Peri Jude Radecic: Disability Rights Issues of Pennsylvania

Welcome to Disability Matters with your host Joyce Bender. All comments, views, and opinions expressed on the show are solely those of the host, guest, and callers. Now the host of Disability Matters, here's Joyce Bender.

Well, welcome to the show everyone in the United States and around the world. From China to Rwanda, we have listeners. And you know what? To all of you, thank you. Thank you for telling other people about the show. What you have done is tremendous. Shout out from the State Department to Richard Roberts, my good friend that I love so much, that I first met in South Korea. And then went to Japan, Okinawa with— and a special shout out to Gang Young in South Korea, a wonderful person. Cheryl Harris, who I first met when she was in Tunisia. Now I'm talking to her, she's at the State Department. And Veniamin in Kazakhstan. I was also, of course, for a week in Indonesia. But I'm always thinking about you, Veniamin. You and all of your, uh, friends. I'm sure the tension with what's going on in the Ukraine, uh, and as my listeners know, I am on the board of the World Institute on Disability, and we are working very hard to try to find support for people with disabilities that are being left behind in the Ukraine. So please go to wid.org, that's w-i-d dot o-r-g, and make a contribution. I mean, can you imagine being a person who is blind or in a wheelchair, any disability? For example, like me, as you know, I'm not only hard of hearing, but my primary disability is epilepsy. And I was thinking, imagine being in the Ukraine with epilepsy, not having access to medication. Oh, even thinking about that, it's horrible, horrible, as it would for many disabilities that require medication like diabetes. But I was thinking about epilepsy and thinking Oh, imagine just having seizure after seizure if you don't have medication and dying. So we really, really, I really ask you to support all of our brothers and sisters with disabilities in the Ukraine. Now, I mentioned Japan. Hey, Yoshiko Dart. I always have a shout out to Yoshiko, who, by the way, was behind me with the Bender Leadership Academy when it wasn't even a 501. Justin Dart's wife, a real disability leader. I love you, Yoshiko, and hi, Mark. Thank you so much for your support, uh, and what you've done for us by being the sponsor for the past several years of the radio show. Now I gotta tell you We'll be hearing from my friend Elijah today in a few moments, I think. But I just want to tell everyone, tonight's the night, the human, the human Armstrong webinar that I am part of. And it's all over LinkedIn. You know, you can get the link. You don't have to register. It's on Zoom. You can just Go listen. And as I said, Elijah will be calling in to talk about it more. But Thursday, whoa, it's the AAPD Gala, which is virtual. You know what that means? It's free to everyone. Go to AAPD.com. That's AAPD.com. And you can register today. It's free, no charge. and the emcee is Jane Pauley. So make sure— as a matter of fact, from the great state of Pennsylvania, you will see me introduce Senator Casey, who will introduce to the award, Corporate Leadership Award, to the CEO of Highmark, who I just talked about, right here in Pittsburgh, David Holmberg. This Thursday night, AAPD.com. Well, I was so excited to have on my show today Ms. Perri Jude Radesic, the CEO of Disability Rights Pennsylvania, because you know her— well, you'll know her voice as soon as she starts talking. You know her, my listeners know her as our newscaster On the Half Hour, Advocacy Matters, giving us every week a news update. Only place you can go to in the media to get this weekly news update with my good friend and disability rights leader Perry Jude Radesik. Perry, welcome to the show. We'll be talking about news all day because I have you on the show. So Perry, I want everyone in the United States and around the world to know more about you. So let's start with your story. You know, how did this all begin and how did you decide that you were interested in advocacy and what led you to Disability Rights PA?

