TWW Louisville September Focus - Disability rights

September's TWW-LSI focus is on Disability Rights. 

Most of us take the opportunities afforded to us -- with regard to our ability to live independently -- for granted. The aspects of life that enable independent living include living arrangements, employment opportunities, transportation, social and recreational activities, and many other aspects of everyday life that persons without disabilities don't give a second thought. Persons with disabilities, however, must consider accessibility.

Please join us to hear more about disability rights and poverty. Attorney Chris Harrell has been representing Social Security claimants for over 20 years and has experience with all levels of disability appeals. He served as chair of the Louisville Bar Association’s Social Security Disability section and frequently lectures about Social Security issues.

Social Security has two programs to assist disabled people. The first is called "Social Security Disability Insurance Benefits." This program is for people who have had to stop working due to their disabilities and who are "insured" for benefits through the payroll taxes they paid into the Social Security system. 

Disabled people who have erratic work histories or who may not have worked enough to be insured for benefits may qualify for the second program, "Supplemental Security Income Benefits," or SSI Benefits. This is a welfare program designed to keep disabled persons out of poverty. In order to qualify for this program, a disabled person must also meet certain income requirements. Children under the age of 22 may also qualify for SSI Benefits or other auxiliary benefits through the Social Security Administration if they themselves are disabled, if they have a parent who is currently receiving Social Security Benefits, or if they have a parent who is deceased. A parent who is receiving disability benefits may also have a portion of their child support obligations lowered by the court if their child is receiving auxiliary benefits from their disability payments.

BIO: Chris Harrell is a Louisville lawyer who focuses his practice in family law and Social Security Disability law. (www.louisvilledisabilityattorney.com)

Resources:

The Family Health Centers offer low-fee medical care and have clinics located in several locations around Louisville: www.fhclouisville.org

CenterStone offers low-fee mental health treatment, counseling services, developmental disabilities services, and substance abuse rehabilitation services. Their facilities are located throughout the Jefferson county area and surrounding counties. If you are experiencing a mental health crisis, you should contact their crisis hotline at 502-589-4313. To make an appointment, contact their appointment line at 502-589-1100 or visit their website: www.centerstone.org

Enrollment in Kentucky Affordable Care Act. Check for your eligibility: kynect.ky.gov

KY Office of Vocational Rehabilitation offers a variety of programs designed to help disabled persons get back to work. Some examples are job training, vocational testing, job placement services: ovr.ky.gov

TWW Charity Fundraiser & Volunteer opportunity - American Heart Association

The September member spotlight is on Stephanie, whose son has a congenital heart defect that required intervention. 

Many people living with heart disease require ongoing healthcare to survive and our September charity focus, the American Heart Association (AHA), is there to help with patient and physician education, funding for research, and CPR training nationwide. 

How can you help? 

• Donate to the AHA directly at https://donatenow.heart.org/ 

• Raise donations for participating in the Kentuckiana Heart Walk to be held on Saturday, Sept 23 at Waterfront Park. To sponsor a walker or to register to walk, go to Kentuckiana Heart Walk - Heart Walk - American Heart Association . 

To learn more about congenital heart disease  Link HERE
To learn more about our local chapter of the American Heart Association - Link HERE

TWW Louisville Member Spotlight - Stephanie

Member Spotlight:

STEPHANIE 

Stephanie joined the Together We Will - Louisville/Southern Indiana Chapter several months ago and, as a wife and mother concerned for the safety and future of her African-American husband and six boys, is a passionate advocate for the expansion of diversity in our country. Stephanie is deaf and she has a son who was born with a congenital heart  defect. She’s also concerned about the lack of healthcare for women and the lack of overall compassion in our current political climate. Let’s find out more about Stephanie in this month’s member spotlight. 

Q: How has your life/thoughts changed since 11/8?  

A: Since the election on November 8, I have found myself to be more aware of my surroundings, and more fearful for my husband when he walks out our front door every day. He is black, along with our six boys, and I am angered to know their oppression has only worsened through the emboldened citizens who view them in a negative light because of their skin color. The white men who have taken back control have me scared for my boys’ future or lack thereof.

Q: What are your top three concerns post election? 

A: My top three concerns post election are the treatment of anyone who is not a white male -- whether in the workforce or in everyday life situations -- lack of healthcare for women, and the decline in overall compassion for others. My eyes have definitely been opened to those who don’t support the cause of social justice. I have been able to educate a few and get them to understand the views of the minorities in the country. With others, I have had to cut ties because their views discriminate against me as a woman and my family of color.

Q: How do you plan to stay politically active during the Trump era? 

