Disability workshop focuses on housing rights(1)

By Alfredo Santana

A workshop titled "Housing advocacy: Rights for people with disabilities", focused on the current legal housing framework in California, and on federal housing laws that make illegal to deny reasonable housing accommodations to the elderly and people with disabilities.

Maria Iriarte, managing attorney with Disability Rights California, said during the RespecTABILITY 2010 conference that someone with a disability is defined by the federal government as “any person who has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, has a record of such impairment, or is regarded as having such an impairment.”

Based on the latter, Iriarte said mobility and visual impairments, chronic alcoholism and chronic mental illness, and AIDS are defined as conditions that substantially limit one or more major life activities. Major life activities, as defined by the Department of Housing and Urban Development include walking, talking, hearing, seeing, breathing, learning, performing manual tasks, and caring for oneself.

Under the Federal Housing Act (FHA) of 1968, landlords cannot deny housing based on the applicants’ mentioned conditions, she said.

However, Iriarte said, a landlord can legally deny housing to a drug addict. Fair housing for these individuals can only be restored if they engage in rehabilitation, and any substance consumption is monitored and controlled by counselors, or physicians. If so, or if drug abuse are things of the past, and rent is denied, the law allows the possibility to sue for housing discrimination.

Likewise, if a disabled individual lives with his or her mother, father, brother, sister, or anyone else who lends assistance, and is denied rent because at least two people would use the rented premises, a complaint can be filed against the landlord, or apartments manager.

Iriarte said there are no big Fair Housing case law in California regarding disability issues. However, that does not mean that there may be important issues still to be treated in court, particularly on non-accessible housing units. The Fair Housing Act (FHA) of 1968, Title VIII, prohibits discrimination “in the sale, rental, and financing of dwellings, and in other housing related transactions, based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status, and disability."

Carey Stone, an attorney with Mental Health Advocacy Services, said advertising on rent units and housing can also be tricky, deceiving, and discriminatory for people with disabilities. She suggested to contact Fair Housing Counsel groups in the region, to get advice on questions regarding these issues, "and anything linked to housing for people with disabilities."

About 95% of all calls to these centers deal with housing accommodations.

Disability workshop focuses on housing rights(2)

Stone added that the Unruh Civil Rights Act also prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation, disability, race, nationality and religion. She said Section 8 only begins if landlords decide to adopt it, or if the owner of the property receives an influx of funds from both local and federal housing agencies to make structural changes, or to fund construction of housing units.

Section 8 stands for affordable public housing subsidized program for low-income people, whereby up to 80% of the cost of rent is paid by local and federal housing authorities to property management, or landlords.

Under Section 8 guidelines, between 20% and 30% of the total units must be available for rent. Only the landlords decide whether to embrace this program. However, once the program starts, sometimes the number of available units varies. They could be more or less, depending on the total number of units available, and on the money the landlords may have received to refurbish, or build the apartments.

For example, if the manager of a building with 10 units for rent decides to embrace Section 8, he or she must furbish at least two, or three special affordable housing units for rent. If a landlord owns a three unit for rent building, and receives Section 8 funds, the owner must provide one affordable housing unit.

Fred Nisen, an attorney with the Disability Rights California, organization based in San Francisco, said Section 504 of the California Civil Code establishes that a list of accessible and affordable housing units must be provided to potential tenants. The FHA also establishes that a minimum of 5% of all units must be accessible.

Nisen added that an additional 2% of total units must be available and accessible if there are tenants who are blind, or legally deaf. In fact, Nisen said, FHA rules indicate that landlords must provide suitable means “to ensure that information on accessible units is available.” The information can be published in local newspapers, classifieds magazines, websites on rental units, etc.

Stone said landlords are expected to "shoulder financial and administrative costs, in the refurbishing of units, or houses to make them accessible for potential tenants with disabilities." However, in certain cases, how much money, and the availability of material resources the landlord has are considered to legally bind the owner to achieve these goals.

On occasions, these expenses are considered “undue burdens,” Stone said.