Well, Joyce, thanks for having me and, and first congratulations to Highmark, well-deserved award from AAPD. I'm so excited about Thursday night and, and thank you for your leadership over at AAPD. PD. So I became— I've always been an advocate. I mean, even from an early age, back when women's— women in sports and equality in women's sports was still in its infancy back in the early 1970s, I was an advocate for women's sports. I did women's sports back there in the South Hills of Pittsburgh and then on to Pitt. And so I was an advocate for women's sports. When I got out of college from Pitt, I joined the National Organization for Women and I really learned organizing from, from some terrific folks. I became a lobbyist for the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and had the opportunity to work on the Americans with Disabilities Act and the 1988 Fair Housing Amendments Act. And it was so important to work on disability issues, but we were really also working to try to keep HIV and AIDS protections in the ADA and the Fair Housing Amendments Act. It was great to work on those issues. And even more importantly, I'm a person with lived experience. I have a mental health disability. So disability rights are extremely important. I don't know how you say it's like more important than anything to me, personally and professionally. I had the opportunity to join the staff of the Arizona Center for Disability Law, one of our P&A, Protection and Advocacy agencies, 18 years ago as a staff attorney fighting for the rights of persons with developmental and mental health disabilities. And I did that for quite some time before moving back home to Pennsylvania. So I'm so happy to be back home in Pennsylvania. And I have to tell you, disability rights advocacy, as it is for so many of you, your listeners and for your staff at Bender Consulting, it's the most fulfilling work I have ever done. And I think that's my, my short story in advocacy.

Well, you know what, that is so true what you said about how rewarding it is to work in the field of advocacy, to see people get employment, to see equality in accessibility or, you know, so many areas, so many areas. But I wanted to say, Perry, that's really exciting you got to work on those two bills.

It was, and I got to go to the bill signing ceremony for the ADA, and you were probably there, and I was there, and I didn't know you at the time.

I was not there. I wish I had been, but I was not. But please, if you don't mind, we always ask Tony to do this and Senator Harkin, but would you mind just for a minute telling everyone what that day was like to you?

Oh my gosh, it was— well, first it was hot and humid. I mean, it was really, really, because it was in July and it was so humid in Washington, D.C. But yet the excitement of people in line waiting to get to the lawn of the White House to watch President Bush sign the ADA. I mean, it was just joy. There was joy that day. And so it's just— and they were passing out little American flags and everyone was going to wave the American flag. It was wonderful. It was just a wonderful experience. And I'm just so grateful for all the disability advocates who pushed for this important legislation. And it's just life-changing. It was a life-changing experience.

Now, it did not— it was not implemented until what, '92 or '93? When was it implemented, the ADA?

Yeah, it was a few years later. It always takes a while for regulations to come out or for people to put into legislation and implementation or effective date, but it's still such a life-changing experience to have been a part of that and to who now work on the ADA as part of the protection and advocacy system.

Well, what do you think about ADA? How far have we got?

Well, Joyce, I think we've come a long, long way, but every time I feel like we've made progress, you— you experience something or run into another barrier and you think, boy, we still have a lot of work to do. So I think there's still a lot of work ahead of us, but I just think so many advocates have pushed so hard to make the ADA a reality. So have a lot of lawmakers worked to make the ADA a reality. And, you know, it's a lot better. It just is a lot better.

Employment. Employment is the needle that has to move, just as you said. ADA is so wonderful. I mean, it has done so much for so many people, but we still have a ways to go. You know, one thing that could be a big change would be enforcement, Perry. I was just talking on a call with AAPD. Until OFCCP Until there is enforcement of Section 503, I don't think you'll really see a lot of movement. Chris Griffin used to always tell me, where the rubber meets the road will be enforcement. And I do believe that's true, but we are making progress. It's just a slow-moving ship. I'm talking about in employment, you know, not in other areas. But Perry, Perry, how— How did you end up getting to Disability Rights PA?

Well, I, I was the executive director at the Arizona Center for Disability Law and had been for a number of years, and I noticed that Pennsylvania was looking for an executive director, and I thought about it, and I thought, boy, wouldn't it be great to come back home? I've got all this great experience, and so I was learning more about Disability Rights Pennsylvania and what the board was looking for, and it just seemed like the, the types of skills they were looking for in a director really called out to me and really spoke to my background. And so I applied for the job and was interviewed a couple of times and was given the position as the chief executive officer at Disability Rights Pennsylvania. And I'm just so lucky to be the CEO of Disability Rights Pennsylvania. Disability Rights Pennsylvania. It's just a terrific job and in a great state, and there's just so much work to do here, and I'm just surrounded by a great board and great staff of people to work with, and we do wonderful things each and every day at Disability Rights Pennsylvania.

