled citizens, it is important to move from being reactive to pro-active. The Committee seeks to become a Commission for several important reasons. Under the terms of Massachusetts General Law, Chapter 40, Section 8J, concerning the establishment of disability commissions, several important roles are listed: To advise and assist officials with compliance issues To coordinate programs to meet the needs of the disabled in accordance with the Massachusetts Office on Disability To review and recommend town policies as they affect those with disabilities To provide information, guidance, and technical assistance to individuals and agencies