Transcript of "Rights Here Rights Now Episode 1 ", produced by the disAbility Law Center of Virginig. 

The information provided on this podcast does not, and is not intended to, constitute legal advice. 
Instead, all information, content and materials available are for general informational purposes only.

[REN]: Welcome to Rights Here, Rights Now: The podcast about disability, advocacy, and activism. 
I’m your Advocate Host, Ren Faszewski – 

[VIRGINIA]: and I’m your Advocate Host, Virginia Pharis.

[REN]: Every two weeks, we will dig into relevant issues, current events, and avenues for self-advocacy -

[VIRGINIA]: ‘cause someone has to - 

[REN]: and it might as well be us!

[VIRGINIA]: This podcast is produced by the disAbility Law Center of Virginia, the Commonwealth’s protection advocacy agency for disability rights. 
Find out more at dLCV.org.

[Opening music: energetic acoustic guitar]

[REN]: So this is our very first episode of Rights Here Rights Now!

[VIRGINIA]: The idea behind this podcast (obviously there are other protection advocacy agencies across the country who have similar podcasts) 
we just want to give out some more information on the rights of people with disabilities in Virginia and around the country. 

[REN]: So what we’re hoping to do in this episode is we’re gonna discuss who is the disAbility Law Center exactly?

[VIRGINIA]: and what do we? 

[REN]: What kind of stuff have we done already? 

[VIRGINIA]: And before we jump in though, let’s check out some disability in the news:

[ pre-recorded ] 
“According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, people with disabilities are increasing their ranks in elected office. 
The study, released by Rutgers University earlier this month, found that 10.3% of full-time elected officials at the federal, state, 
and local levels between 2013 and 2017 had a disability. But people with disabilities remain underrepresented overall.
 
About 15% of the U.S. adult population is disabled. Lisa Schur, a professor at Rutgers, and a co-author of the study, said military veterans, Native Americans, 
and young people are particularly prominent among the ranks of elected officials with disabilities. 

She said more people with disabilities have been running for office ever since passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990. 
Check out more at their website at inquirer.com. 
(- and that was ‘Disability in the News’).”

(continued)

[REN]: So; Virginia we’re gonna discuss a little bit about the disAbility Law Center of Virginia. Who are we, anyway? 

[VIRGINIA]: Well … the disAbility Law Center of Virginia is the designated Protection Advocacy Organization for the Commonwealth of Virginia. 
We use funds received by federal grants, we help clients with disability-related problems like abuse, neglect, discrimination, and rights violation. 

[REN]: We are a non-profit, as of 2012 we are independent from state and local government.

[VIRGINIA]: Yeah, but if you have ever heard of an agency called VOPA - that used to be us.

[REN]: That did used to be us! There’s a lot of acronyms that we used to be.

[VIRGINIA]: Yeah, all the DRVD, and I think all the just DRV?

[REN]: So one of the things you said, Virginia, was that dLCV is the designated Protection Advocacy Organization. What is that, anyway?

[VIRGINIA]: So; Protection Advocacy Organizations, also called P&A’s (I’m just gonna call them P&A’s because it’s faster to say), 
work at the state level to protect individuals with disabilities by empowering them and advocating on their behalf, 
and this is across pretty much all areas of disability rights; each P&A sort of sets their own agenda in terms of goals and focus areas, 
and areas that they think are important to change, to advocate for systematic reform in their individual states.

[REN]: P&A’s are federally mandated to protect in the basic human rights of people with disabilities, 
and there are 57 of them in the United States and its territories. Each of them are independently providing services in their state.

[VIRGINIA]: Yeah. So in addition to the actual states there are P&A’s in, for instance, Puerto Rico, Washington D.C., 
I think American Samoa, if you are listening in from a P&A that is not run by a state, 
please write in to us or visit us on social media, we’d love to hear from you.

[REN]: So part of disAbility Law Center’s designation as a P&A is that we have a specific mission. 
I say specific: It’s very large and encompasses quite a few things. We really are trying to advance the independence, choice,
and self-determination of people with disabilities. 

What that means is, y’know, we are trying to make sure that people with disabilities are able to live 
as independently as possible in their communities, to make their own choices about their lives. 
Part of this is protecting their legal human and civil rights while they are in the communities and living their lives. 
 
[VIRGINIA]: In addition, we strive to eliminate abuse, neglect and discrimination of people with disabilities through
zealous and uncompromising legal advocacy and representation.

[REN]: “Zealous” is a great word! 
So, the disAbility Law Center provides lots of different kinds of services. 
Sort of a basic rundown of what we provide includes information, referrals, legal representation, technical assistance, 
short term assistance, systemic advocacy, monitoring, and training. 

(continued)

[VIRGINIA]: Yeah: Obviously, depending on what the issue at hand is, that’s gonna inform sort of how we provide our services. 
So not everybody who calls the disAbility Law Center of Virginia is going to get legal representation, 
but we do provide information referrals to literally anybody who calls in, even if it’s just referring you to the correct agency if that’s not us.

[REN]: Right; part of that is due to our limited resources as a P&A, obviously. There’s a lot of people with disabilities in the state of Virginia. 
We would love to be able to help every single one with more direct assistance, but we will absolutely provide information 
and referral to anyone who calls in, and any level of those services are all completely free of charge! Yay! 

