Tag Archives: disability rights
Paralympian Shawn Cheshire Wins Gold When Fighting for her Rights to go to LA Fitness and Work Out Independently
It is always an honor to work for a person whos talent and dedication is world-class. this year, I had the opportunity to work for Shawn Cheshire to vindicate her rights to be able to work out independently at an LA Fitness by her home in Florida. Shawn is a Paralympic cyclist who raced… Read More »
Is your club truly private? Piper the Service Dog vs. Boca Ciega Yacht Club
Piper is a dog, but she also has an uncanny talent for killing bees. This talent has aided her partner, Samantha Ring, who lives with severe allergies to bees and sunflower seeds and has a history of anaphylactic reactions to both. Piper saved Ms. Ring’s life by killing a bee while Ms. Ring was out on her boat without her EpiPen, so she decided to keep Piper and train her to be a service dog. On July 12, 2021, Piper the Dog finally got her day. The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals reversed his partner’s case and found that there are certain questions of fact that need to be resolved before deeming the Boca Ciega Yacht Club in Gulfport Florida, a “private club” for purposes of the private club exemption under the Americans with Disabilities Act.
New Florida Statute Requiring Resource and Benefit Information for Individuals with Disabilities
On June 16th, Governor DeSantis signed a bill into law requiring more information to be provided to persons with disabilities for services that are available. The purpose of the law is to provide information for services available for persons with disabilities other than services on the Medicaid Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) waiver. Currently, there are 35,000 individuals receiving waiver services through iBudget Florida, and as of December 1, 2020, 22,718 eligible persons with disabilities are on the waiting list to receive waiver funding and services.
Mental Health Month – Breaking Down Barriers in the Legal Profession That Stigmatize Mental Illness
Mental health month is always a good time to remind the legal profession that we still have a profession that stigmatizes applicants and lawyers that have mental illness or past histories of substance use disorder and that has a practice of conditioning the ability to practice law on mandated treatment and conditions that may… Read More »
Last in Line – COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution has Failed Seniors with Disabilities.
There is no excuse why we are not providing equal access to the vaccine program for seniors with disabilities. By having a first come/first served regimen to vaccinate, and denying accommodations to the most vulnerable, this places persons with disabilities last.
Accessible Voting for the Blind Certified in Florida
After years of advocacy, the Florida Council of the Blind and their members have fought for the right to independently cast a secret ballot through the vote-by-mail process in Florida. Today, they have finally won this right. While over a third of Floridians currently vote by mail, this year the numbers are expected to… Read More »
Valuing and Devaluing the Disabled Human Life in Florida
The response to this outbreak is far from the empathetic “American Way,” but instead, we have lapsed into the Hobbesian ethic, where we deny essential testing to the most vulnerable, deny scarce life-saving equipment, rationalize the denial by claiming that the old and disabled would have died in any event. Then to place insult onto the injury, Florida may immunize those who deny care from total immunity. Even in the event we are overreacting to this pandemic, it still should be a clear signal that disability discrimination may be the only tenet that will be alive and well in our society.
When Losing your Emotional Support Dogs is Too Much To Much to Bear
When the police arrived at his unit, Raymond Bishop refused to drop his weapon. After the police plead with him for three minutes, Mr. Bishop raised his pistol. He was killed. His two dogs, Roxie and Ranger were cowering in Raymond Bishop’s bed. On his desk, there was a suicide note:
Happy Ed Roberts Day – January 23rd
Disability Rights are Civil Rights, and every civil rights movement has its heroes. For the Disability Rights movement, the father of the independent living movement is Ed Roberts. At a time when a person with polio was expected to spend his days in an iron lung, and not expected to participate in the community, Ed Roberts persisted, lived, and participated in his life and community.
Five Things that I’ve Learned at the 2017 Ruderman Inclusion Summit
I have been an active participant, advocate, and lawyer in the Disability Rights movement for the past twenty years, so I am always excited to hear new views or learn new skills. Last week, Debbie and I attended the Ruderman Inclusion Summit in Boston where we had the opportunity to meet with about 1,200… Read More »
Deaf Inmates Will Receive Services in Miami-Dade Jails
As a result of non-compliance with disability rights laws, Deaf prisoners are not provided adequate access to communication with their family and lawyers, adequate medical services, and may be assaulted and victimized without recourse.
Summer Fun and Discrimination against Kids (with or without disabilities)!
Happy Summertime! The Summer should be a time where all kids, kids with disabilities and kids without disabilities, should be able to have fun. Discrimination about kids in the Summer is not fun, and here are some tips on how kids can avoid discrimination in the Summer.
Fear should not be a barrier to full community integration
By: Matthew Dietz On August 18, 2015, Carl Starke, an Autistic man, was shot by three teenagers who were casing the Wal-Mart parking lot for cars to steal; they spotted Carl in the parking lot, and followed him home. They somehow noticed that he had a disability – he was marked as a “soft… Read More »
The Key to my Independence
In my life, I define independent living simply as living my life my way. I knew at a young age that I wanted to move out of my parent’s home and get my own place. My goal was not to always depend on my mother to provide me care, but instead to live independently by finding a way to acquire long-term care coverage that would pay for personal care assistants to help me on a daily basis.
Sharon Langer Recognized with the Anti-Defamation League Miami Jurisprudence Award
On November 19, 2015, Sharon Langer, Development Director of Disability Independence Group, and Alan Dimond of Greenberg Traurig were both recognized with the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) Miami Jurisprudence Award. Sharon Langer’s remarks included the following For the past 100 years, the Anti-Defamation League has stood up against anti-Semitism, bigotry, and other pernicious stereotypes in our… Read More »
My Summer at DIG
By: Kristin Westerhorstmann Much like racism or sexism, discrimination based on a disability often falls within the common, yet mistaken, school of thought that these issues simply do not exist anymore, or at the very least, happen rarely. I am a law student getting ready to enter my second year at the University of… Read More »
Why
“Why?” is the most common question asked when I said that I was going to change my practice into a non-profit disability rights advocacy center. My reasons are each and every person with a disability that I have represented over the past eighteen years. With every single person, the issue was not about money,… Read More »
