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Petition Tag - disability
1. Goodwill Must Include Persons of Disabilities 
As a person on Social Security Disability, I was startled to discover that Goodwill does not provide discounts for Persons Of Disabilities (Students and Seniors get discounts however.)
I contacted Corporate in Montana and the reason given, was the 'tricky issue of how one proves they are disabled'. Why Bus passes and/or Social Security cards and/or ID's would not provide that information escapes me. And frankly it's hot air.
2. Ban cuts to Medicare and Medicaid
Paul Ryan’s GOP budget proposal, for 2013, plans to cut government benefits to Medicare, Medicaid, and nutrition and housing programs while increasing the defense spending $228 billion through 2022.
He plans, also, to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA), leaving 34 million people without health insurance coverage. On top of that, he plans to raise the Medicare eligibility age from 65 to 67 over the next 12 years. Therefore, beginning in 2023, only people born in 1958 or earlier will be eligible for Medicare.
ObamaCare cuts a half-trillion dollars from Medicare over the next ten years.
3. Disability nurses deserve better pay
Ageing, Disability and Home Care (ADHC) nurses working under the Department of Family and Community Services are the first nurses to face sweeping cuts to their awards by the state Liberal/National government.
But we are fighting back by starting a campaign for pay parity with nurses in the Public system.
4. Overcoming Hurdles Campaign
We are taking part in The Challenge, part of which asks us to make a campaign about something we are passionate about and we then created Overcome Hurdles.
Our aim is to get the council to fund for more sporting facilities for the physically and mentally impaired in the Warwickshire area.
5. Victorian State Government Must Fund Accessible Public Transport Projects
Hi everyone, unfortunately it has recently, in late August 2012, come to my attention and full realisation that with the election of the current State Liberal Government and Premier of Victoria Ted Baillieu and the appointment of Victoria’s Minister for Public Transport and Minister for Roads, Minister Terry Mulder, Public Transport Victoria, PTV and the complete restructure of the Department of Transport, DOT into Public Transport Victoria, PTV, independently accessible public transport projects have become a very low priority and have consequently not being funded.
This is an absolute disgrace and it makes me want to do something to change things for the better for everyone!
Unfortunately, I have learned that some key people involved in creating independently accessible public transport over the last several years have either left or are leaving Public Transport Victoria, PTV. Are we going to have to embarrass the Premier of Victoria, Ted Baillieu and Minister Terry Mulder into doing the right thing and immediately prioritise adequate funding of more independently accessible Disability Discrimination Act, DDA compliant public transport projects?
We have protested effectively before and got results because nearly the whole Victorian Public Transport Network is independently inaccessible for wheelchair and scooter users and that resulted in the creation of the Scooter and Wheelchair Travel Pass. It seems we may have to protest again this year to get a meeting with Minister Terry Mulder!
We are all older and wiser now and now there are more of us willing to speak out minds. If Premier of Victoria Ted Baillieu and Minister Terry Mulder think by their combined inaction that they can fool everybody and ignore people with disabilities, parents with prams and the elderly by not funding independently accessible public transport projects now and into the future, like we are not worthy, then we are going to have to show them just how wrong they are in their collective ignorance. Please sign this petition and and make a comment. Thank you. Kind regards, Michael
Public Transport Victoria:
http://corp.ptv.vic.gov.au/
6. Install lifts and ramps at Croydon Station
I share your concerns about Croydon Station not having appropriate access facilities for our elderly and people with a disability, including parents with prams.
I need your support to lobby the NSW State Government to install lifts and ramps at Croydon Station.
7. Stop Hull City Disabled Season Ticket Hike
In May 2012 Hull City AFC of the Championship put up season pass prices for disabled supporters only, by over 200% or £300.
8. Remove the verb "disable" from all language dictionaries
The people listed here are those brave and heroic men and women who have achieved a lot of success in their lives despite the hindrances they have faced.
They have amazed the world with their courage, determination, strength and amazing will.
They have made a difference in the lives of a lot of people.
AMPUTEES: Heather Mills, Aimee Mullins, Bethany Hamilton.
WHEEL CHAIR USERS: Hzhak Perlman, Christopher Reeve, Stephen Hawking.
