DCCPD March Meeting Minutes

Public Body: 
Commission on Persons with Disabilities
Dates: 
May 19, 2017 4:15 pm
Description: 

DC Commission on Person with Disabilities (DCCPD)

March Meeting Minutes­­­­

March 23, 2017, 10am-11:30am

441 4th St. NW

Washington, DC 20001

 

MEMBERS IN ATTENDANCE

Commission Chair Kamilah Martin Proctor

Commissioner Gerard Counihan

Commissioner Hope Fuller

Commissioner Jarvis Grindstaff

Commissioner Shakira Hemphill

Commissioner Terrance Hunter

Commissioner Sylvia Martinez

Commissioner Tiffany Smallwood

Commissioner Derrick Smith

Alexis Taylor Director, ODR

Beatrice Schmidt, Public Affairs Specialist/ Commission Liaison, ODR

MEMBERS PARTICIPATING BY PHONE

Commissioner/Dr. Denise Decker

Commissioner Julia Wolhandler

TWO PUBLIC ATTENDEES PRESENT AT THE MEETING

  1. Call to Order

    1. The meeting was called to order by Commission Chair Kamilah Martin Proctor at 10:05am.

    2. The Chair provided a brief overview of how the meeting minutes will be approved and indicated that the DCCPD liaison would provide further information on this process.

    3. The Chair also explained that everybody will have an opportunity to vote in all meetings by email and once again in person if they have not had a chance to do it via e-mail. Everyone will be able to approve, disapprove or abstain or add comments.Comments are to be submitted to Beatrice Schmidt.

  2. Goals and Interests of the Commissioners

    1. The Chair asked each member what they would like to achieve as part of their participation on the Commission.

    2. Commissioner Wolhandler stated she would like to focus on all minority groups including those with disabilities and get involved at the grassroots level. She would also like more overlapping of minority groups including the LGBTQ community.

    3. Dr. Decker stated that she feels honored to be Commission Chair since 2008 and would like to ensure that the word disability is not just seen as those of us who may have dogs or other mobility devices or other kinds of assistance. Disability should be understood in the broadest context possible.

  3. Introduction by ODR Director Taylor

    1. ODR Director, Alexis Taylor stated that the Commission is close to its maximum of 15 Commissioners.It is the first time ever the Commission has had so many members.She indicated that she wants everyone to feel empowered and to make sure that everyone’s opinion be known to the Mayor as well as the public.

    2. She also discussed her background indicating the following:

    3. “I have been at the Office of Disability Rights for 3 years.Prior to that I was at the Office of Human Rights for 11 years as their General Counsel.We dealt with disability Issues, disability discrimination, race discrimination as well as issues related to national origin.”

    4. ODR Director, Alexis Taylor stated that the Office LGBT Affairs is interested in working together on some of the issues concerning diversity.

  4. Continued interests of the Commissioners

    1. Commissioner Hope Fuller stated she would like to work on creating greater employment opportunities for persons with targeted disabilities as defined by the Office of Personnel Management.

    2. Commissioner Derrick Smith stated that he would like to focus on veterans with disabilities and getting services aligned with their needs.

    3. Commissioner Jarvis Grindstaff stated that he has been an advocate in a non -profit community for a few years as well as in the International Community.He is looking forward to working with everyone. His goal is to pass several laws to have more accommodation for close captioning in public places where they show videos and clips.

    4. Commissioner Sylvia Martinez stated that she is a Speech Language Pathologist and would like to educate the community about disabilities and the accommodations especially non-English speakers.

    5. Commissioner Gerard Counihan stated that his goal is to get more involved with the Neighborhood Advisory Committees to find out what challenges they face in relation to disability.

    6. Commissioner Tiffany Smallwood stated that she would like to improve the education system.

    7. Commissioner Hunter stated that due to his speech disability, he does not like to see people with disabilities being taken advantage of and he hopes to stand up for people who can’t speak for themselves.

    8. Commission Chair Kamilah Martin-Proctor stated that her goal is to develop better partnerships with the community, businesses and other agencies here in District government.She stated that communication is often lacking and she would like to correct that.

    9. Community Member: ODR Director, Alexis Taylor commented that constituent has been very involved throughout for every single function and meeting that the Office of Disability Rights has held.

    10. ODR Liaison, Beatrice Schmidt stated, “My goal is to get to know everyone better. I will be reaching out to each one of you to determine what you’d like to accomplish.I also want to emphasize the importance of any reasonable accommodations that you may need to participate in the meetings.We need to schedule any reasonable accommodation at least five ten business days in advance to make sure everything is in place.Direct any emails in regards to specific reasonable accommodations that you may need to me. Part of the process going forward for now regarding meeting minutes, is that I will send it out via email at which point you will have an opportunity to vote. There will be a second opportunity to vote in-person during the meeting which will be your final opportunity to vote. I will then post the minutes on our site so please make sure you look out for my emails.Overall, my job is to make sure that everyone can effectively participate in the meetings.”

  5. Ethics Training

    1. ODR Director, Alexis Taylor stated that the Mayor’s Office of Talent and Appointments is conducting an Ethics Training on April 20, 2017.She stated, “They will provide the training to all Commission members.Everyone needs to go through this training.Please send Beatrice an e-mail if you can’t come to this training so you can attend a different one on a different day.”