And I say two things. Thank God you saw that ad, Perry, or we wouldn't have had you. Thank God you saw that because you are doing a fabulous job, and I am so honored to be on your board. That is disabilityrightspa.org. Disabilityrightspa.org. Make a contribution today because we can't protect people without resources. Um, Perry, Disability Rights PA— different people have asked me about this, uh, which of course, because I'm on the board, but when you talk about Disability Rights PA, what do you say is the mission of the organization?

Absolutely. Well, our mission is to protect and advocate for the rights of people with disabilities so they may live the lives they choose free from abuse, neglect, discrimination, and segregation. So Joyce, it's really about Making sure people with disabilities have rights and that they get to choose the life they want and to live free from abuse, neglect, and discrimination.

And are there, um, at Disability Rights PA, are there different programs that you would say are the top programs you work on?

Oh, absolutely. You know, where Our work is authorized under numerous federal statutes. And so Congress wants us to provide— they authorized us to provide legal advocacy, information and referral, public policy, training on legal rights, and self-advocacy information on many complaint processes. So individuals with disabilities can live the lives they choose. So our Our— probably our largest program is called Protection and Advocacy for Developmental Disabilities. And it was a program that was passed in statute by Congress over 45 years ago. And its purpose was to guard against abuse and neglect of people with developmental disabilities. And, and really it was just a horrendous time back then with so many people with disabilities being in institutional settings, being subjected to abuse and neglect. Congress wanted to do something about that. So they established our national system. And so we're 45 years old this year. And so that really is our biggest program, protecting against abuse and neglect and making sure that people with developmental disabilities get to live in the community community, go to school, be employed, have a house, have an apartment, and really live the lives they want to live. That's, that's our biggest program, Joyce.

And how important that is and what a wonderful thing that is. I know, Perry, that Disability Rights PA and other protection and advocacy groups are part of NDRN, the National Disability Rights Network. How many Protection and Advocacy chapters are there in the U.S., and what would one of our listeners— how would they find out where the Protection and Advocacy office is?

Yeah, absolutely. So the great thing that Congress did was establish One of Us in every state and territory across the country. So there are 57 Protection and Advocacy agencies across the country. Many of us are named Disability Rights Pennsylvania or Disability Rights Maryland, Disability Rights California. So it's easy to find. And together we comprise this nationwide network of congressionally mandated, legally based disability rights agencies. And, and so it's really important that people understand that Congress mandated us to do this work under about 8 or 9 federal statutes. And it's easy easy to find us if you don't Google disability rights and the name of your state. You can always go to ndrn.org. That's ndrn.org. That's short for the National Disability Rights Network. And right there on the main page, you can click on Find your Protection and Advocacy agency. You can either search by name or by the map of the United States and territories. Click on that map and you can find your Protection and Advocacy agency today. Again, that's at ndrn.org.

And if you have an issue, you know, don't hold back. You gotta, you've gotta Gotta make that call. Hey, um, we have— remember I told you earlier that Elijah Armstrong would be calling in, and I think we've got him right now. Elijah, are you on?

Yes, I am. How are you?

Hello, Elijah Armstrong, how are you?

I'm doing well, doing well. Excited for, uh, excited for our event tonight.

And before you tell everyone about— I just want to tell you, Elijah is a national disability rights leader who who I endorse. He is fantastic. And also, he is a Paul Hearne Award winner from AAPD. And if you subscribe to my radio show, go to Spotify, subscribe to Disability Matters with Joyce Bender on voiceamerica.com, and the podcast will come up. You can go back and listen to the show Elijah was on. So Elijah, let us hear about tonight. What is going to happen?

