The Montana and Health Program: Highlights (April 1, 2010 to November 30, 2011) P.I. Todd Harwell, Bureau Chief, MDPHHS Co-P.I. Tom Seekins, Asst. Director, UM Rural Institute Montana Health Communications/ Dissemination (April 1, 2010 to November 30, 2011)

• MTDH website http://mtdh.ruralinstitute.umt.edu • 226 pages and 4,612 external links. • 26,392 visits (4/1/09 to 11/24/09) Right To Know (April 1, 2010 to November 30, 2011) • 4 regional Right to Know (RTK) steering committees • Campaign activities involved: – over 50 community partnerships – leveraged $20,000 of contributed or in-kind funds • Distributed RTK media kits to all Montana FDA-approved mammography centers • Exposed over 600 women with physical to RTK campaign messages. Great Falls History Museum, Montana

Two Installations 1) Every Woman Matters: Portraits of Montana Women Living With Disabilities 2) Tom Olin’s Photographs from Disability Advocacy Actions Connected to the Passage of the ADA November 1, 2009 to January 5, 2010

This photo was taken March 12, 1990 at the steps of the Nation’s Capitol during the Wheels of Justice Demonstrations. The woman holding the man’s hand in a triumphant gesture is Barbara Knowlen, author of How to Kick Ass and Win (first published in 1990)—a how-to book based on her expert knowledge as a consumer of State Vocational Rehabilitation services and the Social Security PASS Program (Plan for Achieving Self Support). In the same year, Barbara, with her husband, Michael, started a business, Barrier Breakers, to help people with disabilities develop PASS plans. To meet the physical and social demands of this business venture, Barbara was one of the first to secure a stand-up wheelchair through vocational rehabilitation. Also see: http://www.april-rural.org/ During the Wheels for Justice Demonstration at the Capitol Rotunda, Congressman Steny Hoyer of Maryland, pictured here in the suit and tie standing in the middle of the protestors, told the group that their chanting could be felt throughout the Capitol. He encouraged them to continue their chants, affirming that the ADA would pass. Other congressmen came down to the Rotunda to convey supportive messages including House Speaker Foley and Republican leader Michel. Wade Blank, co-founder of ADAPT, was among the protestors who filled the Rotunda that day. Jean Stewart, the author of The Body’s Memory, [was also in the crowd of protestors. Many others who either were or would become leaders in the disability rights movement were there that day in the Rotunda, including directors of centers for independent living from around the country; Eleanor Smith, founder of Concrete Change; Michael Winter, Director of Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Transportation. After passage by both the U.S. House and Senate, the bill went through a Conference Committee and was ultimately presented to the President for signature on July 17, 1990, and signed and enacted on July 26, 1990. On the second day of the Wheels for Justice Demonstrations (March 11-13, 1990), advocates took over the Nation’s Rotunda for six hours, chaining themselves together and chanting protests that reverberated throughout the Capitol. Stephanie Thomas, a national organizer for ADAPT, is photographed here leading a chant, an illegal practice in the Rotunda. Over 200 demonstrators refused to leave, and 104 were arrested.

In 1988, a month before this photo was taken in Los Angeles, a California man using a wheelchair was hit and killed by a car when a lack of curb cuts prohibited him from getting on the sidewalk. The protestors (ADAPT, L.A. Center for Independent Living) are organized near the site of the accident on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame, where curbs were notoriously high. Diane Coleman (holding ‘Hammer Out Justice’ sign), founder of Not Dead Yet, a national organization opposing the legalization of physician-, was among the 40 protestors there in 1988, as was Randy Horton (young man in wheelchair facing the camera).

