Disability Viewpoints - Episode Jan. 2020

(light upbeat music) - [Man] Don’t give up when someone denies you your right. (light upbeat music) - Thank you very much. This is this month’s Legislative Update. - Continue pushing it a step forward. - We two bodies are on our way, right?ú - Yeah. - If you give people the chance, and encouragement and some supports, amazing things can happen. (light upbeat music) - Hello I’m Mark Hughes. Welcome to “Disability Viewpoints.

” 00:48 - My very special cohost today is Imami Cruzen. Imami is a recent graduate of the University of Minnesota Hubbard School of Journalism, very proud of her for that. And Imami, you have some special guests today. And tell us what you’re gonna talk about. - Yes, so I have a self advocate named Katy Cummins-Bakko and David Fenley, with the Minnesota Council on Disability. He’s their ADA director and I’m gonna be talking about winter accessibility and inclusion, and hopefully get some resources out there for people. - Well that sounds great.

01:21 - My guest today will be Kody Olson from the Minnesota Council on Disability. We recently had a gathering with Governor Walz and Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan in the senate, to talk about the issues coming up in this upcoming 2020 legislative session, which isn’t too far away. And so we’ll discuss those things in a couple minutes here on “Disability Viewpoints.” We hope you’ll stay tuned. (light upbeat music) Welcome back to “Disability Viewpoints.” I’m Mark Hughes. With me today is my special guest, Kody Olson, from the Minnesota Council on Disability, and then Chris Serres, from the Minneapolis “Star Tribune.” - Thank you.

02:10 - - A phenomenal writer, and we hope you see some of his articles in the, he had a recent one in last Sunday’s paper that was very good. So Kody, about a month from now, we’re gonna start out the 2020 legislative session. And that’ll be Tuesdays at the Capitol. It’ll mean a whole bunch of things. Yes, recently we had a session with Governor Walz and the lieutenant governor on what some of the things we think we’re gonna talk about this legislative session. How about we review some of those at this point? - Mm-hmm, absolutely. Thank you for having me on the show, and I think, you know, just to start a recent article that came out on “Star Tribune,” right above the headline was, “Disability rights are gonna be the center “of the legislative session.

” 03:02 - And being in disability policy and the people who, our community, we hope that that rings true. We hope that’s more than just a headline. We actually wanna see action done. - [Mark] Right. - And so I think the governor and our bipartisan panel of legislators was an excellent first step in actually realizing that goal. We had both the governor and the lieutenant governor attend our panel. Anyone who’s been following Governor Walz and Lieutenant Governor Flanagan, we know there slogan is “One Minnesota.” - [Mark] Right. - That’s an issue that they talk about in our panel when they provided the welcoming remarks, is “One Minnesota” especially means people with disabilities.

03:47 - The governor talked about his vision for barrier-free Minnesota in also realizing that, not only do we have to have a goal, but we also have to back our priorities with resources, and we have to back our priorities with actual legislation. - Right, absolutely. The Community Tuesdays at the Capitol, can you tell us a little bit about those, so people can start planning to come on down to see us down there? - Absolutely. The Brain Injury Alliance hosts a fantastic, in partnership with many other wonderful stakeholders, the Tuesdays at the Capitol event, which is every Tuesday. I believe it’s 9:00-10:00. They meet in the Department of Transportation cafeteria to talk about what happened last week and what’s happening next week, in the political issues that we want to see solved at the Capitol. So this is a great opportunity for members of the disability community to connect with the issues at the Capitol, and to have a forum to discuss what you want to see addressed, and also to have a structure to actually go out and meet your legislators on a weekly basis.

04:53 - - We had an interesting, like we said, when we got together with Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan and Governor Walz recently, we had two different groups. One group, we got into the Senate and got to. The second group had their issues that we just plain ran out of time, I guess. All the folks in the audience got a chance to state their case and what their issues were going to be for this legislative session. The second group that we didn’t get to, can you tell me what some of their issues might have been? - So, before I go into that, I want to just first talk about that first half.

