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Kareem Dale, special assistant to President Obama on disability issues, visits the disAbility Resource Center. |
BY AMY FLOWERS UMBLE
An adviser to the president learned an important lesson about Fredericksburg-area roads yesterday.
As about a dozen residents with disabilities waited to share problems including transportation with Kareem Dale, the special assistant to Barack Obama sat in traffic on Interstate 95.
Dale, who counsels the president on disability issues, visited the disAbility Resource Center in Fredericksburg. People with disabilities and their caretakers came to talk with Dale about the problems they face.
Dale arrived 45 minutes late because of the traffic and had only half an hour to spend at the agency on Progress Street.
He told the audience about his boss' initiatives to help the disabled: stimulus money for special education and Social Security, signing the United Nations Convention on the Rights of People With Disabilities and including independent living in health care reform proposals.
"It's our commitment that people deserve the right to live in the community with dignity and respect," Dale said.
Some audience members took time to share their stories and concerns with the presidential adviser, a Chicagoan who is partially blind.
They talked about accessibility, health insurance, transportation, employment and the Combating Autism Act.
Unfortunately, Dale told the crowd, he couldn't help all of them.
Local transportation for the disabled, for example, isn't a federal issue, he said.
"This is one of the toughest parts of my job. I get questions all the time about things that are, ultimately, controlled by the state," Dale said.
State Sen. Richard Stuart replied, "Well, if you could just give us a little more money"
James Rapp, who works for the disAbility Resource Center, spoke to Dale using a computer attached to his wheelchair.
Rapp has cerebral palsy and little discernible speech. But he excels in computers.
As his shaky fingers typed out a message, the computer spoke for Rapp, "Without employment, people with disabilities cannot support themselves and live independently."
Rapp lives in a Fredericksburg apartment, with attendants who help with daily living skills. He works on computers for the center.
"There was a time when people might have said, 'Let's just stick him in a home,'" said co-worker Shawn Lawrence. "But given a chance, you'd be surprised what James can do."
Which is why Lawrence wanted Dale to hear the stories of Rapp and the others.
Most who attended used wheelchairs, canes or walkers. But one teen who spoke had no physical limitations.
Elsie Swale, who spent her 17th birthday at the event, told Dale her story of dealing with bipolar disorder.
Elsie was six months into a one-year residential treatment program when her insurance stopped the therapy.
That therapy helped her turn her life around when she was a suicidal drug addict. And she met other teens who couldn't participate at all because of insurance.
Coverage remains one of the most critical issues facing people with disabilities, said Lawrence and center Executive Director Debe Fults.
The event was focused on issues that affect all disabilities, but Kim Lett mentioned autism specifically. The center's transition specialist has a son with autism.
Stuart told Dale he attended the meeting as both a politician and a father to a girl with autism.
"It is of epidemic proportions, certainly in this state and, I imagine, throughout the country," Stuart said. "These children are falling through the cracks, and we need help with that."
Amy Flowers Umble: 540/735-1973
Email: aumble@freelancestar.com