Yeah, this is actually part of my Hearn project. So for my Hearn project, I started the Human Armstrong Award, partnered with the Cuello Center and AAPD and my org, Equal Opportunities for Students, and we give out awards to students who have experienced and fought against ableism in education. One of those students, we shoot videos of each of those students and they get illustrated by this group of disabled artists out of Colorado called Access Gallery. The videos look really beautiful. Joyce Bender, I remember I showed you and you thought it was amazing. So excited to be debuting it today. But we're having a conversation around mental health and education. We're debuting the video of one of our winners. Her name is Naimé. And then afterwards we are going to be having a panel discussion with you, Joyce, and Naimeh, and Kat Perez, who is the Director of the Quello Center.

And how do our listeners get to view that?

There is a Zoom link. I have tweeted it. My Twitter handle is Elijahsaprophet, all lowercase, no spaces, Elijahsaprophet, E-L-I-J-A-H. Um, yeah, Joyce, I know you promoted it. Um, you should probably put out the link too. Um, yeah, it is just a Zoom link. You do not have to register, which makes it a lot easier. You can just hop on the link at 6:30 tonight. 6:30 Eastern. So it is also 5:30 Central and 3:30 Pacific time. Yeah, so it is really— we have ASL. We have CART. It is going to be accessible. It is going to be a great conversation.

Okay, so now we are promoting it, but in addition, On Twitter, you heard @ElijahTheProphet. If you go there, you're going to see this. You can go to the link and you'll be linked to this tonight, to this, the Zoom link. Do not need to register and no cost. Make sure you tell everyone about it. I am fired up and excited. Uh, and Perry, you're gonna have to send that out to everyone.

Absolutely, I'm on there now.

All right, Perry, 6:30 to 8 o'clock this evening, make sure you're there. Elijah, I can't wait to talk to you later.

Yeah, can't wait to see you.

All righty, bye-bye. Lead on, lead on. Yes, he is such an awesome person. So yeah, this is Ableism in the School System. So, Perry, you will really like this. It's right up your advocacy matters orientation that you, that you lead us through. So you were talking earlier about NDRN. How did that happen, though? I mean, how did it happen they made a decision to start NDRN?

Yeah, so, so it sprung out of the congressional push to create this protection and advocacy network. And your listeners may remember that all of this was triggered in 1972 by Geraldo Rivera's exposé about the abuse and exploitation at Willowbrook Institution in New York State on Staten Island. And at that At that time, Willowbrook had housed some 7,000 people with disabilities in these unacceptable and intolerable conditions. So these broadcasts galvanized Congress into action, and they passed that first protection and advocacy program in 1975, which was called Protection and Advocacy for Developmental Disabilities. So here comes our network, right? So there's 50, 56 of us at the time. And everyone decided that we needed a national nonprofit membership agency. And so that's how NDRN was created. It was created with this vision of a society where people with disabilities have equality of opportunity and are able to participate fully in community life by exercising choice and self-determination. So that— NDRN was created in 1982, and Curt Decker, who is our current executive director, was also the founding executive director. At the time, he ran Disability Rights Maryland, and so the network decided that Curt should then become its executive director, be based in Washington, D.C., and the intent was to be a traditional Washington, D.C.-based trade association, but it really— NDRN has grown into so much more. NDRN provides our training and technical assistance so that multiple times through the year, their trained staff trains us on all the substantive areas on disability rights law. NDRN is also actively engaged in public policy work at the federal level and often works side by side with organizations like ASAN and AAPD and the Arc. And so, NDRN is also really responsible for the growth of our programs that benefit people with disabilities. So, besides the Protection and Advocacy for Individuals with Developmental Disabilities back in 1975, NDRN grew programs and they went to Congress and said, "Hey, you gotta do something for people with mental illness." And so, Congress responded and gave us a program to support people with mental illness. And then they went on and gave us programs to help people with assistive technology and voting rights and brain injury and so much more. So we really credit Curt and the NDRN network for growing the protection and advocacy system.

Yes, how— when is he retiring, Curt Decker?

