2020 has undoubtedly been a time of crisis. Together we have experienced a world-wide pandemic, social unrest, wildfires, and public safety power shut offs. We have seen issues that have always existed for people with disabilities and older adults intensified by the COVID-19 Pandemic.
FREED Statement on COVID-19 & Masks
The Americans with Disabilities Act was signed into law thirty years ago to prevent discrimination against people with disabilities and to extend opportunity and promote inclusion of people with disabilities in society. Here in Nevada County, people with disabilities play an important role in all facets of life and social discourse. We as a community must do what we can to slow the spread of the coronavirus and protect those of us who are at higher risk for serious complications from COVID-19.
Read More “What do Businesses Need to Know About COVID-19 & Masks”
This Monday, November 2, on Disability Rap, an Election Eve Special! Rebecca Cokley of the Center for American Progress Action Fund talks to us about the disabled community’s increasing political power in the United States. She also tells us about her own journey growing up in a multigenerational disabled family. We then hear both Presidential campaigns’ speeches to the Disability & Election Virtual Summit, where they present their disability platforms. We end the show with an announcement about Medicare’s Open Enrollment period, which continues through December 7.
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On today’s show, we bring you extended excerpts of Nevada County’s Education Workshop for Voters with Disabilities. This workshop took place via Zoom this past Friday, October 16, and was open to the public. The workshop was hosted by Jaime Melugin from the Nevada County Elections Department. She was joined by our co-host, Carl Sigmond, who is FREED’s Disability Community Advocate, Mark Fenicle, Chair of the FREED Board of Directors, and Paul Spencer and Jason Connor from Disability Rights California.
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Last week, we brought you part one of our conversation on the disproportional effects the coronavirus pandemic is having on people with disabilities and older adults. This week, we are bringing you part two. We spoke with Monet Clark, a healer and eco-feminist performance based video and photographic artist right here in Nevada City, Meg O’Connell, Founder and CEO of Global Disability Inclusion, Dr. Leonard Abbeduto, Director of the MIND Institute at UC Davis, and Denny Chan, a Senior Staff Attorney at Justice in Aging. We recorded this conversation on September 21, right as we reached the grim milestone of 200,000 deaths from Covid-19 here in the United States. We started part two of the conversation by asking Denny to talk about the crisis standard of care guidelines here in California.
This is Part II of this conversation. Click here to listen to Part I.
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As the number of coronavirus cases in the US tops 6.8 million and the number of deaths from Covid-19 tops 200,000, we spend today’s show looking at the disproportionate effects the pandemic is having on older adults and people with disabilities. We’ve all heard the harrowing stories in the media about some of the early coronavirus hotspots being nursing homes and other long-term care facilities, but we wanted to go deeper. According to the CDC, 94% of people who died from Covid-19 in the US had at least one other health condition or contributing cause of death. What does that mean for the disability community and for older adults?
This is Part I of this conversation. Part II will be released next Monday.
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Last month was the 30th anniversary of the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The ADA was a landmark civil rights law that affirmed the inherent dignity of every person, regardless of disability. On this episode of Disability Rap, we’re spending the hour celebrating the ADA, its effects on people with disabilities and all Americans, and its impact right here in Nevada County.
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We are excited to announce that this year’s Our Community: Aging & Disability Conference will be taking place as a webinar series! This ADRC webinar series, aimed at people with disabilities, older adults, caregivers, community organizations and providers, will focus on four major subject areas critical to these attendees and extremely relevant to the times in which we are living.
We are proud to release the first “Our Community” Aging And Disability webinar series, titled “Emergency Preparedness for All”. This webinar is made possible with the help of LISTOS California, the Center on Disability at the Public Health Institute, and Nevada County.
FREED’s 2019 Annual Report is available to the public.
