Come visit! Accessible things to do in Portland, Oregon

Plus: Feds finally take action on inaccessible medical facilities; Systems failures from California to Colorado; and a Vegas brewery memorializes daughter in a unique way

The August e-newsletter for Travel Oregon is out and you may recognize a familiar byline. This is my latest guide for accessibility in my local area — longtime readers may remember this one with Travel Portland two years ago.

In this latest piece I covered all the major tourist attractions and included TONS of links so people can get hooked up to what they need to succeed. Disability is so individual, after all, and I felt like the best thing I could do is get people quick access to accurate information for planning their trips or outings.

By the way, scroll down about halfway and you’ll see my family’s unique Portland airport carpet picture, complete with a wheelchair footplate. This is a local tradition that got started several years ago when the Portland airport started ripping out its ugly but iconic turquoise carpet and people started taking pictures of their feet standing on the last portions of it. Even though the carpet is different now, the tradition has stuck as a way of announcing your departure on social media. The airport’s $2 billion (yes, with a “b”!) renovation is now nearly complete and — true to form in being one of the best airports in the country — there are several new disability-friendly additions like a dedicated sensory room and adult-sized changing tables.

Check out the full story for plenty more things to do — and ways to travel within — Portland, Oregon!

https://traveloregon.com/things-to-do/trip-ideas/accessible-travel/accessible-travel-in-portland/

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Medical Motherhood’s news round up

Snippets of news and opinion from outlets around the world. Click the links for the full story.

• From Disability Scoop: “Feds To Enforce Accessibility Standards For Medical Equipment”

The U.S. Department of Justice is finalizing a new rule aimed at dramatically increasing the availability of medical examination tables, weight scales and other diagnostic equipment that’s accessible to people with disabilities.

Federal officials said late last week that they would implement a regulation under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act adopting technical standards that must be met by certain hospitals and health care clinics. The announcement coincided with the 34th anniversary of the disability rights law.

“Thirty-four years after passage of the ADA, people with disabilities should not have to forgo needed medical care due to inaccessible medical diagnostic equipment,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “This rule marks a significant milestone in our ongoing efforts to ensure that people with disabilities can get the medical treatment they need.”

The rule was first proposed earlier this year in response to numerous complaints that the Justice Department said it received from people with disabilities who have been denied basic medical services because of a lack of accessible equipment. […]

• From KTNV Las Vegas: “Vegas brewery owners name beer after daughter who died of cerebral palsy; proceeds to help children”

The owners of a Las Vegas brewery hope their late child's medical diagnosis will help others.

The menu at Nevada Brew Works may seem pretty standard, but if you look a little closer, you’ll see a few with some unique names and special meanings.

The number 9 Ariana Rye is named after Jason and Lauren Taylor's first daughter.

[…]“It was incredibly frustrating and scary to realize not only did Ariana have all these special needs but insurance would not provide the equipment that she needed to live a good quality of life,” Lauren Taylor told me.

So, when the couple opened Nevada Brew Works back in 2020, they crafted the concept to start the Ariana Rye Foundation and help other families in similar scenarios.

Every time a customer buys the Ariana Rye or their rotating beer, the money goes towards their nonprofit and helps other kids too.

“It’s been very difficult to figure out how I can get this equipment, who can buy it for me, can I afford it?” Lauren asked. “I love being able to show people what we have, what they can get, and how we can even get it for them.”

Online, Lauren has created a community sharing special moments with her followers and showing them that a diagnosis is only that.

“It is possible for a disabled child to live a great quality of life. Your life isn’t over because that child has a disability — they can do so many things.”

For years, that’s exactly what they did for their daughter.

But on April 28 — their lives changed forever.

Ariana — just 7 years old — passed away while on vacation in Florida with her family.

[…]Ariana's parents have pledged to keep advocating for children with disabilities and their families as a way to keep Ariana’s legacy alive. […]

• From Colorado Public Radio KRCC: “Judge says Colorado Springs area school district violated federal law over special education student’s care”

A judge ruled last week that a Colorado Springs area school district violated federal law by denying care for a special needs child.

The Academy 20 district has violated special education rights three times already this year, according to the Colorado Department of Education.

The family’s attorney Igor Raykin said it’s only the second case since 2018 in which an administrative court judge has ruled in favor of families over a school district.

But he alleges that the problems with meeting the needs of special education students are so pervasive in Academy 20, his firm is likely to file a complaint with the U.S. Office for Civil Rights, which he believes would be a more effective way to deal with an “institutional pattern of discrimination against disabled kids.”

“At this point, given the rampant issues at (district) 20, we would like to see a federal investigation.” 

[…]Earlier this year, the state found that the district violated state and federal education laws by failing to implement several student’s special education plans.  The investigations were based on four complaints filed in 2023, and more complaints are pending.

The state ordered the district to complete a corrective action plan but acknowledged that shortages in special education staff were a primary reason for the violations, resulting in children regressing academically and behaviorally.

Critical staff shortages among special education teachers and classroom aides are a statewide problem.

• From LA Times: “Long, frustrating waits for home care persist despite California expanding program”

Sayfideen has a rare and serious syndrome that leaves him unable to walk. He relies on a ventilator and has to be monitored 24 hours a day, his mother said. Nurses once helped handle his care at home.

But for months now, that work has instead fallen to his mother, who is also juggling her job as a project manager.

“I’m not functioning,” the San Jose resident said. “I’m not doing well at work. I’m not doing well at home.”

Abuebaid said it feels as though she has to “beg the state for services which he absolutely deserves.”

She is among thousands of Californians who have been trying to get Medicaid benefits for services to help medically vulnerable people remain at home through the Home and Community-Based Alternatives waiver.

Demand for the HCBA waiver, which helps people who might otherwise have to live in nursing facilities, has far outstripped the available spots. Last summer, California stopped accepting applications for the program as it hit an enrollment cap. Amid an outcry from disability rights advocates and families, California got federal approval to gradually add 7,200 slots over four years to eventually serve more than 16,000 people at a time.

Yet thousands of Californians remain on the wait list. As of June, more than 4,900 people were waiting, according to the Department of Health Care Services — more than twice as many as last summer.

When people have to wait, either “aging adults or disabled people who need services are going without them, or family caregivers are left to fill in the gaps,” said Nicole Jorwic, chief of advocacy and campaigns for Caring Across Generations. Some could end up in nursing facilities “because there just aren’t alternatives.”

[…]Paying for such care out of pocket “would bankrupt a millionaire,” said Katelyn Ashton, executive director of Loretta’s Little Miracles, which cares for medically fragile children. For many families unable to access the waiver, “their only option is to quit their job and provide that care themselves at home.” […]

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