We are
the Virtual Center For People with Disabilities, the online representation of the Center For People With Disabilities, Inc.,
a 501-c-3 non-profit organization fulfilling visions of accessability and civil rights for people with disabilities one at
a time.
Created by Center For People with Disabilities, Inc., we are a non-profit Center
for everyone with an interest in disabilities. The Center itself will be comprised
of five Institutes, still in the process of formation, and will consist initially of: The Space Institute for People with
Disabilities, The Education Institute for People with Disabilities, The Civil Rights - Advocacy Institute for People with
Disabilities, The Jewish Institute For People with Disabilities, and the Special Populations Institute.
-
The Jewish Institute focuses on the health, social services, civil rights, advocacy, economic, and/or geopolitical needs of
Jews with disabilities.
-
The Education Institute For People with Disabilities
has a focus on education for individuals with disabilities and on educational training and instruction for same. This is not designed for individuals who have disabilities however, but for non-profit organizations,
as well as public and private school systems, colleges and universities involved in serving the Educational needs of people
with disabilities.
-
The Disability Rights and Advocacy Research Institute
For People with Disabilities focuses on U.S. Civil Rights history, as well as current and future Civil Rights
needs, pertaining to people with disabilities. We will work with Colleges,
Universities, Law Schools, Legislatures, Senates and other non-profit Legal and Governmental Institutions, as well as local,
state and federal Courts and the Court system in providing training, guidance and advice.Disability Rights and Advocacy.
-
The Special Populations Institute of the Center For
People with Disabilities focuses upon the needs of the "baby boom" generation and their parents who have become
or are slowly acquiring disabilities, and strive to provide the means to address
such needs and challenges for all generations. It currently offers two
programs of special focus: Brain Injuries and the Aged Disabled and the Hunger and the Disabled Institute, as well as researches and provides information in general on most disabilities. Each program will study the topical areas named in terms of, but not limited to: Education, Healthcare
delivery, Medical Insurance and the lack thereof, accessible housing, new medical treatment modalities, nutrition, and work
incentives/disincentives.
About our Chairman:
Mitchell J. Rappaport conceived
a Civil Rights Act for people with
disabilities between 1964 and
1968, while studying Civil Rights Law at the
"kitchen-table classroom" in the
home of Civil Rights Law Professor Herman Schwartz,then at the University of Buffalo School of Law, and currently Civil
Rights Law Professor Emeritus
at the Washington College of Law, part of
American
University, in Washington, D.C. In 1967 Mitchell,
then 15 years old, suffered a
Closed Brain Injury, and has had one or more
disabilities all of his life since. He named his idea: "The
Americans with Disabilities Act",
and insisted that it maintain that name
after he shared the Civil Rights
idea with Lex Frieden, an Eagle Scout
that he had read about who was
coming out of Spinal Surgery in the
Cleveland Clinic at the time of
his call on January 3, 1968.
A few years later (1972)
Mitchell shared the idea with still another advocate for people with disabilities who had some similar ideas of his own, the
late Justin Dart, Jr. In 1985 Mitchell proposed the Texas Senate Act that
was later written up, submitted, passed and which established "A Parade On A Day for People with Disabilities in Texas". Between 1985 and 1987 he worked to create a new field of human endeavor, conceived
by Rex Mason and James O. Easter, known as Rehabilitation Architecture.
Mr. Rappaport, a 1975 graduate
of The State University of New York at Buffalo in Buffalo,
N.Y., is available for presentations and lectures nationwide and internationally through
the Center; Rex Mason and Jim Easter are partners today in the Nashville, Tennessee
architectural firm today known as Easter - Mason Healthcare Consultants.
But these things were done primarily
as steps to accomplish an idea that Mr. Rappaport holds a copyright on today and worked on from January 3, 1968 until January 30, 2003 --- and that
is for what has come to be known as "DAISI" - standing for the Disabled Astronaut In SpaceInitiative. DAISI is currently "on hold" and it's status is being reviewed at NASA-HQ in Washington,
D.C.
In the area of Healthcare, Mr.
Rappaport's background is diverse, having served as the Consumer Representative to the Southeast Texas Trauma Regional Advisory
Council through most of the 1990's, representing approximately 4.1 million Texans indirectly in terms of Emergency Trauma
Care delivery. Other involvements are his continuing, though a periodic,
involvement in the Texas Trauma Advisory Council's online Boards, his past work with the Greater Houston Area Hospital Council,
work on several Federal and Statewide healthcare initiatives, and others.
His involvements in the area of
Education include continuing to serve on the ADA Compliance Committee of the Houston Independent School District, formerly
serving on the Advisory Committee to the Houston Community College Model Program Department's V.A.S.T. Program, formerly serving
as the Chairman of the Houston Independent School District's Exceptional Education Department Vocation/Transition Advisory
Committee forExceptional Education, formerly presenting at two of the Texas A&M University Vocational Special Needs Conferences,
and having been named as a Houston Community College Outstanding Educator.
In 2003, Mitchell and a Board
of Directors formed the Center For People with Disabilities. It is hoped that
all of the work that has been done in these initial four areas can be continued and pursued through this effort.
Contributions can be sent to:
Center For People
with Disabilities
P.O.
Box 31724
Houston,
Texas 77231-1724
Mitchell Rappaport's first book,
initially titled: Up From Injury - Revising the History of the U.S. Civil Rights Movement, is currently being written and
he can be found either in Houston or at conferences throughout the nation. Presentations and appearances are currently being scheduled.
Mitchell Rappaport
P.O.
Box 31724
Houston,
Texas 77231-1724
