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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2004-10-01 Committee on People with Disabilities Minutes COMMITTEE ON PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES Friday, October 1, 2004, 10:30 a.m. Kona Mayors Office Conference Room PRESENT: Ted Yamanaka, Vice-Chair; Betsy Whitney, Secretary; Denise Cowdrey, Michael Gleason, Jack Matsui, James Souza, Laura Tobosa EXCUSED: Lawrence Scadden, Chair GUESTS: Malina Dravis, Interpreter; Susan Golden, John Hartman, H.A.W.K.; Andrea Johnson, CNA; Sharon Smockhoffmann, Hawaii Disability Rights Center CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order at 10:35 a.m. An introduction of committee members, staff, and guests wasmade. APPROVAL OF MINUTES M. Gleason made a motion to accept the minutes of September 3, 2004. J. Matsui seconded the motion. The motion was passed with B. Whitney abstaining. STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC ON AGENDA ISSUES None. TREASURERS REPORT The treasurers report was reviewed. L. Tobosa asked what is the $192 expenditure under subscriptionandmembership. J. Viernes responded that she processed payment of $192 for the law enforcement manuals. M. Gleason inquired about the cost of the traffic safety vests. J. Viernes said the traffic safety vests should be arriving within the next two weeks so she should know the total cost. L. Tobosa made a motion to accept the treasurers report as submitted. M. Gleason seconded the motion. The motion was passed. CORRESPONDENCE None. SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS A.EDUCATION/PUBLICAWARENESSSUBCOMMITTEE‚M.GLEASON M. Gleason reported that this subcommittee did not meet this month. B. RECREATION SUBCOMMITTEE ‚ L.SCADDEN Noreport. Hawaii County is an Equal Opportunity Provider and Employer C. TRANSPORTATION SUBCOMMITTEE ‚ B. WHITNEY B. Whitney reported that T. Brown was going to provide an update, but she has not heard anything. UNFINISHED BUSINESS A. VOLUNTEER PARKING VIOLATION ENFORCEMENT PROGRAM UPDATE ‚ SGT. APELE T. Yamanaka reported that Sergeant R. Apele has been promoted to lieutenant and is assigned to Kona. B. UPDATE FROM DCAB ‚ C. FLEMING/D. JACKSON/N. OLESEN No report since D. Jackson is on vacation. C. ADA COORDINATORS REPORT ‚ T. SPINOLA-CAMPBELL The ADA Coordinators Report for September 2004 was distributed to MCPD members. B. Whitney asked what is a €pocket talker? D. Cowdrey said that she has seen the pocket talker in catalogs for adaptive devices. You can program certain phrases into the pocket talker. The August 2004 ADA Coordinators Report pointed out that T. Spinola-Campbell received a pocket talker to try out. D. PARKS AND RECREATION REPORT ‚ A. MITCHENER No report. E. EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS ‚ L. SCADDEN M. Dravis read an email from J. Souza regarding a meeting that the deaf and hard- of-hearing members attended on Friday, September 17, 2004 with Lanny Nakano, Assistant Administrator of the Civil Defense Agency. D. Cowdrey said who is going to notice patrol cars with flashing lights since she lives in Paradise Park in Puna and she rarely sees police officers in her district. She askedJ.Souzaifthetwosuggestionscamefromhearingpeoplethatdont understand the problem. Did he talk to other members from the deaf community whowouldhavebetterideasthanthepatrolcarswithflashinglightsandtoaskthe neighbors or any hearing person about the warnings? J. Souza felt that the flashing lights would be good for people who are far away. He hasavibratingpocketpagerandhewouldfeelitiftherewereanearthquakeora message. A follow up meeting will be held with deaf and hard-of-hearing members andL.Nakano. NEWBUSINESS B. Whitney asked if the sensitivity training for bus drivers is likely to be rescheduled at anytimesoonoristhisgoingtobeaproblemthatthebusdriverswillnevergettobe 2 trained because of a shortage of drivers. This question is for T. Spinola-Campbell to answer. B. Whitney asked for clarification on why T. Spinola-Campbell forwarded a request for deaf helpers to assist people who are deaf at walk-ins to the Office of Elections. J. Souza explained that a quarter of the people on this island dont understand English interpreters or sign language. Therefore, he suggested that the Office of Elections have a deaf person present who can help deaf people in thevoting area. J. Souza said he did not have any problems when he went to vote. However, the people in the Office of Elections had a lot of problems. The election officials did not know how to work the voting machine. He was able to explain to them how to use it because he had taken the training. In addition, he asked to be a deaf helper at the election site and the election official said you have to be able to hear and speak. D. Cowdrey explained that her son has a learning disability and he does vote. They