1/13 Crawl for Justice!

"CRAWL FOR JUSTICE"

TO SAVE THE ADA!

This is our last chance to save the ADA! Our very last chance to save civil rights for people with disabilities. If we lose this Supreme Court appeal, we will be officially and legally the Inferior Americans, not entitled to the opportunities of this country. Everything is threatened: The Olmstead
decision (http://cms.hhs.gov/olmstead/default.asp) will be mooted. States will not be providing interpreters or large print or ramps, because it won't cost them anything to ignore these requirements of the ADA. States can stop any person with a disability they
want to from participating in a state program or getting a state license and they will face no consequences! Worst of all, in the eyes of society, people with disabilities will be unequal and unentitled. Traditional prejudice against people with disabilities will have the blessing of the highest court in the land.

January 13, 2004 at 11:00 AM

Sacramento Federal Courthouse, 5th and I Streets

Tennessee forced wheelchair user George Lane to crawl up the stairs to go to traffic court. When he refused to do it a second time, Tennessee sent him to jail. Now Tennessee has appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court to have the civil
rights of Lane and all people with disabilities taken away. See http://www.ragged-edge-mag.com/drn/tennvlane091803.html for more info about George Lane.

Demonstrating solidarity with George Lane, advocates for civil rights will rally and crawl up the steps of the Federal Court House in Sacramento, CA on January 13, the same day that oral arguments are being made in the Tennessee
v Lane and Jones case before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Similar events are being staged around the country and at the U.S. Supreme Court House steps.

All are welcome –– and needed –– to participate!

ADA Watch writes: "The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) has begun the process of transforming the American landscape and prevalent negative stereotypes about people with disabilities by promoting the integration of persons with disabilities into all aspects of public life. The ADA is the
culmination of more than twenty years of fact-finding, study, and incremental legislation to stop the widespread exclusion and segregation of Americans with Disabilities.

The successes achieved through implementation of the ADA, coupled with the ability of the states and other covered entities to achieve accessibility
over time and without causing undue administrative or financial hardship,
confirm that Congress indeed fashioned a proportionate and congruent remedy
to deter
and remedy historic disability-based discrimination.

The hard-fought gains recently achieved by the passage and enforcement of
the ADA, and the promise of greater equality and opportunity in the years to
come, are threatened by the states’ ongoing and broad-based challenges to
the constitutional validity of the ADA.

While the Tennessee case questions Congress’s authority to enact the ADA
under Section 5 of the Fourteenth Amendment, other state-sponsored appeals
challenge the Commerce Clause and the Spending
Clause as authority for federal disability rights legislation.

If the Court does not uphold Title II of the ADA under Section 5, federal
disability laws that are just
beginning to enable disabled persons to participate in critical facets of
American life will be undermined before the goal of full integration has
been achieved."

MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD!

SHOW THE COUNTRY AND THE SUPREME COURT YOU CARE ABOUT CIVIL RIGHTS!

IF YOU DON’T CARE, THEY SURE WON’T AND THE ADA WILL BE GUTTED!

For more information contact HolLynn D’Lil at hdlil [at] earthlink.net or (916) 443-3623

or Susan Barnhill at barnonhill [at] aol.com or (916) 372-4006.


25 Organizations Filed Amicus Brief in Support of Lane and Jones

In Support of People with Disabilities

The following organizations also filed an Amicus Brief in support of Lane
and Jones. This brief was written by Ira Burnim and Jennifer Mathis of the
Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, in partnership with Howrey, Simon,
Arnold, and White, LLP.


AARP

American Association on Mental Retardation

American Council of the Blind


American Diabetes Association, American

Occupational Therapy Association, American Psychiatric Association

The Arc of the United States

Association on Higher Education and Disability

Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law

Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing

Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance


Easter Seals

The Epilepsy Foundation

Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, Inc.

National Alliance for the Mentally Ill,

National Association for Rights Protection and Advocacy

National Association of Councils on Developmental Disabilities

National Council on Independent Living

National Health Law Program

National Mental Health Association

National Mental Health Consumers

Self-Help Clearinghouse

National Multiple Sclerosis Society

Paralyzed Veterans of America

Tennessee Disability Coalition,

United Cerebral Palsy Associations, Inc.

Also in support:

California Coalition of Agencies Serving the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, Inc

Resources for Independent Living

Independent Living Services of Northern California