BLIND:Louis Braille, Stevie Wonder, Andrea Bocelli
HEARING IMPAIRMENT: Marlee Matlin, Hellen Keller, Foxy Brown.
CEREBRAL PALSY: Erick Gores, Christy Brown, Anne McDonald.
EPILEPSY: Sir Isaac Newton, Alexander the great, Pythagoras, Martin Luther, Richard Burton.
SPEECH DIFFERENCES AND STUTTER: Moses from the Bible, Winston Churchill, Charles Darwin, Albert Einstein.
MOOD DISORDER: Abraham Lincoln, Billy Joel, Carrie Fisher.
CLEFT: Jesse Jackson, Peyton Manning, Wendy Harmes
POLIO: Donald Sutherland, Franklin Roosevelt.
The list can go on forever, but those are just a few examples.
I used the above names as examples because they are famous all over the world and most, if not all of us are familiar with them.
But, maybe in your own family, village or community, you know of a person who is trying to rise against all odds. They may not be well known as the ones listed above, but the important thing is that they are making an effort to overcome their everyday difficulties.
The sooner we get rid of the word 'disable', the better we will help them become the highest, fullest expression of themselves.
Join this movement to give them the will to go on.
World, help me shed light on this worthy course for a better tomorrow.
9. Urgent: Stop the imprisonment of people in their homes for the Olympics
Disabled people who live in the locality of London 2012 will not have access to care provision or services such as Meals on Wheels.
For security reasons supermarkets will not be able to deliver either. Taxis and transport providers will also be unable to pick up or drop off in these areas.
This is effectively imprisoning people with limited mobility in their own homes.
10. Learn Together in Germany: eliminate segregated schools
Even in 2012, physically disabled, learning disabled, emotionally troubled and chronically ill children are still educated in separate schools, with just 13% of those pupils attending mainstream public schools, compared to Western Europe's 79%.
11. Urgent support for Shopmobility
Shopmobility Sheffield has been in existance since 1997 and offers support to disabled, elderly and people with limited mobility to enable them to feel the freedom and independance that many others take for granted.
www.shopmobility-sheffield.weebly.com
The music group "Raise the Bar" was created by Mick Quinn – musician/singer and qualified working special Ed teacher, to provide a social network and creative outlet for youth with differing abilities and their families.
"Raise the Bar" perform a range of popular songs, with members participating at their own individual level . It is very interactive – whether by singing, percussive beat and rhythm, dancing or simply quiet enjoyment. The focus of the group being - teamwork, fun and socialisation.
Concerts/social nights are held every 2 months at the same venue. This is a wonderful opportunity for group members to perform in front of family, friends and other community groups. Parents get to unwind, have a few drinks and enjoy a range of local entertainment including the successes of their son or daughter, as well as socializing with other families in their community.
13. STOP THE PLANNED CHANGES TO THE DISABILITY LIVING ALLOWANCE
The UK Government plans to making drastic changes to the Disability Living Allowance including taking away many of the current travel concessions thus leaving many disabled UK Citizen's housebound.
Whilst we at the National Liberal Party would understand a "means" test to assist in stopping benefit fraud, we oppose the changes being put forward by the UK Government and would ask you to support us on getting these changes stopped.
http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/dla-reform-consultation-easyread.pdf
14. Stop Treating People With Disabilities Like Second Class Citizens
While growing up, Ias a disabled person, experienced quite a few 'differences' in my education because of my apparatus (a wheelchair & walker). I was treated like an outsider by my classmates and a bother by 2 or 3 of the faculty members . College was surprizingly similar...
I would like to propose a change in the way society looks at people with disabilities. We are not to be stared at by little children, forced to use entrances at the sides or back of buildings, or be labeled as mentally deficient or diseased.
I'd like to see an education system in which children are taught about disabilities and accept people with them.
15. Help the sick and injured in Canada
We want to change the laws in parliament. If a person is forced to leave work due to illness or injury they only get unemployment sick benefits for 15 weeks, yet if a person quits for the right reason they get up to 50 weeks unemployment benefits.
It takes Canada Pension Plan over four months to decide on whether or not a person is even eligible for C.P.P. Unemployment benefits should continue at least until C.P.P has made a decision.