05:30 - We had a really incredible turnout from the disability community with our legislative form on disability. We had a really cool bi-partisan group of panelists, of legislators who represented bonding committees, Health and Human Services, and Transportation. These are all issues that MCD’s working very hard on, and that members of the disability community really want to see some action on. It was just really incredible to see a huge line of people wanting to speak to their legislators. We only intended to have about 20-30 minutes of remarks from the audience, and it ended up taking over an hour and a half.

06:04 - So it was just an incredible display of commitment and advocacy from the disability community and I was just so honored to be part of that. - Right, and people did get a chance to testify. Would you like to talk about that at this point? - We let everybody get through the line. Absolutely, everybody got to speak. That was the really cool thing about that event. What we didn’t hear in the second half, was a community panel that we had invited from folks like the Arc Minnesota Brain Injury Alliance, Minnesota Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities, and the MCIL, the Centers for Independent Living, as well as NAMI.

06:38 - So we asked them to come and speak to some of their legislator priorities, and while we didn’t get to hear that, some of them were able to… You’ll get to see there agendas being published in the coming days. For example, the Arc Minnesota, MCD, has been a part of a larger stakeholder group that the Arc Minnesota has put together, and this stakeholder group has really focused in on how can we prevent sexual violence in the disability community? That’s a huge issue that we really need to see more attention put on. There’s a group put together and we’re exploring policy solutions on what we can do to reduce the abysmal rate of sexual violence in the disability community. - That’s a big issue these days. - [Kody] It’s a huge issue. - It kind of bothers me that it is, but it’s the real world out there and it is a big issue.

07:27 - I, myself, got up for a couple minutes and spoke on Metro Mobility, and I said it’s nice to have money to put forth for Metro Mobility, but it isn’t always the issue. The issue at this time is management, and what I forgot to say or didn’t say, and I’m going to say it now, what the plan was, and that is to introduce a bill to get it back to the Metropolitan Transit Commission, like it was in 1976, and forgo the contractors and get it under one roof so that the city bus drivers who have a strong union, yes they do, but they won’t lose their seniority. They’ll keep their benefits, and what makes a difference, they’ll stay at the same rate of pay, and whether they drive a 40 foot bus, or a city bus, or a Metro Mobility van, it shouldn’t make a difference. I think the initial cost, because it got changed over will be ridiculously high, but I think at the end of the day, we’ll be able to streamline operations and might have a better run system. Then take the city map and bust it into six zones, so you have buses coming in and out and make this service more efficient.

08:46 - However, at this point, and I’m going to also say, that I have talked to Sandy Maselin and called for an audit with Jim Nobles, and so that’ll be up and coming. That’s what I have to say about that, but we can’t let this go on. You know, you get home at ten to two in the morning, or you have a ride that changed, they didn’t tell you. Then you got phone lines all over the place, nobody gets a hold of you, ‘cause nobody tried. So, that tells me that management is lax. That’s all I’ll say about it. So let’s cover some of the other issues at this point. Kody, go ahead.

09:20 - - Another issue, the Minnesota Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities, released some of their tier one issues, which means that they’re gonna’ be fighting the hardest four and one of those issues is a partnership with the Council on disability, actually, and that is reforming the way that our PCA transportation is. One thing that we at the council want to do, we’ve been working in partnership with a lot of advocates and with different advocacy organizations. We want to see an expansion of the different types of reimbursable activities under a PCA’s plan, and we want that to include transportation. So we want to be able to see folks who use PCA’s services, being able to utilize their services for the purpose of transportation, because Mark, like you said, transportation is so important to getting around in your community. - Well, it is the PCA’s issues first, and we have trouble with that because we can’t pay enough.

10:15 - What has to happen with the PCA issue is, it has to be on a tiered system per education. Then you move up to the Wade scale, and I think Chris has done some stories on those very things. Then the transportation next, if you’re going to have the transportation, you can have the PCA, so you can go to your work, or your school, or whichever it is. Do you have a final thought, Kody? - I think the last thing that I want to say is, there was a great comment from a legislator who said, “we need to stop balancing the budget “on the backs of people with disabilities.” - [Mark] Absolutely. - Talking about that $15 an hour for PCA professionals, like Governor Walz said, we need to back our priorities with our resources and legislation. - [Mark] Okay.

