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Massachusetts Office on Disability Community Services Program Jeff Dougan, Assistant Director |
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Deval L. Patrick, Governor Timothy P. Murray, Lt. Governor Myra Berloff, Director |
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Find out more about |
The Community Services Program interacts with approximately 8,000 people per year through training and technical assistance to help ensure that people with disabilities learn of their rights and responsibilities and that state, local and private entities know how to comply with their non-discrimination responsibilities. This Unit developed and runs the nationally acclaimed and replicated Community Access Monitor (CAM) Program. Since the creation of the Community Access Monitor Project
in 1985, approximately 12,000 people have been trained by MOD in state
and federal laws to advocate for access.
This is a unique training and grass roots advocacy program.
While Community Access Monitors do not have legal enforcement authority,
monitors have proven to be highly effective advocates.
In 1995 the program gained national recognition.
Community Access Monitors can be found from as far away as California
and Florida to the close to home states of Vermont and Connecticut.
Representatives from 32 states have come to Massachusetts to learn
how to run this program. It
has been replicated as a national program to encourage access in cultural
venues. This segment of the
program, known as the Cultural Access Initiative, has been endorsed as
a major project of National Very Special Arts. Examples of Community Services Advocacy MOD learned that a sheltered workshop where people with
mental retardation and other physical disabilities worked was being run
in an inaccessible location. Ramps
were extremely steep and unsafe and wheelchair users were being carried
into inaccessible bathrooms where the doors had to remain open while the
person used the toilet. MOD
intervened. The wheelchair
users were placed in a safe location until modifications could be made. MOD received a call that
a $43 million high school renovation project contained architectural barriers
that precluded students who use wheelchairs and other mobility
aides from fully participating in school activities.
A survey of the school was set up that included the architect,
contractor, local building officials, students, and the local Commission
on Disability. The municipality
was able to go back to the architect and contractor to correct the problems.
This resulted in no additional cost to the municipality and avoided
a costly lawsuit. A woman with MS who could
no longer climb stairs needed to make modifications in order to continue
living in her home. She was
denied a building permit on the basis of a zoning ordinance. MOD intervened by advising the town of their obligation under
federal and state law to treat her request as an exception to usual zoning
practices.
[MOD Home Page] [Commonwealth of Massachusetts Home Page]
Last revised October 2005 Comments, questions, concerns email the Webmaster. |
Related Links |
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What MOD Does MOD Basics |
Local Disability
Commissions
Community Access Monitor Program |
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