16. Save the Somerset Sight Visiting Service
Somerset Sight is the only local, independent charity to support blind and visually impaired people across your county.
We have been helping thousands of people affected by significant sight loss across Somerset to lead independent lives since 1919. Our Volunteer Befriending Service, which has been running for over 15 years, has been extremely successful in tackling the isolation many visually impaired people face.
For many of the 300 plus people who benefit from this service every year their visit from one of our specially trained volunteers is the only time they have any social contact. As you can imagine it is a lifeline to them and they simply could not cope without it.
17. End Discrimination for Disabled Partners of Australian Citizens
Current immigration laws in Australia prevent people with a disability migrating to Australia because it is presumed that they will be an excessive cost to the Australian community. People are judged hypothetically on what somebody with their condition or disability would be eligible to receive.
They are not given the opportunity to demonstrate how they could offset possible health costs and their personal circumstances are not taken into account. As a result, hundreds of Australian families are torn apart and permanently separated as applicants applying through the family stream are still required to undergo extensive health checks. The current health requirements are therefore detrimental to Australian citizens who also have to undergo the trauma of being separated from loved ones.
The current immigration system is therefore indirectly discriminatory and at odds with Australia's international human rights obligations.
18. Allow disabled people access to all on street parking bays 24/7
Earlier this year Reading Borough Council instigated a number of changes to disabled parking bays and the times during which they can be accessed.
These changes include restricting access to the majority of the on road bays immediately surrounding the town centre so that they may only be accessed from 11am to 4pm and again after 7pm.
The roads most affected are St Mary's Butts, West Street and Friar Street
This has made it unreasonably difficult for many disabled people to access the shops and other facilities in the town.
A council representative has claimed that the the majority of people are happy with the changes, this is obviously true as the majority of people are not disabled and have little or no understanding of the real life ramifications of these changes for disabled people.
Examples of things that are now virtually impossible for many disabled people to do include:
A drink out with work friends/ family after work,
A meal before seeing a show at the local theatre
Early morning shopping to beat the crowds
Staying in town after shopping to eat out
Getting to one of the opticians who has served the community for many years
Getting to a number of well known high street shops
The current proposals to resolve the access issues appears to be to force all blue badge holders into wheelchairs of some form (Shop mobility) regardless of their individual needs and to expect the local shops/traders to cover the cost.
With economic downturn comes cuts, and the proposals leave disabled people reliant upon the funding of retailers/traders and upon charities. If they decide to remove the funding in the future, disabled people will be yet again unable to use the town and its facilities
The only long term way to ensure access to the town for disabled people during the same periods as able bodied people is to provide appropriately placed kerbside parking that is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
19. Save the disability degree at RMIT!
On Friday 12th August, RMIT decided to discontinue the program, the only disability specific degree course in Victoria.
There are thousands of people living in Victoria who have a disability, with a relatively small pool of workers to support them. The cessation of this course will broaden the gap of an already under-qualified and under-manned work force.
20. UK Disabled Community Against Welfare & Benefit Cuts
The UK Disabled Community needs to send a clear and unequivocal message in one unified voice to call on the Coalition Government to see us all as equal members of society and not treat us as a tool to steal our disability benefits and services to bail out the Country in this time of Financial Crisis.
Can we set a precedence to get 1 million signatures so that the Coalition Government will have no option but to take note of us and not just ignore or deflect our arguments & comments and to stop building this climate of hate against disabled people.
Please leave a question for your Local MP to pose to the Coalition Government, which we will add to the Petition when we deliver it to No.10.
This petition calls on all Australians to demand reform to the Better Start for Children with Disability (Better Start) initiative.
Better Start aims to increase access to early intervention for children with developmental disabilities and comes into place on 1 July 2011.
Under the scheme, children up to the age of 6 may access up to $12,000 for treatments, while Medicare rebates will be available to older children.
The Better Start initiative excludes thousands of Australian children with developmental disabilities as eligibility is limited to five diagnoses only; sight and hearing impairments, Cerebral Palsy, Down’s Syndrome and Fragile X Syndrome. Children with Autism are already able to access a similar level of support through the Helping Children with Autism program.