In other words, the Cornell School of Law explains the theory of an undue burden must apply to help define a “significant difficulty or expense for which the product is being developed, procured, maintained or used.” Nisen said big apartment complexes are usually treated different than small housing units in the application of what constitutes undue burden.

Nisen said these matters are often treated on a case by case situation.

Pets introduced to the unit “for emotional support”, and guide dogs for the blind, must also be allowed by the landlord, he said.

For more information, you can visit www.disabilityrightsca.org., or call Disability Rights California at (800) 776-5746.

Conference outlines budget, legal issues on disabilities(1)

By Alfredo Santana

The issues of declining state funding for programs for people with disabilities, how to move forward possible legislative issues starting at legislators’ local offices, and the need to better portray people with disabilities in electronic media were some of the highlights at the 2010 conference called RespectABILITY.

The daylong series of workshops and information conferences at the Marriot hotel convention center in Burbank, on Friday, Oct. 22, drew at least 350 participants and advocates interested on legislative action, housing issues, and legal representation for the elderly and communities with disabilities.

Paula Pearlman, executive director at Disability Rights Legal Center, said at the event’s opening speech that the topics dealt with at the conference “are not about disability rights only. They are about disability rights for all of us with disabilities who look for equal opportunities at work.”

Liz Pazdral, executive director of the California State Independent Living Council, said her organization is working on a 10-point program with goals to improve living standards and working opportunities for these communities.

Among her efforts are the continuous improvement of accessible housing in the state, housing with access to health care providers, the implementation of legal frameworks that ensure the reduction of discrimination practices against people with disabilities, and the creation of special task forces to implement these laws.

She mentioned the case of Smith v. LAUSD, as good legal guidance on how students with special needs are entitled to have professionals who assist them in K-12 schools. She said schools facilities must be accessible in their structure, and allow in-classroom accommodations for those with disabilities.

For his part, Scott Graves, senior policy analyst at the California Budget Project, said that for the last 15 years, state budgetary sessions have been troublesome, and the current budget “stinks.” He mentioned several main factors for the budget shortfalls that began in the late 1990s.

California has a revenue problem, not a spending problem, as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has repeatedly said. “The tax revenue system is not bringing enough revenue” to support all state’s social programs, thus programs that benefit the elderly and disabled are greatly affected.

“Elected officials have cut taxes the last five years. They cost at least $10 billion a year,” Graves said.

Secondly, starting in 2007 real estate and wages income revenue began a dramatic decrease. He said the bulk of revenue to support social programs was there. What used to be a $100 billion yearly budget, now is $86.5 billion. Thirdly, the fact that it takes a 2/3 legislative majority to approve a budget is working against state programs, a unique situation in California, since most states legislatures can approve a budget with a simple majority vote. This makes hard to eradicate tax cuts forwarded by Republicans, thus making it harder achieve any budget, unless it’s shaped up to fit the wills of GOP officials.

“Republicans have only 30% of the state’s seats,” Graves said. “We know that Republicans have very different public policies than Democrats. They look to cut programs to health services education, etc.” Graves added the promised $4 billion federal aid package to help plug the projected $19 billion shortfall in this year’s approved $86.5 billion may not arrive at all.

Mike Herald, an attorney with the Western Center on Law and Poverty, said the last three have been the most difficult years for social programs in Sacramento. This year’s budget negotiations, he said, kicked off with a goal to avoiding a repeat of the 2009 fiscal fiasco that stretched until mid November.

Herald insisted that the state has a revenue problem, and that tax cuts only make the hole in the budget deeper.

“We need more senators in Sacramento to stand up and fight for these causes. We went to the Democrats [and complained] first, because they caved in to the governor’s budget cuts,” Herald said.

It was great to see, however, people with disabilities, with their wheelchairs and scooters as the first group to erect gurneys, and block streets around the Capitol and the governor’s Mansion, in protest for the draconian cutbacks on social services, Herald said.

