"Access & Inclusion" - DUDE Fall Newsletter!
Disabled United in Direct Empowerment (DUDE), 06.10.2007 14:37
Disabled United in Direct Empowerment
Aggressive advocacy by and for Oregonians with disabilities since 2003
Access & Inclusion
“Its late September and I really should be back at school” -Rod Stewart
Calling All Artists and Performers With Disabilities: Join us for our Art Walk event again this year!
Limited space still available, RSVP by Oct. 20
DUDE's newsletter for Fall 2007
Access & Inclusion
Calling All Artists and Performers With Disabilities: Join us for our Art Walk event again this year!
Limited space still available, RSVP by Oct. 20
Our First Friday fundraiser is a month away and we are securing the talents of disabled artisans throughout the region to share the richness of creativity under the backdrop of a silent auction and catered h’ordoerves. The valley has lost vans, venues and voices, but we will continue to hold the most inclusive fundraiser and appreciation party with the 2nd annual ‘CelebrateAbility,’ showcasing regional talent and awarding local service providers for accessability and inclusion. Studio Sfumato has agreed to join us and show new works for this second year of an amazing partnership. There is still time to get on board to show your work at the event or donate goods for our silent-auction fundraiser. DUDE is a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit and donations are tax-deductible to the extent of law. Contact 
dutiful@mind.net to donate or show or share your work at the Mobius first Friday November 2!
Southern Oregon Health Care Town Hall August 23, 2007 on tv Wednesdays 8-9 pm, RVTV, Channel 15: if you attended the Town Hall event sponsored by coalition partners this summer, you remember a valuable discussion that continues on our local cable access show for the next few weeks. See below for event description!
Summer Events
This summer DUDE lined up with community coalitions to plan and participate in events promoting social justice throughout the Rogue Valley.
Second Annual 4th of July Parade Float
This was our second year in Ashland’s 4th of July Parade and while our float was only one story this time, we still got our message out with great coalition partners Southern Oregon Jobs With Justice and a whole list of other folks. There simply is nothing like being applauded by thirty thousand people to make advocating by and for Oregonians with disabilities permanently rewarding—you should try it! After the parade some 30 or so came over through the afternoon for a DUDE accessible barbeque. A special thanks to Steve Ryan who worked tirelessly on the week’s events. Steve helped keep us safe and included on the parade route, and organized volunteers to assist with cooking and catering our 4th of July barbeque. Check the Rogue IMC for photos from the parade 
http://www.rogueimc. org/en/2007/07/8900.shtml
At the party, we distributed tickets for Michael Moore’s controversial new film about the failure of the American health care system "Sicko," and met two days later at the Varsity Cinema in Ashland, watched the movie and regrouped at the Standing Stone Brewery for a hearty discussion of the film and of course DUDE’s other work especially House Bill 3268. Thanks to the Standing Stone for keeping their dining area accessible relevant topic to our Blog, http://dudeoregon.proboards98.com/
DUDE Supports Oregon Nurses Association Nurses Win Contract at Mercy Medical Center
Later in July, Jobs with Justice and DUDE traveled to Roseburg to support Oregon Nurses Association union members and concerned citizens on informational picket lines for the second time, to show solidarity for contract negotiations between management and nurses at Mercy Medical Center. DUDE and coalition partners in Southern Oregon Jobs With Justice earlier in April, and negotiations ultimately went on for six months after the Mercy Nurses’ first contract should have been signed. They finally won their contract after the second picket line and we were there. More in-depth story and pictures available at http://www.rogueimc. org/en/2007/07/8918.shtml
McKenzie River Gathering Foundation Annual Picnic
DUDE staff skipped our usual Greyhound excursion to hitch a ride with Oregon Action’s Rich Rohde to the McKenzie River Gathering Foundation’s 30th annual fundraising picnic in Eugene. Mayor Kitty Piercy and others outlined the work McKenzie River Gathering has accomplished over three decades of social justice work. It was great to see Carole Zoom Patterson, who assisted us with trainings when she was with Lane Independent Living Association, but who is now on the board of directors of McKenzie River Gathering (MRG). Carole has since moved to Portland and is shooting and showing photography. We can only wish her luck with MRG in her new location and thank her for her support and insight these last several years. Read more about MRG and our other funders below in our Funders’ Update!
