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Gavin Newsom
Mayor
Susan Mizner
Director
Michael Kwok
Co-Chair
Norma Block
Ed Evans
Jack Fagan
Eugene T. Flannery
Elizabeth Grigsby
Tatiana Kostanian
Robert Neil
Ruth Nunez
Richard Ow
Jul Lynn Parsons
Denise Senhaux
Mayor's Disability Council
Minutes
19 March 2004
1 ROLL CALL
Mayor's Disability Council Members Present: Norma Block, Ed Evans, Jack Fagan, Eugene Flannery, Elizabeth Grigsby, Michael Kwok, Jul Lynn Parsons, Tatiana Kostanian, Robert Neil and Richard Ow.
Excused Absent: Ruth Nunez, Denise Senhaux
Mayor's Office on Disability: Susan Mizner, Director; Ken Stein, Program Administrator; and Howard O. Wong, Council Clerk.
Michael Kwok, Co-Chair, called the meeting to order at 1:06 p.m.
2 APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA
The Council approved the agenda for the March 21, 2004 MDC Meeting.
3 APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES
The Council approved the minutes from the meeting of February 20, 2004.
4 PUBLIC COMMENT
* Ruach Graffis, United Taxicab Workers, expressed concern about the Taxi Commission voting to reduce by half the number of their meetings that are televised. Ms. Graffis pointed out this would be a disservice to those people with disabilities who are unable to attend the meetings. She encouraged the Council members and community to write to the Taxi Commission to have this issue re-visited. Ms. Graffis also spoke about Supervisor Gerardo Sandoval's Proposition N. She urged the community's support to get the proposition defeated and have Supervisor Sandoval remove this from his agenda.
* Frank Markowitz, Pedestrian Program Manager with the Department of Parking & Traffic, informed the Council and community about the City's work regarding the installation of accessible audible pedestrian signals. He welcomed comments from the Council and the public regarding possible locations. The Transportation Authority Plans and Programs Committee will be hearing funding requests on Tuesday, April 13, 2004 at 11:00AM at City Hall.
Richard Ow, Council Member, a Chinatown resident, suggested that an accessible pedestrian signal be placed on Broadway Street and Columbus Avenue.
* Lori Guidos, a San Francisco resident, spoke about problems she encountered seeking health services at her neighborhood Resource Center. Since the Commission on Aging was changed to the Department of Aging and Adult Services, their mandate is to serve younger adults with disabilities. However, when she asked for mental health services, she was given only a flier on services for Asian Americans. Ms. Guidos had concerns about the Center because it doesn't appear to provide services for non-Asian and non-senior members of the disability community. She seeks support from the Council members and community to contact the Mental Health Services Information and Referral number, 415-626-1033, operating 24 hours, to improve the contacts and services for the disability community.
5 ELECTION OF COUNCIL CO-CHAIRS
Because newly elected Co-Chair Michael Kwok is leaving the Council to serve on the Taxi Commission, two Co-Chair positions are available. Nonetheless, the Council decided that there would only be one Co-Chair elected at this meeting. Two Council members, Jul Lynn Parsons and Jack Fagan, were nominated. A vote was taken and Jack Fagan was elected. An election for the second co-chair position will take place at the next meeting scheduled for Friday, April 16, 2004.
6 REPORT FROM THE CHAIR
Michael Kwok reported that this would be his last meeting. He has been appointed by the Mayor to serve as a Commissioner in the Taxi Commission. He has served on the
Mayor's Disability Council for five years and wanted to thank his fellow Council members and MOD staff for their support and assistance. Several Council members commended Mr. Kwok for his expertise, dedication and professionalism.
7 REPORT FROM THE DIRECTOR
Susan Mizner told the Council Members and the community that one of the Council members, Denise Senhaux, is still recovering from surgery, and that we all wished her a speedy recovery.
Ms. Mizner then had the three new Council members introduce themselves.
* Richard Ow said that he appreciated the Mayor's confidence in appointing him to the Council. He said that one of his goals is to work on ensuring that City materials are translated into a variety of languages.
