Celebration of the Americans with Disabilities Act
07.18.08
On Friday, July 18th, affiliates of the LightHouse were among the awardees at the 18th anniversary celebration of the Americans with Disabilities Act at San Francisco City Hall’s South Light Court.
The San Francisco Mayor’s Office on Disability presented Awards of Excellence to people and groups whose work has resulted in significant improvements in the lives of people living with disabilities.
One of the award recipients, the Destination Oriented Elevators Collaborative, included LightHouse Director of Public Policy & Information Jessie Lorenz, and LightHouse Board Member Joshua Miele, from the Smith Kettlewell Eye Research Institute. Their work with the San Francisco Planning Department ensured that the elevator technology being installed in the city’s new high rise buildings remained accessible to people who are blind or low vision. The award was presented by LightHouse Vision Loss Resource Center Specialist and Mayor’s Disability Councilman Ross Woodall.
LightHouse Vision Loss Resource Center Specialist Beth Berenson received an award of excellence as a member of the Access Advisors of the Fine Arts Museum for the group’s hard work on making art at the Legion of Honor Museum and the de Young Museum more accessible to people with disabilities.
Other awards went to the Chambers Settlement Group and Bob Planthold, who gave an inspiring speech on the work still needing to be done to create an equal society that includes people with disabilities.
The event ended with an insightful conversation between Jessie Lorenz and Mary Lou Breslin, Senior Policy Advisor at DREDF on the subject of “Where has the Disability Rights movement been? And where are we going?”
Congratulations to all the LightHouse award recipients!
