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Dr. Harolyn Belcher Recipient of 2022 Distinguished Public Service in Healthcare Award

Dr. Harolyn Belcher Recipient of 2022 Distinguished Public Service in Healthcare Award

Baltimore, MDDr. Harolyn Belcher, Chief Diversity Officer and Vice President at Kennedy Krieger Institute, has been named the recipient of the 2022 Distinguished Public Service in Healthcare Award, which will be presented to her at Disability Rights Maryland’s (DRM) Breaking Barriers Awards Gala on Thursday, May 12, 2022.

The award honors members of the medical community who have made significant contributions in research and healthcare for people with disabilities. Throughout her noteworthy tenure at the Kennedy Krieger Institute, Dr. Belcher designed and developed innovative ways to provide equitable healthcare to people with disabilities. 

Since 2015, when Dr. Belcher joined the Kennedy Krieger Institute’s Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities (LEND) as Associate Director, she has provided groundbreaking research and solutions to complex healthcare challenges for people with disabilities. 

A portrait of Dr. Harolyn Belcher.

Working with and training a generation of health professionals, Dr. Belcher has been a trailblazer in revolutionizing the quality of healthcare delivery systems to children with disabilities.

In her tireless and fruitful efforts, Dr. Belcher has substantially advanced LEND’s goal to train interdisciplinary health professionals in all aspects of neurodevelopmental and related disabilities: social environments, cultural competency, social determinants of health, systems of care delivery, and more. This work continues to create healthcare environments that can provide necessary and life-changing care for people with disabilities.

Please join us at the 2022 Breaking Barriers Awards Gala on Thursday, May 12 in honoring Dr. Belcher’s extraordinary accomplishments and contributions to the medical care of people with disabilities. Subscribe to our newsletter below to receive updates as the other awardees are announced, and to reserve tickets.

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Alice Wong, Gregg Beratan & Andrew Pulrang are the 2022 Gayle Hafner Grassroots Leadership Awardees

Alice Wong, Gregg Beratan & Andrew Pulrang are the 2022 Gayle Hafner Grassroots Leadership Awardees

Triptych_AliceRed

Baltimore, MDDisability rights activists Alice Wong, Gregg Beratan, and Andrew Pulrang are the 2022 recipients of the Gayle Hafner Grassroots Leadership Award which will be presented to them at Disability Rights Maryland’s (DRM) Breaking Barriers Awards Gala on Thursday, May 12, 2022.

The award’s namesake, Gayle Hafner, was a trailblazer DRM civil rights attorney whose zealous advocacy for full inclusion in every aspect of community life improved the quality of life for people with disabilities.

Established in 2015, the award honors those who have successfully brought about substantial positive change through grassroots activism for people with disabilities. Gayle’s extensive knowledge of Medicaid law enabled her to offer hope and tangible assistance to a significant number of people with disabilities so they could reside independently outside of nursing homes increasing their opportunities to live with self-determination.

In honoring Alice Wong, Gregg Beratan, and Andrew Pulrang, DRM applauds and acknowledges their lifelong commitment to building communities of care at a grassroots level to advance the rights of people with disabilities. Through their joint digital campaign, #CripTheVote, they have designed an impressive and ever-expansive network of voters and provided them with a platform to share their experiences and needs on a national political level. Their creative and innovative ideas, work, and commitment to amplifying the voices, faces, and individual narratives of people with disabilities have brought depth, dimension, and digital proximity to the disability rights revolution.

Please join us at the 2022 Breaking Barriers Awards Gala on Thursday, May 12, in honoring Alice Wong, Gregg Beratan and Andrew Pulrang for their extraordinary and groundbreaking service to people with disabilities. Subscribe to our newsletter below to receive updates as the other awardees are announced, and to reserve tickets.

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DRM Attorney Leslie Seid Margolis Featured on NPR

DRM Attorney Leslie Seid Margolis Featured on NPR

Young Black child in a wheelchair using a tablet for school

Leslie Seid Margolis, J.D., Managing Attorney of DRM’s Education Team, was recently interviewed in an NPR feature titled “After Months Of Special Education Turmoil, Families Say Schools Owe Them.” The article highlights the challenges facing students and families whose access to special education services was delayed or denied as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

As distance learning became the norm, many school districts did not offer critical services, guaranteed by the Individuals with Disabilities Education (IDEA) Act. As a result not only were children with disabilities deprived of educational services for up to a year or more, but the lives of the students and families who utilize these services were significantly disrupted. For many families, the article asserted “…this disruption wasn’t just difficult. It was devastating.”