Chris Serres, 10:53 - do you have any comments you want to make? - Oh, I just think this session is making up to be incredibly exciting. One of the things you cited was policy and what really stands out, to me at least so far this year, is that there seems to be more of a focus on policy, as well as on issues that affect people’s real daily lives. - [Mark] Absolutely. - Quality of life issues seem at the forefront: transportation, Metro Mobility, you brought up sexual violence, the fact that violence against women with disabilities is at least three times greater than others. There are all kinds of quality of life issues that, to be quite frank, in other years, in budget years, tends to get lost. - Do you want to talk about anything coming up on the “Star Tribune” before we go? - Well, I think we’re going to be covering the session, you know, some of these exciting proposals.

11:50 - One of the things that I thought was exciting was that Arc Minnesota, on their legislative agenda, they would really like to address guardianship reform. There’s about 15,000 people in this state, adults with disabilities that have guardians that control broad areas of their lives, you know, their everyday decision making. There is a place for guardians, but a number of other states, at least a dozen other states, have actually explored alternatives to guardianship that would give people more power over their lives. I just think that’s one of the examples of these quality of life issues, personal liberty issues, that I think will be promising this session. - Sounds great. Well at this time, I’d like to thank Kody Olson, from the Minnesota Council on Disability, Chris Serres, from the Minneapolis “Star Tribune.

” 12:39 - As always, thanks for coming on over here. And I want to thank Joan Wilshire also before we go, on giving me the opportunity on Metro Mobility. Even though I’ve ridden it way too often maybe, I’ve learned a lot of things and I guess we’ll keep learning as things develop. As they develop, we’ll let you know right here on “Disability Viewpoints.” We’ll be right back. (light upbeat music) - Hi. This is Imami Cruzen, and today I am speaking with self-advocate Katy Cummins-Bakko, and David Fenley, with the Minnesota Council on Disability.

13:18 - As we approach several more months of winter, I know that snow and ice can make accessibility a little more difficult. I am happy to be able to speak with them a little bit about accessibility and inclusion in winter. Thank you for coming on. - Thanks for having me. - Yeah, no problem. - So, I guess to get started, for people who aren’t thinking very often about accessibility in winter time, could you tell me a little bit about, maybe what are some of the accessibility issues that people with disabilities are thinking about going into winter? - I use two crutches to walk. For me personally, some of the specific issues, of course, are the snow and the ice. I still like to take walks in the winter, and you can definitely tell the maintenance of the sidewalks and where people are a little better at it than others.

14:14 - A really tough issue is when the sidewalk gets to the road, people often will shovel up to that junction and not past it, so it makes it really hard to get to the street from the sidewalk. That’s a pretty big issue for me. Generally, just keeping the sidewalks clear, which, as a St. Paul resident, it’s our responsibility at my house and of all the neighbors too. So that’s something that can be pretty tricky in the winter time. I have to make sure to wear really good boots, just like anyone else, but if you think about how I have my two feet plus my two crutches, and both of them have to be stable.

14:56 - It makes it a lot harder if that’s not maintained well for me. - At the Council on Disability, I field calls similar to this on a regular basis. My disabilities don’t limit my mobilities. I don’t have that personal experience, but I do have some understanding of what the laws and regulations are around snow clearing, and strangely enough, there is no statewide law that requires people to clear their sidewalks. It’s governed at the city level or the municipal level, but the majority of them do have rules.

15:31 - If you’re a homeowner, you have to clear it within 24 hours after a snowfall. If you’re a business owner, a lot of the times it’s four hours. But snow clearing is a major issue. There is a state law though that you can’t put snow in disability parking spots. You’d think that would go without saying, but snow plow operators sometimes think “Oh, here’s an open place to put snow.” Yeah, no. People use that to park and have access and live independently. Don’t put the snow in an access aisle. It’s not a free space.

16:05 - It’s a space that’s used by folks with disabilities to actually leave their house. A lot of times, who’s responsibility it is to clear snow, whether it’s a transportation organization, whether it’s a county, whether it’s a city, whether it’s a business, whether it’s a homeowner, whether it’s the state, is not clear. I can assist with finding out who’s responsibility it is to clear that space. It’s best usually to go to the city. If you have complaints about homeowners, or if you have complaints about snow clearing in front of businesses or city streets, they can do a good job of directing you to the proper place to find out who needs to clear. There is an obligation, both city ordinances and the ADA, to keep walkways clear.

