for people with disabilities by reducing barriers, and changing attitude and [wra*-rs/] or whereas the city and county of san francisco has made significant progress in furthering accessibility, and inclusion in all aspects of city life, including transportation, public accommodation, housing, voting employment, and recreation and whereas, the city and county of san francisco upholds the principles of equal opportunity and full participation of persons with disabilities, and whereas many organizations in the counter city and county of san francisco including the mayor's disability council, have worked with people with disabilities in the community to bring forth the promise of hope, and freedom, that is envisioned by the passing of the ada. and whereas, the mayor's disability council celebrates and recognizes the progress

that has been made by reaffirming the principles of equality and inclusion, and recommitting our efforts to reach full ada compliance for people with disabilities in the city and county of san francisco and therefore, let it be proclaimed that july 2015 is national americans with disabilities month in recognition of the 25th anniversary of the americans with disabilities act. >> do we have any public comment on these proclamations? is there someone on the bridge line? no? all right then, we'll move on to our break. we'll reconvene at 2:10.

>> is the captioning on? all right, welcome back everybody. the next agenda item is what the ada means to me? each council member will be

sharing their personal stories with respect to the ada and how it has affected their lives. we're going to begin with council member harriet wong. >> good afternoon. personal story by council member harriet chu wong. my advocacy stems from how disability came to fall upon my lap. my daughter, clare was born with an enlarged head that contained excess fluid this. excess fluid caused her brain to not grow to its full potential, thereby causing a developmental delay. prior to starting her education she was home with my retired mother, while i was at work at age 3.5 she was given a

series of tests by the san francisco unified school district. she was then placed in special education at lafayette elementary school. from photos that i have, it shows that she was later placed in the regular first grade classroom. later on, she was subsequently removed from that classroom, because she would not sit still, and would constantly untie her shoelaces and take her shoes on and off. at the time, she had a teacher, with a very professional demeanor, who wore a suit and expected her students to sit orderly in a row while she read to them. what needs to be changed in in this picture? placement is important. is this classroom suitable for clare? could she have excelled further if there was an additional paraprofessional in the

classroom and she would remain in that regular classroom? the removal may have caused her to mimic others' behavioral issues. for example a behavioral issue is like a student who constantly bangs his head, or a student that is on a school bus, who would constantly say the words "f-u." the ada was passed to protect persons with disabilitis from discrimination in many aspects of life. an important one being education. when the act passed in 1990, clare was in the 5th grade. her teachers were excellent teachers. one was a handson type of teacher who would teach the children to wet a towel and

squeeze all of the water out it, having the children utilizing the use of their fingers and hands and would exercise running in place early in the morning. he would have the students work on art projects, never worrying about them dirtying their hands as they washed up afterwards. he wanted to keep clare for another year and work with her. however, the grades go by how old you are. so unfortunately she had to move on to middle school. what is wrong with this picture? change is adamant. if it's working with a particular set of teachers and the parent approves the child should be able to be given the have year of instruction and dedication by the teacher.

i was very dissatisfied with clare's middle school, which i won't name today. the special education classrooms were situated away from other regular students. no one even knows what went on in those classrooms. she had one very kind teacher in middle school. however, she would sit at a desk, and corner clare in, where clare sat on a folding chair. there was another summer school teacher who was actually an english teacher, who was unfamiliar with the kids with special needs. she had the students sit at their desks, and just gave them a sheet of paper and a pencil to doodle. there was also this one lady, which short blond hair and dressed nicely, who may have held an administrator's position. one time clare and i ran into

the school in the morning, as clare's bus road did not stop long enough to pick her up. clare must have been tired and sat down in the hall and wouldn't get up. the lady just slapped her on the head. i was young, appalled, and speechless. i opined that clare was totally lost in middle school and deprived of three years' of education, which taxpayers pay for. clare attended lincoln, washington, wallenberg and lowell high schools. i was content with all three of these. perhaps times are changing and reassessments took place every year to see what goals and needs should be met? as she got older, she qualified to have one adult watch her, or 1:1. while at lincoln, she did a lot of physical exercises and stuffed envelopes. at washington, she had a very

patient teacher, who would cut strips of paper and help the students work on spelling and speech. i recall at washington high is when mainstreaming first began. clare was never mainstreamed; which means that they put some of the special ed students to attend regular classes like math class. at wallenberg, her parra did a lot of card playing with different objects on cards and different activities. some changes that need to be made: no. 1, school buses might want to wait longer to pick up in the early mornings, when they are waiting outside. we had 32 stairs and sometimes the children with special needs

have last-minute incontinence issues. no. 2, if there is currently no reassessment in the lower grades, grades 1-8, then there is a need to be reassessed yearly to track the progress and assign them to the proper classrooms. no. 3, higher salaris to attract well-qualified special education teachers and paraprofessionals. no. 4, inclusion. a right for the students to march or attend graduation. clare taught me that a person with special needs has feelings. clare and her classmates were able to attend graduation in middle school, but not in high school. so you see they do have feelings. no. 5, treat these children the way you wish to be treated with

dignity and worthiness. clare's currently in her mid-30s and attends community-based day program for adults. one adult is assigned to watch three students. they volunteer at a thrift store, help dust and clean redwood city hall bowling and shopping and may attend special events. what moved me to become an advocate for the disabled was in 1984 i met the funders of the association for chinese families of the disabled. namely joyce chang and nancy yee. i attended one of their workshops for the disabled and left with a feeling one cannot describe. there was definitely a need to serve and assist those with special needs. there were parents that did not speak english and could really use some assistance as to

resources for their young children. perhaps it was an aide. my uncle, dr. chiu was also one of the directors of the chinese company in 1942, and their mission was to help new immigrants. to my knowledge, chinese fixed company is now known as chinese consolidated benevolent association. that concludes my story. >> thank you very much, council member harriet wong. we'll move on to council member roland wong. >> good afternoon. i will be sharing my ada story. in commemoration of the founding of the americans with disabilities act, aka, ada, 25

years ago and how it helped people with disabilities to have equal access to public transportation in san francisco. somehow as i think back ada was non-existent while growing up in the '60s and '70s, or whether it was a civil rights or not? transportation is an essential part of every day life. today i would like to be able to share my experiences around transit. as most kids with disabilities, parents are protective of their young. at 17, i, like many young adults was getting a driver's license to own and drive a as part of growing up to be independent. with mom, who was protective, and concerned with safety, she

really did not want me to drive. saying that it's too dangerous. with determination and despite going against my mom's wishes, i used my savings from my part-time job, paying for driver's permit and took private driving lessons with car modifications using hand controls and plenty of seat and back cushions. most people in mom's generation do not express acceptance of their son or daughter's accomplishment. how to how to after i got my driver's license mom still did

not permit me to drive but all of that has changed. after graduating from city college of san francisco, with an associate of science in medical records technology and had acquired a full-time job at laguna honda hospital. it was a necessity that i needed a car to enable to work where i cannot climb 100 steps on the hill, where laguna honda sits on a daily basis. funny again, i never recalled mom saying letting me drive, but in her own ways she accepted and acknowledged that driving was essential. i had the