ADVOCACY ALERT: Tell Congress to Pass the Better Care Better Jobs Act, a Historic Investment in Disability Services

People are stuck on waiting lists, the direct care workforce is underpaid, and too often, unpaid family caregivers are filling in the gaps in service. Congress has introduced the Better Care Better Jobs Act. This bill includes a long-overdue investment in the disability service system as part of a COVID-19 economic recovery to support care for Medicaid recipients and create more and better jobs for the workforce that provides that care. Take two minutes to let your elected officials know, this is important! 

Webinar Recording: Guardianship's Impact and Alternatives: What People with Disabilities Need to Know
Public awareness of guardianship is increasing. Although many people have heard of it, they may not know who qualifies, what it entails and its significant impact on individual rights. More important, they may not realize that there are many alternatives to guardianship that offer support, with greater dignity and autonomy for the individual. Please watch this informative program where Gerri Sperling, attorney from Strassburger McKenna Gutnik and Gefsky, outlines the basics of guardianship in Pennsylvania. In addition, Elysia Mancini-Duerr, staff attorney at Disability Rights Pennsylvania speaks about alternatives to guardianship, including of Powers of Attorney, Mental Health Powers of Attorney, Health Care Advance Directives, having a circle of support, Health Care Representatives, and Limited/Emergency Guardianship.

ConnectAbility: A Disability Inclusion Resource

Jewish Residential Services launched its new blog, ConnectAbility, which will address: 
-Updates concerning local, regional and national resources for individuals with disabilities
-Tips for both individuals and organizations on disability and inclusion etiquette
-Reviews and recommendations of books, movies, shows and other media that portray disabilities in a sensitive and/or realistic way
-Interviews and stories covering the lived experience of individuals with disabilities in our community
-Calendar of upcoming inclusion-related events
-Discussion of proposed disability-related legislation and information on how to advocate for its passage

The winter issue of ConnectAbility will focus on Jewish Disability Advocacy and Inclusion Month. We hope you will read the latest version of ConnectAbility to learn more about disability inclusion in the Jewish community!

CMU Recruiting Participants for a Study on Public Transit and Disability
This research study is being performed by a research team at Carnegie Mellon University. The purpose of the research is to uncover what types of problems public transit users with disabilities periodically encounter on their transit journeys due to temporary circumstances and how to best select and convey appropriate information to users via transit software. CMU would
like to use this research to develop design recommendations to software developers so that they know what features are useful to include and how best to implement them to ensure safe and convenient trips for all riders. The study will include an interview that will take up to one hour to complete and be conducted either by phone, over video conferencing software, or in person.

You must be at least 18 years old and a regular rider of public transportation (or a regular rider prior to the pandemic) to participate. Participants will be individuals with mobility, dexterity, hearing, and vision impairments OR individuals who are caregivers for public transit riders with intellectual disabilities. Participation is voluntary. Participants will be compensated $20 per hour for their time.

Please contact Jill Lehman by email at jfl@andrew.cmu.edu to participate or if you have any questions.