16:55 - - Okay, and as the ADA director with the Minnesota Council on Disability, I guess is there anything people should know besides what you just discussed, when it comes to how the ADA applies to winter accessibility? - Yeah, the ADA does state pretty clearly that business owners, so title three of the ADA applies to public accommodations, that would be like the private sector, whether it’s a stadium, whether it’s a business, whether it’s a bar, or whether it’s anywhere you can go as a member of the public, it does state that they need to maintain clear and accessible routes. That’s the parking, that’s the front entrance, that’s the accessible route up to the front entrance. The ADA does require that they keep that clear on a regular basis. It’s not just once a week. If it snows, get out there regularly and clear the snow. If someone who does have a disability has a complaint, they can go to the Department of Human Rights, they can also call the Department of Justice if they so desire.

18:03 - If they need assistance in finding out who to call, they can call our agency and we’re more than happy to assist them in determining where they need to go to get snow cleared. If it’s in their apartment building, if it’s in front of their local business, all that stuff, there is an obligation to clear that snow. - [Imami] That’s good to know. - That’s really good to know. I didn’t know. When you said that I’m a self-advocate, I think that’s such an interesting point that more of us need to learn about that there is so much more out there for us to help represent us and advocate for us. The Target near my house does not have enough parking spots, and it becomes so much more obvious in the winter time, because it’s cold for everybody. It doesn’t feel good to run from your car when it’s 10 degrees and snowing out, but taking accessible parking places is not the answer.

19:05 - That’s what I see so much more often in the winter time. I’ll even see somebody waiting in the car as if they’re saying, “Well when somebody who needs this spot comes, “then I’ll move.” They assume that we’re going to get out and say “I need that parking spot,” which I’m not going to do because getting in and out of a car is very difficult for me. I’m only going to do it the amount of times I plan to. If I can’t park there, I go home. I don’t do my grocery shopping. In the past, I’ve done things like leave notes on cars, I’ve gone to the business and talked to them and they don’t know who they’re supposed to talk to, and so then I don’t know who to talk to.

19:47 - I’ve learned so much already today just by speaking with both of you. - You know, that highlights a point that I encounter quite frequently. I really view this as a cultural problem, and winter of course, magnifies that. Someone who says, “Oh, I’m just going to be here for a few minutes to run in,” well, you’re essentially stomping on the rights of an individual with a disability to, in many instances, leave their house. People view disability parking as a privilege.

20:20 - “Oh, you’re so lucky you get to park so close to the door.” No. It’s “I’m so lucky I get to leave my home.” - Exactly. - That’s what it is. It’s about independence, it’s not a privilege, It literally allows you to interact in the world the same way everybody else does, and folks need to hear that. - Yes, and I guess going from that, when it comes to individuals, what should they know when it comes to accessibility and winter, and even from a city perspective or ADA perspective, what are their responsibilities too? - What I try to explain to people when I’ve had a situation that has been less than ideal for me as a woman with disabilities is, just getting out the door was effort for me. I live in chronic pain. I think my upcoming surgery will be my 28th. Just getting up, getting dressed and out the door, was already a lot of effort for me.

21:22 - So when I interact with somebody in the public, it’s not my first struggle of the day. So if they just think, “Well, what’s the big deal? “You just didn’t get to park closer to the building.” I’ve burned through so much of my energy already, and I may be reaching my pain limit already in the day by the time I get there, that it’s the difference between getting my groceries or not. Emotionally, it feels like they’re basically saying to me, “You don’t matter enough to me as a community member, “for me to acknowledge the fact “that you have the legitimate right to park here “and I don’t, but I don’t care. “I’m going to take it anyway.” I think people just need to step back and imagine what life would be like for them if the most basic human right, which is to leave their home and be part of society, was removed from them.

