This video, created by the Syracuse University Libraries, could be a life-saver for those whose personal libraries have gotten soaked in the recent storms.
All right, listen up, folks, because this is really important. The media has been completely silent on this. The only way I found out is through the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) but that’s it. No articles, no news reports, nothing.
There’s a new bill up on the table (H.R. 620) that could keep businesses from not being penalized if they don’t follow the Americans with Disabilities Act.
That’s a mouthful of many contradictions so let me clarify:
The Americans with Disabilities Act was passed in 1990 and is one of the few actual pieces of legislation that disabled Americans have. It’s the big one, the reason there are elevators in buildings, the reason there are ramps, the reason there are curbcuts, the reason there are options for Braille or subtitles, the reason service dogs need to be allowed into a building, the reason accessible parking exists, the reason accessible bathroom stalls exist, the reason you can’t be fired based on your disability, etc. etc. etc.
People, especially businesses, have been getting away with loopholes for years. But there’s always been some sort of enforcement in place, penalizing businesses who don’t adhere to the ADA.
But this bill?
This bill gets rid of that accountability.
This bill sets forward specific requirements (such as a disabled person having to make a formal claim before a building is investigated) that one has to follow before a business is penalized. If nobody is able to meet those requirements, that business gets to get away with not following the ADA without having to change anything or face any legal/monetary consequences.
This bill could destroy everything that the ADA stands for and make the nation even more inaccessible/unaccommodating than it already is.
And I know what you’re thinking. “Oh, that dastardly Trump, he mocked that reporter once, I guess this makes sense.”
And no, no, it’s so much worse than that reporter, it’s always been worse than that, we’ve been trying to tell you for over a year and none of you listened. This isn’t just about him being ignorant or prejudiced.
This is about this:
An article from almost a year ago that most of the world ignored.
Other members of congress have been sued as well. And now, rather than fix the problems, they’re all trying to secretly pass a bill that makes it so that they can no longer be held accountable for not following the ADA, letting hundreds of thousands of businesses get away with it as a result.
Don’t let them get away with it!
Signal boost the hell out of this. Send it to your news sources. Call your representatives. The world’s already inaccessible enough. Don’t let it get worse. Don’t let them lose their accountability.
My heart is breaking inside my chest I am so happy for the people this will be able to help.
In Phase 2 trials completed by MAPS, 61% of the 107 participants no longer qualified for PTSD two months after they underwent three sessions of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy, according to the group. After a year, that number grew to 68%, and among participants who had all suffered from chronic, treatment-resistant PTSD, on average for 17.8 years.
Do y’all even know how tremendous that is? That MASSIVE percentage is just people who no longer qualified for PTSD, that’s not including the ones who were helped. At 17.8 years, these people were well outside the window where PTSD usually spontaneously resolves (as it actually does for many, many people), this isn’t a fluke, this is real, and huge.
I will look into the study more thoroughly at a later time, but this is poised to be absolutely tremendous. We’ve known that MDMA + psychotherapy is a revolutionary treatment for PTSD for a long time, and the day when that is within reach of people with PTSD is now even closer.
Phase IV is still ahead, and it’s possible it ultimately won’t be approved, but the FDA has known about this for decades and known it has had merit for certain mental health issues for decades, and if they are letting it get this far, I’m hopeful.
Full text under a cut so nobody has to go to fucking Forbes to read it:
H.R. 620 would completely change the way in which a business is required to comply with the ADA. Instead of requiring that a business comply proactively, the bill would place the burden on the individual who is being denied access. This bill proposes that after an individual with a disability is denied access she must first notify the business owner, with exacting specificity, that her civil rights were violated, and then wait for six months to see if the business will make “substantial progress” toward access, before going to a court to order compliance.
Business owners can spend years out of compliance and face no penalty even after they receive notice, so long as the owners claim “substantial progress.” By allowing a business an endless amount of time to become compliant with the ADA’s reasonable requirements, H.R. 620 removes any incentive for a business to proactively ensure that people with disabilities have access. Instead, the bill encourages businesses to just wait until an individual’s civil rights are violated before making any changes.
And ya’ll wonder why I scream at people who try and tell me about how expensive and complicated the ADA is to comply with / enforce.
It’s that shit that gives bill like this their strength. Call your representatives. Use Resist Bot. Disabled folk AND OUR ABLE-BODIED ALLIES need to FLOOD the offices of our representatives and let them know that this bill will should not even be debated much less made law.
Do what you can from where you are and demand that those who can do more step up. I know we’re tired and I know it’s hard but don’t give up. Save yourself one last spoon and make sure the edges are good and sharp.
If you need someone to talk to, feel free to reach out. I’ll listen; I’ll empathize. You are not alone in this.
Resist Bot only works for your senators. This is a House bill.
They updated it! You can choose which one you need now. It’s super cool.
I’m just super fucking bitter that once the flint water crisis got it’s 15 minutes of fame people stopped giving a shit. The water is still poisoned, people! Donations have plummeted and people have been forced back into drinking and bathing with the water! The medical effects of this are astounding, cases of legionnaires disease have skyrocketed, people are having seizures, people are having weird rashes break out over their body, people (including me!) are having their blood poisoned, and it’s not just lead! it’s coliform bacteria! it’s THMs! it’s all in the water and it gets into the bloodstream and breaks down blood vessels, causing bruising and petechiae and internal bleeding and no one gives a shit anymore and it’s only gotten worse like how many people are going to have to die until people realize this is still a problem
I would like to add that the people of Flint cannot sell their houses, because selling a house with leaded water is illegal. Additionally, households with children can’t stop paying for the water because living in a house without running water is cause for CPS to take their kids. Flint has been living this way for over two years.
Because the government has abandoned them, they are dependant on help from the outside. Donate here
My science teacher last year was talking about flint and he said “I’m pretty sure they’ve got everything figured out” and it fuckin pissed me off because that means people aren’t getting educated about what happening there so they don’t know what to do or how to help.
🔥 California is on fire. 🔥 Washington is on fire. 🔥 Oregon is on fire. 🔥 Montana is on fire. 🔥 Utah is on fire. 🔥 Colorado is on fire. 🔥 British Columbia is on fire. 🔥 Nova Scotia is on fire. 🔥 Greece is on fire. 🔥 Brazil is on fire. 🔥 Portugal is on fire. 🔥 Algeria is on fire. 🔥 Tunisia is on fire. 🔥 Greenland is on fire. 🔥 The Sakha Republic of Russia is on fire. 🔥 Siberia is on fire. ⛈️ Texas is hit by Cat 4 hurricane and is underwater, as Cat 5 Hurricane Irma continues to build in the Atlantic. ⛈️ India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, experience record monsoons. ⛈️ Sierra Leone and Niger experience massive floods, mudslides, and deaths in the thousands. 🌡️Italy, France, Spain, Switzerland, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Bosnia, Croatia, and Serbia are in the grip of a triple digit heat wave (dubbed Lucifer). 🌡️Southern California continues to swelter under triple digit heat. 🌡️ In usually chilly August, the city of San Francisco shatters all-time record at 106 degrees, while it reaches 115 degrees south of the city.
A Middleground 