Watertown Commission on Disability

Monthly archive for January, 2007

Disabled vets gain easier access to parking plates

From Community Notes in the January 26, 2007 issue of the Watertown Tab:
Disabled vets gain easier access to parking plates
The commonwealth of Massachusetts has opened wider access to special license plates for veterans. The legislature strongly advocated for the passage of a law that will now permit veterans whose physical impairments already qualify them for [...]

(post) Holiday Op-Ed . . . .

This arrived in my email box today . . .
Tim Shriver, Chair of the International Special Olympics, wrote a very moving editorial published on Christmas day in the Washington Post. No Room at the Inn is a powerful story with an important message.

2005 Disability data from the U.S. Census Bureau

Disability happens and here are the numbers . . .
Data from the 2005 US Census is now available on the U.S. Census Bureau’s website.
a sampling:

Nearly 15% of the population 5 years and over (i.e., 40 million people) have one or more disabilities.
For the population 16-64 years, 12% of that population (i.e., [...]

Closed Captions come to Watertown Community Access Television!!

Check out the Watertown Tab’s January 5 front page article on closed captioning coming to Watertown Community Access Television!
With the aging of the baby boomer generation, hearing loss is one of the fastest growing disabilities in the United States. In fact President Bill Clinton was diagnosed with a hearing loss and began using a hearing [...]

Recycle Your Assistive Technology

From the U.S. Department of Education
Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS)
On Feb. 1, 2001, President Bush announced the New Freedom Initiative-a comprehensive program to promote the full participation of people with disabilities in all areas of society. One of the pillars of the NFI is dedicated to increasing access to assistive [technology] and [...]

Education Accountability Report

As part of its accountability system—Coordinated Program Review System (CPRS)—the Massachusetts Department of Education (DOE) oversees local compliance with State and Federal special education laws, including Chapter 766 and the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA), State and Federal civil rights laws, including the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and other State and Federal Requirements. [...]