Andover Commission on Disabilities: Difference between revisions

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The Andover Commission on Disability was created by a vote at Town Meeting in April of 1995. Andover citizen Mark J. Walker petitioned Town Meeting with a warrant article requesting a nine member appointed commission and funding for operational expenses.  The Town initially voted to fund the Commission with $1500 for business expenses to launch their work, however Northeast Rehab Hospital donated the funds for the first year of the Commissions operation thereby relieving the Town of the first year's financial obligation. <ref> Town of Andover Annual Town Report, 1995,   
[http://The%20Andover%20Commission%20on%20Disability https://andoverma.gov/319/Commission-on-Disability] was created by a vote at Town Meeting in April of 1995. Andover citizen Mark J. Walker petitioned Town Meeting with a warrant article requesting a nine member appointed commission and funding for operational expenses.  The Town initially voted to fund the Commission with $1500 for business expenses to launch their work, however Northeast Rehab Hospital donated the funds for the first year of the Commissions operation thereby relieving the Town of the first year's financial obligation. <ref> Town of Andover Annual Town Report, 1995,   
https://archive.org/details/annualreportofto1995ando/page/n3/mode/2up </ref> The first nine member commission was officially appointed on October 2nd of that year. <ref> Staruk, Don. Board of Selectmen appoints Disabilities Members, ''The Andover Townsman'', October 5, 1995.  https://archive.org/details/andover_townsman_1995-10-05/page/n7/mode/2up?q=%22Board+of+Selectmen+appoints+Disabilities+Members%22 </ref>  
https://archive.org/details/annualreportofto1995ando/page/n3/mode/2up </ref> The first nine member commission was officially appointed on October 2nd of that year. <ref> Staruk, Don. Board of Selectmen appoints Disabilities Members, ''The Andover Townsman'', October 5, 1995.  https://archive.org/details/andover_townsman_1995-10-05/page/n7/mode/2up?q=%22Board+of+Selectmen+appoints+Disabilities+Members%22 </ref>  


Revision as of 16:05, 31 January 2025

https://andoverma.gov/319/Commission-on-Disability was created by a vote at Town Meeting in April of 1995. Andover citizen Mark J. Walker petitioned Town Meeting with a warrant article requesting a nine member appointed commission and funding for operational expenses. The Town initially voted to fund the Commission with $1500 for business expenses to launch their work, however Northeast Rehab Hospital donated the funds for the first year of the Commissions operation thereby relieving the Town of the first year's financial obligation. [1] The first nine member commission was officially appointed on October 2nd of that year. [2]

The first appointed commission included the following Andover residents: Mark J. Walker, Ch. Michael A. Warshawsky Gina B. LaFortune, Esq. Paul A. Clinton Neil R. Gordon David E. Ray Joanne J. Stephen James J. Wiseman Timothy J. McCarron. [3] The first official, public meeting was held on Wednesday October 11, 1995. [4]

Michael Warshawsky was a longtime Andover resident who suffered a spinal cord injury while diving as a young man. He studied Phyics and engineering at Tufts and worked as an engineer at Raytheon for 30 years. In 1987, he founded a group called Warshawsky's Handicap Awareness Team and became a founding member and long serving chairperson of the Andover Commission on Disabilities. Warshawsky died in 2004. [5] [6]

The Massachusetts Office of Handicapped Affairs was created under the Massachusetts General Laws in 1981. That same year was marked at the International Year of Disabled Persons by The United Nations. [7] In 1985, the Office of Handicapped Affairs launched the Community Access Monitor Project which trained and certified people to survey accessibility in public buildings and spaces in communities throughout the Commonwealth. [8] In 1990, state laws were ammended to rename the agency, the Mass Office on Disability or MOD. The new legislation specified that MOD could authorize towns to establish disability commissions,

" for the purpose of coordinating or carrying out programs designed to meet the problems of persons with disabilities in coordination with programs of the Massachusetts office on disability. Said commission shall research local problems of persons with disabilities and shall coordinate the activities of other local groups organized for similar purposes, and may advertise, prepare, print, and distribute books, maps, charts, plansand pamphlets necessary for its work. Said commission shall keep records of its meetings and actions and shall file an annual report which shall be printed in the city or town annual report and shall have at least six meetings annually." [9]

The Americans with Disabilities Act was signed into law by President George H.W. Bush in 1990. By law, July 1992 was the stated time after which construction, alterations and modifications of public buildings and spaces had to be compliant with the law. [10] Massachusetts municipalities had a January 1995 deadline that required communities to file plans and evaluations for how they will provide accessibility to municipal buildings. [11] The Massachusetts Office on Disability, became the state coordinator for implementing the Americans with Disabilities Act.


REFERENCES

  1. ↑ Town of Andover Annual Town Report, 1995, https://archive.org/details/annualreportofto1995ando/page/n3/mode/2up
  2. ↑ Staruk, Don. Board of Selectmen appoints Disabilities Members, The Andover Townsman, October 5, 1995. https://archive.org/details/andover_townsman_1995-10-05/page/n7/mode/2up?q=%22Board+of+Selectmen+appoints+Disabilities+Members%22
  3. ↑ Town of Andover Annual Town Report, 1995. https://archive.org/embed/annualreportofto1995ando
  4. ↑ Staruk, Don. Commission to address needs of handicapped, The Andover Townsman, Sept 11, 1995 https://archive.org/details/andover_townsman_1995-09-28/page/n31/mode/2up
  5. ↑ Wakefield, Judy Disabilities group founder dies, Issue also contains Warshawsky's obituary The Andover Townsman, November 18, 2004
  6. ↑ Boudreau, Lisa, Andover from a Wheelchair, The Andover Townsman, July 2, 1992 https://archive.org/details/andover_townsman_1992-07-02/mode/2up
  7. ↑ The International Year of Disabled Persons https://www.un.org/development/desa/disabilities/the-international-year-of-disabled-persons-1981.html
  8. ↑ Community Access Monitor Project, 1992 https://archives.lib.state.ma.us/items/ff2f76e6-dd4a-4117-923d-21cc39e91658
  9. ↑ 1990 Senate Bill 1196. An Act Renaming The Office Of Handicapped Affairs. https://archives.lib.state.ma.us/items/4c1e2b5d-aea0-4647-8179-b13c27223232
  10. ↑ Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Americans_with_Disabilities_Act_of_1990
  11. ↑ Weld, Elizabeth New. Making life accessible to disabiled, The Boston Globe, Dec. 18, The 1994.
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