A: I plan to stay active by staying aware of what is going on and by speaking out against hate. Staying quiet furthers the oppression of my husband and boys. I will also continue to educate my boys who are 3-14 in the history and present happenings of our country. For example, after Charlottesville, my husband and I talked to our older boys about it. And to help them further understand the ideas behind the Nazis, they watched the movie Schindler’s List. They were intrigued and their eyes stayed glued for the whole three hours of the movie with a few occasional questions. I feel staying politically active is my obligation as a white mom to my black husband and boys.

Q: What do you feel is the importance of diversity in social movements? 

A: Diversity in the social movements is of the utmost importance for understanding each other so that we may unite! It seems we have gone backwards in the sense of diversity, because I grew up around many cultures and never thought about it. I am of Italian descent, our hairdresser is an Arabic-Muslim from Jordan. I married into a black family, my stepmom is German-born and so much more. This was all normal to me and it angers me to know there are people who don’t like others that are not like themselves. So much so that they’ll actually display hate toward them. The eight years when Obama was President, diversity seemed to be more accepted and enjoyed, and it’s how I want the USA to be again for my children.

Police brutality is a reason I fear for my husband. 45’s “jokes” only made this situation worse. I also know people who agree police officers should shoot now and ask questions later. It makes me cringe being around them. To know they agree if my husband gets pulled over for a simple traffic violation, or because he fits a description, that he should be shot if a cop feels any immediate threat? People argue, “Well, Drew is a good guy…”  These officers don’t know Drew, and many of these guys shot down were also good guys. So many of these issues today are not being addressed; therefore, the problems continue to exist.

Q:  How are you feeling? 
A: I’ve said this before. “Right now, America is like an alcoholic/addict. The first step is admitting the problem, and until then this country will continue to be on the path backwards.” This country is lacking so much these days that I get teary-eyed when I see the simplest acts of kindness. These acts should not be a rarity, but a normal, regular assurance. Love is what makes life worth it. 

Disability Rights for All

Disability Rights for All

By Ellen Birkett Morris

According to the Council for Disability Awareness, over 37 million Americans are classified as disabled; about 12% of the total population. Disability touches people of every age. Just over 1 in 4 of today's 20-year-olds will become disabled before they retire.Having a president who chooses to mock a disabled reporter rather than address the importance of disability rights means we have to fight that much harder to support the rights of the disabled, whether we are in those ranks today or in the future.  

                                                                                                                                                          
There are a number of groups, both national and regional, offering advocacy, education, resources, legal advice, technical assistance and training.

Here are a sampling of these groups:

Kentucky Protection and Advocacy, an independent state agency, protects and promotes the rights of Kentuckians with disabilities through information and referral, technical assistance, education and training, and legal advocacy. Resources include assistive technology, education, employment, mental health and transition services.

The Arc of Kentucky holds a vision of a positive future for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities; a future of communities with services and supports that will promote lives of value for Kentuckians with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

They run Advocates In Action, an innovative self-determination leadership academy designed to train individuals with disabilities; family members, siblings of family members with disabilities; or professionals working with people with disabilities.

Advocates In Action provides state-of the-art knowledge about issues relating to developmental disabilities and builds the competencies necessary for Advocates in Action participants to become advocates who can effectively influence public policy.

Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund is a national law and policy center dedicated to protecting and advancing the civil rights of people with disabilities through legislation, litigation, advocacy, technical assistance, and education and training of attorneys, advocates, persons with disabilities, and parents of children with disabilities. Their site includes references to their large library of information.

ADAPT is a national grass-roots community that organizes disability rights activists to engage in nonviolent direct action, including civil disobedience, to assure the civil and human rights of people with disabilities to live in freedom.

The National Disability Rights Network (NDRN) works to improve the lives of people with disabilities by guarding against abuse; advocating for basic rights; and ensuring accountability in health care, education, employment, housing, transportation, and within the juvenile and criminal justice systems.

The American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD) works to improve the lives of people with disabilities by acting as a convener, connector, and catalyst for change, increasing the political and economic power of people with disabilities.

TWW Shero - Fannie Lou Hamer

Who Was Fannie Lou Hamer?

by Tami Harbolt

Born in 1917 in the Mississippi Delta, Fannie Lou Hamer was one of 20 children. Although she had learned to read and write, by adolescence she was a sharecropper like the other members of her family. Along with her husband Pap, Fannie Lou worked on the W.D. Marlow plantation in Sunflower County, MS. 