Joyce, yes, so Curt's announced his retirement And his last day is going to be July 15th. We're having an annual conference in Washington, D.C., and the Sunday before that gets started, I think it's June 5th, we're going to have a big party for Curt. So we'll have more information about that soon, but yeah, it's— I can't believe it's almost here, July 15th.

Wow! When would— when we— when is that conference again?

Yeah, the conference kicks off on June 6th, and we're probably going to have that party Sunday night, June 5th.

Wow! I mean, he's done so much, it's hard to believe. It really is. And we'll be having him on our radio show Uh, so that would be terrific. People can call in and talk to him. Yes, that will be— I know, I think of Curt. I also think of the person that wrote this phenomenal letter or article about Section 5, um, 14 about how it's prison. I'll never forget it, about shelter workshops and subminimum pay. And so yeah, look forward to, to having him on. That will be great. And Kurt, I think you're awesome. Just want to say that. So Perry, one thing I love, I have to mention, if a nursing home will say is abusing— you know, a person with a disability, and someone lets you know and you feel it's justified, you don't have to call them. You just go. Isn't that right?

Oh, that's absolutely correct. That's one of the wonderful things Congress did for us is give us what's called access authority. And so if we suspect or have probable cause for abuse or neglect or exploitation We can enter any place that there are people with disabilities to, to monitor, to talk to people with disabilities, to conduct an investigation. So we have that broad authority that Congress gave us, and, and we've used it. We absolutely have used it. People call us, and not only do people call us, but we also monitor nursing homes, we monitor institutions, we monitor places where there where there are people with disabilities to ensure that people's rights are protected and that people are not subject to abuse, neglect, or exploitation.

Oh, that is— I, I just think that's so such a vital, great part of everything you do. I just think that— I've always thought that was so awesome. So, Perry, let's say someone's listening to the show right now and they feel they're being discriminated against and they want to go to Disability Rights California, PA, Maryland, wherever it is, what would have to, shall I say, qualify them to come and have a case and meet with you? What, how does that work?

Yeah, so not just for Disability Rights Pennsylvania, but for all of our organizations across the country, I would categorize, and every state is different, but I would categorize categorize 4 main areas, right? So, if someone is concerned about abuse, neglect, or exploitation, they should call our protection and advocacy system across the country, right? If you're in a state like California and you're worried about it, call Disability Rights California. I think another area is reducing the segregation of people with disabilities, and that can include reliance on institutionalization. That's an area that, that just about every one of us in the Protection and Advocacy network works on. Another area is increasing access to the person-centered recovery-oriented health and mental health care services. That's really important that people have access to needed care. That's an important issue. So things like Medicare, Medicaid, or maybe something with your health insurance for something that's medically necessary. Those are important issues across our network. Another is ending discrimination. So if someone is encountering an issue related to education, whether that be K through 12 or post-secondary, employment discrimination or reasonable accommodations, housing,— public access, transportation, voting, and more, you should call one of the protection and advocacy systems across the country, the one that's in your state. And here in Pennsylvania, we receive over 4,000 calls a year for our legal and advocacy services. And in almost every one of our protection and advocacy agencies, there is an intake system that's staffed by trained professionals, oftentimes lawyers, who will take your call and speak with you about the issue. So that's really the first entryway into getting legal or advocacy services is to call your P&A and talk to one of the trained professionals about your issue of discrimination. And oftentimes what our network does is we try to, we'll take an individual legal case. As long as it is trying to solve a systemic issue. See, the problem is Congress never gave us enough money to serve every person with a disability in our states. So we have to tackle these problems systemically. So we often file class action lawsuits or we represent individuals and we are seeking to change systems through that representation. So if you're going to call one of our protection and advocacy agencies, make make sure you tell the person on the phone. Do a very thorough job of going through the issue that you're facing so that they're able to best serve you.

So, that's good advice because I just would say to everyone, have notes, be ready with exactly, you know, don't have people ask you questions, "Oh, wait, let me get back to you." Try to have all of your information ready. For when you call. But, you know, I mean, if you're not sure, still call, and the representative there will tell you whether they can assist you or not. Is that correct?

