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From YouTube: American Disabilities Act Day 2021
Description
Join in to celebrate 31 years of the American Disabilities Act with Boston's united disability community. This ADA Day, we celebrate accessibility improvements and strides in advocacy made in the last year. With remarks from Mayor Janey and a gesture of gratitude for the Emergency Medical Services team, this lively event was filled with an uplifting sense of community and pride.
A
A
A
A
A
And
we
have
tables
in
the
back
with
information
on
different
city
department
services.
We
have
t-shirts,
food,
music,
all
kinds
of
fun,
so
we're
so
glad
that
you
were
able
to
attend
mayor
jane.
He
has
really
committed
to
disability
as
a
key
piece
of
equity
as
a
city
reopening
reopens
and
we're
thrilled
that
she's
here
today
to
speak,
but
first
I'd
like
to
introduce
my
chief
of
health
and
human
services,
marty
martinez,
to
say
a
few
words.
B
Chief,
thank
you.
Thank
you,
commissioner
makash.
Please,
let's
hear
for
commissioner
mccosh
and
all
the
work
that
the
commissioner
does.
B
I
couldn't
be
more
proud
to
be
able
to
partner
with
commissioner
mikash
his
commission
as
part
of
the
health
and
human
services
cabinet,
I'm
excited
and
proud
of
her
and
the
work
of
the
team.
Thank
you
so
much
for
all
that.
You
continue
to
do.
There's
also
other
city
departments
that
are
here.
I
see
commissioner,
woods
from
parks.
I
see,
commissioner,
santiago
from
veterans.
Thank
you
to
the
departments
that
are
here
today,
as
well
as
chief
hooley,
who
I
think,
you're
going
to
hear
from
a
little
bit
later
again.
B
B
I
am
too,
I
couldn't
be
more
excited
and
for
maybe
a
little
less
wind,
but
I
couldn't
be
more
excited
to
be
here
with
all
of
you
to
celebrate
the
day
and
celebrate
your
continued
work
in
partnership
with
all
of
us
to
make
sure
we
make
our
city
as
accessible
as
possible
for
all
communities.
That's
what
this
is
about,
and
we
need
to
continue
to
push
that
along
the
way.
So
with
your
work
and
leadership,
and
that
of
commissioner
mikash
we're
going
to
continue
to
push
this
work
forward.
B
But
none
of
the
work
we
want
to
do
in
the
city
is
possible
without
the
strong
support
of
our
mayor.
Our
mayor
continues
to
ensure
that
we
place
equity
at
the
center
of
all
of
our
work,
and
that
means
doing
the
hard
work,
making
the
tough
choices
and
actually
putting
real
work
behind
the
words.
It's
not
just
about
doing
it
online.
It's
not
just
about
doing
it
in
twitter.
C
Good
afternoon,
how
are
you
I
want
to
thank
chief
marty
martinez
for
those
kind
words,
but
really
for
all
the
work
that
you
do
every
single
day.
I
also
want
to
just
recognize
a
few
of
the
folks
here,
as
chief
martinez
mentioned.
I
hope
that's
not
a
page
for
my
remarks
floating
away,
but,
as
chief
martinez
mentioned,
there
are
a
lot
of
folks
who
help
us.
Do
this
work
every
single
day?
I
certainly
want
to
thank
and
recognize
our
commissioner
kristen
makash
for
all
of
her
amazing
work
and
your
entire
team
commander.
C
I
also
want
to
recognize,
commissioner
santiago,
who
has
been
recognized.
How
are
you,
sir,
thank
you
for
being
here,
commissioner
woods.
Thank
you
so
much.
I
want
to
recognize
councillor
flynn,
who
is
here
on
the
stage
next
to
chief
hooley.
Thank
you
both
for
your
amazing
work,
and
I
also
want
to
acknowledge
the
district
seven,
my
district,
seven
chief
of
staff,
kyle
robideaux,
who
is
here
if
you
could
raise
your
hand,
kyle
kyle,
is
here
you
know
long
before
I
was
in
elected
office.