“I and 11th streets were blocked with wheelchairs and other devices. It was the first community that protested the cuts. The police completely mismanaged it, and didn’t know how to handle the protest,” Herald said.

In the end, several police members said that it was okay to protest, “because in the end, they were getting cut too. In fact they said they should join them,” Herald said.

Conference outlines budget, legal issues on disabilities(2)

Graves added that difficult times lie ahead this fiscal year, and things may get a bit worse before they improve. “There are difficult choices to make, but things may get tougher before they get better.”

Another workshop, titled Legislative Advocacy, headed by attorney Henry Contreras, focused on the importance of working at local level in the district offices of state legislators. Contreras, whose work span 25 years as legal legislative counsel, was chief of staff for former democrat Assembly Floor leader Marco Antonio Firebaugh, and chief of staff for former democrat House of Representatives member Lucille-Roybal-Allard.

He said advocates for disability causes must inform themselves about how a representative looks at people with disabilities before starting any legislative approach. Contreras said many think the thoughts of having people with disabilities around their offices only because they need funds are untrue.

“Communities empower themselves with change and accountability, at grassroots levels with legal actions,” Contreras said.

What advocates need is practical knowledge to gain access to district offices, not only to Capitol offices. How to forward precise information, and little cluttered letters and resources are key to be effective in the possibility of eventual legislation, he said. As former chief of staff in Sacramento, he advises advocates to contact local field representatives, so that they can forward possible legislative ideas to their superiors.

Contreras advised to build local relationships with the “schedulers,” or staff leaders at district offices, because they give good mileage and help in the long run.

Once an issue has been forwarded, or talked about, “at least call to say hello, and to thank them too,” he said. “It’s good to maintain good relationships with local district offices’ staff, even if the elected official may not support the issue.”

Contreras said rallies in Sacramento are expensive, do not work as good as the local approach, and many times don’t get the attention of the legislators, because they are usually in session. In fact, several rallies take place in the same day, further diluting the need for attention to an issue.

“District rallies do get attention. Visits to Sacramento, or to Washington often only happen once, and the issue gets nowhere. I’ve met individuals who only visit the Capitol office once, and never comeback,” he said.

The point here, he said, is to make a strategic decision. Once a decision is made, keep the paperwork simple, and focus in only two or three visitors, no 20 or 30 in a group. If the issue awakens questions from the staff, follow with answers, and ideas on how the projected legislation may be funded, Contreras said.

Lastly, he advised to get statistical figures of constituents with similar needs, or concerns who live in the district of the given legislator. Legislators are privy of bad reputation, particularly if an important segment of the constituents want action in a proposal elected officials may ignore, or pass by.

Meanwhile, actor Danny Woodburn, who lives with a genetic disability that causes dwarfism, said media images and content in both entertainment and news should be inclusive of people who live with medical conditions, in order to erase, albeit slowly, stereotypes and negative portrayals of these communities.

“In media representation, nowhere near the representation on population is shown in television, film or other type of public work. We need accurate portrayals of people with disabilities in all walks of life, not only in acting in the media,” Woodburn said.

He said almost 18% of all Americans live with a diagnosed disability. It’s estimated that 50 million Americans have, or have developed some disability during their lives.

Sonia Nazario says youth migration goes on(2)

“About 27% of residents in Los Angeles were born in another country,” Nazario said. “Unfortunately, under the Obama administration, deportations are up, and police in several states are setting vehicles checkpoints, pull them over for alleged vehicle [codes] violations, and hand them over to immigration officials.”

A master’s degree graduate from the University of California at Berkeley in Latin American studies, Nazario said she keeps working in her second book. She revealed that while she reported Enrique’s stories for the Times, she had to get special working permits from the Mexican presidency. These permits saved her from being jailed at least three times.

“Four out of five adults immigrants have left children in Latin America. I began to dig, and found that more and more families are being disintegrated because of migration to the United States, than for any other reason. Despite Homeland Security’s crackdown on immigration, still about 230,000 new immigrants come across the U.S. border every year,” Nazario said.

