away, or pitied, or given charity. We reject media portrayals that show us as evil, or pitiful, or super-cripples. We just want to be seen as what we are- regular people.There are 49 million people with disabilities. They cut across all designations of race, religion, politics, income, sexual orientation. Whatever labels society uses to describe and divide people, some people in each of those groups are disabled. I have read that most people will at some point in their lives experience a temporary or permanent disability and that virtually all families will be touched by the disability of one or more of its members. So what is our government doing to make sure people with disabilities have the same rights as everyone else? Congress reauthorize the Rehabilitation Act, and passed the Assistive Technology Act of 1998. It also passed the Crime Victims with Disabilities Awareness Act. It failed to pass the Jeffords/Kennedy Work Incentives Improvement Act as well as managed care consumer protection legislation. The Health Care Financing Administration(HCFA) issued proposed regulations for covering consumer protections and quality assurance in Medicaid managed care. Two amendments which would have seriously weakened the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act were not included in the FY 1999 omnibus appropriations bill, but a provision restricting attorneys fee under IDEA, in District of Columbia, was included in the bill. Family Support was funded for the first time since passage of the Families of Children with Disabilities Support Act of 1998. Advocacy efforts were successful in preventing legislation from moving forward, which would have limited the protections of the Fair Housing Act. Grassroots efforts also helped to hold off introduction of legislation which would have negatively impacted the SSI program. But Fair Housing and SSI proposals are likely to return in the 106th Congres...
