>>> coming up -- churches and the disabled. congregations where even the most severely disabled are welcomed and put to work. >>> a hands-on reformer in rural thailand -- economic and community development from the bottom up. >>> plus, an art exhibit on the buddha's legendary 500 disciples, known as "the worthy ones." >>> welcome. i'm bob abernethy. it's good to have you with us. religious groups had strong reactions this week after president obama publicly announced his support for same-sex marriage. speaking to abc news, the president said although he had in the past opposed the practice because of religious concerns, his new position is rooted in his christian faith. he cited the golden rule, saying it was important to quote "treat others the way you would want to be treated." many moderate and liberal religious groups praised the president's decision as a matter of justice. but others, including the u.s. catholic bishops and evangelical groups said this would undermine what many call the sacrament of marriage. experts are d

equalizing rules for disabled widows. this is actually about home makers who become disabled. again, a woman or a man who has no earnings record of their own currently is entitled to disability benefits if you did some care giving of a minor child for a deceased earner, or if you turn age 50 within seven years of when your deceased earner died. these are restrictions that keep certain home makers from qualifying even though they became disabled. so we would suggest removing all of the restrictions. no having to become disabled within seven years of some qualifying event, no having to reach age 50, and also no reduction in benefits for taking benefits earlier. when you become disabled, you don't have a reduction based on the age at which you became disabled. so this would apply basically the rules to disabled workers to disabled home makers. we also have something similar for widows about benefit equality. right now if you take your widow benefit at whatever age, if your husband who predeceased you had retired early, you're going to suffer a penalty for his having retired early

so that is the disability committee. we have direct access to the secretary. chairman louis is the commissioner for the administration for now the newly formed intellectual and developmental disabilities. on that the aging said, mr. walker serves as the deputy assistant secretary for aging, advocating on behalf of older americans. now this new federal agency will seek to enhance and improve a broad range of support that individuals may need to live with respect and dignity as full members of our community. this needs to go well beyond health care. it includes the availability of private housing, employment, education, meaningful relationships, as well as social participation. in addition, we will be working with the centers for medicare and medicaid services to develop, refine, and strengthen policies that promote independent living among all populations, especially those served by medicaid. we would also look with cms to promote home and community-based services and support. last but not least, i will be remiss if i forget to mention that may is also the time

i am disabled and i have quite a few in visible disabilities -- invisible disabilities and i'm also a senior. i am concerned about city government and the services they give to rise as disabled and seniors. you need to retrain a lot of the programs, such as policing neighborhood -- neighborhood policing. and some of our partner programs need to be retrained so they understand what the new laws are concerning

so this would apply basically the rules to disabled workers to disabled home makers. we also have something similar for widows about benefit equality. right now if you take your widow benefit at whatever age, if your husband who predeceased you had retired early, you're going to suffer a penalty for his having retired early even if you worked until 70. if his benefit is still greater than yours, you'll suffer the penalty that is due to the fact he retired early. so we'd like to eliminate that penalty from widows. and it would be for divorced spouses who have that qualified ten-year marriage. the next one is something for everybody, strengthening the cola. we have heard about how much the increases in health care costs are taking out of the pockets, especially of the elderly who have more health care costs. our normal cpi, our normal cola based on the cpi, does not adjust enough for the fact that medical care is an extra large portion of the basket of goods that older people buy and the cpie price inflater adjusts and their basket of goods is a little bit higher. so we

i am disabled and i have quite a few in visible disabilities -- invisible disabilities and i'm also a senior.

i have -- i came as an advocate to save seniors and disability services. i am very disabled. i live with our steel prices the -- osteoporosis. that my medicine has been cut out. and i am appealing, and they do not listen to me. and also, the senior moment is now. no cuts. i hope you get that message from all the seniors in the city. and supervisor christina olague dknows me very well. she came to the senior action network. we had a great meeting honoring our great citizen, miguel, who died after 20 years of service completely devoted to make sure that he saved those with addictions. and all the supervisors, everybody, i have some copies for you. i hope you will read them. the majority of you are trying to sayt is ok for washington to demolish. this is a great injustice. we have to save those units, those people, because it is the great story of our lives. >> thank you. >> thank you very much. gregg's i was at miguel's that also. -- >> i was at miguel's the event also. he did a lot for tenants. >> thank you. >> my name is francisco decosta. and i'm looking at some of your pres

i am a person with a disability, which is hidden and often misunderstood. one, i have a brain injury. i can feel the discord burning within the city with regard to those of us who are viewed differently. i have endured a reduction in in-home support services and ssi benefits where i can no longer afford to buy food at my local grocery store, safeway. when i applied for food stamps i was told i was ineligible and that i have too much money. the cuts i have endured over the last five years have so increased -- cannot pronounced the word. the legislative body chose to ignore. in short, because i am reduced to my reduction in my disability income, i cannot enjoy the full and just life that all of us want and deserve. who among you here before me would be content to have their life altered and changed and take my place? thank you very much. >> thank you. gregg's good afternoon, supervisors. -- >> good afternoon, supervisors. this has been a really important hearing and there has been a lot of sobering data that has come out in this, as well as sobering personal

i am disabled and i have quite a few in visible

i am disabled and i have quite a few in visible disabilities -- invisible disabilities and i'm also a senior. i am concerned about city government and the services they give to rise as disabled and seniors. you need to retrain a lot of the programs, such as policing neighborhood -- neighborhood policing. and some of our partner programs need to be retrained so they understand what the new laws are concerning disabilities and concerning seniors. besides that, i am concerned about the greatest illness in our community. and the greatest illness in the senior community is depression. that depression is going to continue to exist as long as people are worried about how they're going to eat their next meal, how they are going to stay out of the rain, and how they will be able to get the medications they need. i would like to suggest that the board come up with some eight -- some way of managing not for profits who service seniors. there's so much money wasted by duplicated programs and programs that are not doing what they are being paid to do. it is up to you to monitor that money, to make

