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Statement from Progress Center Executive Director Horacio Esparza on Judith Heumann

English Language Statement

Judy Heumann,

Your unexpected departure left me inert, exhausted, without being able to articulate words for more than twenty-four hours, without knowing what to say about all that I can say about you… about how great you were; of everything great that you did and that you achieved in favor of people with disabilities.

Judy, you not only dedicated your life to the movement of people with disabilities, you also gave the world your inexhaustible source of generosity and that wisdom that only the gifted can give to their peers.

Judy, I will never forget those evenings when together with your husband (Jorge Pineda — who is my great friend) we spent hours talking about the direct or indirect injustices of society. But, also during those talks, I was captivated by that great passion of yours when you talked about your great love for children, and especially for children with disabilities.

Judy, we will miss you… the world will lack your voice, but there you left all that legacy to remind the world that you are still present and fighting for the same cause, for that cause to which you dedicated your own life… for that cause for which I believe you were born to fight.

I had the longing hope that I would be able to see you and Jorge again this coming summer in Washington during the annual NCIL (National Council on Independent Living) Conference, but you are gone, because the times are not ours, but everything you leave us is infinitely invaluable, extraordinary.  You have left us a very advanced journey, but with a still very long way to go.

Thank you Judy, for all your great effort so that the world has a better future of inclusion in all fields for people with disabilities.

Horacio Esparza

Spanish Language Statement

Judy Heumann,

Tu inesperada partida me dejó inerte, exhausto, sin poder articular palabras durante más de veinte-cuatro  horas, sin saber que decir de todo lo tánto que yo puedo decir de ti… de todo lo grande que tú fuiste; de todo lo grande que tú hiciste y que tú lograste en pro de las personas con discapacidad.

Judy, tú no solamente dedicaste tu vida al movimiento de las personas con discapacidad, tú también le diste al mundo tu inagotable fuente de generosidad y de esa sapiencia que sólo aquellos sobredotados pueden darle a los semejantes.

Judy, yo nunca olvidaré aquellas tardes cuando junto con tu esposo (Jorge Pineda), (quien es mi gran amigo) nosotros pasamos horas hablando de las injusticias directas o indirectas de la sociedad. Pero también durante esas charlas, yo quedaba embelesado con esa gran pasión tuya cuando hablabas de tu gran amor por los niños, y especialmente por los niños con discapacidad.

Judy, te extrañaremos… al mundo le faltará tu voz, pero allí dejaste todo ése legado para recordarle al mundo que tú sigues presente y luchando por la misma causa, por ésa causa a la que le dedicaste tu propia vida… por ésa causa por la que yo creo que tú naciste para luchar.

Yo tenía la anhelante esperanza de poder volver a verlos a ti y a Jorge este próximo verano en Washington durante la conferencia anual de NCIL, pero te has ido, porque los tiempos no son los nuestros, pero todo lo que nos dejas es infinitamente invaluable , extraordinario. Nos has dejado un trayecto muy avanzado, pero con un camino aún muy largo por recorrer.

Gracias Judy, por todo tu gran esfuerzo para que el mundo tenga un mejor futuro de inclusión en todos los campos para las personas con discapacidad.

Horacio Esparza

• HB3629 – (increases PNA, adds enforcement for anti-retaliation, helps keep people out of facilities)
• HB3716 – creates a task force to plan a transformation of long term care so people with disabilities and elders have a real choice for getting home or community-based care, instead of a facility

• SB2262 combines provisions of both of the above

Call for Applications

Progress Center, in partnership with Chicago ADAPT, proudly announces a Call for Applications for the Larry Biondi Fellowship for Radical Thought & Action.  Applicants selected will be part of the inaugural cohort of Larry Biondi Fellows.  The application is a PDF Form. Please download the form to complete the application.  If you would like the application in an alternative format, please email  biondifund@gmail.com. 

The Larry Biondi Fellowship for Radical Thought & Action Application

The Call for applications is now open for the Larry Biondi Fellowship for Radical Thought & Action. If you are interested in a paid 4-6 month fellowship working on projects that advance the work of two leading disability rights organizations in the Chicago area, we look forward to hearing from you.  The Larry Biondi Fellowship is an opportunity for talented, disability-rights minded individuals to participate in four to six months of paid project-focused activity that advances the work of two disability-rights organizations: Chicago ADAPT and Progress Center for Independent Living.