In 1961, Hamer was forcibly sterilized, a common procedure for black women in the county. She had entered the hospital for a minor procedure, but came home after a complete hysterectomy. She was given a hysterectomy while in the hospital for minor surgery, a procedure so common it was known as a “Mississippi appendectomy.” “[In] the North Sunflower County Hospital, I would say about six out of the 10 Negro women that go to the hospital are sterilized with the tubes tied,” she told a Washington, DC, audience three years later.

In 1963, she became involved in the activities of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, or SNCC, in their efforts to register southern blacks to vote. When her boss on the plantation found out she had tried to register to vote (she failed the registration literacy test), he fired her and evicted her family from their rented home. But her bravery drew the attention of other southern activists, and Hamer was recruited by SNCC to organize and register voters in Mississippi.

“On June 9, 1963, Hamer and several fellow activists were returning from a citizenship training program in Charleston, South Carolina, when their bus stopped in Winona, Mississippi. In an act of protest, several members of the group sat at the bus station’s whites-only lunch counter. Before long the police removed them from the café, arresting six people. In jail, several of the activists were beaten by the police and by other African-American inmates, whom the police forced to use blackjack weapons. The damage done to Hamer’s eyes, legs, and kidneys affected her for the rest of her life.” (American Experience 1996-2017)

In 1964, Hamer ran for Congress as a candidate from the newly formed Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, which formed to challenge the pro-segregationist Democratic Party. Her insistence on recognition at the national convention propelled her to even more exposure, and following the passage of The Voting Rights Act of 1965 she spoke up for such issues as farmer’s co-ops, Head Start, and school desegregation. Her health began to decline in the 1970’s, and she passed away in 1977 from complications due to her prison beating and cancer.

Hamer’s tombstone displays one of her most famous quotes: “I am sick and tired of being sick and tired.” 

Resources

“Fannie Lou Hamer Biography.com.” The Biography.com website.

https://www.biography.com/people/fannie-lou-hamer-205625, July 10, 2017

“Freedom Summer Article: Fannie Lou Hamer”

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/freedomsummer-hamer/

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TWW Shero - Wilma P. Mankiller

Wilma P. Mankiller: 

Cherokee Chief and Women’s Rights Activist

by Tami Harbolt

Wilma Mankiller was born in 1945 at Hastings Indian Hospital in Tahlequah, OK. Although her family moved to San Francisco when she was a child, she eventually returned to Oklahoma in 1977. Her surname is from a tribal military rank. Wilma Mankiller married twice and had two children.

She was called to serve when a group of Indians occupied Alcatraz from 1969-1971. During their 19-month occupation, Mankiller visited them and assisted their efforts in bringing attention to the plight of all Indian nations. This event led her to further her education and serve in various positions on Cherokee tribal land in Oklahoma. You can learn more about the occupation of Alcatraz and see Wilma Mankiller speak at https://youtu.be/gEmae2PsWJI.

 “Everybody is sitting around saying, 'Well, jeez, we need somebody to solve this problem of bias.' That somebody is us. We all have to try to figure out a better way to get along.” -- Wilma Mankiller

                      

In 1983 she was chosen as the first female running mate of the Chief of the Cherokee nation, and then later won the election as Chief. She served her people for 12 years. She strongly believed that education was the way to improve the lives of all.    

        

As the tribe’s leader, she was both the principal guardian of centuries of Cherokee tradition and customs, including legal codes, and chief executive of a tribe with a budget that reached $150 million a year by the end of her tenure. The money included income from several factories, gambling operations, a motel, gift shops, a ranch, a lumber company and other businesses as well as the federal government.

One of her priorities was to plow much of this income back into new or expanded health care and job-training programs as well as Head Start and the local high school. (Verhovek 2010).

Even after she decided to step down as chief due to her failing health, Mankiller continued to be involved in tribal affairs and women’s rights. She received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1998. Mankiller passed away in 2010 from pancreatic cancer. She was 64.

To learn more about her life, check out:

Mankiller: A Chief and Her People (St. Martin’s Press, 1993), which she co-wrote with Michael Wallis.

Every Day Is a Good Day: Reflections by Contemporary Indigenous Women (Fulcrum Publishing, 2004).

The Cherokee Word for Water, the feature-length movie about her community work in Bell, OK, was filmed completely in Tahlequah and directed by her husband and community development partner of 30 years, Charlie Soap. (wilmamankiller.com)

You can also contribute to her foundation at http://mankillerfdn.org/

Sources:

https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/w/wilma_mankiller.html

Wilma Mankiller Foundation, Home, http://wilmamankiller.com/

Verhovek, Sam Howe, “Wilma Mankiller, Tribal Chief and First Woman to Lead Major Tribe, is Dead at 64.” The New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/07/us/07mankiller.html

“We Hold the Rock” https://youtu.be/gEmae2PsWJI