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Equality of Opportunity
Discrimination denies people with disabilities the basic tools they need to live full and productive lives. It furthers stereotypic thinking about people with disabilities as unable or unwilling to be a productive part of society. And it causes real harm to people who are denied access to necessary programs or services. In this area, Disability Rights Ohio will work to ensure that stereotypic thinking and discrimination do not hold people with disabilities back.
Employment is an elusive goal for people with disabilities, all of whom have unique abilities to offer. Perception and fear often control the discussion.
In FY 2013, Disability Rights Ohio will
- within available funding resources, represent clients who are discriminated against in the hiring process or in their current employment where they wish to obtain or remain in that job.implement strategies for collaboration with the Rehabilitation Services Commission (RSC) for referral of RSC's clients who have employment discrimination issues to Disability Rights Ohio, and for training of RSC staff on these issues.
- develop, in collaboration with RSC, notice, training, and protocols to facilitate access to Disability Rights Ohio for applicants and recipients of vocational rehabilitation services who may wish to appeal a decision related to a VR program.
- represent clients who have been improperly denied transportation services where the denial impairs the ability to work.
- provide short term assistance to promote self-advocacy in the area of employment
Access to public facilities and private accommodations in order to fully participate in society remains a difficult issue. Even as § 504 of the Rehabilitation Act has required most public agencies to address this issue since 1973, many barriers still exist. Broad misunderstanding of the requirements for private service providers and business persist.
In FY 2013, Disability Rights Ohio will
- represent clients where barriers or discriminatory conduct prevent them from obtaining access to public benefits or services, or where there is a failure to provide accommodations in testing or other services, for example in schools or government offices, particularly where participation in democratic or governmental institutions is at stake.
- represent clients who are denied access to public accommodations.
- represent clients who are denied effective communication in governmental or private sector services, especially core governmental services such as court proceedings or access to health care.
- provide short term assistance to promote self-advocacy in the area of access to public facilities or public accommodations
The criminal justice system is rife with discrimination against people with disabilities. Children who act out because of the extraordinary physical and sexual abuse they have suffered are labeled as criminals and enter the "school-to-prison pipeline." People in the system are denied needed accommodations. Those in correctional facilities are denied treatment for their condition, and then punished and sometimes abused because of the resulting conduct.
In FY 2013, Disability Rights Ohio will
- represent people with disabilities who are subjected to discrimination or denied necessary accommodations in correctional facilities.
- represent people who are denied psychiatric treatment or services, particularly in county correctional facilities.
- develop strategies, in collaboration with urban mental health advocates, to address urban correctional facilities that are denying appropriate mental health care to inmates with disabilities.
- monitor changes in sentencing law and practices and evaluate continued segregation of "forensic" patients in state psychiatric hospitals when those sentenced for similar crimes are provided non-institutional community corrections options.
- partner in a five county juvenile detention projection a major urban county to implement the Annie E. Casey Foundation Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative.
- monitor the implementation of new juvenile competency laws to determine the impact on juveniles with disabilities and to ensure that their rights to services and treatment are protected.
- provide short-term assistance to promote self-advocacy in the area of criminal justice.