 Major sponsors for Abel Denonair include Green Mountain Support Services of Vermont, Washington County Mental Health, Al-Israel. Food sponsors for Abel Denonair include Geffen Foods Israel, Osam Foods Israel. Major media sponsors for Abel Denonair include Park Chester Times, Muslim Community Report, www.thisisthebronx.info, Associated Press Media Editors, U.S. Press Court, Domestic and International. Anchor F.L. and Spotify. Hello and welcome to this edition of Abel Denonair, the one and only program that focuses on the needs, concerns and achievements of the definitely able in Vermont and beyond. I've always been your host Lauren Seiler and Arlene is here today, say hi Arlene. Okay, how are you doing today? Okay, on today's program we focus, while every other news outlet is showing the casket of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, today we're going to focus on the ability of her life, of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and what she did for the special needs community. So, let us just say condolences to the family of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and let's get started with the show. So there is a wonderful website. You can go to www.accessiblesociety.org. That's A-C-C-E-S-S-I-B-L-E-society.org and there's a wonderful website called the Center for Accessible Society, Disability Issues Information for Journalists. So, if a person with a disability or a person with many abilities is a journalist like ourselves, like myself, there's a website here that you can go to to get information. So, let's talk about Ruth Bader Ginsburg's life and times and the abilities of her. So, on today's program we're gonna talk about the ADA integration mandate in the Olmsted decision and we're also going to talk about what if you're a, and I don't like saying this word, but what if you're a prisoner in prison and you happen to have mental retardation or MR? What laws did Ruth Bader Ginsburg help you with that? So, let's zoom to, so let's zoom to June 22nd, 1999. Now, remember, nine years before that, July 26th, 1990, they first started with the ADA, the Americans with Disabilities Act, signed by President George Bush Sr. But according to, in Washington, D.C., June 22nd, 1999, was a huge decision and it was a mandate by the Supreme Court. Ruth Bader Ginsburg decided that with a whole lot of other judges and I'll get to that in a minute. But so, it says June 22nd, 1999, in rejecting the state of, I'm reading it from here, and this is a really important website. In rejecting the state, Georgia's appeal to enforce institutionalization of individuals with disabilities. The Supreme Court today, actually June 22nd, 1999, affirmed the right of individuals with disabilities to live in their community in its six-dash-three ruling against the state of Georgia in the case of Olmsted versus LC and EW, okay? Under Title II, now this is extremely important for people with special needs in the audience who are watching today to understand. Under Title II, the Federal Americans with Disabilities Act said that Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg delivered an opinion to the court. And this is what she said. And we're quoting Ruth Bader Ginsburg. States are required to place persons with mental disabilities or physical disabilities in settings rather than in institutions when the state owns treatment of professionals have determined that community placement is appropriate. The transfer from institutional care to a less restrictive setting is not opposed by the affected individuals. And the placement can be reasonably accommodated taking into account the resources available to the state and the needs of others with mental and physical disability. The integration mandate, in other words, for example, back in the 1960s, people were trying to get integrated on buses, trains, all them, you know, different places and Rosa Parks kind of helped with that. But in a sense, Ruth Bader Ginsburg really helped push services for people with disabilities. An integration mandate of the Americans with Disabilities Act requires public agencies to provide services in the most integrated setting appropriate to the needs of qualified individuals with disabilities. The High Court upheld that the mandate ruling in Georgia's Department of Human Resources and could not segregate two women with mental disabilities, mental or physical disabilities in a state psychiatric hospital after the agency's long treatment of professionals have recommended their transfer to community care. In other words, everybody's mandated to have community integration. Yes, if you live in a group home or you live in a place that's not your parents' home, everybody deserves to be there. Anything you wanna say regarding the integration and community resources for people with disabilities? In terms of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Yes, Ruth Bader Ginsburg for Women's Rights and she also did a variety of things, but she remembered that she did a lot of things. She pushed, she pushed, she pushed, you know, she spoke out, you know, she didn't want, she dealt the law, but she, she