22:16 - It’s so isolating already, so when you make this effort to leave your home and it’s stymied by the first stop you make in your day, it makes you really sad and feel really isolated, like you’re a second class citizen in the community. - Yeah, I want understanding and empathy, not pity and “Oh, your life is so hard.” - Not at all. - It’s a distinct difference. - It is. - Society tends to focus on the “Oh, I feel so sorry for you.” It’s like, I don’t want your pity. Just don’t park in my spot. - Yeah, there are just certain things that were given to even the playing field. I love the fact that I have crutches because they’re my ticket out of my door. I don’t want anyone to feel sorry for me.

23:09 - I live my life to the fullest that I know how. I just want the respect and the resources that were provided to me as somebody with limitations so I can live to the fullest. - I guess when it comes to people who, maybe want to be more of an ally when it comes to accessibility and inclusion in the winter time, what should people be thinking about when it comes to inviting people with disabilities out to activities, when it comes to how they can make sure the venue is accessible or the activity is accessible? What can people be working on? - Go ahead if you can. - I work with businesses pretty regularly, and a lot of the time what I hear from them is, “Oh, those people never come here anyways,” and they view it as “Oh, there’s nobody like that in my community.” People with disabilities represent 25% of the US population.

24:10 - That’s a large number of folks, that’s a large number of folks. Many disabilities are not apparent. You can’t see them, and usually the case is is those people aren’t coming into your business and they’re not frequenting your establishment, because you’re not accessible and they’re taking their business elsewhere. To answer your question, the first thing that I would say when calling up a business is to say, “Are you accessible?” If they say no, say “Well then I’m going to go somewhere else “and spend my money.” So they know they’re losing business because that is, unfortunately, that’s one of the easiest ways to convince a business person that accessibility is important. Do you have anything to add to that? - Just some general things too, like if it’s first come, first serve, if you call and say, “I have a mobility issue or a disability of some kind,” you need to take reservations from that person, because we can’t wait an hour to go sit down at a table, the way somebody who is able bodied can do that. Well the bars in the bathroom for sure.

25:24 - There are places all along University that don’t even have bars in the bathroom, let alone an accessible stall. There was something else that I was thinking about. - Invite your friends out - Yeah. - Don’t not invite them because you think that they might not be able to participate. That’s just treating somebody with a disability differently than you would treat somebody else in society. That’s exactly what we don’t want. We want you to just treat us like everybody else.

25:54 - Don’t think it’s awkward because we look different, or we move different, or we think different. - A lot of First Avenue, I don’t know if the Myth is still open, but they have seating for people with disabilities. If you have a friend who has a disability, don’t even ask them. Just get tickets and then call and say, “Somebody I’m coming with has a disability.” Then call your friend and say, “I got us tickets, it’s all taken care of.

” 26:26 - Just try to make it not such a big deal on the person with the disability all the time, because we always feel like such a burden. If you can take away some of those limitations that we have in going out without it being a big issue, it just normalizes so much more for us. - Okay, well thank you both for sharing your perspectives. I think a resource for people if they want to learn more is of course, the Minnesota Council on Disability and they can always reach out to you or anyone with the council just to learn more. I want to thank both of you for coming on. Thank you for watching.

27:05 - I hope viewers were able to learn a little bit more about inclusion in the winter time and thanks again to Katy and David. - Thank you. - Thank you very much. (light upbeat music) - Well, already we’ve gone and had another edition of “Disability Viewpoints.” I’d like to, at this time, thank my guest Kody Olson, from the Minnesota Council on Disability who will be joining us for the legislative update during the legislative session this year. And Christopher Serres, from the Minneapolis “Star Tribune,” who does an outstanding job always on here. We talked about some great issues today and hope you’ll join us for Community Tuesdays at the Capitol 10:00-11:00 on Tuesdays, at the Minnesota Department of Transportation cafeteria.

27:53 - And Imami, it was an honor having you as our co-host today, too. - Thank you Mark. I want to thank Katy and David for coming on and talking about winter accessibility and inclusion. I’m hoping it’s helpful for people who are watching so they can learn a little bit more about how to be inclusive. - Great. Thank you for being here. Hope you come back and see us and we’ll see you back here soon. Again, for the entire team here at “Disability Viewpoints,” I’m Mark Hughes with Imami Cruzen.

28:22 - Thanks for watching “Disability Viewpoints.” We’ll see you soon. Bye for now. (light upbeat music) .