Absolutely.

Absolutely. Um, well, Perry, another question I have is people come to me and they'll say, um, Joyce, isn't that the same though as EEOC, and I say, no, it isn't, but I've had that question so many times that I'd like you to explain it.

Yeah, thanks, Joyce. That's a great question. And there's some similarities, and then there are some big differences between the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and our Protection and Advocacy Network. The first is the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is national in scope. So they would serve anybody who calls them from across the country. Whereas our protection and advocacy system, a place like Disability Rights Pennsylvania, is only gonna be allowed to work on legally-based disability issues for people with disabilities in Pennsylvania. California can only serve people who live within the borders of the state of California. So that's a big difference. EEOC is national. Pennsylvania, California, Wyoming, they can call EEOC and be served. At Disability Rights Pennsylvania, we can only serve people within the state of Pennsylvania. Another difference is the EEOC is responsible for enforcing federal law related to employment discrimination. And that's it, right? Anything that has to do with hiring, maintaining employment, accommodations, that's the EEOC. Whereas our Protection and Advocacy Network certainly focuses on employment, but we also do a broad range of other issues like housing, employment, public access, Medicaid, education, voting rights. I mean, there's a whole list of things that we'll work on beyond just employment. Another difference, again, we only focus on people with disabilities in our protection and advocacy system. The EEOC is responsible for employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, genetic information, and disability. So they do disability, but they do a, a whole range of other protected classes. So if an individual has more questions about the Equal Opportunity Commission and their role related to employment discrimination, they can go to the EEOC.gov or call them at 202-921-3191. And I hope that kind of gets to some of the differences between the protection and advocacy system and the EEOC.

Oh, I think that was a very excellent description. You know, if you're listening to the show and you're thinking, you know what, I, I should share this with someone, share it. It's a podcast, and tell people they can go to Spotify, Bender Consult. They can go to voiceamerica.com, Apple, and so much social media. All they have to do is put in the name of this radio show, Disability Matters with Joyce Bender, on voiceamerica.com, and they will be able to listen to any and all of the shows. We have a large on-demand evening listening, uh, obviously hard for people at work, so make sure you tell people about the show. And by the way, Everyone listening to the show right now, you know, it's been on 19 years. I just love every one of you. Thank you so much for being loyal listeners to the show. And you know what? Send me an email, jbender@benderconsult.com. That's jbender@benderconsult.com, because I want to have a month where I just have people with disabilities who have been listening to the show that have something to say on the show. Joyce Bender at BenderConsult.com. Perry, we already talked about a couple things, but overall, I mean, from voting to employment to housing to everything going on today, which you've talked about eloquently every week on our radio show on the half hour, but in your opinion, what are some of the key issues obstacles, problems that we are dealing with today in this country for people with disabilities.

Joyce, I, you know, I hear you talk all of the time about the employment of people with disabilities, and I agree with you. I think getting people with disabilities employed and out of subminimum wage jobs and in jobs that that make a difference in people's lives, that matter, jobs that matter, jobs that pay a fair wage, is probably the most important issue that we are dealing with in the country today and every state across the nation. People deserve to have an equal opportunity at a job and we really need our systems, we really need employers, we need vocational rehabilitation and other services to really make this moment count and get people employed. I couldn't agree with you more that that is a very important issue.

And a close soon, we've got to talk about it, issue, you talked about it yesterday, but did you want to share with our listeners what's going on with the airline industry?

