Dearborn Commission on Disability Concerns

Annual Report
August 1, 2004- August 31, 2005

COMMISSIONER ROSTER and TERM OF OFFICE
M. Catherine McAdam, Chair
6-1-2000 to 6-30-2006

Dr. Cheryl Kreger, Vice Chair (March, 2005 – present),
Public Awareness and Education Committee Chair
6-1-2001 to 6-30-2007

Dale Swanson, Communication and Awards Committee Chair
6-1-2002 to 6-30-2005

Nancy Bower
4-1-2003 to 6-30-2006

Claudia Damian, Access Committee Chair
6-1-2000 to 1-30-2005

Gary B. Filiak
6-1-2001 to 6-30-2007

Kim Bretton Hetrick,
Vice Chair (June, 2000 – March, 2005)
6-1-2000 to 3-03-2005

Mary Hodak
6-1-2001 to 6-30-2007

Mona Ramouni,
Alternate commissioner (April, 2003 – March, 2005)
4-1-2003 to 6-30-2005

Jane Nelson Thomas
6-1-2002 to 6-30-2005

Sonya Tishler
Alternate commissioner (May,2003 – January, 2005)
5-1-2003 to 6-30-2005

Christian L. Mageli, Commissioner Emeritus

New Commissioner Appointments:
John B. McFarlin 2005-2006

Cyndi Parrelly 2005-2008

William Tennant 2005-2007

CITY STAFF
Susan Fitzmaurice, ADA Coordinator and Liaison to the Commission on Disability Concerns

Kurt A. Giberson, Director, Dearborn, DPW.

Robert Leinen, Deputy Director, DPW

Nancy Neubacher, Administrative Assistant, DPW

EVENTS
Conferences Attended:
The commission sponsored our ADA coordinator’s attendance at the National ADA Symposium in May.

Homecoming 2004:
The Commission participated in this year’s Homecoming and assisted in addressing ADA concerns we had concerning access to carnival rides. Signage and appropriate criteria were addressed and changed to comply with the ADA as a result of our intervention.

Commissioner Gary Filiak continued his participation in citywide Homecoming planning meetings and commissioner Damian ably organized our booth.

Pathway to Possibilities 2004:
The Commission’s second Pathway to Possibilities, Dearborn’s Disability Awareness
Day was held on October 20, 2004. The Famous People Players, a theater group of performers with disabilities were welcomed by children and adults who enjoyed this musical done with black lighting and colorful puppetry. (The theater for it’s very first time provided descriptive narration for blind and visually impaired members of the audience. As part of the day teachers/parents were offered a workshop on how to bring such artistic talent, personal confidence, and skills to life for budding artists with disabilities.

This performance reinforces the reality that the arts are a wonderful venue for education and disability awareness.

Awards 2004:
At our reception, featuring home made treats prepared by commissioner Ramouni’s family, five awards were presented to business and individuals for their commitment to people with disabilities in Dearborn.

Most Innovative Local Government Project
Paul Klink and Doug Feldkamp representing the MIS Department for their relentless efforts in maintaining and upgrading the 911 TTY emergency system and the development and appreciation of accessibility in the redesigning of the city web site.

Employer of the Year
The Henry Ford and its Work Force Development received their award is for their long-time commitment to hiring people with disabilities and the long-term employment of such individuals.

Most Innovative Local Business Project
Ford Motor Company was recognized for their Ford Employees Diversity Resource Group who volunteer their time and energy giving back to the community hosting educational events and broadening awareness of disability issues throughout the company.

Advocate of the Year
Celeste Johnson was awarded for her hard work in working with the Dearborn public schools to get state certified interpreters for the hearing impaired.

Educator of the Year
Dorthe Balaskas, who retired after 50 years service as a Dearborn POHI teacher was celebrated for her long-term dedication to educating students with disabilities and pioneering of mainstreaming students in Dearborn Public Schools.

Town Hall Meeting 2004:
Our Town hall meeting sponsored by the Public Awareness and Education Committee was held as part of our disability awareness day. It gave us an opportunity to reconnect with Officer Tom Harper and continue discussions about emergency preparedness, collaborate with the ARC to integrate our programs and services more, and hear from our seniors regarding their specific concerns about access.

TRANSITION FUNDS and ADA COMPLIANCE
The Ford Centennial Library auditorium construction has been completed. However we discovered the need to revamp the emergency exit now that the auditorium is indeed accessible and will put in a work order to complete this. The Snow Library work is also complete, and Bryant Library will be next. We mapped out projects for access to our parks being implemented this year, and assisted the ADA coordinator in addressing Michigan Avenue Project parking access, signage, and construction and safety issues.

ONGOING WORK:

Pathway to Possibilities Planned for October 20, 2005:
Our keynote address will be done by John Kemp an attorney and disability advocate from Washinton D. C. We welcome the sponsorship and participation of the Ford Parenting Network and Ford Employees Dealing with disAbilities resource groups in planning a workshop on education issues.

Michigan Ave Construction: We continue to advocate for the correction of the slope of the sidewalk along Michigan Ave. This has affected safety in general and the reinstallation of safe bus stops. Following the Mayor’s meeting in January the commission held a special meeting in February to confront these concerns in collaboration with the city engineering department, SMART and interested consumers from the National Federation for the Blind. Remedial plans are being drawn up for consideration.

In July 2005 a letter of concern was written to MDOT again stating our position as we await a resolution to these issues.