For more information and for the application, please download the application.  If you would like the form in a different format, please contact biondifund@gmail.com.

Download the Application here:  LBFFellowApplicationFINAL

Disproportionate Impact of COVID-19 on People with Disabilities

The National Council on Disability (NCD) hosted a Quarterly Meeting on December 8, 2022.  Kira Meskin, a Progress Center Community Reintegration Advocate, along with two others, submitted public comment to NCD for its quarterly meeting. The comments were accepted and incorporated into the record of the National Council on Disability Quarterly Meeting.  The comments were titled:  “Disproportionate Impact of COVID-19 on People with Disabilities and Underlying Medical Conditions: Challenging and Addressing the Failures of the CDC’s Current COVID-19 Guidelines.” The comments address the failure of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to integrate the needs and concerns of the disabled into CDC recommendations and guidelines.

These comments were written and submitted by:

Kira Meskin Schiff, OTD, OTR/L, CAPS, ECHM, ADAC

Megan E. Doherty, PhD

Todd Holloway, Disability Inclusion Advisor

Progress Center is grateful for the work of Meskin, Doherty and Holloway to produce and publish this document. The full comments are available for download on this page.

Download the comments here: 2022-December — public comment to NCD — about CDC guidelines 2Public.Comment.NCD.Meskin.Doherty.Holloway

This week, President Biden announced that the National Public Health Emergency connected to the Covid-19 Pandemic would end in the spring. The date for the end of the emergency is set as May 11, 2023.  Governor JB Pritzker of Illinois made a similar announcement. The end of the Public Health Emergency will impact millions of people in Illinois and around the country.  Yesterday, (February 1, 2023) Access Living, the Center for Independent Living that serves Chicago, shared a message with information about how the end of the emergency will impact people.  In this post, Progress Center is reposting the content shared by Access Living on February 1, 2023.

Here is the post from Access Living:

What is the PHE? At the beginning of the Covid pandemic, the President declared a Public Health Emergency (PHE), which allowed the federal government greater flexibility in its capacity to address urgent needs related to Covid. Governors also issued their own PHEs to allow state agencies to act with greater speed and flexibility. Examples of disability-related exceptions under the PHE include:

-Waiving or modifying certain Medicare and Medicaid requirements, such as for enrollment

-Allowing increased use of telehealth

-Adjusting or increasing certain benefits like SNAP

-Disaster relief payments, which many disabled people have used

What will happen when the PHE ends on May 11? The ending of the PHE means that several government systems, as well as government-funded provided, will see changes—but many changes made during the pandemic will also stay. See this news article from the AP for a good overview from a national perspective. The ending of the PHE means possible changes in accessing Covid tests, vaccines, and treatments; access to Medicaid; student loan forgiveness; immigration at US borders; telehealth; SNAP; state Covid emergencies; and hospital funding.

If you live in Illinois, what do you need to know? First, if you rely on Illinois Medicaid, you absolutely need to make sure that your name and contact information is up to date, so you are not bumped off Medicaid. You can do that at this link, which also offers a phone or TTY option. Second, if you participate in SNAP, you need to know that as of March 1, SNAP money will return to pre-pandemic levels. During the pandemic, there were extra funds called Emergency Allotments. Those will stop starting March 1. This will affect about two million people statewide. See this news article about the SNAP change and this page from DHS about the SNAP changes. It is very important to make sure your ABE case information is up to date at this link, so you can receive the maximum SNAP benefits possible when the PHE ends.

*****

Progress Center is grateful to Access Living for developing and sharing this information.   Progress Center will continue to share information as we approach the end of the Public Health Emergency.

Please consider a Year-End Donation to the Larry Biondi Fellowship for Radical Thought & Action

Progress Center, in partnership with Chicago ADAPT, proudly announces the Larry Biondi Fellowship’s inaugural fundraising drive. We are setting an ambitious goal of $20,000 to underwrite the stipends and expenses of three Fellowship recipients in the 2023-24 class.

The Larry Biondi Fellowship was created to deepen the impact and expand the capacity of the partnership by supporting innovative projects led by diversely talented individuals.  Their work carries on the legacy of Larry Biondi, a disability-rights advocate whose lifetime of work advanced some of the movement’s most crucial efforts and victories, including passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, accessibility on public transit in Chicago, community integration through closure of state institutions, and equitable healthcare for the disabled and non-disabled. Larry, who was a dedicated employee of Progress Center for 28 years and a member of Chicago ADAPT for most of its 38-year history, died in June of 2021.

