pages: CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2018-05-09.pdf, 11
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CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities | 2018-05-09 | 11 | COMMISSION ON DISABILITY MEETING MUTES OF Wednesday May 9, 2018 6:30 p.m. here, period. This is, it sounds cynical humor, but it's, I think a reality that we might be looking at in the future. We want this to be a friendly, inclusive, fully accessible city here and into the future. Alex Ghenis: And then also, that disability reforms are beneficial regardless. Climate change provides a really strong point of advocacy for that. I think that the commission and hopefully us and any allies can really articulate that. And also on the flip side, the very strong imagery of the vulnerability and experience of people with disabilities during climate change provides a real kickstart for the need for climate adaptation and resilience. So it's something for us to point out to anybody that might be slower on implementing these plans, and then we want to connect and coordinate, brainstorm policies, combined messages, and advocate with everybody that's involved. Alex Ghenis: A really quick overview of us in our organization. The World Institute on Disability, as I mentioned, we've been working on climate change for about four years, but we've been around for over 35 years. We were co-founded by, some of you may know, Ed Roberts, Judy Heumann, and a lot of the kind of original leaders of the disability rights movement. We're located at the Ed Roberts Campus, on top of Ashby BART and partner with a whole consortium of other disability agencies including the Center for Independent Living and Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund and other partners over there. We have connections in Washington. We have connections in Sacramento. We have connections internationally. And we really do work to learn and implement the best kind of forward-looking policies for people with disabilities. Alex Ghenis: We do direct consulting with government, non profits, and business communities, as well as take grants in for research and policy development. And we have been working with the Red Cross and other stakeholders for over 10 years on disaster readiness efforts specifically. I started researching climate change and disability a little bit over four years ago, and it's amazing what we've found and how much people care about this, and we really hope to get something going. I will say, we've worked on statewide policy. We've worked on a lot of public education. We have a lot very interested people. I'm excited about the potential to work with Alameda because this would be our first opportunity to really get in the weeds of the city's climate resilience plan. And I view it as an opportunity to have Alameda as building a framework, a replicable framework for the rest of California, the Bay Area, the country, about how to address the needs of people with disabilities in climate resilience. Because this hasn't happened yet. This focused project and effort hasn't happened yet anywhere, and it needs to happen, and I would love to see Alameda be the first city to do it. Alex Ghenis: So how can we make it happen? So Alameda is already a leader in its climate resilience efforts. I was amazed to hear from Patrick about the work that the city is doing and really looking forward to seeing it moving forward. We believe that we can assist the city in analyzing inclusion opportunities in its resilience plans and policies and get into the weeds in that as necessary. Connect to key stakeholders through our networks at various different levels and really establish long-term connections there between the disability community, between the city, and really try to make those sustainable moving forward. Having on the ground community research, assembling and bringing forth, whether we do surveys, whether we do We've done a lot of focus groups. We have areas for focus groups, and I'm sure that we can partner with the city to have a space to hold those focus groups, providing active input in city efforts. And then also in the long- term, if the city chooses to, providing ongoing consultation and up-to-date information as it comes about the regional, state, and national levels. 05/30/18 Page 11 of 32 | CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2018-05-09.pdf |