Outcomes FY2007-2008

• We provided training and ongoing telephone support to the DOL navigators based throughout the state. They call us regularly with ADA employment questions and their ability to solve these real problems has definitely improved in the six months we have been working with them.

• We assisted the staff of the Savannah Independent Living Center in designing a presentation for the city police force.  Presentations were to be conducted in small groups over six months.  This training focused on tips for assisting and or arresting people with disabilities.  One policeman from each precinct attended a more in depth class on deaf culture and emergency sign language.  Now each police car carries a one page tips sheet on interacting with people with disabilities.

• In the fall of 2007, a Chinese restaurant owner refused admittance to a young woman with a guide dog citing health codes as the reason for his refusal. The woman and her aunt were outraged and called the police and a local TV station.  DRG’s director was interviewed about service animals and Title 3 requirements. The Chinese restaurant owner called DRG and asked for more information and offered to make amends with the young woman in any way she chose. In May of this year, DRG received a call from a woman in Carrollton who was refused entrance into a Chinese buffet restaurant since she was accompanied by her service dog. She uses a wheelchair and has MS so the dog provides a variety of services. She and her dog were trained extensively at a canine assist program in Georgia. She tried to give the restaurant owner a printed card with details about Title 3 and service animals but she was still asked to leave with her dog. She was told she could come in without her dog.  She went home very angry. We called the owner of the Atlanta Chinese restaurant we had worked with in 2007 and asked him to explain the ADA service dog requirements to the restaurant owner in Carrollton. They spoke at length and the Carrollton owner called and invited the woman to come in with her dog for a free dinner. We have spoken with writers for both Chinese and Korean newspapers about service dogs and the difficulties Asian business owners are having understanding Title 3requirements. These articles will run during July.

• DRG, the State ADA Coordinator’s Office, and The Georgia Assistive Technology Project conducted a day-long workshop for Department of Human Resources department heads.  The goal was to help them begin the process of looking at all their programs and policies in order to determine both their compliance with the Title 2 requirements of the ADA and to increase their sensitivity to the needs of the people with disabilities their agency is serving.

• DRG became a member of a new Georgia Emergency Management Administration Committee whose purpose is to make sure disability is a part of every emergency plan or program throughout all state agencies.  This committee grew out of our project on Emergency Preparedness for All which we conducted in the 13 coastal counties of Georgia.

• DRG developed a two page summary sheet on the basic requirement for medical facilities under Title 3 of the ADA.  We have distributed these pamphlets to over 50 service organizations, 20 hospitals, and over 500 people with disabilities.

• We are working in collaboration with the Council on Developmental Disabilities and the Center for Pan Asian Services to conduct seminars and provide telephone support to Korean families who have members with disabilities.  We have six different basic disability rights pamphlets in Korean that we are distributing.

• We have hired a summer intern who is a college student with a visual impairment who is minoring in ASL.  She is concentrating on outreach to the deaf-blind community.  We have produced five of our basic rights pamphlets in very large print.  We are participating in the first deaf-blind summit in Georgia on June 28.  We are using the party approach we developed for the Komen Project in order to provide rights and resources training to people who are deaf and blind.