Southern Oregon Health Care Town Hall August 23
DUDE joined Oregon Action, Oregon Health Action Campaign, Oregonians for Health Security, and HASL Independent Abilities Center to sponsor an extremely valuable Town Hall discussion about ongoing health care reform in the Oregon Legislature. Oregon Senator Alan Bates, M.D. and Representative Sal Esquivel joined Maribeth Healey (Oregonians for Health Security) and Ellen Pinney (Oregon Health Action Campaign) for a discussion of SB 329 The Healthy Oregon Act, and momentum around universal coverage for all Oregonians. The forum gave locals a valuable opportunity to interact with lawmakers and have their voices heard. Watch the town hall discussion yourself on DUDE’s show on Rogue Valley Television Wednesdays from 8-9 pm on Channel 15 in Josephine & Jackson Counties.
Special thanks to Caren Caldwell for moderating, and we have to congratulate Oregon Action Health Care Committee Chair Tonya Wray for bottom-lining an amazing event that definitely brought Southern Oregonians closer to their legislators and increased citizen participation in crafting policy that will affect us all. Congratulations and thanks to Rich Rohde too for a great article in the Medford Mail Tribune Oct. 2, below!
DUDE Joins Central Labor Council for Labor Day Picnic 2007
We joined our friends at the Southern Oregon Central Labor Council Labor Day picnic held at Tou Velle State Park in White City. Guest speakers included representative Peter Buckley, Commissioner Dave Gilmore, Wes Brain of Jobs with Justice, Jackson County Employees Association President Buck Eichler, SEIU’s Kurt Kessler, and more. DUDE shared some great fruit and desert trays donated by the Ashland Food Cooperative to accompany traditional American barbeque fare. While the lack of accessible transportation in the valley proved to be an insurmountable hurdle for our friends in electric wheelchairs who wanted to be at the picnic, more ambulatory folks had a great time at this third-annual event. We tried every transportation provider in Jackson County and none of them were available on Labor Day Monday regardless of cost—sorry non-ambulatory folks, maybe someday you can come too. Event organizers honestly did make a significant effort but there were simply no resources to be had on the holiday.
Southern Oregon Stand Down
This year marked our second annual Southern Oregon Stand Down event at the White City Domiciliary. Every year for seventeen years now, a group of veterans and service providers hold a weekend-long event where veterans can get all their human service agency requirements up to date in a single one-stop, veteran-friendly environment. We brought volunteers out to the event for the second time this year, interviewing veterans and other agency personnel about their experiences and advocacy work. Targeted toward homeless veterans, the event serves vets across the state, and many come in from out of the region to access crucial VA and social services. We always enjoy working with our other local advocates and meeting the men and women who gave so much, but who have such a hard time accessing rights we promised them in exchange for their service.
DUDE VP Crashes in High-dollar Medicare-approved Wheelchair
With the Saving Chuck’s Butt campaign well under way, it’s probably a good thing he landed on his head.
Last spring, DUDE VP Chuck Cheatum was embarking on his 1 1⁄2 mile journey for his Valley Lift rendezvous for his ride to the live DUDE In Progress RVTV show, and had a spectacular accident as he began to slide out of his new chair from the extra tilt of forward motion. Chuck was thrown clear of his chair but could not brace himself for the fall and landed head first on the pavement. The mile and a half journey that Chuck drives in his chair is a result of losing Rogue Valley Transportation District bus Route 4 in the Summer of 2006. Chuck went to the hospital for 8 large stitches in his head and a headache that has lingered on since then.
