Disability Rights Maryland extends our condolences on the recent passing of former delegate James Hubbard, a steadfast champion of people with disabilities and their families for many years. Delegate Hubbard worked tirelessly to guarantee rights, expand community services, and ensure protections for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. His fearless advocacy led to services for youth transitioning from special education to adult life, children and adults waiting for critical community services, people with disabilities desiring to get out of nursing facilities for support in their own homes, privacy protections for people with disabilities, the Waiting List Equity Fund, and much more.
Delegate Hubbard leaves a legacy in the disability community and will be sorely missed. He challenges all of us who pursue justice to build upon his legacy for the next generation of children and adults with disabilities.
DRM has continued its campaign to educate the public, including legislators, to put pressure on the state’s paratransit provider to respond to rider complaints. Paratransit is a shared-ride public transit service for individuals with disabilities who have difficulty riding fixed-route public transit. The service is an important piece of protecting the right of people with disabilities to have equal and meaningful participation in their communities.
In our state, the Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) oversees MobilityLink paratransit service. MobilityLink riders use the service to get to work or class, as well as medical appointments, religious worship, and visits with loved ones. Sadly, MobilityLink has failed its riders, who commonly report serious issues with the service, including:
Late or missed rides, leading to riders being left alone, waiting for hours, often in the cold or heat, or in the dark (see Floyd and Gwen’s stories);
Long onboard travel times causing riders to miss important activities (see Brandon andTroy’sstories);
No access to backup vehicles and a triage system when riders are left stranded (see Tierra and Keyonna’s stories);
Difficulty finding out the status and location of rides;
Vehicles in disrepair, as well as being dispatched without straps to ensure safe transport for riders who use wheelchairs; and
Staff shortages causing poor service.
If you are interested in sharing your story with your Maryland elected officials, local council people, and MTA officials, please see the below sample letter, which includes space to include your own story or words. The following links will help you share your story:
Thank you for taking the time to inform and educate the public about the current state of MobilityLink and issues impacting people with disabilities!
Dear Elected Official:
I would like to tell you about the Maryland Transit Administration’s (MTA) paratransit, MobilityLink, a very important service meant to provide transportation to people with disabilities who have difficulty using other types of transportation, like the bus, light rail, and metro. As you may know, Maryland’s MobilityLink service underperforms compared to the other types of public transportation services being run by the MTA. This failure endangers the health and safety of riders and violates the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Marylanders with disabilities who use MobilityLink live busy lives—they have things to do, and places to be. MobilityLink is the only means of transportation for many riders, who often lack access to their own vehicle. Without reliable transportation, Marylanders with disabilities cannot travel to work, attend class, receive medical care, visit loved ones, and participate in religious worship. MobilityLink should protect the right of people with disabilities to participate equally in their communities, but the service has failed to do so.
Poor MobilityLink service really hurts riders. Whether day or night, rain or shine, riders are left stranded because their ride is late or not coming at all. Riders traveling for medical services miss care, contributing to negative health outcomes. Disturbingly, the MTA has no back up service in place to locate and assist stranded MobilityLink riders. Since MobilityLink service is so unreliable, many riders report a fear of leaving home, only traveling when absolutely necessary.
[Please use this space if you would like to add your own thoughts or personal story.]
NPR’s The Kojo Nnamdi Show rebroadcast a program yesterday on the Netflix documentary “Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution,” featuring James LeBrecht and Judith Heumann who retell their riveting stories of the genesis of the disability rights movement in the 1970’s at a Catskills summer camp.
Barack and Michelle Obama were executive producers for the documentary under their Higher Ground Productions company. Listen to the full episode as LeBrecht recounts the inspiration behind the documentary and the origins and evolution of the movement for disability rights. Heumann also speaks about the origins of her activism as well as discusses the future of the disability rights movement.
To recognize Judith Heumann’s astounding contribution to the disability rights movement, DRM has established in perpetuity The Judith Heumann Champion of Justice Award, which Heumann will present to Wade Henderson, former president and CEO of The Leadership Conference, at DRM’s 2020 Breaking Barriers Virtual Awards Gala on Thursday, November 12, 2020.
The Breaking Barriers Awards Gala is Disability Rights Maryland’s (DRM) signature celebration where individuals, law firms and organizations that have demonstrated exceptional leadership, vision and achievement in safeguarding the legal rights of people with disabilities in Maryland are recognized and honored. To learn more, go to https://www.disabilityrightsmd.org/2020-bb-gala.
