Easter Seals Celebrates the Life of Disability Rights Advocate Linda Gonzales

Contributed by C. Marie Maus

Linda Gonzales, a founder and first executive director of the Association of Programs for Rural Independent Living (APRIL), and long-time advocate and champion for the rights of people with disabilities, passed away on July 27, 2013.  Gonzales worked tirelessly to promote and improve the rights and ability of people with disabilities to live independently in all parts of the United States.  For Gonzales, who spent most of her career focusing on the needs of and services for rural residents with disabilities, two top priorities were helping rural residents find or maintain employment in their rural communities and improving the availability of accessible transportation in those areas.

Her involvement with Easter Seals touched both of those priority areas. Gonzales was an early supporter and collaborator with Easter Seals on the National AgrAbility Project, a program for farmers, ranchers, and farmworkers and their families who experienced disability.  And in 2006, she became a member of the Easter Seals Project ACTION (ESPA) National Steering Committee, on which she served as chair from 2007 to 2008.  Gonzales’ said her focus on transportation was based on the fact that, “It [transportation] was a huge stumbling block for everyone out there in rural areas.”  In 2001, APRIL received funding from the U.S. Department of Education for a five-year demonstration project to implement a transportation voucher system.  The knowledge and experience she gained through that project was put to good use in her role on the ESPA National Steering Committee.

Gonzales began her career in Independent Living as a counselor at New Vistas, a center for independent living (CIL) in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 1982.  She became the executive director and remained there until 1993.  In 1994, she began her 16-year career with APRIL.  As director of APRIL, she moved the organization from fledgling to national innovator. 

Throughout her career, she took a special interest in building bridges between university research and field applications with consumers.  Whether it was transportation, rural independent living, peer mentoring, secondary conditions, or community participation, she was dedicated to bringing consumer voices to the table of research and training efforts. She encouraged and supported collaboration across a variety of programs and organizations, working closely with a number of organizations including the ILRU (Independent Living Research Utilization - a national center for information, training, research, and technical assistance in independent living), the National Council on Independent Living (NCIL), the University of Kansas, and the University of Montana Rural Institute.

Linda Gonzales’ impact on the independent living movement, in general, and the rural independent living movement, in specific, will be felt for years to come. Although her legacy lives on through the Linda Gonzales Award for Outstanding Rural Youth, which is presented each year at the APRIL Annual Conference, she will most certainly be missed!

A Victory in Civil Rights―with More Finish Lines Ahead

Contributed by Carol Wright

This morning, an older adult who uses a walker boarded a bus by the lift to get to her volunteer position one town over.  A woman who is blind used an accessible pedestrian signal to hear when it was okay to cross the street, and then she completed her grocery shopping. Colleagues entered a subway car to get to a meeting across town, and their manager who uses a wheelchair easily led them onto the train without a second thought.

Many aspects of accessibility, such as elevators at subway station or signals at intersections, are normalcies today that could easily be taken for granted. Most of us would not think twice about having students, with and without learning disabilities, attend the same school or of riding the bus with someone who uses a wheelchair. Inclusion and the ability to pursue an independent life are tenets of American society with which our children have grown up. These values were not a part of our nation’s fabric, however, until the Americans with Disabilities Act was passed 23 years ago this month.

On July 26, 1990, when President George H.W. Bush signed the ADA into law, he changed the future not only for millions of Americans with disabilities and their families but also for the companies that needed to hire qualified employees, the universities that were looking for competitive students, and the communities that needed advocates to reach out to marginalized residents. As transportation became more accessible under the ADA, people with disabilities were able to live independently within communities, attain employment and support their families as well as vacation, attend entertainment venues and support the economy as consumers. Buses with ramps and lifts, paratransit vans, and curb ramps have made inclusion more of a reality, but we have further to go.

This year, for the first time, I am celebrating the anniversary of the ADA as the senior director of accessible transportation at Easter Seals. Having worked in transit, human services transportation, and aging and disability services, I am excited to meld my diverse experiences and help communities continue to make their transportation services more accessible. I have been to many communities across the country, including those in tribal and rural regions, and have seen first-hand how accessible transportation can transform an area. Our nation has made much progress in 23 years, and I look forward to keeping that momentum going through leading Easter Seals Project ACTION.

