Texas Governor’s Committee on People with Disabilities
Summary Minutes
December 5, 2016
Hyatt Place (Arboretum) Hotel
3612 Tudor Blvd., Austin, Texas 78759
Call to Order – Aaron Bangor, Chair
Chair Bangor called the meeting to order at 8:35 a.m. and discussed member absences. Marco Treviño motioned to accept absences as excused for Marilou Fowler, Nancy Miloy Clemmer, Elizabeth Dickey, Archer Hadley, and Diane Rose. Richard Martinez seconded the motion; motion carried.
Members Present
Aaron Bangor, PhD
Richard Martinez
Heather Griffith
Linda Millstone
P. Faye Kuo, JD
Dylan Rafaty
Marco Treviño, Sr.
Members Absent
Marilou Fowler
Nancy Miloy Clemmer
Elizabeth Dickey
Archer Hadley
Diane Rose
Staff Present
Ron Lucey, Executive Director
Fran Robertson, Research Specialist
Randi Turner, Accessibility and Disability Rights Coordinator
Nancy Van Loan, Executive Assistant
Visitors
Sandra Bitter, Texas State Independent Living Council
Jeannie Griffith, Katy
Linda Litzinger, Texas Parent to Parent, Austin
Jack McElaney, Austin
Ed Morvant, Tyler
Zuby Onwuta, Austin
George Talamentez, Austin
John Woodley, Austin
Dave Dauber, Health and Human Services Commission
Mahan Farman Farmaian, Department of Family and Protective Services
Cassie Fisher, Texas Workforce Commission
Ashley Ford, Texas Council on Developmental Disabilities
Amy Kilpatrick, Texas Education Agency
George McEntyre, Texas Workforce Commission
Dana Williamson, Health and Human Services Commission
Approval of October 26-27, 2016 Summary Minutes
Corrections were made within the Member Reports section of the October 26-27, 2016 Minutes. Heather Griffith motioned to accept the Minutes, as corrected. Dylan Rafaty seconded, motion carried. [Corrected Minutes available upon request.]
Public Comment
Zuby Onwuta is a member of National Foundation of the Blind, Texas Chapter, and the IBM Austin Diversity group. He designed Think & ZoomTM, an app aimed to alleviate the deterioration of sight for people with low vision. Mr. Onwuta has addressed Members of Congress advocating on laws that affect people who have disabilities and are visually impaired.
John Woodley spoke about drive through facilities that don’t serve customers who walk in after certain hours. He noted oversized vehicles cannot get through the passageway.
Linda Litzinger: The U.S. Department of Education's Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services and the Texas Education Agency will hold a series of listening sessions in Texas regarding students in special education classes and compliance with Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Ms. Litzinger hoped to see Texas legislation that would counter the alleged 8.5% limit in services to this population.
Cassandra Crystal provided written comments concerning an emergent need for the funding in Anderson County for personal tracking systems for children who have autism and wander away from caregivers.
Stake Holder Policy Presentation
Larry Johnson spoke about the availability of services for seniors who lose their vision. Texas State Data Center reports 424,000 individuals were classified as legally blind in 2015. Baby boom population estimates another 60% increase which moves it to 600,000 by 2020. The Division of Blind Services served 2,800 in 2015. Additional support comes from Lighthouse for the Blind but they only reach about 10%.
Why concern about persons with vision impairment versus other disabilities? Daily activities require you to see to participate and be independent. Going blind challenges one’s own sense of worth and value along with an accompanying sense of depression. Vision loss is extremely traumatic, and can be devastating when you lose vision later in life.
To meet the challenge, Texas needs to embark on a collaborative initiative of public and private organizations. Many organizations don’t talk to each other; many seniors don’t know anything about programs. Physicians and healthcare insurance providers do not have resources. The answer has to be some sort of task force charged with an objective to bring together a focus with broad representation.
Marco Treviño motioned the Committee work on creating a task force specific to vision and aging. Dylan Rafaty seconded; motion approved.
Marco Treviño discussed the requirement to take continuing education credits and provide certification to various Licensing Boards. Important to bring general disability etiquette and sensitivity training as focus on people with disabilities.
Marco Treviño motioned the Committee suggest various state licensing boards provide one hour disability etiquette and sensitivity training as alternative to earning continuing education credit. Dylan Rafaty seconded; motion approved.
Staff drafted policy recommendations related to Support Service Providers. [Full report available on Committee’s website: http://gov.texas.gov/disabilities]
Faye Kuo motioned to create, fund and establish program and eligibility criteria for Support Service Providers to support the independent living and communications needs of Texans who are deaf-blind. Heather Griffith seconded; motion approved.
Reports from Invited Exofficio Agency Representatives
Texas Education Agency (TEA) – Amy Kilpatrick
The U.S. Department of Education's Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services will hold Listening Sessions in Houston, Dallas, El Paso, Edinburg, Austin beginning Dec 12, 2016, to collect data across the state. Ms. Kilpatrick encouraged the Governor’s Committee to make a formal Comment. The 8.5% referenced in media is only an indicator. Only system that isn’t based on test scores; it looks at 17 indicators of a special education program of a school.
Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) – Mahan Farman Farmaian
Ms. Farman Farmaian was available for questions although the agency did not have a written report. Marco Treviño asked about the push to hire more FTEs.
Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) - Dana Williamson The STAR-KIDS program commenced November 1 and established a capitated Managed-Care program. Legislative Appropriation Request is posted. HHSC grew in size; 200 programs came over. Under HHSC are all Medicaid programs, community programs, Medicaid, local authorities, ADRC, AAA, deaf and blind programs under Social Security. Gary Jessee is commissioner of that division. Promoting Independence Advisory group will shift to Jamie Snyder. Employment First report has been submitted. Traumatic Brain Injury is finalizing their report. Committee staff would like information tracked on the Early Childhood Intervention program. Independent Living Centers are of substantial interest to this committee.
Policy Development for 2017–2018 Biennium
Members discussed policy recommendation development.
New Policies:
*Create a task force specific to vision and aging
*Suggest various state licensing boards provide one hour disability etiquette and sensitivity training as alternative to earning continuing education credit
*Policy recommendations listed in Support Service Providers report
*Create funding and establish program and eligibility criteria for SSPs to support the independent living and communications needs of Texans who are deaf-blind
*Support disability-owned businesses (Ms. Kuo would like to strengthen some verbiage to be more relevant to disability)
*Ensure state job descriptions have language around preference to hire people with knowledge, skills and ability practices relevant to information and communications technology positions
*Texas undertake an independent assessment of its level of EIR compliance that could be conducted by a state agency, eg DIR or the State Auditor’s Office (or contracted by an independent organization)
*Provide plain language, non-legally binding, version of the Texas Accessibility Standards that general public can access and comprehend, and be published along with the technical documentation
*Allow inmates to access video phone services
*Language Equality and Acquisition (LEAD-K): assessment of language not vocabulary should be required in the child’s (student) native language
Mr. Martinez would like to have a general recommendation that any time programs and services directly affect persons with disabilities, there should be people with disabilities engaged in that decision making process.
Administrative Policies:
*Direct staff to find innovative models to include in committee’s report, such as how State Bar’s Disabilities Issues Committee set up a fund to assist with communication reimbursement for attorneys
*Texas Education Agency to ensure curricula and resources are accessible to students. Might be possible to recommend an Accessibility Curriculum Advisory Committee.
*Discuss with Governor’s Office policy staff about basing personal care attendant rate on wages of persons working in nursing homes. Link institutional care providers to community-based providers.
Accessibility Excerpt of Department of Information Resource’s Report
Jeff Kline presented to Committee last August. Information Resources Deployment Review (IRDR) is a report, a self-assessment in respect to website and information technology. The report identifies failures from the first 100 web pages. Policy driven adoption is a type of procurement recognition. Accessible policy earns extra points. Texas Government Code 2054, been in effect for 10 years. The state law says governments need to purchase accessible products or come up with an alternate. Automated scan tool; 60% still require human judgement. We are still measuring. Biggest part of implementation is in the area of procurement. Now Texas is adopting a national standard – WICAG - but we’re still not holding state governments accountable. DIR is not the state auditing agency. Perhaps a state agency needs to do an assessment. Challenge of the 21st century.
Lack of staff knowledge/skill sets’; lack of available training are highest challenges identified by agencies as inhibitors to full compliance.
Communications section of report holds most of the recs on assistive technology. Might need one to ensure ICT positions (EIR) positions should have a basic knowledge.
Linda Millstone motioned to ensure state job descriptions have language around preference to hire people with knowledge, skills and ability practices relevant to information and communications technology positions. Richard Martinez seconded; motion approved.
Marco Treviño motioned the state undertake an independent assessment of its level of EIR compliance that could be conducted by a state agency, eg Department of Information Resources or the State Auditor’s Office (or contracted by an independent organization). Richard Martinez seconded; motion approved.
Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation held its first Accessible Barrier Removal committee meeting since 2011. If the Texas Accessibility Standards (TAS) was re-written in plain language style, would it result in greater compliance? We might recommend plain language versions available to members of the public/ business owners. Plain language uses active voice, is more concrete. Not just legalese, because engineers also are highly intelligent. Learning how to phrase things without the complications. Annotated version would be a very good tool. A really negative post to YELP is more successful.
Faye Kuo motioned to provide plain language non-legally binding version of the TAS that general public can access and comprehend, and be published along with the technical documentation. Marco Treviño seconded; motion approved.
Adjournment
Office of the Governor Deputy Chief of Staff Robert Allen thought the Interim Report: A Review of Accessible Parking for Persons with Disabilities was great. Recommendation #12 was a bit controversial, regarding further study on alignment of state and federal law to conserve accessible parking privileges for veterans with mobility disabilities. Martha Gabehart from National Association of Governor’s Committees shared the report with other governor’s committees to use a model for other states.
Next meeting of the Committee will be April 12-13, 2017, in Denton. Marco Treviño motioned to adjourn, seconded by Linda Millstone. The meeting adjourned at 5:03 p.m.
Submitted by,
Nancy Van Loan, Recorder