Welcome to SMG eNEWS™
2007, Oct 10th

The Solutions Marketing Group’s eNews is a bi-monthly communiqué that connects business to the market of people with disabilities.

Profiles in Excellence
Profiles in Excellence is a monthly article, published by SMG, that features companies and organizations that demonstrate leadership in accessibility, employment, customer service and marketing to the nation's 54 million Americans with Disabilities.

CAREFORCE: Caring Through the Miles
By Joan Leotta

Everyone in the Sorenson family rides horses. In fact, the family enjoys many outdoor activities around their Sheridan, Wyoming home. But it took a ride on an airplane, made possible by two dedicated volunteers, to allow five-year-old Thomas Sorenson to be able to mount up for the first time. Before he turned one, Thomas developed cancer in his left leg. Amputation saved the boy’s life, but made it difficult for him to join in the family’s activities, including riding. When the family learned about the possibility of obtaining a pediatric prosthetic leg, the only factor stopping them was that the medical facility was far away, in Houston, Texas. A small organization called CAREFORCE made it possible for Thomas and a parent to fly to Houston—twice—for prosthetic legs to fit his growing body....
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Featured Article
Special to Disability-Marketing.com

The ADA Restoration Act and Restoring Freedom By Joyce Bender, President and CEO of Bender Consulting Services

In 1990, the Americans with Disabilities Act was signed at the White House in front of thousands of people with disabilities, advocates, and friends. It was a beautiful morning when President George H. W. Bush signed into law the bill that would provide Americans with disabilities the same rights as the non-disabled. We all remember those words of President George H. W. Bush when he said, “Let the shameful wall of exclusion finally come tumbling down.” Sadly, since that day, those words have not come true in all areas; one of those areas is employment. Seventeen years later, how can we still have an unemployment rate of over 50% for Americans with significant disabilities? This is a national tragedy....
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Accessibility
sponsored by Universal Design Newsletter

FEMA Releases Disability Disaster Reference Guide

On August 21, the Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) released a new reference guide that outlines existing legal requirements and standards relating to access for people with disabilities. A Reference Guide for Accommodating Individuals with Disabilities in the Provision of Disaster Mass Care, Housing and Human Services is the first of a series of disability-related guidelines to be produced by FEMA for disaster preparedness and response planners and service providers. The document summarizes equal access requirements for people with disabilities within disaster mass care, housing, and human services functions. The Guide explains how applicable federal laws relate to government entities, the private sector, and religious organizations.....
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Customer Service
sponsored by W.C. Duke Associates, Inc.

Treatment of Service Animal Frustrates Owner By Mary Rainwater, The Palestine Herald

Since Palestine resident Jay Marshall's beloved Chihuahua CoCo Puff was designated a service dog in 2004, both have faced a lot of challenges when it comes to convincing retailers about the canine's life-saving role. CoCo Puff's special gift — being able to detect Marshall's potentially fatal diabetic seizures before they happen — earned the dog its designation as a service animal. CoCo Puff's warnings help Marshall know when she needs to take precautions against a diabetic seizure, or let her know that she needs to get to a safe place and lie down. While most local store owners and customers are aware of the human-canine duo's need to travel together, it is in other areas that Marshall and CoCo have been challenged and sometimes even thrown out of a store....
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Employment

Many Hiring Managers Snubbing Vets
By Rick Maze, FederalTimes.com

Complaints about the veterans' hiring preferences for federal jobs have prompted a House panel to question if the Office of Personnel Management is up to the job of setting and enforcing the policy.The House Veterans' Affairs subcommittee on economic opportunity, with jurisdiction over veterans' employment programs but not over federal personnel practices, was told that despite renewed emphasis on hiring veterans, many obstacles remain. “On nearly a daily basis, my office receives inquiries from disabled veterans who believe their preference rights have been overlooked or ignored,” said Brian Lawrence of Disabled American Veterans. Meg Bartley of the National Veterans Legal Service Program said her group has spent eight years reviewing and investigating veterans' preference violations....
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Marketing

New Hook-up Enhances Phone Calling for the Deaf
By Thomas Burr, The Salt Lake Tribune

Phoning a friend or relative isn't an easy task if you're deaf. In the past, someone who couldn't hear wanted to make a phone call, that person had to type out a message on a keyboard and the recipient had to have a similar device on the other end or the pair would have to rely on an interpreter. Now, a Utah company is promoting a new technology - free to hearing-impaired individuals - that allows the user to communicate using sign language via a phone call with an interpreter who then can relay the words to the recipient. Salt Lake City-based Sorenson Communications touted their new service in Washington on Wednesday in the famous Caucus Room on Capitol Hill. The video relay service is "really revolutionizing and changing the way deaf people are communicating," said Bobbie Beth Scoggins, president of the National Association for the Deaf. "They can communicate in their native language rather than in a text-based English language." ....
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News & Announcements

2007 Disability Mentoring Day: Career Development for the 21st Century

U.S. Labor Department Awards Nearly $1.9 Million Grant to Establish National Technical Assistance Center on Transition and Employment for Youth with Disabilities

EARN Announces New and Improved Ways for Employers to Connect with Jobseekers

Lawsuit Claims Apple Violates Disabled Customer's Rights
By Jeff Gamut, from The Mac Observer, Inc.

Saab Vehicles Added to GM Mobility Program

No Longer One of 'Jerry's Kids' -- Jerry Lewis' annual MDA Labor Day Telethon means well but misses the point.
By Ben Mattlin, from WashingtonPost.com