Parking and signage: Our ADA coordinator has remained actively involved as a consultant on accessible parking, and was again consulted after improper signage in the Garrison lots needed to be replaced. We thank commissioner emeritus Mageli for his vigilance on parking construction and issues regarding the free parking stickers relevant to the installation of the parking meters.

Voting: In June 2004, commissioner Gary Filiak and our ADA coordinator inspected all of Dearborn’s polling sites to see if they met HAVA (Help America Vote Act). In August we presented information to poll workers to help implement the HAVA by increasing our poll access education efforts. In November, commissioners Filiak, Thomas, Tishler, Damian, and Hetrick also provided spot check of polling sites while in use. We are now in the process of applying for additional grant funds to implement access concerns discovered in last year’s survey.

Our ongoing concern is for full implementation of the HAVA Act including accessible voting machines by 2006.

Communication: Commissioner Damian again monitored our 911 calls maintain a high compliance by city staff, continued her strong advocacy for full compliance and use of our TTY system, and appropriate use of our listening devices. Commissioner McAdam continued to provide information in alternative format for commission meetings and events.

Emergency Preparedness: The Access Committee laid the ground work for a meeting with Officer Tom Harper and Jeff Oldenburg. This gave us an opportunity to follow up on concerns and begin a conversation about preparing for Dearborn’s participation in formation of a citizens emergency response team –one aspect of a C.E.R.T program. Officer Harper is reviewing the Pennsylvania brochure specifically written for disability concerns for placement on the Dearborn web page. Commissioner Tishler, the new Access Committee chair will be following up on these concerns.

Local Theater/Fire codes: Commissioner Emeritus Mageli addressed an ADA concern for a local theater’s companion seating for wheelchair users, which resulted in an investigation by the city fire department. The final resolution was to keep portable companion seating as the safest process, which would also allow for ADA compliance.

EDUCATION EVENTS AND TRAINING
Commissioners were present at the Abilities Expo and commissioner Hodak and Filiak represented the commission at the Healthy Living Expo and many other senior events maintaining our public presence. Commissioner Hodak continues to be organizing force behind the volunteer we need at events we attend.
The Communication Committee initiated an enews using sign in sheets from these events increasing our ability to reach out to the community.

The Public Awareness and Education Committee maintained and updated our resources, and actively engaged the public schools promoting the educational benefits of the Famous People Players. Much thanks is due commissioner Krueger for helping organize over 500 students get o the performance.

Commissioner Swanson and McAdam with input from commissioner Bower presented an ADA awareness training to the city library staff. They were very helpful in bringing forth customer service concerns for real life situations.

Senior Commission: Commissioner Hodak continues to be our liaison to the senior commission and organized an ice-cream social to meet and greet members of this commission to further our joint efforts.

STRATEGIC PLANNING
Commissioner Kreger helped us complete and begin to implement our strategic plan, posted on our web page and available in hard copy. This was particularly helpful, as we unexpectedly had to deal with marked changes in the later half of this year.

COMMISSIONER CHANGES

In January Commissioner Damian resigned as she enrolled in a full time educational pursuit and found it necessary to move on. We gratefully acknowledge her expertise and advocacy for the deaf and hard of hearing community. She continues to monitor our 911 calls and presented an excellent summery of emergency preparedness issues from her participation in a disaster training exercise.

In March commissioner Hetrick resigned as he moved out of Dearborn. He plans to stay involved with the Education Committee. We thank him for his dedication to the disability community assistance in development of our web page, resource information, and insightful ponderings.

In June commissioner Jane Thomas resigned to be able to care for her mother and manage an increasingly demanding work life. We thank her for her work on the communication committee, dedication to the disability community and advocacy efforts for Dearborn residents.

New commissioners: The mayor again looked to broaden our perspective by appointing commissioners who would reach across all disability interest and help with specific expertise.

John McFarlin brings his personal experience as someone who is “totally deaf since the age of four” and a strong advocate for communication issues.

Cyndi Parrelly stated her interest and knowledge of disability issues have grown relative to her niece who uses a wheelchair for mobility and still attends high school in Dearborn.

William Tennant Associate Director of the Mental Health Association in Michigan will bring his advocacy and commitment to mental health issues.

We welcome the talent energy and scope of knowledge represented by these appointments.

ADA COORDINATOR
As the liaison to the commission the ADA coordinator continued to support our efforts and specifically was instrumental in completing 3 block grant applications under final consideration by HUD for captioning of CD TV programming, purchasing of a Braille embosser/and scanner for alternative format, and the installation of 2 audible signal lights that will be helpful to seniors and people with disabilities. She has been asked to move forward with plans to create a fully accessible ADA conference room at DPW. Her support around parking, voting access, and construction projects including business related issues has been invaluable.

OUTREACH TO DEARBORN CITIZENS
We continue through our public meeting, ADA coordinator contacts, and events, to reach out to our community. We were please when putting out a call for volunteers to fill commissioner vacancies that we received over 20 applications for the Mayor’s review. Our hope is to invite many of these candidates to join our committees to help with our work.

A special thanks to David Jackson, an interested Dearborn citizen, who offered an 8 hour mindfulness training to caregivers.

SUMMARY
This summary is a highlight of our work and does not fully reflect the hard work, dedication and commitment to volunteerism by this commission. The city is clearly better utilizing our ADA coordinator to meet compliance with the law. the commission steers those efforts and move us beyond the law looking always toward full participation in all aspects of city life. Too often this can look like an us/them encounter. One of the projects we hold dear despite it's complexities is visitability. This is because it truly embraces a universal design which affects everyone. As bills move forward on a state and federal level we will continue to press forward with this important concept as it relates to new housing in Dearborn.