Friday conference aimed high for disability rights

Advocacy for and community awareness of the physically and developmentally challenged was the aim Friday of the first Southwestern Arizona Conference on Disability Rights.

Held at the Yuma Civic Center, it provided a tool kit of resources the disabled and their caregivers can use to integrate more fully in employment and civic life, said Peri Jude Radecic, executive director of Arizona Center for Disability Law.

"We want the disabled to leave here knowing what to do if their rights have been violated," she said of what's expected to become an annual event.

Various workshops explained options for the disabled in: special education, employment, vocational rehabilitation, accessible housing, assistive technology, navigating the state medical health system, as well as other available services.

The most popular workshop, with 150 attending, was the opening session on voting rights for the disabled. Radecic demonstrated a voting machine for the blind with a headset that reads out the ballot to the voter.

"Under the law there has to be one of these in each precinct, and Yuma has a machine at every polling place," Radecic said.

The Arizona Center for Disability Law is a nonprofit agency that provides legal services for the physically, mentally and sensory disabled. Joann Sheperd, a workshop presenter, focused on employer obligations under the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act.

Sheperd said more than three-quarters of her client calls deal with reasonable accommodations. The ADA's definition of that term is facilities accessible and usable by individuals with disabilities.

"Employers must have very good reasons to not allow disabled employees certain latitudes," Sheperd said "Unless an employer can show it's prohibitively expensive or disrupts business, they must comply with modifications."

The disabled do not always get their first choice for reasonable accommodations, but each case depends on what the job requires. Some of these are changes to a building for easier access, providing seating or breaks to sit, flexible scheduling, exchange of marginal duties with co-workers or, as a last resort, reassignment to a vacant position.

Sheperd pointed out that under the ADA, job applicants can only be asked about disabilities after a job is offered but not before. Yet once an applicant has begun work, inquiries about disabilities can be made if it is job-related and consistent with business necessity or if performance level declines.

However, it is unlawful for employers to take retaliatory actions just for employees' disabilities, Shepard noted. But it is the obligation of employees to show discrimination took place if they feel disciplinary action was based only on disability.

The disabled who feel they have been discriminated against may file complaints with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission or the Arizona Attorney General's Office.

Patricia Garcia, president of the Arc of Yuma County, said her organization was trying to trying to learn how to navigate the disability maze.

"We think we need to continue to educate people with disabilities in Yuma and there are many opportunities to have a full life and they don't need to be confined at home," Garcia said.

Arc is an organization begun in 1950 by parents of and individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities to ensure they are not left out of the mainstream of life.

One of Arc's goals is to provide educational and recreational projects where the disabled can be challenged physically and mentally and still have fun, Garcia noted.

"It is important to engage the non-handicapped youths to help provide public services because it produces a 'win-win' situation," Garcia said. "By becoming involved with the disabled, youths open their hearts and grow and mature and ensure that future generations become more nurturing."



----
William Roller can be reached at
wroller@yumasun.com or 539-6858.