Yeah, so regulations come out every day. It's— they're in the Federal Register, and about a month ago, the U.S. Department of Transportation issued a regulation that finally moves us forward on creating accessible lavatories on airplanes for 125 people or more, single-aisle aircraft. And I think the reason that they're moving in this direction is because it's this style of airplane that is dominating the air travel. These planes can travel up to 9 hours, so they go long distances. And so people with disabilities are finding themselves on an airplane that is for a long period of time, but yet they cannot use the lavatory. And that is just an— an awful, painful experience. And so the Transportation Department has published a proposed rule that would change that. And that's great. But here's the problem. The problem is that the full implementation of that is 18 to 20 years out. So they're only making it— they're only going to implement this with new aircraft built 18 years from now. Like, I don't know how this is supposed to be helpful. You know, here we are 30-some years after the ADA. I know the airlines go by a different rule, but we should expect more from our policymakers on accessibility, and we should expect more from the airlines to serve all passengers who fly, who fly with these airlines. We just should expect more.

We should. I mean, that is so long that— you know what that's almost like to me? We're not going to do it. Just remember, we're not going to do it. We're putting it so far out there you won't even remember. So what can our listeners do about that, Perry?

Yeah, so, uh, it is— so you can go to, uh, regulation— yeah, regulations.gov. And search for the U.S. Department of Transportation. Find that regulation and tell them you applaud them for taking this step forward to make lavatories accessible on airplanes, but that they have to move that timeline up. We cannot wait 18 years for someone to be able to use the lavatory on a long-distance flight. That's inhumane. We should not. We shouldn't have to wait.

We should not. And I know I did have one other question I wanted to ask you. Since we have you all to ourselves, our listeners today, we can ask you about all news questions. So here it is. And let's see, the presidential election is in '24. But guess what's coming up? The midterms. How are you feeling, Perry, if people go and they're worried about accessibility to voting or don't even know how they would get there? What should they do? We'll use Pennsylvania as an example.

So you should call Disability Rights Pennsylvania. We talk to, to lots of people. In fact, you know, we had an inquiry just this week Someone needs to update their identification, their driver's license expired, their photo ID expired, so they have to figure out a way to get to the Department of Motor Vehicles to update their license and they can't get there. And so that's a barrier to voting. I mean, if you don't have a photo ID in many states across this country, you're not going to be able to vote. And so getting ready for the midterm elections, it's important to make sure that people Look at your identification. Make sure you understand the rules of voting in your state. If there's an absentee ballot, you want to vote by mail, make sure you get that mail-in ballot as soon as you can. Request it as soon as you can. As soon as it comes, fill it out and put it back into the post office. Do not wait because the post office issues haven't really been resolved. It still takes a long time for the mail to move through the system. So voting is so important. The midterms are coming up. Our primary in Pennsylvania is coming up in a couple of weeks. And it's just absolutely important that people with disabilities understand the rules more than ever in their state to vote. And if you don't, call someone who can walk you through it. And there's no one better than, than our Protection and Advocacy network across the country to educate people about what their rights are and how to vote and how to find your polling place if you're going to go vote in person. We're always happy to do that any day of the week.

Wow, when you mentioned about the problem with the mail, which is so true, what about absentee mail-ins? I mean, they're gonna have to do that really early, right? People with disabilities, if they are going to use the absentee vote. I mean, I'm nervous about the vote, the, about the application and the vote getting there.

Yeah, absolutely. You know, it— you can still request your absentee ballot. I requested mine early. It finally came in the mail yesterday. So I can vote by mail now. I'm going to fill out my ballot and get it in by tomorrow so that it has plenty of time to get to my county, which is York County in Pennsylvania. I don't want any problems. I want to know that my ballot got there and that it's going to be counted. So just don't delay. And if you need support, ask for it. And there's just so many people who are absolutely out there to answer your questions and help you through the process.

And Perry, how does a person get an absentee ballot?

Yeah, so you go to the county, at least in Pennsylvania, you go to the county where you live and you can call them or fill out an absentee or mail-in ballot form and send it to your county, and that's the easiest way here. And also, you could go to the Secretary of State's website here in Pennsylvania, and you can fill out a form and they'll send it to, to the county in which you live so that they can get a mail-in ballot to you as soon as possible.

Good information. Good information. Who would ever think that the post office, that this could have an impact on voting? You know what I mean? On getting the ballot, if it's an absentee ballot you're mailing in. Wow, that is good advice. And you know, you talk about all such great information every week on my show, Perry. And if someone listens and they want to know more about it How do they get— what do they do? What, what, how do they go to your website? What do they do?