Children excluded from Better Start comprise those with rare conditions, genetic syndromes and chromosomal abnormalities, acquired brain injuries and other physical disabilities, and those without a diagnosis. These children have comparable early intervention needs and many are able to prove the beneficial impact of such treatment. Already among the most marginalised in Australia with poorer access to treatments, research and support, these children will miss out on the help they critically need in the early years of development.
This petition calls on the Federal Government to remove the inequalities of the Better Start policy by adopting a needs-based model. Eligibility for Better Start should be determined by the functional aspects of the child’s disability, the level of impairment and how the impairment affects the child. This approach complies with recommendations contained in the Draft Productivity Commission Report on Disability Care and Support.
The Australian Government must give all Australian children with developmental disabilities a Better Start to life, not just a select few.
22. DWP 'Projects'
DWP Tribunal Reconsideration Project with Her Majesty's Courts (& now Tribunal Service). Incapacity BenefitS Transition Project. DBD420 "Look again" at DLA Mobility/Care +/or attendance allowance Project.
It is time automatic rejection of claims by some or all of DWP / Benefits & Credits assessment officers ceased. It is time appeals be facilitated and not frustrated to avoid descendants & taking of responsibility by the Departments. Reconsideration erodes rights, wastes time to avoid legal challenges, and all these practices combined deny many vulnerable (including non-disabled/incapacitated) claimants and families access to their lawful entitlements.
The emphasis and responsibility for correct assessment lies with DWP & Benefits and Credits, not with the claimant. Automatic award at lowest levels ("chancing the arm") is equally deplorable. A government which should protect the vulnerable should not itself endanger them to exploitation, nor itself exploit such persons / families.
Civil Servants are paid well to do a job well, not to achieve 'statistics' and being able to place of quantity and lip-service over quality must cease. If quality increases then the Unions will be able to further justify the need to stop cuts in the Civil Service.
Get it right first time. A maxim is fine, but the culture must adopt and accept, not merely recite it.
23. Keeping people with disabilities poor is a false economy!
B.C.'s current income assistance rates for people with disabilities fall well below the poverty line.
The current benefits program does not provide sufficient financial assistance for recipients to obtain adequate food, shelter and clothing or to obtain supports for their meaningful participation in community. The program offers limited support for people who wish to find work.
People with disabilities face serious systemic and attitudinal barriers when it comes to accessing employment opportunities and earning an independent income.
As a result, many adults with disabilities require income support to meet basic living costs and to compensate for the extra costs involved in living with a disability. The social effects of poverty, including isolation, loneliness, and alienation from community life, contribute to both physical and mental health problems.
The savings created by limiting access to disability supports create greater costs in other parts of the social service system. Keeping people with disabilities poor is a false economy!
24. Protect benefits for people with disabilities
This petition has been created by members of Lanarkshire ACE who are worried that some proposals by the coalition government to review benefits levels may adversely impact on people with learning disabilities, autism and aspergers. These reviews includes changes to the Disability Living Allowance.
25. HELP SAVE CENTERS FOR INDEPENDENT LIVING!
Centers for Independent Living came into existence in the 1970s led by Ed Roberts to give people with disabilities a choice on how they want to run their life and an opportunity to live in the most integrated setting as possible. There are over 400 centers in the US alone and they provide a unique service people with abilities can't get anywhere else.
Our services include but aren't limited to Advocacy, Peer Support, Information and Referral, and Independent Living Skills Training. Centers for Independent Living staff consist of at least 51% people with disabilities and is governed by a board of advocates and consumers who understand people with disabilities need for self-respect, self-reliance and independence.
26. Change for Ontario Disability Support Program polices and directives and the ODSP Act
Certain Policy directives in the Ontario Disability Support program and Certain Legislation under the ODSP act actually do not support people as the program title suggests, but in fact punishes people and keeps them in poverty.
It also discriminates against single benefit units with no dependants.
Workers, Managers and Offices across the province of Ontario, all have different interpretations of the directives and act.
Workers' mistakes cause undue financial and emotional hardship on clients.
Their is also no accountability.
27. Stop the deportation of Peter Gichura
Disability rights activist Peter Gichura, who has lived in Croydon, UK since 2001, has received a Removal Order from the Home Office, which will force him to return to Kenya and leave the life he has built in the UK.