In addition, Nazario explained that Mexican nationals perceive migration from Central America differently in the state of Veracruz, than in Chiapas, the southernmost region of Mexico, and a traditional hostile territory that borders with Guatemala. In Veracruz, residents who live near the railroads, throw bags of food, bottles and jugs of water, fruits, clothes, tamales, and many other good to migrants desperate to eat anything after several days of being chased by police and bandits. Migrants must have to endure a lush jungle where the train serpentines en route to central Mexico.

One peasant lady, named Maria, who lives close to the railroad tracks, told Nazario that “if I have one tortilla, I give one half away.” Nazario said that after she saw so much pain, suffering, and oppression in Chiapas toward the migrants, she recovered faith in humanity after she met and treated Maria, who lives in a one-room shackle, where she lays three beds.

Nazario said that overall, immigration to the United States benefits society in general, because people like Enrique’s mother do backbreaking jobs, and get paid minimal wages. Nazario said the American people largely benefits from these wave of immigration by purchasing services and goods that are affordable and cost them less. Ultimately, no American citizen would do these hard jobs, Nazario said. Car washing, yard cleaning, food preparation, and house cleaning are some of the jobs thousands of immigrants do for low salaries.

If the U.S. government wants to control the influx of undocumented immigration, Nazario said, financial programs whereby loans to micro business led by women should be encouraged. These women will also hire two or three more employees, and would begin a series of socioeconomic stabilization in these countries, These measures, in turn, would discourage migration to the north.

In addition, Nazario explained, wealth redistribution should also start, because “it’s amazing that, for example in El Salvador, 13 families linked to the political elite control almost all financial and economic activity of the country.”

Sonia Nazario says youth migration goes on(1)

By Alfredo Santana

Pulitzer Prize journalist winner Sonia Nazario said at a speech at the University of Southern California that at least 47,000 children and youth alone still migrate from Latin America every year to this country in search of their mothers, or both of their parents.

Nazario, who won the coveted award after the publication of her book Enrique’s Journey, said her work, first published in a series of stories in The Los Angeles Times, where she works as special project reporter, continues with tracing data, and reporting on immigration patters of youth who flee their homelands to try to reunite with their parents, regardless of wherever the may be in the United States.

Most of these youth come from Mexico and Central America, she said.

Enrique’s Journey centers on the story of Enrique, a young boy from Tegucigalpa, Honduras, who launched a series of attempts to cross large parts of Mexico atop freight trains, in order to find, and ultimately live with her mother. In the process, Enrique was tortured and assaulted by armed gangs in the Mexican state of Chiapas, who almost beat him to death.

“I remember every time the mother of Enrique called him to Honduras, she always ended her phone conversations with an ‘I love you’, or “te quiero. It was very moving,” she said.

Nazario traveled with several immigrants atop some freight trains to capture first hand the experiences of thousands of Central American migrants en route to the United States. Many never make it, and many others end disabled, losing limbs after they wiggle, ad fall against the train wheels, trying to climb aboard the moving train. In one fast motion, they must also wrestle the ever-present Mexican immigration police. If they slip, arms and legs are often amputated.

Nazario said in the Mexican state of Oaxaca there are two or three centers who offer medical assistance, and psychological treatment to migrants who lose one or two limbs. Once, she entered to one room full of disabled migrants victims of the train. The experience left her almost speechless.

“It’s hard to describe how one feels once you enter into these rooms; they are full of severed people,” she recalled.

Nazario, born from Argentinean parents, and raised in Kansas and Argentina, said issues about immigration, hunger, poverty and Latin America have always captured her attention. So when she decided to become a professional journalist, Nazario had in mind to write about these topics.

Nazario began her career at the Wall Street Journal. She was hired by the Times in 1993, and almost immediately began writing about poverty and hunger-stricken children in schools in California.