pretty pushed, she was a pusher, but she was very... She was known as the notorious RBG, actually. Yeah. So let's, this is, you know, this is extremely important. The lower courts ruled that the state, that the state of Georgia violated the ADA's integration mandate and Georgia appealed, claiming the rule could lead to the closing of all state hospitals and the disruption of state funding and services for people with mental and physical disabilities. However, the women were, however, women were supported by a number of states and disabilities organizations and others, okay? The unjustified segregation of people with, people in institutions and people with disabilities with community placement is appropriate, constitutes a form of discrimination prohibited by Title II of the ADA, and I'm gonna repeat that again. When community placement is appropriate and it constitutes a form of discrimination, it's prohibited by Title II of the ADA. Originally, 26 states had signed unto an amicus breeze support of Georgia's position. However, an extended and extensive education campaign by disability rights movement reduced the number to just seven. So let's go down here, and this is, you know. So the commissioner's brief was filed by 30 national and seven Georgia organizations that documented the cost of the differential between institutional and community care. So community care and institutional living are two entirely different things. As a matter of fact, going back to New York, Willowbrook was one of the most infamous institutions and people say that housing people with disabilities cost a lot of money, which it does. So community costs and community housing, according to this cost $60,000 per year for discharge, psychiatric patient, and $130,000 for institutional care. So it costs less for a person to be in a community center versus the $130,000, and that number probably jumped up because this was 1999. So, you know, Ruth Bader Ginsburg did extraordinary work for the field of disabilities in terms of the Olmsted Act. Now, let's go, now, this is gonna take up the other part of the show, which is extremely important. Ruth Bader Ginsburg, I already took my temperature, Rob. Okay, so Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the prisons of the prisoner act and people with disabilities. So let's take a look at that, okay, while we go there. Oh, here we go. Ruth Bader Ginsburg basically turned around and said that if you are a person with mental retardation. All right, let's take a look at this quickly, and this is important. She was a feminist icon, and she basically dealt with issues of prisoners' rights and capital punishment, and basically said that if you are a person with mental retardation, you cannot be executed, but she was an extreme feminist. This is coming from the Marshall Project, which is a nonprofit journalism newspaper for criminal justice. She was an extreme person dealing with prisoner rights. Now here's, Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the rights of incarcerated individuals. When it came to prison conditions and the rights of incarcerated people, Justice Bader Ginsburg simply wasn't as visible, and she wasn't the primary author of any blockbuster human rights and prison case, but according to the San Francisco, here we go. Here, don't rustle papers, please, mental retardation. I'm gonna talk to them, and here we go. Now, in terms of mental retardation and prison terms, it's illegal to execute people with mental retardation, because if a person has an IQ below 70, sorry, 70 to 75 were below, their mind is deemed MR, or pretty much disabled. Can I say something? Yes. This is what Ruth Bader Ginsburg's mother told ya. My mother told me that, told me to be a lady, and for her, I meant your own person being independent. I said in quality side of it, that it is essential to a woman's equality with a man that she'd be decision maker that her choice be controlling. Women should only have true equality when men share with them the responsibility of bringing up the next generation. This, the state controlling a woman would mean denying her full immunity and full equality. Explain what you mean by that. Need to be a citizenry, but they, that somebody control her what decisions that she makes. Nobody should really control you on decisions that you should make. So according to New York Times, and I have it right here, the issue of execution and the retarded returns to the Supreme Court. This was filed April 27th, 2009, okay? So it says according to New York Times in 2009, the issue before the court on that Monday should follow from the fact that the Ohio courts of prosecutors said that an inmate, his name is Michael Byes, was mentally retarded years before the Supreme Court barred the execution of retarded people in 2002. Akins versus Virginia, okay? So he was convicted of the kidnapping and attempted rape and murder of someone who happened to be a 10 year old boy. A psychologist testified that Mr. Byes had an IQ of 69 and was mentally retarded on the conclusion of the appeals court in Ohio and that was accepted. So going down to the article, you know, Rupert