Sid Harris, Methuen Disabilities Coordinator

Methuen Needs Disabilities Coordinator
Sid Harris
07/05/06

As present chairman of the Methuen Commission on Disabilities, as well as an individual with a disability and as an active advocate with over 26 years of experience working with the disabilities commission and with nine different administrators of this city, I’m in disbelief over so much controversy about the newly appointed position of Access Coordinator.

Reading the “Methuen News” section in your June edition of your paper, I was surprised that a councilor was impelled to explain why the council voted against the position. Even though I’ve always respected any person’s position and opinions, however, I believe, for whatever reason the council’s plight to explain its non-support on the position, is surely a misunderstanding of the position’s intent.

The position of Access Coordinator is an advisory position to assure that the decision making policies in this community reflect the lawful needs of those with dis-abilities who live in, or visit our great com-munity, to provide the Disabilities Com-mission with a liaison to the mayor to ad-dress their everyday concerns, thus estab-lishing representation to those with disabilities.

Too often has Methuen created barriers for people with disabilities. We now have found an administrator with Mayor Manzi, that identifies this community’s respon-sibilities to the American With Disabilities Act of 1990 and the Massachusetts Rehabilitation Act of 1976, governed by the Massachusetts Architectural Board.

The position, requested by the Commission on Disabilities and supported by the mayor is surely a commitment by his administration to overcome the many mistakes by previous administrations and to move forward to provide all people with equal access and opportunity.

I agree that the person hired should be well-versed with state and federal accessibility laws and have the ability to work with the administration to identify existing deficiencies within our community.

That person should also be involved with the process to not only ensure that Meth-uen meets those guidelines of accessibility, but to be in the loop in the decision making when creating ac-cessible features to assure it’s proper implementation.

The position doesn’t require expertise at being a civil engineer or even being an architect. Come on, folks, where are you going to get all that for $400 a month? The position is the catalyst that establishes a team of professionals that includes the expertise offered by city departments to work together to assure accessible features in its planning and construction phases.

It seems that some are simply stuck on specific language to plead their case of non-support. In the job description it describes the word “sensitivity.” This is surely applicable since the position will assist departments with identifying and understanding the term “reasonable accommodations,” as described in the ADA when interacting and accommodating people with disabilities.

Sensitivity also applies here as we continue to hear our representatives identify the disabled community as being “handicapped.”

Handicaps are for horse racing and golf. We are a diverse group of people with the same goals in life as those with non-disabilities.

This position simply starts off as a “pilot program” giving the commission the ability to address the many concerns we have to assist Methuen to move forward to establish an accessible community. We don’t need to be patronized for the work we’ve done in the past, especially by those who don’t even now what we’ve done.

During the City Council meeting to which they reconsidered the measure and voted in favor of the position, City Councilor Jack Cronin summed it up. After the vote, city councilors approved a new position of Assistant Community Director that pays over $60,000 annually. Mr Cronin mentions, “how ironic it is that we as council spend over 2 ½ hours of debate on a position that pays $400 a month, does not come out of the city coffer.

However, we have no discussion and pass a new $60,000 position only minutes after.” I have to agree. Not only will this position prove to be beneficial for the community, the city surely got a bargain when it created it.

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The June, 2006 Edition of the Valley Patriot
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