Buscan en latinoamérica justicia por desaparecidos(2)

La justicia colombiana condenó en junio al coronel retirado Alfonso Plazas a 30 años de cárcel por la desaparición en 1985 de 11 trabajadores de la cafetería del Palacio de Justicia, en Bogotá, que fue atacado por militares para recuperarlo de manos del guerrillero Movimiento 19 de Abril, que lo había copado. Tras la operación, que dejó 55 muertos, nada más se supo del grupo de empleados que habían sobrevivido.

Los activistas esperan que con la entrada en vigor en 2011 de la Convención Internacional para la protección de todas las personas contra las desapariciones forzadas, aprobada en 2006, empuje la lucha contra ese delito. Mientras países como Argentina, Chile y Uruguay ya la ratificaron, otros como Guatemala y Colombia aún no lo hacen.

Al entrar en vigor ese instrumento internacional, los Estados parte deberán entregar un informe anual respecto de la desaparición forzada de personas, con datos duros y acciones legislativas y judiciales para enfrentarla.

El Senado de Argentina aprobó en septiembre la reforma al Código Penal para tipificar como delito específico la desaparición forzada y en las próximas semanas se pronunciará la Cámara de Diputados.

"Argentina ha encontrado su propio camino para enjuiciar (a los violadores de derechos humanos), pero es importante por lo simbólico condenar a los autores por desaparición forzada", explicó Cetrángolo.

Por una sentencia contraria de noviembre de la Corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos por el caso de la desaparición del dirigente comunitario Rosendo Radilla en 1974, México está obligado a aprobar una ley contra ese hecho y a investigar a fondo los casos denunciados.

"El Estado no acepta denuncias por desaparición forzada y sólo las tramita como secuestro", resaltó Cerezo, quien estuvo encarcelado entre 2001 y 2009 por el ataque a tres agencias bancarias en la capital mexicana.

Desde 2007 se hallan desaparecidos los guerrilleros del Ejército Popular Revolucionario Gabriel Cruz y Edmundo Reyes y 38 trabajadores de la firma estatal Petróleos Mexicanos, sin que hasta ahora haya indicios de su paradero.

"En Colombia la historia ha sido la negación de la desaparición. Por eso queremos que el parlamento ratifique la Convención y que apruebe la ley de Víctimas", precisó Hoyos, hija del sindicalista Jorge Darío Hoyos, asesinado en 2001.

El presidente de Colombia, Juan Manuel Santos, entregó el 27 de septiembre al parlamento el proyecto de ley de Víctimas, para resarcir a los afectados por la violencia ejecutada por la guerrilla, los paramilitares y agentes estatales.

Buscan en latinoamérica justicia por desaparecidos(1)

El argentino Agustín Cetrángolo no descansa en su pretensión de poner frente a la justicia a los responsables de la desaparición forzosa de su padre, apresado en 1978 por la dictadura de su país y prisionero al menos en dos campos de concentración de Buenos Aires.

"Queremos justicia y que sea sostenida en el tiempo", dijo este activista de Hijos e Hijas por la Identidad y la Justicia contra el Olvido y el Silencio (H.I.J.O.S.), cuyo padre, Sergio Cetrángolo, es uno de los 30,000 desaparecidos por la represión dictatorial de 1976 a 1983 en Argentina, según los datos de organizaciones de derechos humanos.

"No esperábamos que se avanzara tanto contra la desaparición forzada de personas en Argentina" en esta década, reconoció. "Los poderes del Estado están haciendo su trabajo y hay una condena social al terrorismo de Estado", destacó.

Es que los juicios se reactivaron en masa desde 2003, cuando tras la llegada al gobierno del centroizquierdista Néstor Kirchner (2003-2007) el parlamento anuló las dos leyes aprobadas en los años 80 para alejar de los tribunales a los uniformados acusados de violaciones a los derechos humanos. Luego, en 2005, la Corte Suprema de Justicia, las declaró inconstitucional.

Junto a otros activistas argentinos, mexicanos, guatemaltecos, colombianos, peruanos, chilenos y uruguayos, Cetrángolo asiste al encuentro internacional de H.I.J.O.S, la agrupación surgida en Argentina en 1994, que tuvo lugar del miércoles 13 al viernes 15 de octubre en Mexico, D.F., con el objetivo de impulsar el tema en el plano continental.

