Legislative News for the Disabled

Tomorrow the House Education & Labor Committee & the House Judiciary Committee will be going over some language adjustments in the ADA Restoration legalese. The new wording will hopefully help provide greater accessibility for disabled Americans to businesses in their communities. There are 2 proposed language mark ups, which will be discussed between around 10-10:30a.m. Advocates are encouraged to contact the representatives involved. You can reach the members of the Education & Labor Committee here: http://edlabor.house.gov/about/members.shtml or the Judiciary Committee here: http://judiciary.house.gov/fullcommittee.aspx

Also, exciting new legislation is under discussion to give savings account tax relief to parents of disabled children -- this would be similar to tax breaks given to parents who save up for college for children who have no developmental setbacks. The Casey-Hatch bill is being presented in the Senate, and the House recently introduced a similar bill, thanks to Rep. A. Crenshaw (FL). As time goes on, it will be interesting to see how these new bills develop and what advantages may come of them for those of us touched by a disabled child in our lives!

The U.N. has introduced a new treaty, the Disability Rights Treaty (the first of its kind!). Many countries have already ratified this, and the U.S. is expected to do so as well.

Thanks to the "Justice for All" newsletter presented by the AAPD (American Assoc. of People w/ Disabilities) for sharing this information so I could pass it along to you! If you are interested in joining their free e-mail list for further updates, visit http://visitor.constantcontact.com/email.jsp?m=1101795480929