Justice For All
jfa(AT)mailbot.com
Hearings. Marches. OTRB Letters.
Congress reconvenes this week (April 20)
and their coming back to town promises
to be hectic and hard-hitting for disability
activists.
Just a few of the Congressional hearings
are listed below for your review:
4/21--House Committee on Ways and Means,
Subcommittee on Human Resources (Shaw),
3p.m., Rayburn House Office Building.
The subcommittee will hold a hearing
on fraud and abuse involving the SSI
program.
4/22--House Committee on Appropriations,
Subcommittee on Labor, HHS and Education
(Porter), 10:00am, 2358 Rayburn House
Office Building: The subcommittee will
hold a hearing on SSA's FY 1999
appropriations. Commissioner Ken Apfel
will testify.
4/22--Senator Jeffords and Congressman
Goodling will hold a hearing on IDEA.
At this time JFA does not have a specific
location, but will keep all posted. The
hearing is scheduled to begin in the a.m.
Don't forget the full Senate will begin
discussion of H.R. 2646, the "Coverdell
A+Education Savings Account Act." It is
likely that this debate will begin as
early as Monday, April 20th. Votes are
scheduled to begin on Tuesday and may
take two days with the proposed 17 various
amendments to be offered.
Be sure to make your voices heard loudly
and often on this very important issue.
Also try to get to the IDEA hearing. It
is imperative that large numbers of IDEA
supporters rally to show the strength of
our movement.
Hang in there, the best is yet to come...
JUSTICE FOR ALL!!!
Becky Ogle
bogle(AT)erols.com
--
Justice For All
mslife(AT)tsbbs02.tnet.com
Justice For All is pleased to share information about upcoming
events being planned for May 2 in Washington, D.C.
The first information is regarding a one-mile march - - called
the Million Mad March - - and the second is a counter-protest
to that event being planned by activists objecting to forced
psychiatric drugging.
Million Mad March
The lives of all Americans will be affected in some way by
mental illness.
Walk with us, for all of us
A one-mile walk to be held in Washington, D.C. to dispel
negative preconceptions about people with mental illness, gain
equal treatment for people with mental illness and celebrate
mental health.
When:
Saturday, May 2, 1998
Where:
Freedom Plaza
14th and Pennsylvania Ave., NW
Washington, D.C.
Honorary Co-Chairs
Tipper Gore
Mental Health Adviser to the President
Rosalynn Carter
Chair, Carter Center Mental Health Task Force
Donna Shalala
U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services
Co-Chairs
Ellen Hart Pe F1a
Patricia Kempthorne
Sponsored and Funded by:
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
Center for Mental Health Services
In cooperation with the:
American Counseling Association
American Mental Health Counselors Association
American Psychiatric Association
American Psychological Association
American Psychiatric Nurses Association
Anxiety Disorders Association of America
Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law
Congressional and Cabinet Spouses Mental Health Task Force
Federation of Families for Children's Mental Health
International Association of Psychosocial Rehabilitation
Services
Madness: User Voices in Public Mental Health
National Alliance for the Mentally Ill
National Association of Psychiatric Treatment
Centers for Children
National Association of Social Workers
National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors
National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare
National Depressive and Manic-Depressive Association
National Institute of Mental Health
National Mental Health Association
National Mental Health Consumers' Self-Help Clearinghouse
Volunteer Information Line:
(703)714-2378
General Information Line:
1(800)789-2647
--
Mental Health Counter-Protest
Free housing Friday evening, May 1, is available for 100 more
people attending Counter-protest of Forced Psychiatry on Sat.
morning, May 2, 1998
Psychiatric Survivor Activists and Allies To Pour in from
Throughout USA and Canada for Counter-protest on Saturday,
May 2, 1998, in Washington, D.C., Freedom Plaza
"EVERYTHING IS FREE...