* Tatiana Kostanian is looking forward to serving on the Council and thanked staff for the opportunity.
* Robert Neil, new Council member, is a Laguna Honda resident, has been a member of their resident's council for the past 11 years, and has served on the Board of Directors of the Multiple Sclerosis Society for 13 years. He spoke about his work with paratransit services.
Ms. Mizner explained that the three new members are replacing August Longo, Vincent Behan and Michael Kwok. She thanked all the former Council members for the wonderful job they have done while serving on the MDC.
Ms. Mizner briefly updated the Council on Transition Plan work, reporting that almost half of the $5.3 million needed has been allocated to bring community health clinics up to code.
Ms. Mizner reported the Department of Elections (DOE) is being sued along with three other counties and the Secretary of State for having inaccessible voting machines. MOD is currently working with DOE on this issue.
Lastly, MOD had a meeting with a number of the ADA Coordinators from the City's department to formalize their work and to provide them with an ADA Coordinator Tool Kit. Included in the Tool Kit are the Programmatic Access Bulletins that Ken Stein has put together. The bulletins are available on MOD's website at www.sfgov.org/mod.
8 REPORT FROM THE COMMITTEE CHAIRS
REPORT FROM THE PROGRAMMATIC ACCESS COMMITTEE
Jul Lynn Parsons, Chair of the Programmatic Access Committee reported that the committee is working on accessible website design. The committee is encouraging the Mayor's Office on Disability to implement a training for ADA Coordinators and Information Technology (IT) managers to ensure that the websites being used by the City County of San Francisco are fully accessible to persons with disabilities.
The committee continues its work to amend Section 12 D of the City's Administrative Code, to include businesses owned by persons with disabilities in the City's Bid Preference program. Their next public meeting is scheduled for Friday, May 7, 2004 from 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Rose Resnick Lighthouse for the Blind.
REPORT FROM THE PHYSICAL ACCESS COMMITTEE
Ed Evans, Chair, reported that the committee has been working with the departments of Building Inspection, Department of Parking and Traffic, Public Works, the Police Department and others to improve physical accessibility throughout the city. The next public meeting is Friday, April 30, 2004 from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. at City Hall in Room 421.
9 AUTISM AND ASPERGER'S SYNDROME. PRESENTATION BY MEMBERS OF
AUTISM & ASPERGER'S SYNDROME COALITION FOR EDUCATION,
NETWORKING & DEVELOPMENT (AASCEND).
Jack Fagan provided an introduction about Autism and Asperger's Syndrome. Both are neurological conditions that occur four times as often in males as in females. Autism has increased in California by 634% over the past 15 years. Approximately 56/10,000 people have Autism or Asperger's Syndrome.
Matthew Lichy spoke of his experience as a person living with Asperger's Syndrome. He lives on Treasure Island with support from the Golden Gate Regional Center. He is currently attending City College of San Francisco. When he was 21, he was diagnosed as having high functioning Autism, and later with Asperger's Syndrome. He explained the similarities and differences between Autism and Asperger's Syndrome. In Autism, communication difficulties such as repeating oneself or not speaking at all is very common. Being passive, withdrawn and failing to maintain eye contact, and fidgeting is also common.
Greg Yates, a member of the Board of Directors of AASCEND, spoke about his own personal and professional experiences as a person on the Autism Spectrum. He stated that the primary deficit in autism is a social deficit. He said that many homeless people on the streets fit in the spectrum of autism, but can be easily confused for someone who is a drug abuser and/or someone with a mental illness.
Ron Bixler is a San Francisco resident, a City College of SF instructor and a father of a son with autism. He spoke about the need to educate law enforcement working with people with autism and developmental disabilities to reduce misunderstanding and tragedies. He re-iterated that autism interferes with social interaction and communication skills.
Andrew Bixler, is 23 years old and has Autism. He also lives on Treasure Island, and spoke about Social Vocational Services, an agency which supports him to live independently. He is currently attending City College. He expressed the need for more social functions such as regularly scheduled evening dances in San Francisco for people with Autism and Asperger's Syndrome.
