From Ron Green
Erin, Yesterday, I told you of a true story I heard from the ADA Coordinator at SMART Transit Authority, about a building in downtown Detroit. The management had to modify a drinking fountain to bring it up to standards with the ADA law. They brought in contractors and decided to go with a system that would allow the fountain to move up and down electronically, which cost over $10,000 to build.
Erin, Yesterday, I told you of a true story I heard from the ADA Coordinator at SMART Transit Authority, about a building in downtown Detroit. The management had to modify a drinking fountain to bring it up to standards with the ADA law. They brought in contractors and decided to go with a system that would allow the fountain to move up and down electronically, which cost over $10,000 to build.
When completed, a person confined to a wheel chair was asked how he or she liked it? The disabled person responded by saying, "A Dixie Cup Dispenser would have been just fine!"
Erin-The point of my story about the $10,000 water fountain is that "THE MANAGEMENT OF THE BUILDING, WOULD HAVE GOTTEN A LOT BETTER results, IF THEY CONSULTED WITH THE DISABLED PEOPLE, BEFORE THEY BUILT IT! +
Jeff G. and I are ready, willing, and dyeing to do this at the SD Pilot Work Group, [and others may as well.] We feel LEFT OUT, by not being asked to do so! I don't know if you realize that, but it's true!
PS. At the very first State SD conference I went to some three or four years back, the keynote speaker was Rick Crowly. He was a consultant on the very first SD Pilot Project in the country, [I believe it was in Florida.] His main point was,
If you want to be successful in your approach to developing a Self Determination initiative, you should have a Work Group comprised of 50% Consumers or as close to that number as possible when designing and implementing it.
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