JUST GET TO D.C.!!!" say protesters
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Free housing for up to 100
additional activists is available, courtesy of
the Center for Creative Non-Violence (CCNV) on
on Friday evening, May 1, 1998, for those attending
the next morning's Counterprotest.
Counterprotesters are arriving from New England
and Alaska, from Vancouver and Florida. They are
creating a "Counterprotest" of a major US
government public relations event promoting
the current "mental health system."
"Just get yourself to Washington, D.C.," protest
organizers announced. "Everything is free --
the Pre-Event Festival, the Housing, the Main
Event, everything. Just show up! We really
appreciate the grassroots donations making this
possible, keep it up!"
The May 2 Counterprotest especially is targeting the
rise of forced outpatient psychiatric drugging, out in
the community. The very first protester to register in
the additional housing is a survivor of involuntary
outpatient psychiatric injections of Haldol; for some
time, her "depot" time-released injections were actually
administered by mental health officials who came
into her own home with the needle, until fairly recently.
With only 18 days to go before the Counterprotest,
help by people on the Internet is being requested to
get the word out about the event, and the free housing!
Below are details about the housing, followed by a
re-cap of information on the protest.
FRIDAY NIGHT HOUSING, MAY 1, 1998
The additional free housing, all paid for by donations
of Support Coalition members, is at the Center for
Community Non-Violence (CCNV), founded by the late Mitch
Snyder.
It is available from 4 pm Friday, until 9 am Saturday.
It is located at: 425 - 2nd St., N.W., Washington, DC.
CCNV is closest to the Union Station Metro Stop. CCNV is
two blocks South and two blocks West from Union Station.
The housing is dormitory style bunks, co-ed. There is a
paid CCNV security guard for the entire time. No sleeping
bag, etc. is needed. CCNV is providing blankets, etc.
This is free, but please register your name to confirm
a space by contacting Support Coalition.
You can do this by e-mail: dendron(AT)efn.org
Or phone: (541) 345-9106. Or fax: (541) 345-3737.
ACCESS FOR ALL!
JUSTICE FOR ALL!
--
Mark Smith
mslife(AT)tsbbs02.tnet.com
--
Letter to Key OTRB Conference Committee Members
This letter is to express Justice for All's support of the Federal
rulemaking process now underway which will ensure that
over-the-road-buses(OTRB) will be fully accessible to passengers with
disabilities. We would strongly oppose any legislative effort to
undermine this rulemaking as part of the conference committee actions on
the reauthorization of the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency
Act (ISTEA), or by amending the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
Nearly eight years after passage of the ADA, the Department of
Transportation has finally issued proposed regulations that would end
discrimination in OTRB travel by requiring that new OTRBs be equipped
with lifts similar to those now required of other transportation
providers. The Department of Transportation's administrative process
establishing the specifics of this requirement is not yet finished and
must be allowed to proceed. The 60 day comment period for the rule is
currently underway, after which the Department of Transportation will
issue a final rule. Any legislative action at this time would further
prolong the existing situation which limits access to bus service for
people with disabilities and seniors with disabilities.
This is an important element of the ADA which was signed by President
Bush in 1990 yet it remains unfulfilled. We strongly encourage you to
allow this ADA established process to continue and to put aside any
legislative proposals which would perpetuate discrimination in OTRB
service.
Key Conference members:
Senators:
John H. Chafee, Chairman, Environment and Public Works Committee
Max Baucus, Raking Minority Member, Environment and Public Works
Committee
Alfonse M. D'Amato, Chairman, Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
Committee
Paul S. Sarbanes, Ranking Minority Member, Banking, Housing, and Urban
Affairs Committee
Representatives:
Bud Shuster, Chairman, Transportation and Infrastructure Committee
James L. Oberstar, Ranking Minority Member, Transportation and
Infrastructure Committee
Please write the Conference Committee members!
--
Fred Fay
jfa(AT)mailbot.com
Justice For All Moderator
http://www.mailbot.com/
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