C
I
I
came
from
a
non-profit
advocacy
organization
that
has
long
fought
for
students
with
disabilities
and
understands
the
importance
of
making
sure
that
we
are
creating
an
inclusive
society
here
in
boston
and
throughout
our
commonwealth.
I
want
to
thank
everyone
for
joining
us
today
here
in
copley
square,
to
celebrate
31
years
since
the
americans
with
disabilities
act
was
signed
into
law.
C
And
I'm
I'm
very
excited
that
the
renovations
are
coming
together,
especially
after
the
very
difficult
year
and
a
half
that
we
have
all
had
due
to
coven
and
while
covid
continues
to
impact
boston.
I
am
very
proud
of
the
resilience
that
the
disability
community
continues
to
show.
Thankfully,
we
have
a
vaccine
that
can
help
us
fight
this
virus.
C
The
vaccine
enables
us
to
reconnect,
which
is
the
theme
of
this
year's
ada
day,
we're
able
to
come
together
once
again
together
as
a
community
and
to
mourn
our
fallen
loved
ones,
and
at
this
time
I
would
like
for
us
to
take
just
a
small
moment
of
silence
and
recognition
of
all
of
those
in
the
disability
community
who
we
have
lost
to
covet
19.
a
moment
of
silence.
C
C
Thank
you,
I'm
very
grateful
for
the
diligent
work
that
city
employees
and
our
partnering
organizations
have
done
to
meet
people's
needs
to
minimize
the
spread
of
covet
19
and
to
get
vaccines
and
arms.
Thanks
to
these
efforts,
over
66
percent
of
boston
residents
have
received
at
least
one
dose
of
the
vaccine,
and
if
you
have
not
gotten
vaccinated
yet
I
highly
encourage
you
to
get
your
shot
and
help
to
protect
yourself
and
your
loved
ones
to
make
sure
that
our
vaccine
rollout
is
thorough,
effective
in
reaching
everyone.
C
We
are
joining
other
municipal
disability
agencies
to
provide
vaccinations
among
people
with
disabilities.
We
have
also
been
hosting
vaccine
clinics
throughout
the
city.
The
most
recent
vaccine
clinic
is
happening
right
now,
right
here
at
copley
square,
and
it
will
be
here
until
three
o'clock
this
afternoon.
C
C
We
have
clearly
seen
the
importance
of
having
steady
access
to
reliable,
up-to-date
information,
and
this
is
why
my
disabilities,
commission
and
I
are
introducing
three
major
city-wide
initiatives.
It's
another
page
from
my
speech.
The
good
news
is
that
it'll
be
shorter,
all
right,
so
the
first
is
I'm
going
to
file
an
ordinance
ensuring
that
the
public-facing
televisions
that
have
their
closed
captioning
functions
enabled
these
captions
not
only
help
members
of
the
deaf
community,
but
anyone
experiencing
hearing
loss
or
other
audible
communication
challenges.
We
look
forward
to
beginning
that
conversation
with
all
stakeholders.
C
Second,
my
administration
has
been
working
closely
with
the
city
council
as
they
work
on
on
new
language
and
communications
access
ordinance
under
the
leadership
of
the
disabilities.
Commissioner,
kristen
makash,
the
original
ordinance
from
2016
explicitly
included,
asl,
cart
and
other
forms
of
communications
for
the
deaf
and
hard
of
hearing
community,
as
well
as
other
requirements
for
effective
communication,
and
I
want
to
thank
commissioner
makash
again
for
her
very
hard
work
and
dedication
to
disability
rights.
Thank
you,
commissioner.
C
By
updating
the
original
legislation,
we
are
strengthening
our
ability
and
enshrining
into
law
our
responsibility
as
a
city
to
meet
you
where
you
are
and
finally,
during
the
pandemic,
we
recognize
the
need
for
residents
to
have
timely
access
to
critical
information
being
shared
on
a
daily
basis,
information
that
all
residents
needed
to
be
able
to
access
in
real
time.
I
am
proud
that
we
had
an
asl
interpreter
at
all
daily
covet
19
mayoral
press
conferences,
and
my
administration
is
working
to
make
sure
that
interpretation
service
continues.