The NPR feature profiled several parents and students who have been affected, including two DRM clients, and referenced the complaint DRM recently filed with the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE). DRM filed the complaint on behalf of 31 students in school districts throughout Maryland who were unable to access or participate effectively in their special education services when those services were provided remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic. DRM filed the complaint in response to MSDE’s indication that it would limit the remedy period for denials of compensatory services to one year instead of ordering relief for the actual time period services were denied, beginning in March 2020 when school buildings closed.

Leslie and her team addressed the struggles families were facing as schools shifted to distance learning by taking additional individual cases and by quickly developing new ways to provide support and written resources directly to parents in the form of brief parent guides. These materials are provided in both English and Spanish whenever possible and include the Education Team’s Facebook Live Q&As. The guides are published on our website and cover a variety of topics ranging from pandemic-related issues to extended school year and what parents can do if they believe their child is not making progress.

As a result not only were children with disabilities deprived of educational services for up to a year or more, but the lives of the students and families who utilize these services were significantly disrupted. For many families, the article asserted “…this disruption wasn’t just difficult. It was devastating.”

The NPR feature profiled several parents and students who have been affected, including two DRM clients, and referenced the complaint DRM recently filed with the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE). DRM filed the complaint on behalf of 31 students in school districts throughout Maryland who were unable to access or participate effectively in their special education services when those services were provided remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic. DRM filed the complaint in response to MSDE’s indication that it would limit the remedy period for denials of compensatory services to one year instead of ordering relief for the actual time period services were denied, beginning in March 2020 when school buildings closed.

Leslie and her team addressed the struggles families were facing as schools shifted to distance learning by taking additional individual cases and by quickly developing new ways to provide support and written resources directly to parents in the form of brief parent guides. These materials are provided in both English and Spanish whenever possible and include the Education Team’s Facebook Live Q&As. The guides are published on our website and cover a variety of topics ranging from pandemic-related issues to extended school year and what parents can do if they believe their child is not making progress.

To join DRM’s Education Team at their Facebook Live Q&As held every other Wednesday evening from 6:30 to 7:30pm, follow DRM on Facebook and keep an eye out for the next announcement.

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DRM’s Lauren Young Awarded On Our Own Maryland’s Lifetime Achievement Award

DRM’s Lauren Young Awarded On Our Own Maryland’s Lifetime Achievement Award

Please join us in congratulating Lauren Young, J.D., Director of Litigation at Disability Rights Maryland (DRM), for receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award from On Our Own Maryland (OOO)! The award was presented on June 16, 2021 by Mike Finkle, founder of OOO, at the “Our Care, Our Community, Our Choice” conference.

OOO, a longtime partner of DRM, is a peer-operated behavioral health advocacy organization promoting equality, justice, autonomy, and choice about life decisions for individuals with mental health and substance use needs.

Lauren is being recognized for her many years of service to the Disability Rights community, including more than 20 years with DRM.

Lauren Young

Across her career, she has tackled a wide variety of cases aimed at supporting our client community in achieving their goals and in advancing their civil rights. Recently, Lauren has been part of the call to ‘Decriminalize Behavioral Health’ in the face of discriminatory systems of policing and mass incarceration.

In accepting the award, Lauren thanked OOO for their outstanding vision of how our communities can care for one another; their advancement of peer support; and their education campaigns about the harms of distorted perceptions and stigma. Lauren thanked the organization for helping her to see more clearly.

In addition to OOO’s Lifetime Achievement award, in 2020 Lauren was a recipient of one of The Daily Record’s Top 100 Women awards, which recognize “high-achieving Maryland women who are making an impact through their leadership, community service, and mentoring.”

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DRM Takes Legal Action to Make City Sidewalks Accessible

DRM Takes Legal Action to Make City Sidewalks Accessible

Press Contacts

Martie Lafferty, Civil Rights Education and Enforcement Center: MLafferty@CREECLaw.org, 615-913-5099

Rebecca Rodgers, Disability Rights Advocates: RRodgers@DRALegal.org, 212-644-8644

Cory Warren, Disability Rights Maryland: CWarren@DisabilityRightsMD.org, 410-727-6352, ext. 2472

Baltimore, MD – Three wheelchair users and the IMAGE Center of Maryland have filed a class action lawsuit alleging widespread and ongoing violations of federal accessibility requirements by the City of Baltimore for its failure to properly install and maintain curb ramps and sidewalks. These violations severely impact the ability of people with mobility disabilities to access sidewalks and curb ramps, making it difficult or impossible for them to fully and equally participate in civic life in Baltimore.  

“Accessible curb ramps and sidewalks are necessary to achieving the integration and equal opportunity mandates of the Americans with Disabilities Act and other disability non-discrimination laws,” said Linda M. Dardarian, a Partner at Goldstein, Borgen, Dardarian & Ho. “They’re also critical to the safety and well-being of people with mobility disabilities who would otherwise be faced with the terrible choice of either risking their personal safety by traveling in the streets or staying home and foregoing participation in community life.”