proposed disability ratings prepared by v.a. that both departments can use and dual processing to ensure the earliest possible delivery of disability benefits. currently, it is in use at 139 locations across all services. since november of 2007, 19,518 service members have completed this process. it is also reduced the post-separation benefits gap between d.o.d. and v.a. from 240 days in 2007 to 50 days currently, which means disabilitied veterans receive their v.a. benefits 79% faster under the current idez than before. even with the marked improvements and performance, it's brought to the disability evaluation process, we have much work remaining. both departments are committed to constant evaluation of each step throughout the process. we'll continue to seek long term innovative solutions focused on improving the solution of our wounded warriors. we must do that. we also must carefully review the critical steps in idez to reach the 295 day completion goal for at least 60% of those entering the process by the end of this calen

proposed disability ratings prepared by v.a. that both departments can use, and dual processing to ensure the earliest possible delivery of disability benefits. currently the ides is used at 139 locations across all services. since november of 2007, 19,518 service members have completed the ides process. the i.d. accept s ides reduced e of 244 days to 50 days currently. champion means disabled veterans receive their v.a. benefits 79% faster under the current i.d. i than before. it's brought to the disability evaluation process swreshgs much work remaining. both departments are committed to constant evaluation of each step throughout the process, and will continue to seek long-term innovative solutions focused on improving the experience of our wounded warriors. we must do that. we also must carefully review the critical steps in ides to reach the 2995-day kplecompleti goal for at least 60% entering the process by the end of this calendar year. the military services are each in the process of implementing actions to improve effic

-- programs developed for the disabled. she brings consensus around the issues in difficult situations and her commitment to development and growth of any organization in which she becomes involved. it is because of these qualities it is a much more vibrant organization today. >> thank you. >> good afternoon. i am delighted to be here in support. i have had the opportunity to work with christina for a number of years. i came here right after law school. i needed plenty of guidance and she was always there to offer me her advice and support. if i had to describe promote saving characteristics, i would identify her willingness to take on any task and her desire to see everyone succeed. she has been an invaluable mentor to me. i'm not only here to talk about her skills as a lawyer or what a perfect mentor she has been. you can see her dedication to service reflected in the number of committees and boards she serves on. what i think she will bring to this board is her understanding of how public transportation and inaccessibili

there are 54,000 seniors with disabilities, and 34,000 young for adults with disabilities. i want to point out the wrote showing african americans are much more disproportionate in terms of having disabilities. either as younger adults or seniors. almost half of older african- americans have some form of disability. this is where ssi recipients of the blind and disabled category lived in san francisco. tenderloin is the highest concentration. that is where there is affordable housing for persons living on ssi and accessible transportation. the needs assessment discuss a number of different populations, including veterans, homeless seniors, seniors and public housing is described at length. i do not have time today to go through all of them. i wanted to pick just one and emphasize the impact of the recession on seniors. nationwide seniors lost 18% of their wealth during the recession. a number of seniors working today exceeds that of young adults for the first time in history. i also want to point out that a quarter of persons between the ages of 65-74 in san francisco are w

we don't call them disabled. they happen to have a disability. he joined pacific bell, helped organize honda the advisory group for people that happen to have a disability. he gave them put to that company on how to develop features that will help them do better. he became the director of death and disabled services. he was executive director for berkeley in 2001. under dmitri's direction, they have expanded it, they have done so many different things. i can't even less the mall. he sends people out that happen to be disabled and of a test things. before they get out there, to make sure that they are done the right way. so they can practically help people. it is my pleasure right now. give a warm welcome cojones -- to mr. dmitri belzer. [applause] >> thank you, dave. i just decided who will be giving this speech that my memorial service, that is a great introduction. i want to talk to them about how people with disabilities use computers. the first and want to talk about is my family. i come from a family of eastern european immigrants. they were

we explored a number of issues including the integrated disability valuation system. at the hearing we had an opportunity to hear from both departments about the state of the joint program. the department's testimony that day spoke to how the departments had created a more transparent, consistent and expeditious disability evaluation process. their testimony also states ides is a fairer, faster process. well, now that that joint system has been implemented nationwide i have to sap that i am far from convinced myself that the departments have implement add disability evaluation process that is truly transparent, consistent, or expeditious. there are now over 27,000 service members involved in the disability evaluation system. as more and more men and women return from afghanistan and as going to see an even larger group of service members transition from the military through the disability valuation process. this process impacted every aspect of a service member's life while they transition out of the military and doesn't stop there. if the system doesn't work right it

almost half of all households headed by someone with a disability did not have a computer. compare that to only 20% of households that do not have a computer if they were headed by someone without a disability. similarly, 43% of homes headed by someone with a disability subscribed to broadband compared to 72% of all homes, a 29-point difference. our data also shows that older americans, particularly those 65 and older, are less likely to live in a home with a computer or to have broadband internet access at home. and what is more, as we look further into this data, we found that when we looked at other socioeconomic factors, like in come or education, it did not fully explain it the gaps. even after accounting for a socio-economic and geographic factors, african-american and hispanic households still lack a white household in broadband adoption by 11 percentage points. at rural households still lacked urban households by five percentage points. these ongoing disparities and our critical need for our nation's future to overcome them are white today's summit is so important -