Larry Biondi Fellowship projects will support a broad array of the Partnership objectives, including building community outreach, developing and promoting forward thinking policies, coordinating direct actions, building innovative communications tools, expanding social media presence, and other areas that advance disability justice and equity.

The first Fellowship Request for Proposals will be published in early 2023, and the inaugural class of Fellows will begin their projects throughout 2023 and 2024.

We are grateful to announce that an anonymous donor created a $5,000 Match.  This generous donor will match the first $5,000 in donations made between December 30, 2022 and January 31, 2023.

To donate, visit this link:  Donate Now to the Larry Biondi Fellowship

About Larry Biondi

Larry worked at Progress Center for 28 years. As the Advocacy Manager, Larry led the Progress Center Community Organizers, and he developed and implemented strategies to improve housing, transportation, public access and health care for the disability community.  Larry also was well known for Progress Center’s Legislative Training Course.  Larry and his team offered the course twice a year, once in the Spring and once in the Fall.  The course met once a week over the course of ten weeks, culminating in a trip to Springfield, where students from the course met with Illinois State Politicians and their staff, and applied the skills they learned during the training.

Larry put in just as many hours with Chicago ADAPT, a grass roots disability advocacy organization, and with National ADAPT.  Larry went to hundreds of local and national ADAPT demonstrations, participating in civil disobedience when local, regional, and national entities failed to recognize the needs and rights of people with disabilities.

A person with a disability, Larry hired and managed his own personal assistants.  The personal assistants provided support with essential tasks like getting out of bed, bathing, dressing, cleaning, cooking and eating.  Perhaps as much as anyone else, Larry knew the essential link between accommodations and independence and inclusion for people with disabilities.   Understanding that link, Larry never stopped fighting to strengthen and build systems of community services so that all people with disabilities had the opportunity to access services and live independently.

At the front end of the Covid-19 Pandemic, Larry actively engaged in two new coalitions, and remained committed to the coalitions throughout the pandemic. As a member of the PPE for People with Disabilities Coalition, Larry joined the effort to ensure that people with disabilities in Chicagoland and their personal assistants had access to personal protective equipment.  With the Institutional Rescue and Recovery Coalition, Larry advocated for residents of long-term facilities, who suffered an alarming mortality rate during the Covid-19 crisis.

Donate Today

To further Larry’s legacy, and to support the Larry Biondi Fellowship for Radical Thought & Action, please consider a donation. To donate, visit this link:  Larry Biondi Fellowship for Radical Thought and Action

Progress Center presents Part Four of a Financial Wellness Course– Protecting your Identity and Banking

Join Progress Center’s Esther Sanders (Protecting Your Identity), and Fernando Rivera, Vice President & Retail Banking Manager for Forest Park Bank (Money and Banking), on Tuesday, September 20 for a presentation about identity protection and banking. This presentation is part of a five-week Financial Wellness Course. This specific presentation is open to all community members. It is not necessary to be registered for the five-week course.

The presentation is Tuesday, September 20 at 11 a.m.

The presentation will be over zoom.  To register and receive a link, contact Gary Arnold at garnold@progresscil.org.

THE LARRY BIONDI LEGISLATIVE TRAINING

Progress Center for Independent Living invites you to an online Legislative Training starting in October of 2022

• Learn how to make a difference in the Legislative process
• Learn how to share your opinions and make your vote count
• Get first-hand knowledge of government policies straight from your local and state officials

This free, seven-week Legislative Training covers many topics, including:

• Self-advocacy
• The legislative process
• How a bill becomes a law
• Different methods of communicating with your legislators

This Seven-Week Course will meet once a week for 90 minutes each session. The group will meet on Tuesdays at 2 p.m.

For more information and to register, contact Clark Craig at ccraig@progresscil.org

Progress Center presents

A Presentation on IL Able Accounts

Join Progress Center and Stephanie Kanter, Deputy Director of IL ABLE at the State of Illinois Treasurer’s Office, on Tuesday, September 13 for a presentation about IL ABLE Accounts.  This presentation is part of a five-week Financial Wellness Course. This specific presentation is open to all community members.  It is not necessary to be registered for the five-week course.

For more information, and to reserve your spot for September 13, contact garnold@progresscil.org

or 708-209-1500.