Empowering Virginians with Disabilities through Centers for Independent Living
August 2021 | Issue 7
Access for Virginians
This issue of IL Impact highlights the work CILs are doing that help to realize the letter and spirit of the Americans and Virginians with Disabilities Acts.

These wide-ranging efforts impact areas including employment, public health, the built environment, and more. The results? Access – to jobs, safety, and the community. 
CIL Success Stories
Advocacy Works

Independence Resource Center (IRC) in Charlottesville has been on the front line assisting people with disabilities to maintain employment through advocacy and problem-solving. 

Over the past three months, IRC worked with consumers and employers to help resolve four separate employment discrimination complaints. Issues included human resources sub-contractors insisting that a person who uses a wheelchair or who is visually impaired could not perform required job tasks.

IRC provided guidance and participated in numerous discussions with the employers. Ultimately, each organization implemented common-sense and reasonable accommodations and all of the employees with disabilities were either hired or promoted. 

Fortunately, none of the cases required legal action once the employers understood the laws and the abilities of people with disabilities. Each of the employers has subsequently invited IRC to conduct ADA sensitivity trainings. IRC’s director Tom Vandever conveyed that it is important to approach “these issues as situations of ‘problems of ignorance instead of malice’ to achieve the most cooperative solutions."
Advocating Access to Vaccines

ENDependence Center of Northern Virginia (ECNV) in Arlington led community efforts to increase and expand access to COVID-19 vaccinations. 

ECNV collaborated with local health districts to help consumer-directed personal care attendants register, schedule and receive COVID vaccinations and established an online portal to gather information from attendants encountering barriers to registration.

They also partnered to set up and run vaccination clinics for people with disabilities and caregivers, at which thousands of vaccinations were given.

In addition to increasing vaccination access for these populations, they advocated with state agencies and officials to improve the statewide registration system and expand eligibility for people with developmental disabilities.
Ensuring Sidewalk Access

disAbility Resource Center’s (dRC) ongoing work with local officials in Fredericksburg to ensure the accessibility of public sidewalks has been critical during the pandemic. The City of Fredericksburg made temporary sidewalk café permits issued during the health crisis contingent on ADA compliance.

In some cases, the Public Works Department installed ramps and temporary walkways so that people with disabilities could access restaurants. At the city’s request, dRC staff toured sidewalk cafes with the zoning administrator during July to review accommodations and survey accessibility. City officials stated that “at no time was ADA compliance a ‘negotiable factor’ in allowing sidewalk cafés.”