ACT, Toledo Fair Housing Center, and Disability Rights Ohio file joint Amicus Brief on Reasonable Accommodation issues
The Ability Center of Greater Toledo, Toledo Fair Housing Center, and Disability Rights Ohio filed a joint Amicus Brief in the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in a case involving a woman whose request for a reasonable accommodation was ignored by the Lorain Metropolitan Housing Authority. The woman has a physical disability that makes it difficult for her to move up and down steps. When her two-story apartment became too difficult for her to live in, she provided a doctor’s note to LMHA asking that she be able to move her Section 8 Voucher to a one-level unit. Rather than grant her permission to move, LMHA did not respond to her request.

At trial, the jury decided against her when the judge failed to inform them that an unreasonable delay in granting a reasonable accommodation can constitute a denial of that accommodation. The Ability Center of Greater Toledo, Toledo Fair Housing Center, and DRO disagree with the Court’s failure to instruct the jury on that issue of law and have filed an Amicus Brief in the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals asking the Sixth Circuit to remand the case.

Medical equipment, supplies and vehicle modifications, March 16, 2020
Comments and results of previous comments made to ensure that the changes made to the laws regarding any modifications medical equipment, supplies, and vehicles are viewed more clearly in ways to effectively and efficiently serve the interests of the consumers.

The Community Reinvestment Act, March 9, 2020
Reasons for opposition of proposed changes to CRA based on how it would severely negatively impact the disabled community, low-income households, and small businesses.

The Disparate Impact Rules of the Fair Housing Act, October 18, 2019
Letter to Secretary Carson stating that the proposed changes to the FHA would unintentionally subject people with disabilities to discrimination and how these changes would limit access to everyday activities.

ACT Provides Input to 2016 Ohio Consolidated Plan, September 30, 2015
Find ways to provide reasonable accommodation focusing on Land Use and Zoning.

Implementing a 1915i Program for Adults with Severe and Persistant Mental Illness in Ohio, June 5, 2015
Urging Medicaid Program for mentally ill people and including them in Home and Community Based Services for all income levels and push for integration and inclusion.

Letter to National Church Residences Regarding Reasonable Accommodations, May 21, 2015
Suggestions made for the update and change of the National Church Residences policy regarding accommodations.

Comments on Ohio Housing Finance Agency Qualified Allocation Plan, April 28, 2015
Addresses increasing need for affordable accessible housing in all demographic areas and need for desegregation and inclusion of those with disabilities.

Comments on the Lucas Metropolitan Housing Authority’s Reasonable Accommodation Procedures, February 25, 2015
Discusses major changes that need to be done on the LMHA’s Reasonable Accommodation Verification Form to allow the process to go smoother and in a more disability-friendly manner that includes them wholesomely.

Comments on Ohio’s Draft Plan to Comply with the New Federal Home and Community Based Services Requirements, January 23, 2015
Talks about ways to ensure clarity of vocabulary used in waivers between institutions and communities and ways to encourage funding for HCBS, instead of mandating institutions the state should leave that decision up to the individual.

Comments on the Toledo Metropolitan Area Council Of Government’s Public Involvement Policy, November 7, 2014
Ways for TMACOG to educate general public of events and how they impact communities, how TMACOG should include disabled people in its target market, and how TMACOG can better serve Toledo and surrounding residents.

Ability Center Testimony - (HB 281)
The Enact Mental Health and Disability Terminology Act – which is a bill that would modify current language in the Ohio Revised Code that is discriminatory, derogatory, outdated, or ableist in reference to disability.

Ability Center Testimony- (HB 74)
Reasons for more funding and expansion of TARTA because of the negative effect it would have on the independence of people with disabilities.

HB 31 Proponent Testimony Ability Center
Proposed changes for ways to make places easier to access for people with disabilities within their community by ways of parking, more enforcement and volunteers, ticketing/fining those who don’t comply.

SB 17 Opponent Testimony Ability Center
Ways the proposed SB 17 would have a severe and negative impact on Ohioans with disabilities who rely on assistance.

Ohio Advocacy Organizations HCBS Sign-on Letter to Ohio Legislator
Ways Ohio legislators can help improve HCBS and help wrongly institutionalized individuals get back to HCBS.

HB 498 Written Testimony, June 11, 2020
Expresses gratitude and ways the HB 498 would have a positive impact on people with disabilities and the aging community through changes to building codes by making them more accessible.

Testimony to the Senate Finance Committee, May 14, 2015
Reasons for support of an increase in waiver funding for people with disabilities to live in HCBS rather than in an institution on the basis of many developmentally disabled people do NOT have cognitive impairment.

ADA Notification Hearing, May 19, 2016
Refers to holding businesses accountable for not complying with ADA laws, treat ADA laws like any other laws, and law enforcement needs speed up the process so people with disabilities are not subject to any discrimination.

ADA Transition Plan, June 30, 2016
Ways the City of Toledo needs to improve their policies to make lives of people with disabilities easier including Grievance Procedure, Requests for Accommodations, communication with people with disabilities, parks, trails, and sports facilities, and training.

Ability Center Olmstead Fact Sheet
Facts and statistics based on the Olmstead Decision and how it helps Ohioans with disabilities, what needs to be changed, and why inclusion is so important to society.

Ability Center Olmstead White Paper
A very thorough look at the history of disabilities in America and the historical figures that helped shape the federal implementation and fulfill the promise of Olmstead.