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Add me to PWDF's newsletter list Archived Newsletters Press Releases and Announcements Contact: PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES FOUNDATION (PWDF) ANNOUNCES PREMIERE SHOWING OF NEW VIDEO SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. – April 15, 2008– People With Disabilities Foundation, a San Francisco-based, non-profit organization, will host a premiere of its new 30 minute training video: Understanding Employees and Job Applicants with Psychiatric Disabilities. The premiere is open to the public. It will be held from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday, June 3, 2008 in Room 109 at the Mission Campus of City College of San Francisco, 1125 Valencia Street, San Francisco. Please RSVP by emailing education@pwdf.org. Psychiatric disability is a hidden issue that affects every workplace today. In this public awareness video, PWDF features real people and their employers in real situations that reflect how employers can successfully employ people with psychological disorders. The video focuses on the nature of mental disabilities including Bipolar, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Schizophrenia and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). This video is designed for the general public, employers, employees and agencies or individuals who need to know and understand the nature of these disorders. About PWDF : People With Disabilities Foundation was incorporated in March 2000 and began operations in June 2000. It is governed by a Board of Directors and administered by Executive Director, Steven Bruce, Esq. The Foundation also represents disabled individuals in cases before and against the Social Security Administration and other cases under the ADA and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. In addition, it has produced seminars, training, videotapes and/or audio CDs on housing issues for people with psychiatric or developmental disabilities, as well as on Social Security Disability work incentive programs. This training video will provide basic information for both employers and employees, illustrated in vignettes showing work situations of actual employees with different mental disorders and different work issues. # # #
Contact: FEDERAL JUDGE ALLOWS CLASS ACTION COMPLAINT AGAINST THE SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINSITRATION (SSA) FOR DISCRIMINATION BASED ON MENTAL/INVISIBLE DISABILITIES TO PROCEED SAN FRANCISCO, CA – January 4, 2008 – People With Disabilities Foundation (PWDF) filed a class action lawsuit against the Social Security Administration (SSA) for systemic discrimination against mentally disabled Social Security beneficiaries in the United States District Court of the Northern District of California. In our complaint, we allege that SSA applies their internal procedures to allow terminations of benefits checks and Medicare due to those individuals without allowing them the same protections afforded to people with physical disabilities. This often results in stopping benefits without hearings before judges, including those who cannot afford the ordinary necessities of life: food, shelter, medication, and clothing. Amended Class Action Complaint against the Social Security Administration. PWDF is a San Francisco-based, nonprofit organization, dedicated to providing education and advocacy for people with psychiatric and physical disabilities. Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 specifically provides that “[n]o otherwise qualified individual with a disability in the United States... shall, solely by reason of his or her disability, be excluded from the participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance or activity conducted by any Executive agency[.]” About PWDF: People With Disabilities Foundation was incorporated in March 2000 and began operations in June 2000. It is governed by a Board of Directors and administered by an Executive Director. This operating Foundation also represents disabled individuals in hearings and appeals to the Social Security Administration, ADA, and other cases. In addition, it has produced seminars, training, videotapes and/or audio CDs on housing issues for people with psychiatric or developmental disabilities, as well as on Social Security Disability work incentive programs. # # # Contact: SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. – September 18, 2006– People With Disabilities Foundation, a San Francisco-based, non-profit organization, dedicated to providing education and advocacy for people with psychiatric and physical disabilities, is asking for people who have been diagnosed with any major mental disorder, including Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Bipolar, Anxiety, Major Depressive Disorder, or Schizophrenia, etc., to share their work stories with us for an upcoming 25-minute training video. If you have had job-related issues including successful resolutions pertaining to confidentiality, reasonable accommodation, absenteeism, disciplinary action, or other important issues, and if you are interested in being a part of this PWDF video training project, please contact Yuka Ishikawa, Program Manager for Education and Public Awareness, at (415) 931-3070 or yishikawa@pwdf.org. (For details see below). This training video will provide basic information for both employers and employees, illustrated in vignettes showing work situations of actual employees with different mental disorders and different work issues. For a sample preview, go to: http://www.pwdf.org/media/video_accommodating.html. It will be publicly distributed, and your consent will be necessary. PWDF expectations for actual employees or job applicants for the video include:
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 prohibits discrimination in employment against people with physical or mental disabilities. Steven Bruce, Executive Director of People With Disabilities Foundation, said: “Our goal is to provide guidance to employers nationwide on ways to accommodate people with psychiatric disabilities. With input from both the legal and mental health communities, the video incorporates complex laws and psychological diagnoses in an easy-to-understand video with scenarios used to demonstrate common disorders accommodated in the workplace.” About PWDF : People With Disabilities Foundation was incorporated in March 2000 and began operations in June 2000. It is governed by a Board of Directors and administered by Executive Director, Steven Bruce, Esq. The Foundation also represents disabled individuals in appeals to the Social Security Administration and other cases. In addition, it has produced seminars, training, videotapes and/or audio CDs on housing issues for people with psychiatric or developmental disabilities, as well as on Social Security Disability work incentive programs. # # # Contact: Yuka Ishikawa, Program Manager People With Disabilities Foundation $60,000 GRANT AWARDED TO PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES FOUNDATION (PWDF) FOR EXPANDING SERVICES TO ABUSED DISABLED CHILDREN SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. – September 10, 2006– People With Disabilities Foundation, a San Francisco-based, non-profit organization, dedicated to providing education and advocacy for people with psychiatric and physical disabilities, announces that it has been awarded a $60,000 grant by the Martin Bruce Charitable Remainder Trust. PWDF will use this grant to develop preventative education programs to protect abused and disabled children under the age of 18. “Our current caseload includes disabled children who have been victimized by physical, sexual, and emotional abuse. Because studies indicate that many abused children were disabled before the onset of such abuse, we will focus our education efforts on children at this crucial juncture,” said Yuka Ishikawa, PWDF’s Program Manager for Education and Public Awareness. Steven Bruce, Executive Director of PWDF, also stated “Education will form the cornerstone of this expansion of our services to disabled and abused children. We are also exploring methods of providing more legal support to this vulnerable population.” # # # Contact: Yuka Ishikawa, Program Manager People With Disabilities Foundation PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES FOUNDATION (PWDF) SIGNS CONTRACT WITH PRODUCTION COMPANY FOR A NEW TRAINING VIDEO —Explains the nature of common psychiatric disabilities in both technical and practical terms, suggests appropriate accommodations, and clarifies ADA-related issues — SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. – September 10, 2006 People With Disabilities Foundation, a San Francisco-based, non-profit organization, providing education and advocacy for people with psychiatric and physical disabilities, undertakes a new production of a 25-minute training video whose working title is “Understanding Employees And Job Applicants With Psychiatric Disabilities In The Workplace." --------------------------------- According to the 2003 report of the U.S. President’s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health, “23% of Northern American adults suffer from a clinically diagnosable mental illness in a given year, but less than half of them will suffer symptoms severe enough to disrupt their daily functioning.” ------------------------ The video will address and attempt to eliminate the barriers that employees and employers encounter when a psychiatric disability is an issue in the workplace, thereby ensuring equal opportunities to people who are often stigmatized in our society. The training video provides basic information for not only Human Resources managers, vocational rehabilitation agencies and community-based organizations, but also consumers to promote better understanding of the issues. ------------------------ PWDF files two Petitions in the United States Supreme Court alleging
that the Social Security Administration violated the Due Process
Clause of the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution.. |
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