Brazos Valley Center for Independent Living

Connecting people to the power of independence

Advocacy

Local and Online Tax Prep Help for People with Disabilities

It’s Tax Time again, and if you don’t see well or have any of a number of other access needs, those piles of forms can be downright daunting! But wait! There’s lots of help out there!

The Governor’s Committee on People with Disabilities once again announces “Tax Time with Lex the Service Dog,” a captioned video guiding people who have disabilities to accessible online resources for tax prep. And he even does it in sign language. Just click the red and white arrow to meet Lex:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=B6cMaSwCjU8

For those not comfortable doing taxes on the Internet, we also have great local resources to help with tax prep. Both the Bryan and College Station public libraries offer FREE tax prep assistance to anyone in the community, and they tell us they are more than willing to take the extra steps to assist their neighbors who have disabilities, such as explaining complex tax topics and reading small print forms out loud.

Here are the times and locations:

Clara B. Mounce Library in Bryan:

201 East 26th Street
Bryan, Texas 77803
(979) 209-5600

Hours are: MWF 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m., T 1:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m., R 2:00 – 5:00 p.m., Saturdays 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.

Larry J. Ringer Library in College Station:

1818 Harvey Mitchell Parkway
College Station, Texas  77845
(979) 764-3416

Hours: MWF 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m., Saturdays 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.

Both locations are fully wheelchair accessible. Use elevator at Bryan location to access tax help on second floor.

 

 

Teal Sherer: Actor, Producer, Advocate

teal

Teal Sherer is a successful actor and producer in Hollywood with several acclaimed roles on her resume and her own series on YouTube. She also uses a wheelchair. Teal was a featured speaker at the recent Texas Statewide Independent Living Conference, “Take a Seat to Make a Stand,” held March 3-5, 2013 in Austin, Texas. The Texas State Independent Living Council (SILC) hosts this conference each year.

mgl

Teal’s online series, My Gimpy Life (http://MyGimpyLife.com) takes a fun, edgy, and candid look at life as an actor with a disability. Not a documentary, Teal’s production advocates by example, portraying independent living while tackling in situational scenarios issues of accessibility, inclusion, and equal treatment of people with disabilities.

Take a look at Episode 1, “Accessible,” below. Be sure to notice all the independent living that goes on as a foundation to the advocacy about accessibility.

My Gimpy Life, Episode 1, “Accessible”

Go VOTE

Please remember to Register, Educate, and Vote! Your vote matters, and the disability vote counts!

Image result for REVUP images

Early Voting has begun! Please click on your County below to find Early Voting locations in your area:

Brazos County, Burleson County, Grimes County, Madison County, Robertson County, Walker County, Washington County

 

Below are a few links that might be helpful to you in making your voting decisions:

For information about the candidates for Governor, Lt. Governor, Attorney General, and US Senator, click here.

Would you like to watch the live replay of the 2018 Texas Disability Issues Forum? Click here to watch.

If you are in Brazos County, view BrazosVotes.Org for sample ballots, early voting dates and locations, and more.

KAMU is hosting a “Meet the Candidate Show” Live 8:00-10:00PM, Tuesday, October 16th on KAMU-TV & KAMU-FM 90.9.
A re-run will air on KAMU-TV: Monday, October 22nd at 9:00 PM
It will also be available to stream on-demand at kamu.tamu.edu within two days of the original airdate until the election has passed.

Below we have information about the Candidates for Congress categorized by Counties. You can click on the names to read a survey from those candidates that have returned them to us, and the word campaign to view their individual websites.

