Page 7 Portland Observer February 16, 1989
A New Handicap: Black and Disable in
America
The scant amount of available in
formation on disabled Blacks pres
ents a shocking portrait. It is a shad
owy picture of individuals least able to
help themselves who have become
almost invisible to the federal govern
ment. The scandal is even more
appalling considering that this popu
lation hardly registers in the reams of
data on the handicapped gathered by
the Reagan Administration.
A letter sent to me by a Black
woman in Alabama is an example of
the problems Black disabled people
face. She wrote that she does not
have enough money to effectively
attend to the needs of her 15-year-old
underweight son, who has a serious
nutritionally deficiency. Her son’s
doctor said he needs a special kind of
milk; but it costs $55 to $60, which is
more than her food stamp allotment
will cover. She cannot afford health
insurance for her son, and she is un
able to work because she suffers
from a debilitating lung disease, and
she has no one else to take care of
her son.
I have directed my Select Educa
tion Subcommittee staff to investi
gate this sad and troubling case. It
may be that this woman could be
helped through the provision of better
information regarding program availa
bility. However, cases like hers may
be indicative of a broader problem
which needs to be addressed legisla
tively. Dr. Sylvia Walker, director of
Howard University’s Center for Handi
capped Children and Youth in Wash
ington, D C., has stated that Black
teenaged mothers and poor Black
women generally who have no knowl
edge of, or access to, prenatal health
care, often give birth to underweight
babies, who later develop a physical
or mental handicap, such as mental
retardation, or cerebral palsy caused
by insufficient oxygen.
The problem of the lack of prenatal
care for Black women is just one
aspect of the crisis of the Black dis
abled, a crisis which must be ad
dressed through a national policy. In
order to set the parameters for such
a policy, we first need up-to-date
statistics on the numbers of disabled
Blacks in America. The current avail
able data is derived from two-year-
old census information, which indi
cates that there are 2,175,000 Blacks
in the U.S. between the ages of 16
and 64 who are disabled. They repre
sent 18% of all working-age persons
with disabilities, although Blacks are
only 11.5% of the general population.
We still don’t have an exact count of
the number of disabled Black children
in this country.
Dr. Frank Bowe, an expert on the
Black disabled who was concerned
about the lack of data about this group,
compiled one of the few recent re
ports on its problems. His study re
veals that of all working-age Black
people, 14.1% have one or more
disabilities as compared to 8.4% of
working age whites with disabilities.
More than half of working-age Black
disabled are women, just as there are
more Black women in the labor force
overall than Black men.
Dr. Bowe’s statistical compilation
allows us to comprehend the profile
DISPENSER
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BOX OF
130 TISSUES
Select Education will explore several
legislative initiatives. Meanwhile .Black
disabled people can play a critical
role in helping shape federal policy
the area of data gathering regarding
Blacks with disabilities. It is my inten
tion to conduct a series of oversight
hearings to ensure that these duties
are met.
Time-honoured Black institutions
such as the Black church must be
come strong advocates for disabled
Blacks, and provide support programs
which would assist them in their
struggle to achieve success and rec
ognition in the societal mainstream.
Federal programs which only endorse
the right of disabled people to have
equal access to those things that the
non-disabled majority enjoy are sim
ply not good enough. And an Admini
stration that merely gives lip-service
rather than real service to Black dis
abled people, just as it gives superfi
cial attention to minority rights gener
ally, is abdicating its responsibility to
lead the public away from prejudiced
attitudes towards those among us
who are disabled.
I am in strong agreement with New
York Governor Mario Cuomo, who
has said, “ Persistent attitudinal bi
ases about the capabilities of per
sons who are disabled or otherwise
disadvantaged serve as barriers to
productivity and independence. Those
often unconscious biases serve as
self-fulfilling prophecies and under
mine our efforts to permit the majority
of persons with disabilities to become
productive, independent, contribut
ing members of society.”
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I________________________________________
PO R TLAN D OBSERVER
“ The Eyes and Ears o f the C o m m u n ity”
288-0033
AUTOMOTIVE BUYS
Senator McCoy
Introduces Legislation
To Change Medicaid
System
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SALEM-State Senator Bill McCoy
introduced legislation today urging
Congress to change the Medicaid
system so that the developmentally
disabled are no longer discriminated
against.
McCoy is introducing his bill the
same day U.S. Senator John Chafee,
R-Rhode Island, introduces federal
legislation calling for a broader defini
tion of Title XIX (Medicaid) fiscal
responsibility in the treatment of
developmentally disabled Americans.
Oregon U.S. Senator Mark Hat
field and 35 other Senators co-spon
sored the Chafee bill.
McCoy said Medicaid only recog
nizes treatment provided to institu
tionalized developmentally disabled
patients, not those treated in smaller
community programs.
“ Life in the community is much
better for our disabled than life in an
institution. What’s more, it costs a lot
more to run an institution than a
community based program. We should
provide humane plus cost effective
services at the state and local level,”
McCoy said.
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Social Security
Increase Reduces
Some Food Stamp
Benefits
SALEM -A January cost-of-living
increase for Social Security will reduce
the February food stamp benefits of
some Oregonians. The Food Stamp
Program requires that income be
considered in establishing the amount
of food stamps a person may receive.
The reductions affect monthly food
stamp benefits starting in February.
Food stamps are federally funded
by the U.S. Department of Agricul
ture, and administered by the Oregon
Adult and Family Services Division.
Each month the Food Stamp Pro
gram helps approximately 90,000
Oregon households with the purchase
of food items. These 90,000 house
holds encompass 205,000 individu
als. The four percent cost-o-living
increase from Social Security will affed
fewer than 27,000 households. This
decrease in food stamp benefits wil
affect households receiving Socia
Security benefits, Supplemental
Security Income, Railroad benefits,
of a typical working-age Black adult
as 42-years-old, unmarried, unem
ployed, having only a tenth grade
education, with an income in 1980 of
only $3,000 a year
According to the report, there are
more disabled Blacks than whites
because Blacks are more likely than
whites to perform physically demand
ing work that may lead to on-the-job
injury and disability. This in turn is due
to the fact that masses of Blacks are
locked out of the necessary educa
tion and technical training for less
physically strenous white collar and
service sector jobs.
Specifically, in the areas of educa
tion and job training there needs to be
a more concerted effort to reach the
Black disabled in America. In order to
address these manifold problems, it
is necessary to remind the federal
government of its responsibilities in
relative to their needs by informing
Congress about the daily barriers they
face in attempting to secure employ
ment, training, rehabilitation and
education. They should be aware of a
measure currently pending before
Congress, the Americans with Dis
abilities Act, which, if passed, would
extend civil rights protections to dis
abled Americans by prohibiting dis
crimination of the basis of disability.
Its enforcement procedures include
administrative remedies, a private right
of action in Federal court, monetary
damages, injunctive relief, attorney’s
fees, and cutoffs of Federal funds. I
am a senior sponsor of the bill in the
U.S. House of Representatives.
In 1989, the Subcommittee on
— Ì
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