The planned relocation to O`ahu of two state offices on Kaua’i and Maui that serve people with disabilities will cut service to more than 5,000 Kauaians with disabilities, a Kaua’i County official has charged. “It will be bedlam. There won’t
The planned relocation to O`ahu of two state offices on Kaua’i and Maui that serve people with disabilities will cut service to more than 5,000 Kauaians with disabilities, a Kaua’i County official has charged.
“It will be bedlam. There won’t be a body. They will have to call O’ahu, and with the communication system as it is today, they will have to wait and wait,” said a member of the county’s Advisory Committee for Equal Access who spoke on condition of anonymity. “This is an inhumane way to treat Kauai’s people.”
The change, which is to take place this summer, could undermine existing services and the Americans with Disabilities Act, a federal law passed in 1990 to protect access rights for disabled Americans, the advisory committee member said.
The Disability and Communication Access Board (DCAB), which operates under the auspices of the state Department of Health and made the decision for the change, sympathize with the concerns, but they are groundless, said Charlotte Townsend, acting executive director at the DCAB office on O’ahu.
Townsend said DCAB is committed to maintaining the level of services from O’ahu, and that the two people who man the offices now will be asked to continue their work on that island.
“We would never devalue the neighbor island constituency on their concerns,” Townsend said. “Statewide services will be just as good, if not better.”
Centralized services could improve further, depending on funding from the Legislature in the future, she said.
The Kaua’i office is located in the state building in Lihu’e and is manned by Stan Yates, a program specialist. Yates reviews and assesses problems, coordinates government efforts to help people with disabilities, offers technical assistance and provides information to consumers.
DCAB decided to shift the services to O’ahu because of budget constraints and new program responsibilities, Townsend said.
While the agency’s main office on Oahu has felt the effects of smaller budgets each year since 1995, the other islands’ offices have not been affected, Townsend said.
“DCAB was challenged by the governor and the Department of Health to relook at how boards and commissions could operate more effectively under economic restraints,” Townsend said.
DCAB’s budget has only increased this year because the Department of Health has taken on two new programs, she said. One is the accessible parking program, formerly managed by the state Department of Transportation, and the other is a program to test and offer credentials for state-employed sign language interpreters, Townsend said.
The departure of Yates from Kaua’i would be a major loss to the island, said the county advisory committee member who criticized the board decision.
In an emergency, Kauaians with disabilities need someone like Yates “who can direct them and tell them where to go,” the committee member said.
Because he has manned the DCAB Kaua’i office for 11 years, and because of his knowledge about disability laws and his compassion for his work, Yates is an invaluable asset, said Christina Pilkington, the Kaua’i County Americans with Disabilities Act coordinator.
Yates pushed for the county’s compliance with ADA requirements that called for curb cuts in sidewalks, ramps and building improvements.
“If he goes, we will miss him, his expertise,” said Pilkington. ” Centralizing the services is not a problem, but losing Stan will be.”
Townsend said Yates and his counterpart on Maui have been part of their communities for more than 10 years, and she understands the “sadness” caused by their relocation. However, she said she expects both will operate as effectively in their new locations.
Yates said he couldn’t discuss the relocation, but felt the elimination of the local DCAB office is a “change that runs away from our striving for equal access” for Kaua’i residents with disabilities.
“Our philosophy and all the things I do as a staffer for DCAB have been for the advocacy for ever greater equal access,” Yates said. “It seems what is being planned is a step backward.”
The official with the county’s advisory group said the local centers will be needed more than ever as more of Kauai’s population grows older.
Nationwide, 43 million Americans have one or more physical or mental disabilities, and this number is increasing as the population grows older.
The DCAB office closed on Big Island in the mid-1990s after an employee resigned and the position was not filled due to budget constraints, Townsend said.
Services for Big Island residents with disabilities are currently provided from O’ahu.
Staff writer Lester Chang can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 225) and mailto:lchang@pulitzer.net