The protestors literally broke down a curb as part of the protest, and local Congressman Mike Woo promised to have curb cuts installed and the sidewalk resurfaced to protect against slipping within two weeks as a result of the protest. In 1989, Randy Horton and Bill Bolt staged a risky demonstration in Los Angeles, California, by lying under a Greyhound bus to protest the inaccessibility of over the road buses. This demonstration was one of many being staged at Greyhound stations in cities across the nation. On Day 3 of the Wheels of Justice Demonstrations (March 11-13, 1990) that ensured passage of the ADA in its intended form, ADAPT demonstrators staged a sit-in at the office of Representative Bud Shuster (R-PA); 59 protestors were arrested. Representative Shuster had drafted an amendment to exclude rural areas from requirements for new buses. Cassie James-Holdsworth, today the Director of National Advocacy and Policy at Liberty Resources Center for Independent Living in Philadelphia, is photographed here with her back to the door. [Cassie is married to Johnny Crescendo, a popular musician who composed Strong Woman, Tear Down the Walls, Pride, and other disability rights anthems.] Erik von Schmetterling of Philadelphia, on the left, looks out from Shuster’s office. The Montana Public Health Association, Missoula, Montana

Installation: Every Woman Matters: Portraits of Montana Women Living With Disabilities

Montana Disability and Health Conference Table

Right To Know Poster Presentation

September, 2009 Award Winning APHA Disability Section Banner in Montana for Montana Public Health Association Meeting– Ask Danielle or Adrianne about how it could be at your next meeting. An article by Joe Shapiro, currently a reporter for NPR, added:

One of those at Shuster’s office was a 35- year-old former financial analyst who joined ADAPT after being unable to find a job. He had successfully managed multimillion trust funds, but when the market crashed in October of 1987 he, like many in his field, was out of work. Despite his qualifications, the man, who wants his name withheld, spent months without work, briefly becoming homeless. Some potential employers told him to his face they would not hire a paraplegic--an excuse that would be against the law under the ADA bill. http://www.aliciapatterson.org/APF1303/Sh apiro/Shapiro.html

The Women’s History Museum, Billings, Montana

March 2009 Installation: Every Woman Matters: Portraits of Montana Women Living With Disabilities

Living Well with a Disability

• 10 Living Well with a Disability (LWD) workshops – 4 LWD workshops, using the 3rd edition curriculum – 6 LWD workshops using the 4th edition curriculum • 77 individuals in six Montana communities • Trained 34 LWD facilitators from CDC Disability and Health states – 16 during tele training conferences – 18 facilitators during a two day in-person training. Materials and Education Supporting Nutrition with Adults with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities MENU AIDDs (April 1, 2010 to November 30, 2011)

• Two MENU-AIDDs regional training events • Coordinated with state DDP training resources • 18 Montana group home managers and staff – 104 adult group home residents with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

MTDH Accessibility Ambassadors

• MTDH Accessibility Ambassadors evaluated all Montana mammography • Statewide mammography center directory available on the MTDH, Komen Montana and Montana Cancer Control Program websites, • e.g., http://mtdh.ruralinstitute.umt.edu/mammographydirectory

Michael “the Bulldog” O’Neil, State Director, A.W.A.R.E.’s Montana Home Choice Coalition This week the Montana Home Choice Coalition is Celebrating 100 consumer-owned homes in Montana MTDH Accessibility Ambassadors (April 1, 2009 to November 30, 2009)

Educated over 120 housing stakeholders about . Concrete Change

• www.concretechange.org Policy Summit on Health Care Reform and Long Term Services and Supports June, 2009 • 175 Participants • 15 Montana communities • Presenters: – Travis Hoffman (Summit Independent Living Center), – Joe Caldwell (Association of University Centers on Disability) – Tom Earle (ADAPT) – Jason Beloungy (National Council on Independent Living) – Lex Frieden (University of Texas at Houston and Independent Living Research Utilization (ILRU) – Claudia Clifford (Montana AARP)

Eat Right Montana

Physical Activity Breaks with ‘Shape Up Montana’, Big Sky State Games

Disability and Health and the Prevention of Secondary Conditions: The Importance of Case Management Service Provider and Peer Support Partnerships

• MTDH hosted a day and half conference, • 110 case managers and providers (Montana physical disabilities and mental health community waiver systems)