Program Updates

Education Update

People With Disabilities Foundation (PWDF) is pleased to announce the completion of our new video, Understanding Employees and Job Applicants with Psychiatric Disabilities. This ground breaking video uses real employees in real employment settings. These scenarios focus on the medical and vocational aspects associated with psychiatric disabilities in the workplace. The four vignettes involve people with paranoid schizophrenia, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and bipolar disorder.

R.S.V.P. for the premiere:

June 3, 2008 - 4:00-6:00 p.m. - Room 109

Mission Campus of City College of San Francisco

1125 Valencia Street, San Francisco, CA   94110

The video offers commentary from experts including: Jo Ellen Brainin-Rodriguez, M.D., Medical Director, Bridge to Wellness; Aaron Cohen, Ph.D., Clinical Psychologist, Counseling and Psychological Services, University of California, Berkeley; and H. Joan Ehrlich, Former District Director, U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Accompanying the video is an interactive workbook with questions to reinforce the information presented in the video, a glossary, and references to other resources.

“This video is realistic and reasonable in its approach with both the employee and the organization taking responsibility for jointly working through accommodations. The EEOC Director is not advocating for either side. As an HR executive, I see a balanced approach. . . . The participants in the vignettes seemed not to be actors. Key issues were discussed such as absenteeism, interacting with customers and more.”

       --Martin L. Levine, V.P., SPHR, Hartford, CT

“This video addresses medical and vocational aspects associated with psychiatric disabilities in the workplace. . . . [I]t would be a good tool in serving individuals with psychiatric disabilities."

       --Joseph E. Havranek, Ed.D., CRC,
       Professor of Rehabilitation Counseling
       Bowling Green State University 

This video is available in DVD format for $184.95. Discounts are available for multiple quantity purchase, and for purchase by educational institutions, government agencies, and nonprofit organizations. In addition, this video can be purchased with our 2006 video, Accommodating Employees and Job Applicants with Psychiatric Disabilities in the Workplace, for the discounted price of $252.00 for both.

For more information on the new video, contact train@pwdf.org.

Education Outreach

PWDF continues to provide guest speaking – Steven Bruce, Executive Director, gave a presentation on how to be a self-advocate at Tenderloin Health on March 18, 2008. In addition, PWDF staff Annie Hsia, David Dye, Arcolina Panto, and Oskar Vidaurre staffed information booths at disability resource fairs in San Francisco and Alameda in the month of March.

If you are interested in our guest speaking and/or training programs, please contact us via telephone and/or e-mail (info@pwdf.org).

Advocacy Update

PWDF's class action suit - on behalf of individuals with psychiatric impairments whose Social Security benefits were being unfairly terminated by SSA discriminating against people with mental disabilities in violation of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. PWDF has signed on two additional plaintiffs to add as named parties to the complaint. We are awaiting the Court's decision in our request to certify the class, which we estimate to consist of well over 1 million individuals.

We are pleased to announce the addition of new Staff Attorney, Arcolina Panto. She received her juris doctor from UC Hastings College of the Law and had previously been active with the General Assistance Advocacy Project and the Homeless Services Coalition. Arcolina will be tasked with direct representation of PWDF’s clients in need of Social Security disability benefits.

The new Red Book is in! Please visit your local Field Office to get the 2008 edition – PWDF only has about twenty (20) copies on hand at this moment.

PWDF Profile

Who We Are

People With Disabilities Foundation is an operating
501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in San Francisco, California, which focuses on the rights of the mentally disabled.

Services

Advocacy: PWDF advocates for Social Security claimant's disability benefits in eight Bay Area counties. We also provide services in disability rights, on issues regarding returning to work, and in ADA consultations, including areas of employment, health care, and education, among others. There is representation before all levels of federal court and U.S. Administrative Law Judges. No one is declined due to their inability to pay, and we offer a sliding scale for attorney's fees.

Education/Public Awareness: To help eliminate the stigma against people with mental disabilities in society, PWDF's educational program produces educational materials such as training videos, organizes workshops and public seminars, and provides guest speakers with backgrounds in mental health.

Continuing Education Provider: State Bar of California MCLE, California Board of Behavioral Sciences Continuing Education, and Commission of Rehabilitation Counselor Certification.