wenttothevotingsiteahalfhourbeforeclosing.Hersonrequestedavotingmachine and he was the first one that day to use that machine. The election official had to read the manual and she didnt really know what was going on. As a result, D. Cowdrey ended up reading the directions for her son instead of the election official. She felt he would have done better with a paper ballot than with the voting machine. B. Whitney said her voting experience was very good. There was some confusion that the people in the polling places didnt understand that the voting machines are suppose to be available to everyone. She heard from many people that the election officials were confused on how to use the voting machines. She had a friend that probably should have used the jelly bean switches. Nobody offered them to the person so they didnt know they were available. B. Whitney said she was hoping that more training will occur before the next election in November. J. Hartman stated that this was the first year he had trouble at the polling place. For wheelchair users, there is a big tent with the international symbol of accessibility. He went into the voting booth and there was nothing in there, except some extra table legs. S. Golden mentioned that she was offered a helper, but she was not offered the voting machine during absentee voting in Kona. However, B. Whitney pointed out that shed heard that the voting machine was not available before the election. S. Smockhoffmann reported that their agency received a HAVA Grant from the federal government. They used the grant to check all the private voting sites to make sure they were accessible and made a list of those that were not. She suggested that people who encounter any problems such as voting, accessibility, etc. during the general election could file a report with her. Her phone number is 325-5123. 3 B. Whitney indicated that problems occur on the day of election, and even though the sites are deemed to be accessible beforehand, things occur that make voting challenging. S. Golden mentioned that in order to be a poll helper you have to work a 14-hour shift from 5 a.m. to 7 p.m. J. Souza reported that the Office of Elections in Hilo have a really bad attitude. They told him that people who are disabled or deaf and want to be helpers have to be able to speak or hear. They did not contact the deaf people to see if they wanted to be voting officials. They trained other people, but they would not allow deaf people to be voting assistants. T. Yamanaka said that he had a good voting experience. The election official knew how tousethevotingmachineeventhoughtheydidnotknowhowtobringoutthevoting booth to his car. STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC ON NON-AGENDA ISSUES J. Hartman recommended that MCPD establish two Committees on People with Disabilities for East Hawaii and West Hawaii. He raised this issue many years ago when he was chairman of MCPD. He felt that having two committees will eliminate all these travel problems that both sides incur. He suggested that MCPD make a recommendation to the Mayor to implement this idea. S. Golden suggested videoconferencing as another option to connect East and West Hawaii. However, the County Clerk, Al Konishi, will not allow anyone to use the equipment because he does not want to risk canceling a meeting if the equipment does not work. B. Whitney responded that she does not like videoconferencing as a person withadisability.Secondly,theroomforvideoconferencingisverycold.However,she would agree to do it if thats what the committee chose. M. Dravis said she has never doneinterpretingduringvideoconferencing.Sheheardfrompeoplewhoaretakingsign language and interpreting classes through that kind of set up that it is absolutely horrendous. L. Tobosa suggested that MCPD discuss these two issues further at the next meeting. J. Matsui suggested that the county hire people with disabilities to assist voters with disabilities at the polling site. ANNOUNCEMENTS S.SmockhoffmannannouncedtherewillbeaSpecialNeedsTrustpresentationon Sunday, October 17, 2004, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. atTheArc of Hilo. The Kona meeting willbeheldonMonday,October18,2004,from5p.m.to7p.m.atSt.Michaels Catholic Church. 4 D. Cowdrey announced that the DD Council is hosting a legislativeforum on Thursday, October 21, 2004, from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at Wailoa Park. Legislators running in the general election have been invited to present their views onvarious issues before the DD Council, i.e., transition, transportation, and dental. The next meeting will be held on Friday, November 5, 2004, at 10:30 a.m. in Hilo. Location to be announced. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 11:25 a.m. RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED, _______________________________ JEAN VIERNES, STAFF SECRETARY 5