Settlement
Makes Washington D.C.
Parking Meters More Accessible
A coalition of organizations
announced last month the settlement of a groundbreaking lawsuit
against the District of Columbia that will require the District
to make its 17,000 parking meters more accessible to individuals
with disabilities. This lawsuit, brought by a group including United
Spinal Association, The Equal Rights Center (ERC), attorneys from
the Washington Lawyers’ Committee
for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs and Morrison & Foerster, LLP,
has also spurred the DC City Council’s passage of legislation
that restores the ability of persons with disabilities to use their
out-of-state parking permits in the district.
Until this new legislation
and settlement, the vehicles of persons with disabilities have been
ticketed at expired meters if they did not display a special district
parking placard, even if those meters were inaccessible, and even
if the vehicles displayed a valid parking placard from another state.
The district has been the only jurisdiction in the U.S. not to recognize
parking placards issued by other jurisdictions. ![]()
Brain Injury Association
of Minnesota to Expand Multicultural Outreach
According to the Minnesota Department of Health, ethnic minorities
in Minnesota, particularly African Americans and Native Americans,
sustain more brain injuries than any other ethnic community. Navigating
life after brain injury can be especially difficult for ethnic minorities
because of culture and language barriers. To address these needs,
the Brain Injury Association of Minnesota (BIAM) will increase its
culturally appropriate support services over the next three years,
funded in part by a Patient Link grant awarded by the Medtronic Foundation.
The three-year grant
will help support BIAM’s efforts to provide
direct, ongoing individualized support for Minnesotans affected
by brain injury in the African American, Somali, Hmong, Native
American and Latino communities. In addition to BIAM’s
ongoing Multicultural Program support efforts, the new Patient
Link grant from the Medtronic Foundation will enable the Association
to provide the following in 2007:
• Free trainings to community
corrections providers;
• Prevention curriculum
to culturally specific/multicultural clinics and childcare providers;
• Information
and education to culturally specific/multicultural organizations
in greater Minnesota;
• Complimentary consultations
at culturally specific/multicultural organizations. ![]()
Find Out Where
You Vote and
See Your Sample Ballot
If you live in Hennepin
County, you can find your polling place and see what your sample
ballot looks like on the Hennepin County Web site, www.hennepin.us
For your polling place,
look in the right-hand column on the home page under “Online
services”—“Where to vote/polling
place finder.” To see your sample ballot, also look under “Online
services”—“Primary
sample ballots.” Taking
a look at your ballot ahead of time is a good idea—it
speeds up the process once you’re in the voting booth.
(How many times have you gotten to the part of a ballot with
the slate of people you know nothing about?) If you see races
you’re not familiar
with, you can seek out more information—for example,
in your local newspaper’s voters’ guide—before
you go to vote.
The Hennepin Web site
includes other information on elections and voting. You also
can call your local city clerk or the Hennepin County Elections Division,
612-348-5151. ![]()
How
to Register to Vote on Election Day
Most Minnesotans will
be able to register to vote on Election Day at their polling
place. To
register to vote, you must be:
• A United States citizen.
• A
resident of Minnesota at least 20 days before Election Day.
• At
least 18 years old by Election Day.
If you are currently
registered to vote, you don’t need to
register again UNLESS you have:
• Moved to a different
address.
• Changed your name.
• Not
voted during the last four years.
• Just returned from military
duty and last registered to vote where you were deployed.
To register to vote on Election
Day at your polling place, you must provide election judges with
proper identification, such as:
• A Minnesota driver’s
license, learner’s permit,
state identification card (ID) or tribal ID card that has your
current address (or the receipt for renewal or change of license
or ID).
• A “notice of late registration” from your
city clerk, if you pre-registered to vote but didn’t make the
deadline.
If your ID doesn’t
have your current address, bring one of the following documents,
even if it has your previous address:
• Minnesota driver’s
license, state ID or tribal ID
• U.S. passport
• U.S.
military ID
• Student ID from a Minnesota
college
• A bill for electric, water, gas, telephone, cable TV,
sewer or trash pickup that has your name and current address, with
a due date within 30 days of the election.
If you have none of these,
another registered voter living in your precinct can come with you
and vouch for your residency. For more voting information, contact
your local city clerk. ![]()
Arc Greater Twin Cities Set
to
Assist Transition-age Students and Parents
United Health Foundation has awarded a grant to Arc Greater Twin
Cities to support information and training for people with intellectual
and developmental disabilities and their parents. The grant will
focus particularly on assistance to families of young adults making
the transition from school to adult life.
“Families of young adults with disabilities face many major
issues at the time of transition, and more and more families are
turning to Arc for help in finding resources and navigating the service
system,” said Marianne Reich, chief program officer for Arc
Greater Twin Cities. ![]()