A few friends and caregivers are working on a modification project in Ashland that will give Chuck affordable and accessible housing where he can utilize precious public transportation. We are learning logistics such as widths needed for a hoyer and counter heighths. We are still working on ramping, winterizing and other sensible universal recommendations. Please take interest in the ’Saving Chuck’s Butt’ campaign so we can share the sensibility of creating accommodation for all new and existing construction. Remember, the butt you save may be your own. Contact dutiful@mind.net or 488-3931
DUDE begins Production on Two New Documentaries
Producer Steve Ryan and Director Nancie Ozimkowski are taking calculated blocks of time between their school and civic schedules to begin filming for 07-08 documentaries, covering pros and cons of assistive technology and the history, politics and ongoing dilemmas surrounding equal access and inclusion for Americans with disabilities. The first video explores how assistive technologies can enhance abilities but often come with a cost of increasing isolation. The second outlines events leading to passage of the ADA, including the month-long takeover of the Health Education and Welfare building in San Francisco, an event that mirrored our own origins sitting in at the Medford DHS. Efforts to restore the ADA continue to meet active resistance from the business community in Washington D.C. Please contact us if you took part in the San Francisco rallies or have perspective on adaptive technology from any angle—we’d like to include you in our discussion.
Brushes With the Law: Look for ADA Trainings Next Winter/ Spring
We are planning three seminars early next year to understand titles I, II and III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). So few of us know our rights or others’ responsibilities under the ADA and we would like to learn more about this historically significant series of laws which have been regarded as a part of the last civil rights movement. Find out what your rights are for interpreters, translation materials and the common faults of municipalities to protect their citizens’ equal access. We’ve recently heard horrifying examples of local police holding deaf constituents without providing them American Sign Language interpreters just for one example—there are more. Share your experiences and learn how you can explain ADA to others.
Funders’ Update
We gratefully thank all our donors and underwriters for the work you have been reading about above, especially now to The Ralph L. Smith Foundation in Oregon, who recently donated all their assets to the McKenzie River Gathering Foundation for management after over 50 years as a family foundation. The Ralph L. Smith Foundation supported DUDE for the last 2 years of their incorporation and we would not have been able to accomplish any of the service we have been able to bring to Southern Oregon without their gracious support.
The McKenzie River Gathering Foundation (MRG) has helped make DUDE
possible for the past three years, and they lead the way in our region and across the state of Oregon countering oppression and discrimination for underrepresented groups of all descriptions. Read a wonderful article featuring MRG Board of Directors member and Oregon Action organizer Rich Rohde in the Oct. 2 Medford Mail Tribune, “Bounty goes to social activists” http://www.mailtribune.com/apps/ pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071002/NEWS/710020323
A generous grant from the Ashland Food Cooperative Foundation provides healthy and nutritious snacks for DUDE events each month, for example at the Labor Day Picnic (above). We are honored to help the Ashland Food Cooperative further their educational and nutritional outreach as we enhance our constituents’ ability to fight disease and increase quality of life through healthy and affordable eating opportunities!
New Angel: Social Justice Fund Northwest
The Social Justice Fund Northwest also made an extremely generous donation to our work this summer, and we are super excited to work with this cutting edge foundation who uses the arts and media to promote social justice throughout the region. SJFNW is helping underwrite the two documentaries you read about above, ongoing organizing work, and continued use of multimedia to advocate for our constituency. SJFNW (formerly A Territorial Resource) accomplishes this kind of work with a large number of organizations and cultural advocacy projects. Thanks Social Justice Fund for helping us into our fifth year of media advocacy by and for Oregonians with disabilities!
A donation from Shepherd of the Valley Church last year continues to pay off—DUDE received a grant for public address and video presentation equipment that saves us money at our events, while generating revenue for our advocacy work from 2006 into the new year. Please consider hiring DUDE for your video and multimedia presentation—we have microphones, music/ audio sound reinforcement, and video projection available for hire, for events up to 500 people at your accessible location. Let us support your public address event and help generate revenue for access and inclusion in Southern Oregon!
Your event with video projection and public address system for up to 500 people outside, more than that inside 100$ up to 4 hours, 4¬10 hrs $175. Sliding scale on ability to pay.
It’s no doubt that DUDE is working hard. We may not have a representative at every coalition and agency meeting but we are getting ground covered. Outreach material remains a strong request from new constituents and our funders have been generous to believe in us, our judgment and our cause. New brochures will be ready for our Winter Annual Meeting. Look for updates as we approach November, and put CelebrateAbility on your calendar for next First Friday in Ashland, at the Mobius!