Despite the difficulties Peter has faced as an asylum seeker, he has spent his time positively, successfully completing NVQ level 4 in accounting and doing voluntary work and activities with Payday men’s network, WinVisible (women with visible and invisible disabilities), Leonard Cheshire Disability, Westminster Action Network on Disability, and his local church. Peter is an active and well-respected member of his local community, with many friends and networks in the UK.
Peter was instrumental in establishing a disabled persons’ organisation in Kenya, advocating for the rights of disabled street sellers. He fled in 2001 to escape anti-Kikuyu persecution against disability activists.
Whilst in the UK, Peter has made good use of his skills, by being involved in campaigns to improve access to public services for disabled people, including London buses.
Peter has made a significant contribution to the disabled people’s movement in the UK. As an asylum seeker, he was detained in Harmondsworth in 2006, without accessible washing and toilet facilities, not given the correct medication, and subjected to painful body searches. With the support of WinVisible and Payday, Peter challenged the Home Office and Kalyx, the company that runs Harmondsworth detention centre, using the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA).
In May 2008 the Court of Appeal made a precedent ruling on his DDA case -- that all disabled people in custody before December 2006 do have the protection of anti-discrimination legislation.
During the plane journey to the UK in 2001 Peter was manhandled, causing his spinal injury to worsen. He has gone from using crutches to using a wheelchair, and relies on medical treatment without which he would die. In 2006, he applied for asylum on that basis: "As someone with spinal injury I am vulnerable to chronic kidney infection and need sanitary living conditions to survive – but there is no running water where I am from in Nyahururu, Kenya. I cannot afford medical treatment – and there is no free healthcare." Expert evidence confirmed this but was ignored, and Peter’s claim was turned down.
Removal now would put Mr Gichura’s health and life at serious and immediate risk.
Above all, Peter has built his life in the UK, has contributed to society through his active commitment to voluntary and community groups. Peter has the skills and experience that will help him to build a career, he has a job offer, and will thus be able to support himself financially if he is given leave to remain in the UK.
28. Save Derbyshire Unemployed Workers' Centres (DUWCs)
Derbyshire Unemployed Workers' Centres (DUWCs) is an organisation established in the former coalfields area of North and East Derbyshire in the early 1980s as part of a TUC initiative to support people becoming unemployed.
The Centres opened offices throughout North Derbyshire as the excellent reputation of the organisation spread. In the current recessionary times the free, independent welfare rights advice provided is needed as much as ever.
29. Save our disability benefits in Southern Ireland
The Irish government budget says the disability benefits will be cut. DFI (disability federation of Irelnd) were clear from the outset that people with disabilities should not experience a disproportionate level of hardship compared to other vulnerable groups. This is reinforced by the fact that one in three people with disabilities are already at risk of poverty.
The Government’s announcement to cut disabled people’s income by €8.30 (4.1%) per week is a direct attack on the most vulnerable who for no fault of their own are dependent on the State for an adequate income. This is in addition to the 2% cut already made to disability payments through the abolishment of the Christmas bonus this year.
There has been a clear acknowledgement that people with disabilities experience extra everyday costs arising from living with a disability; however, this appears to have been completely forgotten about in framing Budget 2010.
30. Stop the cut in mobility component of Disability Living Allowance
Removing the Mobility Element of Disability Living Allowance for people in Care Homes.
This will have a huge and regressive impact on the independence of thousands of disabled people. Disabled people in means-tested residential care are already forced to manage on incredibly low incomes, often receiving just £22 a week in the form of a Personal Allowance to meet all of their personal costs.
DLA mobility component provides absolutely vital support for people to remain independent and to meet some of the additional costs of getting out. The average payment per person the government plans to cut is £33.40, although actual payments to each individual are either on the lower level of £18.95 per week or the higher level of £49.85
Removing DLA mobility component from people in residential care will have a devastating impact. People will not have the money to meet additional mobility costs such as a powered wheelchair, accessible taxis or a Motability car and this will seriously impact on their independence.
Whilst in some cases limited transport provision is included in residential care fees, this covers only communal or very limited independent transport. It does not provide the freedom offered by mobility DLA. This will result in people being trapped in Residential Care Homes.
We estimate that over 74,000 people will be affected by this cut