Ginsburg did a whole lot for people as she really cared for a lot of people, you know? It's not fair. And the court added in terms of stuff, the court added that the person is not retarded or MR if the person's IQ is above 70. So it just depends. Now, here's the thing. I don't like, and I'm sure you don't either because this can be an opinion either way. Trump isn't listening to the family and it wasn't listening to Rupert Ginsburg in the first place because he's replacing, he wants to replace, it's way too soon. Yeah, and the way the president's office is going right now, he's going out the door. You know, he doesn't care about people with special needs. He doesn't care about any services for people with disabilities. I mean, he, no, no, I mean if we had it our way in terms of Democrats, Justice Rupert Ginsburg probably would have been president by now. Yeah, I see what's going on. Or something like that. She needed to be on a higher thing than the Supreme Court. And Ruth, you know, I mean, Rupert Ginsburg didn't like the president anyway because he's just not doing what he's supposed to be doing. So let's look up, so let's, her accomplishments, Ruth Bader since we're talking about Ruth Bader Ginsburg today on today's additional label going on there. Let's take a look on what she really did. Her accomplishments, and this is important. Accomplishments, so according to the National Women's Hall of Fame, because she's listed there, Ginsburg has worked her entire career to eliminate gender-based stereotyping, including people with special needs, in legislation and regulations. Appointed Associate Justice by the United States Supreme Court by President William, Bill William Clinton, in 1993. She's the second woman to sit on the bench, and Jewish woman, she's the first Jewish woman, you know, according to television today or recently, she was the first Jewish woman to be honored with her casket in view. And she was part of the United States Supreme Court in its 212 year history. And according to the National Women's Hall of Fame, and she's listed there, and this is according to the Old Testament words, justice, justice, thou shalt pursue. The Old Testament words, Ruth Bader Ginsburg keeps, she kept on the wall for changes of her chambers, epitomized the outlook of achievement of this distinguished jurist. Ginsburg has worked her entire career to eliminate gender-based stereotyping and legislation of regulations. And she graduated, and of course we'll have pictures of what she, you know, will have pictures of her. She graduated from Cornell University in 1954 with the highest honors in government. Justice Bader Ginsburg attended Harvard Law School and Columbia Law School, making the law review in both and graduating at the top of her class of Columbia. Despite these excellent academic credentials, Ginsburg had difficulty finding a job at first, and this is according to the movie on the basis of sex with Felicity Huffman, which really goes into the early life of Ginsburg. She had trouble finding a job in the male-dominated society and law profession. She began her career serving clerkship in the United States District Court, and she was honored in 2002 by the Women's Hall of Fame. She started in the appeals court and continued teaching at Rutgers University Law School and then Columbia Law School, where she became the first female tenure professor. In 1980, President Jimmy Carter appointed her to the United States Court of Appeals in District of Columbia, which he served until her 1993 appointment to the Supreme Court. Justice Ginsburg was known for her scholarly, balanced opinions and foresight personal courage. Her cancer survivor herself, she has assisted by example of frank discussion by the state of her health diagnosis. So yeah, she really did extremely good works and she should really be, yeah. And the reason why we did the show today in terms of disability law is because nobody really knows that. In terms of advocacy, people really have to know what people with special needs really go through for community inclusion, for different things that we struggle with. Like now, one of the biggest things, and we can talk about this for about nine minutes, one of the biggest things that people with special needs now are going through is appropriate appointment and appropriate employment and appropriate wages. So let's take a look. Let's see. 14 C, Vermont. This is the biggest law, hold on, wages, disabled. This is the biggest law and I think Ruth Bader Ginsburg has a lot to do with helping people too. And in 1986, section 14 C was amended to remove the separation of workshops and work activity centers to eliminate any statutory wage floor for persons with disabilities in certified employment. In theory, such workers were to be paid a wage commensurate to their productivity. So yes, supported employment, according to Dale, Development of Disability Services Division, DDSD in partnership with its agencies and Dale's, cause Dale's been on the show before, Division of Vocational Rehabilitation has helped individuals in Vermont since 1980s. They basically, all these Vermont organizations turn