Baltimore’s lack of accessibility harms Plaintiffs Susan Goodlaxson, Janice Jackson, and Keyonna Mayo; Plaintiff IMAGE Center’s constituents with mobility disabilities; and all other persons with mobility disabilities who live in, work in, or visit Baltimore. Imagine not being able to safely cross your street to visit a neighbor or navigate around the block where you live. This is a frequent reality for Plaintiffs Goodlaxson, Jackson, and Mayo.

There are no curb ramps at any of the corners of the  Glenmore Avenue block where Ms. Goodlaxson lives. So, she cannot cross the streets on her block. “I manage life quite well in my wheelchair, but all too often I hit a curb and can’t do things I love — like volunteering in my community or joining my grandson for a snowball,” says Ms. Goodlaxson. Adds Ms. Jackson, who is unable to travel by sidewalk on Loch Raven Boulevard to go shopping or access major facilities in the area, “Individuals with disabilities should not have to fear entering their communities because of the unsafe condition of the sidewalks.” Likewise, Ms. Mayo is unable to use sidewalks to travel to the Post Office or Light Rail in her area.

Baltimore’s own data demonstrate that there are systemic barriers to the accessibility of the City’s pedestrian right-of-way. In 2019, the City conducted a multi-phase evaluation of its curb ramps. Only approximately 1.3 percent of the 37,806 surveyed curb ramps were found compliant with the ADA. Although the focus of the 2019 survey was on curb ramps, notes from that survey also document widespread problems with sidewalks, including sidewalks that were damaged or too narrow, which can make them unusable by people who use wheelchairs, scooters, and other mobility aids, so that people with mobility disabilities have to travel in the street with cars. 

Plaintiff IMAGE Center is an independent living center located in Baltimore County which advocates for and promotes independent living for all persons with disabilities living in Central Maryland, including Baltimore. Michael Bullis, Executive Director of the IMAGE Center says, “Baltimore needs to be a welcoming place for all.  So long as only two percent of the city is fully accessible, we aren’t that place. This lawsuit will hopefully awaken city leaders to a vision of our city that includes all people, including those of us with disabilities.”

Rebecca Rodgers, Senior Staff Attorney at Disability Rights Advocates, adds, “It has been more than 30 years since the passage of the ADA. Baltimore should have established procedures to make its pedestrian rights of way accessible to people with mobility disabilities long before now.  We expect that this lawsuit will compel Baltimore to make the necessary changes to ensure that people with disabilities can safely use sidewalks and curb ramps.”

Plaintiffs are represented by the Civil Rights Education and Enforcement Center (CREEC); Disability Rights Advocates (DRA); Goldstein, Borgen, Dardarian & Ho (GBDH); and Disability Rights Maryland (DRM).

“We and our clients intend for this lawsuit to result in Baltimore implementing comprehensive construction and remediation of curb ramps and sidewalks. People with mobility disabilities must have equal access to pedestrian travel when living in, working in, and visiting Baltimore,” said Martie Lafferty, Director of the Accessibility Project at CREEC.

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Civil Rights Education and Enforcement Center (CREEC) is a nonprofit membership organization whose goal is to ensure that everyone can fully and independently participate in our nation’s civic life without discrimination based on race, gender, disability, religion, national origin, age, sexual orientation, or gender identity. 

Disability Rights Advocates (DRA), founded in 1993, is a leading national nonprofit disability rights legal center.  Its mission is to advance equal rights and opportunity for people with disabilities nationwide. DRA represents people with all types of disabilities in complex, system-changing, class action cases and has previously negotiated systemic sidewalks-related improvements with New York City; Sacramento, CA; Long Beach, CA; and the California Department of Transportation.

Disability Rights Maryland (DRM), a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, is Maryland’s designated Protection & Advocacy agency (formerly known as “Maryland Disability Law Center”). DRM is federally mandated to advance the civil rights of people with disabilities. We provide free legal services to Marylanders of any age with all types of disabilities (developmental, intellectual, psychiatric, physical, sensory, learning, traumatic brain injury), who live in facilities, in the community or who are homeless. 

Goldstein, Borgen, Dardarian & Ho (GBDH) is one of the oldest and most successful plaintiffs’ public interest class action law firms in the country.  GBDH represents individuals against large companies and other entities in complex class and collective action lawsuits. The firm has three primary practice areas: employment discrimination, wage and hour violations, and disability access, and also brings other public interest cases, including voting rights, environmental protection, and consumer cases. The firm has a national practice, litigating cases in federal and state courts throughout the country. 

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