Camilla Bixler, wife of Ron and mother of Andrew, also a City College Instructor, spoke also of the need for more social opportunities for young men with autism to socialize with young women. At a conference last year and one of the primary concerns was the lack of events to meet people for dates and relationships. People who have this disability are 80% male. She stated that in San Francisco there are no regularly sponsored social events for people with developmental disabilities. Her other concern was the living situation on Treasure Island. It has been a safe place for her son to become independent, but additional services such as transportation, a bank, etc. would be very helpful and increase their independence even more. She is seeking the Council's assistance and support in both of these matters.
Betty Anne Lipow, also a member of the Board of Directors of AASCEND, and a mother of a son with Asperger's Syndrome, spoke about the upcoming 4th Annual Conference on April 24, 2004. She urged the public to attend. For more information, please go to the website at www.aascend.net.
John Blaker, priest of the Diocese in Oakland, spoke of his own personal experiences as having Asperger's Syndrome. He finds the streets poorly marked, which causes him confusion. He also noted that encounters with police may be intimidating and may cause a panic reaction, which makes it difficult for him to speak, and that this may be perceived as non-compliance by a police officer.
Jane Warren, mother of an autistic son, spoke (via the Bridge Line) of the need to educate the police department when approaching a person with autism. A police officer can easily misunderstand a person with autism because he/she can be disoriented or intimidated by the officer. Therefore, she suggested the person with autism perhaps could carry an identification card to identify themselves to the police as being someone with autism. Overall, Ms. Warren felt the best solution was information and education for the police department to assist a person with autism.
10 CORRESPONDENCE
There was correspondence from Howard Chabner regarding Page Street Circle Traffics. Council members were given a copy of his correspondences in their packets.
11 ITEMS NOT ON TODAY'S AGENDA, BUT WITHIN THE JURISDICTION OF THE
MDC.
* Gary Gregerson, The Arc of San Francisco, pointed out several things his clients have experienced as pedestrians in San Francisco. These include the difficulty of knowing when it is safe to cross the street when you are on the "island" on Market Street with the walk signal being so far away. Another concern was for people who can't read and take the underground municipal train - they don't know what station to get off. He suggested color-coding it. The last issue was that 11th and Mission Streets is an "unsafe intersection due to light changes and oncoming traffic" for people to cross.
* John Colter, The Arc of San Francisco, announced that there will be a People's First meeting on Friday, April 23, 2004 at 3:30PM at the Fox Plaza, 10th Floor.
* Jerry Grace, reminded the community that there will be a rally in Sacramento on Thursday, May 20, 2004 regarding proposed IHSS cuts. For more information, please call 1-800-390-2699 or 1-800-900-0706 TTY.
* Michael Payne reported via the Bridge Line that the Notices of Continuing Disability Review sent out by the Social Security Administration (SSA) had a wrong zip code for the SSA's address, resulting in a delay in Social Security receiving the notices on time. The correct zip code is 94103.
* Sergio Alunan, Director of Yolo County In-House Support Services (IHSS) Public Authority, informed the community that the Governor has proposed making more cuts, including decreasing the hourly wages for IHSS workers from $9.50 to $6.25. He is urging the community to write to our legislators.
12 COUNCIL MEMBER REQUESTS FOR FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS.
Ed Evans suggested inviting several City Departments such as the Department of Building Inspection, Department of Public Works and the San Francisco Police Department to discuss issues on physical access, conditions of sidewalks and what appeared to be the lack of enforcement of skateboards, bicycles, scooters, etc. on the sidewalks.
Robert Neil commended Laguna Honda Hospital/Convalescent Center for their good work and cost-saving methods, and suggests this as another possible item for a future agenda.
13 COUNCIL MEMBER COMMENTS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS.
Ed Evans requested the meeting be adjourned in the memory of community disability activist Bruce Oka's mother, who passed away on March 2nd. Mr. Evans stated that Mrs. Oka was a strong influence in her son's life.
14 ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned at 4:00 p.m.
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