The Access Center for Independent Living (ACIL) and Disability Rights Ohio jointly hosted a town hall earlier this month, Illuminating the importance of advocacy for residents of Dayton and surrounding communities with disabilities.
Disability Rights Advocates Latisha Martin and Jason Riley served as the advocacy panel at the town hall. Ohio Representative Willis Blackshear, City of Dayton Commissioner Shenise Turner-Sloss, Mayor of Dayton Jeffrey Mims, and Ohio Senator Bob Hackett were the policymakers present.
Many of the issues brought up were frustrations with the local public transportation system. For example, a recurring topic was the state of buses and bus stops as well as the lack of work being done to maintain them.
“The number of people with mobility impairments, visual impairments, or other types of disabilities is not statistically insignificant. If people with disabilities are not frequenting a business, then that business has an accessibility problem,” said Jason.
He went on to explain how when sidewalks and bus stops are not maintained it only makes it harder, and at times even dangerous, for people who traverse that way to access businesses. Businesses lose out on revenue when people with disabilities cannot access the goods and services offered. This impacts not only people with disabilities but the entire community.
The negative ramifications of the strong possibility that local door-to-door transportation services will soon cost $10 round trip was another recurring concern brought up at the town hall.
“A lot of people with disabilities, like myself, are unable to find jobs due to the inflexibility of our care schedules, so we are focused to live on a very fixed income. I cannot afford $10 round trip so if my transportation goes up to that much I will not be traveling as much. I know a lot of people in the same boat. The community will be impacted by that too,” Latisha said.
Many of the policymakers expressed that they understood where the townhall advocacy panel and attendees were coming from regarding frustrations with local public transit and the resulting negative impact on the community. The question of what policymakers can do to help address such issues when little to no funding is available was discussed at length.
“I understand that not everything that we want and need is going to be addressed overnight, but I am tired of being told I need to be patient. We need to start addressing issues now,” Jason said.
The issue of how to decide which issues to tackle first was also discussed. One town hall attendee suggested that advocates come up with a list of issues that the local public transit needs to address and prioritize them in order of importance before giving the list to legislators and local public transit systems. Another town hall attendee suggested that once all issues are identified, customers who use the local public transit system should have the opportunity to vote on the order in which the issues are addressed. While both suggestions are very constructive, neither tackles the lack of funding available.
Acquiring the funding needed to address the frustrations with local public transit as well as many other issues requires a great deal of advocacy. Advocates must connect with one another to explain to policymakers and other high-level officials what we need and what can be done to improve our quality of life.
Jordan Ballinger, Policy Director at DRO, who served as moderator of the town hall, gave an example of this.
“The wages of DSPs in Ohio went from $13 and some change an hour to $17 when more money was put into home and community-based services in the last state budget. That happened after so many people with disabilities gave testimony to legislators about the importance of home and community-based services. It is so important to connect with legislators,” he said.
ACIL and DRO are here to help people with disabilities connect with legislators. If there is a change that you are advocating for in the state of Ohio or something you are passionate about, but you are not sure who to connect to or where to begin, reach out to one of our organizations for guidance. Also, please consider joining these statewide advocacy groups. Joining is FREE and requires no paperwork.
Breaking Silences Advocacy Committee meets at various times throughout the month that advocates for the rights of people with disabilities throughout the state. This group also has two subcommittees that discuss accommodations and MyCare.
Contact: Maria Matzik, host
Email: [email protected]
Disability and Aging Passenger Rail Coalition is a group that is advocating for increased passenger rail in Ohio and direct connections from Northwest Ohio to Columbus. If you are interested in learning more and getting involved, contact The Ability Center of Greater Toledo.
Contact: Sally Fish
Email: [email protected]
The Ohio Olmstead Task Force meets the first Wednesday of every month and has various subcommittees that meet throughout each month.
Contact: Jennifer Kucera, Chair
Email: [email protected]
The National Federation of the Blind—Ohio Chapter
Contact: Richard Payne
Email: [email protected]
For Further guidance reach out to ACIL’s Education and Advocacy Specialist, Maria Matzik at [email protected] or DRO’s Community Engagement Coordinator, Brittanie Maddox at [email protected]