The U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Transit Administration, our funder, has remained committed to accessibility and inclusion in our nation’s transportation systems. ESPA thanks former U.S. DOT Secretary Ray LaHood for his years of service and welcomes Secretary Anthony Foxx. In a tight economy, much work still needs to be done.  ESPA will continue to work with our partners and groups across the country to support fully inclusive communities where all people—regardless of ability—can pursue an independent life.

Easter Seals Project ACTION Celebrates the Life of Michael Winter

Michael Winter (left) and Rita Daguillard,
director of the Office of Research Management
at FTA, during an international exchange in
Europe in which ESPA participated

Contributed by Mary A. Leary

Michael Winter, a Federal Transit Administration leader in accessible transportation and civil rights, long-time disability advocate and advisor to Easter Seals Project ACTION, passed away suddenly on July 11, 2013. Winter worked tirelessly throughout his life for the rights of people with disabilities and particularly led efforts to increase access to transportation. One of Winter’s ardent passions was accessible transportation around the world. ESPA worked closely with him on a number of international events including a disability forum in Hong Kong in 2010 at TRANSED. Winter leaves an incredible legacy of leadership, advocacy, program management, policy development and mentorship regarding civil rights for people with disabilities.

In 1977, after college and graduate school, Winter went to the Berkeley Center for Independent Living in California where he worked as an intern and client service manager before serving as their director for 12 years. He was elected to the Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District Board of Directors. He served on the board for six years. During that time, Winter was also elected president of the National Council on Independent Living.

Winter joined the U.S. Department of Transportation in 1994 and served in a number of key roles. From 1994 to 1997, he was a special assistant to the associate deputy secretary and director of the Office of Intermodalism. Winter was associate administrator for budget and policy with FTA from 1997 to 2000. From 2001 on, Winter was responsible for a number of programs associated with federal civil rights at U.S. DOT as they applied to the ADA, the Rehabilitation Act, the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise Program, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and environmental justice issues.

Winters served on ESPA’s National Advisory Committee for many years.  ESPA will miss talking with and learning from Winter, but we are grateful to have his legacy and leadership. His many contributions will continue to positively impact accessible transportation for years to come.

Easter Seals Contributes to AUCD Report on Transition

By Whitney E. Gray

For young adults to transition seamlessly to adulthood, many different agencies and entities must coordinate and work together. Transportation is one aspect of transition, which can require coordination between parents, educators and transportation providers.

Judy Shanley, director of the Administration for Community Living, mobility management and student engagement programs at Easter Seals, recently contributed to a resource on transition produced by the Association of University Centers on Disability.  A Collaborative Interagency, Interdisciplinary Approach to Transition from Adolescence to Adulthood  aims to help stakeholders pursue a more comprehensive, coordinated, supportive, and successful transition process for youth with disabilities. As discussed in the paper, four core concepts are essential to the development and implementation of effective transition plans and processes:

(1)  Self-determination should be the foundation for transition planning.
(2)  Transition should be viewed through a cultural lens.
(3)  Interagency collaboration is essential to effective transition.
(4)  Transition planning should include all the perspectives, disciplines, and organizations that will impact the transitioning student.

In the section on transportation, Shanley discusses ESPA’s multi-tiered framework to help educators think about approaches to teach students about transportation options. “At its foundation and the least intense level, students with and without disabilities are oriented to public transit by participating in opportunities to visit and use public transit, through examples that are embedded in academic materials, and by the collaboration and participation of transportation professionals in school forums…At the top tier or the most intense level, travel training, a one-to-one service provided to students by trained travel training professionals, is delivered to enable students to navigate on public transportation.” Through collaboration and choosing the most appropriate educational method, parents, transit professionals and educators can help ensure that transportation will not be a barrier in the transition to adulthood for youth with disabilities.

Start improving the transition process for youth with disabilities in your community. Download the full paper for free or order print copies for $10 plus shipping. Visit AUCD’s website for more information.