Sure. Well, just, I want to start by saying it's been such a pleasure to work with you and to bring your listeners Advocacy Matters each week. I, I can't believe it's been 4 years since you brought a news break to Disability Matters with Joyce Bender, and, and it's just been fantastic to talk about as as many topics and as varied as your guests are. And so if listeners to Disability Matters want more information about our segment on Advocacy Matters and to see the kinds of things we've talked about, you go to disabilityrightspa.org and right on the homepage there's a section for Advocacy Matters segments that we air every week on Joyce Bender's Disability Matters show. And you can learn more about all of the great information. It's not just news, that gets your attention, but it's the advocacy. And we're trying to get your attention on, on a lot of issues that requires your advocacy. So go to disabilityrightsPA.org, and that's where you can find our Advocacy Matters segments.

And you know what, it's also history. I wanted to tell all of my listeners that the Pennsylvania in Western Pennsylvania, the Disability History Group, is possibly interested in getting some of these shows to the history center, which is a Smithsonian. So that— because I'm listed as a person of interest, so the people would have a way. How are you going to hear Marca Bristow? You know, how are you going to hear her? How are you going to hear shows with Judy Uman and this news that Perry brings, you know, every week? So, um, and Perry, we are just honored to have you. You do a great job.

Well, thank you, Joyce. It's just such a pleasure to work with you on your show, and, um, and it's, it's great to reach your listeners, and, um, it's, it's a lot of fun too.

Okay, one more time, let's tell everyone, how do you make a donation to Disability Rights PA?

So it's really easy. Again, if you go to our website at disabilityrightspa.org, at the top there's a little banner that says donate, and you click on that donate button and you can make a donation to us today. We'll put that money to great use. It can go to public policy, it can go to litigation, it could go to serving people through our intake system. I mean, we're going to put it to good use today. So, just go to disabilityrightsPA.org, main page, click on that donate banner, and we'll make sure your money gets— goes to help in systemic ways here in Pennsylvania.

And I know it will. Remember what I told you earlier, I'm on the board. I'm honored to be on the board. DisabilityRightsPA.org. Forget, go there, read Advocacy Matters, and make a donation. No donation is too small, but you are helping protect people with disabilities, which is probably you listening to the show right now. So, um, Perry, what message do you have for our listeners today?

Yeah, Joyce, you know, we talked about it a little bit earlier, you know, it's been 32 years since the the Americans with Disabilities Act, and we've made so much progress for people with disabilities, but as far as we've come, we still have a long way to go to really achieve that equality of opportunity that we're looking for. So I'd say that the, the lesson is that we each must take some responsibility to be active in our communities and hold our policymakers accountable for decisions that that move us backward and not forward. And that's the message. Keep listening to Disability Matters with Joyce Bender. Keep tuning into those Advocacy Matters segments. And let's move it forward and not backwards.

Forward and not backwards. Take action. Only with that can we have change. Be an advocate. I agree with you, Perry. Thank you so much for being with us. And by the way, everyone, you hear Perry every week. It's hard to believe it has been 4 years. Wow, does time go fast. But in addition, at the end of the year, we have a show with Perry, uh, and Maria Town, and we're not sure yet. There's some new people going into place too. The other person will be from the disability community above what has happened in the year. So stay tuned for that in December. So thank you again, Perry. I want to end the show with a quote the way we always do, and this is: The things we advocate for are not just for a marginalized group of people, they're for society as a whole. Disability affects all of us, said Marca Bristow. This is Joyce Bender, America's Voice, where disability matters, at voiceamerica.com. Talk to you next week, and in the words of Mary Brugger, remember, choose joy.

Voice America would like to thank you for tuning in. Please join us next Tuesday at 11 AM Pacific time and 2 PM Eastern time for another installment of Disability Matters right here on the Voice America Variety Channel. We are the leader in live internet talk radio. VoiceAmerica.com.