In late 2017, Disability Rights Maryland (DRM) launched an investigation in response to disturbing allegations of neglect and abuse surrounding the suicide of Anne Green (a fictitious name is being used to protect the identity of our client). A young woman with disabilities, including serious mental illness, Anne was placed in a restrictive housing unit days before she took her life at the Maryland Correctional Institute for Women (MCIW).
Though DRM’s initial involvement in the case focused on one individual’s tragic death, ultimately, DRM expanded its advocacy to include a statewide legislative push for institutional reform, demanding a stop to the damaging practices of abuse, neglect, and prison segregation for people with serious mental illness that afflicted Anne in the last days of her life.
An inquiry that began with a review of records and several interviews with women incarcerated at MCIW who knew about the incident immediately led DRM to the discovery of warning signs of an institutional pattern of abuse and neglect extending far beyond the scope of Anne’s case. Subsequent to the interviews surrounding the case, DRM initiated a comprehensive examination of conditions at MCIW and conducted a full site visit at the institution on March 7, 2018.
DRM’s expanded investigation uncovered a lack of reasonable standards of care for many incarcerated individuals with mental illness, including Anne, at MCIW. In a select few cases, DRM successfully advocated for access to medications and treatment for individuals, but the systemic failings of MCIW were significant.
Towards the end of the same year, 2018, DRM published a report titled “Segregation and Suicide: Confinement at the Maryland Correctional Institution for Women,” which documented the extreme isolation and harm suffered by women with disabilities in MCIW’s segregation, infirmary, and mental health units. Infirmary and mental health units can deny women the ability to be outdoors or have access to natural light for months or even years. They also deny women access to individual and confidential mental health counseling. Anne’s suicide is testimony to the severe harm that prison segregation practices can cause. In its report, DRM recommends the adoption of safer, less harmful correctional practices that conform to professional standards and comply with federal and Constitutional requirements.
With MCIW in her district, DRM’s report hit close to home for Delegate Sandy Bartlett of the Maryland House of Delegates. In 2019, newly-elected Delegate Bartlett introduced a bill that would have codified DRM’s recommendations verbatim as the intent of the General Assembly. The bill passed the House of Delegates unanimously but failed by a split vote in the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee. Ultimately, more than 140 legislators voted in support of DRM’s recommendations.Despite this temporary setback, DRM continues to meet with legislators and advocates, including members of the National Association of Women Judges and Maryland mental health care providers, to identify further advocacy strategies.
DRM’s definitive and conclusive findings on the harmful practices of MCIW created a powerful foothold in the struggle for prison reform as advocates across Maryland continue the upward climb towards justice for Anne and incarcerated people across Maryland.
Disability Rights Maryland’s (DRM) Attorney Megan Rusciano’s article, “Preserving Your Voice Throughout Your Lifetime: Supported Decision-Making as a Best Practice and Alternative Guardianship,” is featured in the spring 2020 issue of The Elder Law and Disability Rights Extra, published by the Maryland State Bar Association (MSBA). Megan’s article highlights the need for recognition of Supported Decision-Making, a best practice and alternative to guardianship that preserves the civil rights of people with disabilities by promoting their own agency and identity.
We are our choices. In our careers, our relationships, and indeed, our health, the decisions we make define our identity and sense of self. Yet, under guardianship and other substitute decision-making frameworks, people with disabilities are deemed incapable of making these decisions for themselves, too often due to stereotypes and assumptions of their capabilities. Studies show that people who lose this self-determination have poorer life outcomes. Supported Decision-Making offers a different legal path. Drawing upon the fact that we all use people whom we trust to help us make decisions, this framework allows a person to choose their own supporters who can help them make, communicate, and effectuate their decisions. We are all vulnerable to guardianship and the risk of being found incapable of making our own decisions as we age. Supported Decision-Making offers a solution that can bolster a person’s self-determination as opposed to alternative systems that take it away. As we celebrate 30 years of advocacy under the Americans with Disabilities Act and recognize all the work yet to be done, advocacy for Supported Decision-Making provides us an opportunity to ensure that people with disabilities have access to some of their most fundamental rights: their rights to make their own decisions and choices.
Reprinted with permission from the Maryland State Bar Association, Inc. from the Elder and Disability Rights Section newsletter, The Elder and Disability Rights Extra, Volume 24 Issue 1, Spring 2020 edition.
