Cheers for a National FOIA Portal

https://goo.gl/CHdqU7

Almost five and a half years ago we at OGIS recommended to Congress that the development of a governmentwide FOIA web portal could improve public access to government information. Now, thanks to ongoing collaboration between the Office of Management and Budget (OMB and the Office of Information Policy at the Department of Justice (DOJ) and 18F, the digital services agency within the General Services Administration, we are closer than ever to having a National FOIA Portal.

Along with recommending the creation of the unified portal, OGIS was an early promoter of the effort to develop and expand FOIAonline, a multi-agency web platform that accepts FOIA requests, stores them in a repository for processing by agency staff, and allows an agency to post the released records in a centralized FOIA e-reading room. As we emphasized at the time, FOIAonline improved the experience for requesters, and saved taxpayers’ money by sharing agency resources and repurposing existing technology. FOIAonline also reduces the administrative burden on agencies since requester contact information is automatically stored in the system, and agencies can use the portal to communicate with the requester. Six of the 100-odd federal agencies that accept FOIA requests were a part of the FOIAonline launch, including part of the National Archives. As shown in 18F’s research while developing the National FOIA Portal, 10 percent of agencies now participate in FOIAonline, representing 17 percent of the total volume of requests processed by the federal government.

While FOIAonline has been a useful solution for its partners, we recognize that other agencies have found tools that they see as a better fit for their agencies’ needs and priorities. As 18F’s research also shows, in addition to FOIAonline, federal agencies have developed and maintain a variety of other online solutions to accept and manage FOIA requests. Their research also shows that a substantial number of agencies, especially those that process relatively few requests each year, rely on manual processes to take in and manage their FOIA caseload.


Why Don't You Just Die?

https://goo.gl/yFSNVr

When one has a disability, going outside can be dangerous. I do not typically fear for my physical safety. I fear and dread what people will say to me. I feel as though I am a Martian living on the planet Earth and the Earthlings that surround me hate my existence. Worse, they have the means to easily destroy me.

Feeling good and waiting for the light to change so I can cross the street I feel eyes boring into my body. The hair on the back of my neck goes up. Oh no I think. I look to my right and see a well dressed business man in an expensive suit and tie. His highly polished black shoes and suit scream money. He is not flashy but rather exceptionally well dressed and looks like a master of the universe. About six feet tall he sneers at me in complete and utter disgust. Here it comes I think. He did not disappoint.

"Why don't you people just die? His head shakes: "What a waste of life". The light turns green and off he goes.

I have heard this sort of comment for the last forty years. Of course such a comment is not the norm. People only make this comment when I am alone and assumed to be an easy target. Such bigoted thoughts are not socially acceptable. However, alone at a corner, I am an easy target. Strangers feel empowered to be as cutting as humanly possible verbally and physically. There is no question in my mind this man and others wish I did not exist. My presence was an affront. This is a base form of ableism. I try to tell myself social progress has been made since I was paralyzed. I get on the bus and train without rancor. The physical environment is far more accessible than it once was. This line of thought feels delusional when a stranger tells me "Why Don't you just die". 


Dying Whitehall student wants to stay in her school, district wants to move her

How do systems that are supposed to educate become so thoughtlessly cruel?

https://goo.gl/cPk4hp

WHITEHALL, MICH. - Anna Bernhardt is dying.

The 9-year-old Whitehall, Mich., girl has Sanfilippo Syndrome, otherwise known as children’s Alzheimer’s.

It’s terminal illness caused by a defect in a single gene, found in one in 70,000 births. It is an inherited disease of metabolism that means the body cannot properly break down long chains of sugar molecules. Headaches are caused from pressure on the brain.

“Usually, children don’t make it into their middle teens,’’ said Justina Bernhardt,  her mother. “We have a 14-year-old (Gabe) who also has the disease. We just want Anna to be in a comfortable environment and live her life to the fullest no matter how much time she has left.’’

Anna’s family is embroiled in a due process case with the Whitehall School district.  Officials want to send Anna roughly 14.6 miles away to a facility in Muskegon called The Wesley School for children with special needs.

A due process hearing is scheduled for Thursday and Friday, in which an administrative law judge will hear testimony. The hearing is a process developed by the state of Michigan and the Office of Special Education to help reach agreements when parents and school districts are at odds about certain conditions of learning for a child.

After exhausting all her options, Bernhardt filed a complaint with the Office of Special Education after learning the school wanted to move Anna.

Deaths of 11 elderly and medically fragile patients in care homes rock Florida

https://goo.gl/Ac94tD

 Inside a sweltering nursing home, a crisis unfolded Wednesday as 150 centers across Florida still lacked power days after Hurricane Irma ravaged the state.

Firefighters and medics responding to an emergency call in Hollywood, north of Miami, found three people dead inside a building whose second floor the police chief later described as “extremely hot.”

Altogether, city officials said eight people between the ages of 71 and 99 had died, but the causes were not yet determined. An investigation of possible criminal negligence has begun, Hollywood Police Chief Tomas Sanchez told reporters.

The deaths at the for-profit Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills illustrate the perils that can persist and even increase in the aftermath of a major disaster for the elderly and medically fragile.

Heat is a top killer after hurricanes and disasters cause power outages, said Dr. Thomas Kirsch, director of the National Center for Disaster Medicine and Public Health. Kirsch noted that hundreds of elderly people died in the 1995 Chicago heat wave and when Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in 2005.

The temperatures in Broward County, north of Miami, have reached 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 C) in the three days since Irma smashed into Florida on Sunday.

“We often see that injuries and deaths after disaster in the United States are more common than those actually caused by the disaster itself,” Kirsch said.

After losing its full air conditioning on Sunday, the facility placed eight portable air coolers throughout the building and fans in the halls, state officials said in an emergency order late Wednesday. Officials also contacted the power provider, the state said.

Efforts to prevent such disasters in nursing facilities have improved in recent years, public health experts said, and that new federal regulations require facilities to have sufficient backup power to maintain reasonable temperatures


Disability Visibility Podcast; Ep 1: Activism and the Disability Community

https://goo.gl/WTBDZj

Today’s guests are Andrew Pulrang and Gregg Beratan, co-partners in Crip The Vote, an online movement encouraging the political participation of disabled people. This episode was recorded late July 2017, days after the GOP healthcare bill died in the Senate. 

We look back at the attempt to repeal and replace the ACA, what Medicaid means to disabled people, and the activism that took place all year long in opposition to the bill, especially the activism by ADAPT, a national grassroots disability rights group that was instrumental in creating what Representative John Lewis calls ‘good trouble.’