[VIRGINIA]: And sort of what we strive for is giving you tools for self-advocacy. 
We provide you with information, written materials, limited technical assistance that will assist you in speaking for yourself. 

[REN]: As we said, we do all sorts of kinds of services to assist people with disabilities in their communities. 
As far as how we guide those services, or what areas we perform those services, we have a variety of goals and focus areas that make up the dLCV plan of action. 

[VIRGINIA]: Mmm-hmm. For instance, some of what we are doing this year (and pretty much every year but this year especially), 
we are monitoring conditions in adult institutions, like state hospitals, nursing homes, jails, prisons, 
and investigating selected instances of death, serious injury, or abuse or neglect, and seeking reform. 

[REN]: Mmm-hmm. We also do a lot of work with children and youth with disabilities. We focus on helping them receive appropriate educational services, 
and not only those appropriate educational services; we want to make sure they are served in the least restrictive environment possible.

[VIRGINIA]: Yeah, we make sure that government programs remove architectural barriers and provide reasonable accommodations to people with disabilities. 

[REN]: This can include such things as having interpreters when you are in court proceedings, or something just as simple as having 
a ramp to the appropriate government building. 

[VIRGINIA]: We also work with people with disabilities accessing supports and benefits for gainful employment, and make sure that 
people with disabilities are not denied Medicaid services unlawfully; that’s a big one lately.

[REN]: Absolutely. 

[VIRGINIA]: And underlying all these different areas of which we just selected a few, we also provide education, training and outreach to the general public. 

[REN]: So… what have we done, anyway? What do we do? 

[VIRGINIA]: Ohhh… so much… 

[REN]: Just a little sampling… ?

(continued)

[VIRGINIA]: Let’s do a little dive: You can find these on our website - We do publish our performance reports every year, they give us an 
outline as to what areas we’ve done work in, what cases that we’ve been involved in… Here are some highlights from 2018:
• dLCV assisted Mark, a deaf man whose doctor provided an ASL interpreter for him, but when he received his medical bill he was surprised 
that he was charged not only fees for the medical care but also for the costs associated with the interpreter. [Ren - That’s not cool! Virginia - Nope!]
dLCV got involved and educated the doctor’s office about their responsibilities under the American with Disabilities Act and had the interpreter charges removed.

[REN]: Another case that disAbility Law Center was involved in:
• We advocated for Eric: He’s a young man with autism, he was initially in a large pediatric ICF or Intermediate Care Facility. 
We assisted him in moving from that to an integrated apartment setting in accordance with his and is guardian’s preferences. 
Now he receives home and community-based services funded by a Medicaid waver and is able to live more independently in the community.
 
[VIRGINIA]: Community inclusion… man, it’s so important.

[REN]: It is very important. It’s one of our goals to help people live in the communities in the least restricted environment possible. 
We have also done some work at a systemic level involving numbers following the persistent advocacy: 
We got the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services, or DBHDS, to include identified barriers to discharge for individuals 
on the Extraordinary Barriers List, or EBL - You might have heard some stuff in the news about that over the summer where 
disAbility Law Center reported about 250 people?

[VIRGINIA]: Yeah, I think it was 246 or 256...

[REN]: People on the Extraordinary Barriers List meaning that these are people ready for discharge at state facilities who, after two weeks, 
had still not been discharged. 

[VIRGINIA]: And, correct me if I’m wrong, [REN]: - that is both illegal and unconstitutional!

[REN]: It is, and that’s another topic that we would love to include on another podcast episode.

[VIRGINIA]: Yeah, so stay tuned for more on that.

[REN]: And now, for some dLCV highlights:

(continued)

[Intro: percussive music beats]
“Does your local 7-11 Store lack accessible parking spaces, ramps, and paths of travel for people with disabilities? 
Let us know if your local 7-11 Store or a 7-11 Store you’ve been to is in compliance by completing our brief survey available
on our website at dLCV.org under ‘Press Releases’.

[VIRGINIA]: And those are the highlights for dLCV - it’s a short one today because we’re just getting’ off the ground. 
Tune in next time to hear more about what dLCV is doing on behalf of people with disabilities.

[Outro: percussive music beats]

[REN]: This was the very first episode of Rights Here Rights Now, a disAbility Law Center of Virginia podcast. [Virginia - “Yay!”]. 
We discussed what we do, and who we are - 

[VIRGINIA]: Yeah, and what believe, and our hopes and dreams. 

[REN]: What we would like to do is sign off on this first episode. Thank you all for listening to this episode of Rights Here Rights Now. 
Again, brought to you by the disAbility Law Center of Virginia. We’re available on Spotify, Google Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 
Don’t forget to subscribe and leave a review! 

[VIRGINIA]: If you need assistance, or want more information about dLCV and what we do, visit us online at dLCV.org. 

[REN]: Follow us on Twitter @disAbilityLawVA and share us with your friends. 

[VIRGINIA]: Until next time, I’m Virginia Pharis -

[REN]: and I’m Ren Faszewski, and this has been - 
Ren & Virginia - Rights Here Rights Now

[Closing Music: energetic acoustic guitar]


END OF TRANSCRIPT