US House Candidates by County/District

Brazos, Burleson, and Robertson County (District 17)

Rick Kennedy (D) – Campaign 

Peter Churchman (L) – Campaign

Bill Flores (R) Incumbent – Campaign 

Grimes, Madison, and Walker County (District 8)

Steven David (D) – Campaign

Chris Duncan (L) – Campaign

Kevin Brady (R) Incumbent – Campaign

Washington County (District 10)

Mike Siegel (D) – Campaign

Mike Ryan (L) – Campaign

Michael T. McCaul (R) Incumbent – Campaign

Texas House Candidates by County/District

Brazos County (District 14)

Josh Wilkinson (D) – Campaign

John Raney (R) Incumbent – Campaign

Burleson, Grimes, and Washington County (District 13)

Cecil Ray Webster, Sr. (D) – Campaign

Ben Leman (R) Incumbent – Campaign

Madison County (District 57)

Jason Rogers (D) – Campaign

Trent Ashby (R) Incumbent – Campaign

Robertson County (District 12)

Marianne Arnold (D) – Campaign

Kyle Kacal (R) Incumbent – Campaign

Walker County (District 18)

Fred Lemond (D) – Campaign

Ernest Bailes (R) Incumbent – Campaign

Texas Senate Candidates by County/District

Brazos, Walker, Grimes, Madison, Robertson County (District 5)

Meg Walsh (D) – Campaign

Amy Lyons (L) – Campaign

Charles Schwertner (R) Incumbent – Campaign

Washington and Burleson County candidates are currently not up for re-election

 

National Forum on Disability Issues 2012

The National Forum on Disability Issues 2012 featured Edward M. “Ted” Kennedy Jr., and Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) speaking on behalf of their respective parties to present the campaigns’ positions on matters relating to Americans with disabilities. Ohio Senate Republican nominee Treasurer Josh Mandel and Ohio Senator Sen. Brown participated. The speakers were given the opportunity to provide their positions on a wide variety of disability issues directly to the disability community. Frank Sesno, director of the School of Media and Public Affairs at the George Washington University and former CNN White House correspondent, anchor and Washington bureau chief, served as Forum moderator. This is the only national event to focus specifically on disability issues.

Watch the full event via You Tube:

Hays County & Parking Mobility

Hays County Commissioners Court Takes First Step to Enable Volunteers to Report Handicap Parking Space Violators

Hays County Courthouse, San Marcos, TX – The Hays County Commissioners Court Tuesday signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Austin nonprofit Access Empowerment to deter unlawful use of parking spaces reserved for persons with disabilities.

“Unfortunately, too many people don’t understand how dangerous it is for a person with disabilities to navigate through a parking lot and that medically compromised individuals may suffer life-threatening reactions to heat and cold within just a few minutes,” said County Judge Bert Cobb, M.D. “Accessible parking spaces are designated for these persons for a reason and I feel certain that if they had a choice, people who hold permits for those spaces would prefer not to have to use them.”

According to Access Empowerment, some 18 percent of the population with accessible parking permits share less than 4 percent of spaces set aside for them, and in inclement weather and peak shopping times up to 75 percent of those spaces are taken by persons parking illegally. On any given day, up to 25 percent of those spaces are used by those not entitled.

Under the MOU, Access Empowerment would train community volunteers to use their personal smart phones to share information about vehicles parked illegally in spaces reserved for persons with disabilities. Once trained, the volunteers who see such violations would send photos of the illegally parked vehicles via encryption software to Access Empowerment for verification. If it is verified that the owner of the vehicle was not permitted to park in the space, he or she would pay a fine of up to $500 or request a trial. First-time offenders could opt to attend an education course similar to defensive driving.

“Our main goal is to educate the public about the safety issues persons with disabilities face when they are denied the parking spaces reserved for them, which impacts their safety and their access to goods and services,” said Mack Marsh, Project Director for Access Empowerment. “Our hope is that eventually there will not be a need for this type of program.”

There will be no upfront cost to the County for the program, which would be funded through a percentage of the fines collected from those who illegally park in handicap spaces. According to Access Empowerment, Hays County is expected to be the first county to implement the program, which has been in development for several years. The Texas Transportation Code authorizes the use of volunteers to report illegal parking in handicap spaces.

“We’ve had interest in the program nationwide and internationally,” Marsh said. “We’re pleased that a Texas county will be the first to implement our program, which will assist our wounded veterans, elderly, medically frail and persons with disabilities and give them the consideration they deserve.”

A launch date for the program is several months away while Hays County works with Access Empowerment to develop program policies.

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