    2. Dr. Decker asked if there will be an evening training.ODR Director will follow-up.

    3. Commission Chair Kamilah Martin-Proctor stated that the training is usually 2.5 hrs.

    4. Commissioner Jarvis Grindstaff asked, “Who should I contact for reasonable accommodation when it comes to getting an interpreter [for the training]?

    5. ODR Director, Alexis Taylor stated that she will make sure that Commissioner Jarvis Grindstaff is informed via email of the process.

    6. Dr. Decker stated that Eventbrite is not always accessible for many people with vision related disabilities and that we should keep this in mind and maybe offer an alternative for people who might not be able to access this platform.

  6. Frequency of Meetings

    1. Commission Chair Kamilah Martin Proctor stated that in January it was decided meetings would be hosted very month.She stated, “Would we like to shrink our time to one hour?We would meet from 10 to 11 instead of 10 to 11:30.”

    2. Dr. Decker stated, “The concern is if the Commission meets every month members won’t have the time to do the work of the Commission. The Alternate months would be the time that the subcommittees would meet. We need to determine if the 10 am time will work for everyone.”

    3. Commission Chair Kamilah Martin Proctor asked everyone about the timeframe. Members have the option of calling-in if they cannot come in-person.

  7. The Importance of the Commission:

    1. Constituent: stated, “My biggest thing is inclusion. This Commission is going to be extremely important.We are being overlooked.I am visually impaired.I am still going to be pushing and fighting. Collectively we can do more than we can do individually.”

    2. ODR Director, Alexis Taylor stated that she encourages constituent to continue her hard work.She also stated that there will be a working group meeting every other month focused on individuals who are Blind and visually-impaired

    3. Constituent indicated that she was just invited to sit on the Presidents National Council for Fitness, Sports and Nutrition.She stated there is a website that has information about available the grants.

    4. Constituent was encouraged to Chair the Working Group on the Blind and Visually Impaired and she stated she would be glad to do it.

  8. Training Opportunities:

    1. Dr. Decker stated that there are 3 things she indicated that she would be involved in.One was a Balance Training.

    2. She stated that she volunteered to work with ODR Staff on a White Paper that would provide information on Theatre and TV access.

    3. Also, Commissioner Wolhandler and Dr. Decker talked about doing a refresher on Emergency Service Training which would focus on what to do if a disaster should happen. We had that scheduled for December.

    4. ODR Director, Alexis Taylor stated, “We can partner with other agencies.The Office of Aging stated that they would like to be involved. I am working with HSEMA on a weekly basis in terms making certain that people with disabilities are made aware when we have a disaster or severe weather.We have partners throughout the District who want to partner with us.”

    5. ODR Director, Alexis Taylor stated that she will talk to Dr. Decker at a later time regarding planning for the Balance or Fall Prevention program.Before we set the time, we want to make certain that there is a room available for us.When we do these events they are not just for the Commissioners.We will be inviting all of the ADA Coordinators, 100 plus agencies including agencies under the Mayor as well as independent agencies.We send to our list serve that has over 1000 email addresses on it.Your event will get wide spread participation. We have both non- profit and a few Federal partners. Beatrice is working to build it up.”

  9. ODR Liaison, Beatrice: stated, “One of the things that you will see on the new list serve is that I am working make it more recognizable to you all. Send me any contacts and agencies that you might have as well as national agencies that might be helpful to add.National Association for the Deaf and National Council for Independent Living are just some of the organizations I’ve added to reach out to.”

  10. Information from the Chair:

    1. Everyone should review the bylaws.

    2. Calendar of Events:

    3. She indicated that in reference to the DCCPD calendar of events, it is important to promote best practices within the community.We are here to be that voice. She indicated that if a member wants to do an event, he or she should fill-out the form with their ideas.If one signs-up to do an event you must commit to doing it entirely as this is the responsibility of each commissioner.

  11. Partnerships with Other Agencies

    1. ODR Director, Alexis Taylor stated that she will be

      coordinating the Suicide Prevention event in June.  She is planning on meeting with the Department Health and Office of Veteran Affairs. 

    2. The Director also suggested that because there is an interest in at least 20 events, perhaps the members should consider doing smaller brown bag lunches or writing a White Paper. There are a few events that are on ODR’s Performance Plan that ODR will take the lead on which includes the Suicide Prevention Workshop and 2 Deaf forums.”

  12. Commissioner Terrance Hunter asked about providing

    giveaways for events. ODR Director, Alexis Taylor stated, “If organizations want to donate something we have to go through the Office of Donations and Grants. Also, anyone interested in helping out for the Expo, please let us know because we will need the help.” 

  13. Commissioner Sylvia Martinez stated that May is Speech

    and Hearing Awareness Month and would be interested in holding speech and language screenings. 

  14. Finally, public constituent stated that there was a radio show on Mondays that can communicate information for the Commission. Director Taylor added that the Office of

  15. Commission Chair Kamilah Martin-Proctor called the

    meeting to a close at 11:30am.

 

 

 

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