América Latina ha marchado a diferentes velocidades en la lucha contra la desaparición forzada. Mientras países como Argentina y, con más contratiempos Uruguay y Chile, se han colocado a la vanguardia con legislaciones y condenas a responsables, otros como México y Colombia se hallan en el último vagón.

"El Estado no sólo está obligado a investigar todos los casos y tiene una responsabilidad, sino también tiene que llevar ante la justicia a los responsables", señaló Héctor Cerezo, integrante del no gubernamental Comité Cerezo, de México.

En agosto, este comité formado en 2001 a raíz de la detención y posterior condena de Héctor y de sus hermanos Alejandro y Antonio Cerezo, se unió a otras organizaciones de derechos humanos para lanzar la Campaña Nacional contra la Desaparición Forzada y divulgaron un manual al respecto, para orientar a los familiares sobre cómo actuar en un caso de esa naturaleza.

Más de 3,000 personas han sido desaparecidas desde 2006 en México, según agrupaciones humanitarias. El caso más reciente, que data del 14 de septiembre, es el de Víctor Ayala, dirigente del Frente Libre Hermenegildo Galeana, en el sureño estado de Guerrero.

En la llamada "guerra sucia" contra las guerrillas izquierdistas, militantes y dirigentes sociales en los años 60 y 70 desaparecieron 532 personas, según la estatal aunque autónoma Comisión Nacional de Derechos Humanos. Ante ello, han fracasado las denuncias penales en contra de los presidentes y altos funcionarios de la época.

En Guatemala suman 45,000 personas los desaparecidos tras ser secuestrados o arrestados por agentes del Estado durante la guerra civil transcurrida entre 1960 y 1996.

En Colombia, H.I.J.O.S. tiene un registro de 47,000 desapariciones forzosas en más de cuatro décadas de enfrentamiento armado interno. El primer caso documentado fue el de la bacterióloga Omaira Montoya, una militante de izquierda que fue detenida en 1977.

En los siete años de dictadura en Argentina fueron desaparecidas 30,000 personas, según contabilizan las organizaciones defensoras de los derechos humanos, mientras que los oficiales registran con documentación casi 15,000.

H.I.J.O.S. afirma que el primer caso argentino de este tipo se remonta a 1962 y se trata de Felipe Vallese, un obrero metalúrgico y dirigente de la entonces proscrita Juventud Peronista, mientras que el último es el del albañil Jorge Julio López, desaparecido en 2006 poco después de haber declarado como testigo en un juicio contra represores que lo mantuvieron detenido ilegalmente en los años de la dictadura.

En Chile indican que son 2,115 los desaparecidos durante la dictadura de 1973 a 1990. El primer caso documentado es el del dirigente sindical Gastón de Jesús Cortés poco después del golpe de Estado perpetrado por el general Augusto Pinochet (1915-2006).

Los registros recogidos por la organización de derechos humanos marcan que son 172 los uruguayos detenidos-desparecidos por agentes de la dictadura de ese país (1973-1985), la mayoría de ellos apresados en Argentina en el marco del Plan Cóndor, que coordinó la represión del Cono Sur de América con anuencia de Estados Unidos.

Sin embargo se aclara que pueden ser más las personas en esa situación, puesto que siguen las investigaciones sobre traslado de prisioneros en vuelos sobre el Río de la Plata.

El primer expediente documentado de un desaparecido en Uruguay fue el del estudiante de medicina Adán Abel Ayala y fue en 1971, aún en democracia, a manos de fuerzas represivas del autoritario gobierno de entonces de Jorge Pacheco Areco.

"La tipificación es arbitraria, porque la desaparición forzada se le atribuye a un particular y no a un agente del Estado. Si es un servidor público, no existe agravante", criticó la abogada Yessica Hoyos, de H.I.J.O.S-Colombia, fundada hace cuatro años, y presente en el encuentro, que incluye la exhibición de películas y documentales sobre el tema.