around. Now, figure this, a person with a special need goes into a workshop. What a workshop is, and we have six minutes left, we might go a little bit over here. A workshop is if you're putting together something, let's say a tape recorder, and you gotta put the different parts together. The person that does it the fastest gets paid the most. That's not fair. Do you think that's fair? No. These supportive employment workshops, these workshops were paying people $3 and 25 cents an hour or less. So why can't a person with a disability get 15, 16, 17 dollars an hour? You know what I mean? So section 14c, most Vermonters heading off to work are unaware that a contentious national debate is brewing over the injustice caused by section 14c of the US Fair Labor and Standards Act, a labor law permitting sub-minimum wage. Sometimes less than a dollar per hour be paid to workers with developmental disabilities. I don't wanna get paid a dollar an hour. That's illegal. So this is not 1800s, to debate to workers with developmental disabilities on the most basic idea of section 14c is that people with disabilities are less productive. So their earnings be based on a peace rate in a shelter workshop isolated from the regular workforce. So I think that's wrong. I think they should have bought a section 14c. You know, section 14c is this, this prospectively, excuse me, I will edit that, this prospectively, people are marginalized, are marginalized by society and a poor training option compared is to be extensive is in real time, job training for real employers. This is why Vermont began closing, began closing sheltered workshops over 30 years ago when other states were developing thousands of workshops for their new vocational best practice. Vermont literally stood alone in nation, deciding to create access for workers in Vermont's business community. So let's ponder on that. I don't want to get paid a dollar an hour. I mean, this is just ridiculous. So in terms of that, I think it's best that 14c gets abolished and I think in my journalistic opinion and my wife's journalistic opinion, people with special needs deserve a regular wage. It doesn't matter how smart you are. You know, what's your IQ? If you went to college, if you went to school or what have you? Ruth Bader Ginsburg did extremely well for people with special needs. Let's keep her legacy alive and stop people from 14c or any other situation that keeps people with special needs from working. This journalist has been working in the field for 25 plus years in the field of special needs and ability to journalism and we're gonna keep it up. We're gonna keep Ableton on there alive. Anything you want to say before we end? I would say, yeah, maybe. I'm a little scared because I remember that she was a multiple woman who did a lot of stuff and she's from Brooklyn. Remember that? She's from Brooklyn. Yeah, we're gonna have pictures of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. I know she's from Brooklyn. Before we end the show, before we end the show, two things. Much condolences to the Ruth Bader Ginsburg family, the Supreme Court justices and everybody in Washington mourning her loss. And also, before we end, I know you only have a little bit to go. Recently, I used to work, well, I used to work for a place called Bronx Net Television in the Bronx, which was part of cable vision. Bronx Net Television was a television station similar to Oregon Media, which is a public access TV station within the auspices of the Bronx, Lehman College and many other places that Bronx Net was working out of. Recently, there was a gentleman by the name of, you know, we don't have a picture of him, but recently there was a gentleman by the name of Jeremy Hutchins, who worked as one of our field coordinators at Bronx Net Television and many other positions as he started as an intern and worked his way up. Unfortunately, Jeremy Hutchins had passed away at the age of 36. And we just want to wish his family, if his family is watching this program right now, you know, many condolences to the Hutchins family. Jeremy has worked his way up from Bronx Net, he worked for BET's 106 and Park and many other things he did, movies and other productions. We wanna send our condolences able that on air wishes to send its condolences to the Hutchins family. And with that said, this puts an end to this edition of Able to Don Air. We would like to thank our sponsors, our sponsors, Washington County Mental Health, Green Mountain Support Services, Anchor FM, Spotify and many others. Please listen to our podcast on Anchor FM and Spotify as well. This puts an end to this edition of Able to Don Air. I'm Lauren Seiler. I'm Arlene Seiler. See you next time. Major sponsors for Able to Don Air include Green Mountain Support Services of Vermont, Washington County Mental Health, Al-A Israel. Food sponsors for Able to Don Air include Geffen Foods Israel, Osam Foods Israel. Major media sponsors for Able to Don Air include Park Chester Times, Muslim Community Report, www.thisisthebronx.info, Associated Press Media Editors, US Press Court, Domestic and International. Anchor FM and Spotify.