C
The
job
posting
for
this
position
will
be
going
up
soon.
This
unique
municipal
position
will
work
in
the
mayor's
commission
for
persons
with
disabilities
to
ensure
that
press
conferences,
public
hearings
and
events
and
online
published
content
are
accessible
to
the
deaf
community.
Now,
with
this
now,
with
this
position,
we
will
be
able
to
do
even
more
to
make
city
government
accessible.
C
We
are
here
today
to
celebrate
to
celebrate
one
another,
to
celebrate
the
advocacy
and
the
resilience
of
the
disability
community
and
to
celebrate
the
work
of
the
city
of
boston's
emergency
medical
services
throughout
the
pandemic.
Ems
was
a
shining
light
of
care
and
support
in
a
time
when
our
city
needed
it
more
than
ever.
C
Ems
provided
services
during
the
pandemic,
including
kova
testing
across
the
city
and
mobile
vaccination
clinics
to
ensure
the
vaccine
was
available
to
all
residents,
and
I
had
the
pleasure
of
joining
the
ems
team
on
many
of
those
vaccination
mobile
clinics
and
still
today
are
providing
emergency
medical
care
and
transport
to
those
who
need
it.
I
want
to
thank
chief
james
hooley
again
for
your
leadership,
and
I
am
issuing
a
proclamation
to
recognize
and
honor.
C
C
I
want
to
thank
everyone
again
for
joining
us.
I
want
to
thank
the
commissioner
for
persons
with
disabilities,
my
office
of
health
and
human
services,
chief
marty,
martinez,
the
chief
hooley
from
ems
and
everyone
from
being
here.
It
is
starting
to
rain,
so
we
are
done
right
on
time
here.
I
just
want
to
thank
everyone
for
your
continued
advocacy
and
work
in
this
space
together
we
are
going
to
get
there.
So
thank
you
so.
C
D
Thank
you
enough.
I
want
to
make
sure
I
get
through
this
quickly
because
of
the
weather.
You
know
we
well.
First
of
all,
mayor
janie,
commissioner
mikash
members
of
the
disability,
commission
attendees
your
families.
Thank
you.
D
This
is
an
incredible
honor
to
be
honored
by
by
this
group
today,
and
the
proclamation
as
well,
which
came
as
a
surprise,
john
bless
the
standard
today
as
a
representative
of
the
400
men
and
women
of
boston
ems
who
have
been
working
tirelessly
to
serve
150
000
patients
since
march
of
2020,
when
we
cared
for
our
first
confirmed
covet
resident
since
then,
we've
had
over
5276
documented
patient
encounters
with
covet
and
we've
administered
over
a
thousand
vaccines
to
residents
of
boston
going
to
where
they
live,
and
I'm
gonna
go
kind
of
quick
because
it's
gonna
get
a
little
bit
wet
here.
D
So
I'm
gonna
skip
some
stuff,
but
so
you
know,
unfortunately,
things
haven't
gotten
much
easier.
Things
have
gotten
better
since
we've
had
the
vaccine
out,
but
you
know
with
society
opening
back
up
it's
getting
busier.
Our
call
volume
is
high,
people
are
getting
out
more,
the
visitors
are
returning
to
boston
and
that's
great,
but
there
is
still
more
risk
of
infection
which
remains
throughout
this
difficult
time.
I'm
proud
to
say
that
our
members
have
stepped
up
to
continue
to
provide
care
with
professionalism
and
compassion.
D
Many
of
our
personnel
have
children,
they've
had
to
balance
the
needs
of,
and
parents
what
they're
still
caring
for,
or
it's
hard
for
them
to
see,
but
many
of
their
support
systems
were
cut
off,
just
as
you
all,
and
yet
they
continue
to
show
up
and
can
care
and
can
and
provide
emergency
medical
care
receiving.
This
award
from
the
disability
commission
means
a
lot
to
us
as
a
department,
particularly
because
the
organization
that's
bestowing
it
as
an
organization.
D
The
disabilities
commission's
mission
is
to
increase
opportunities
for
people
with
disabilities
by
facilitating
full
and
equal
participation
in
all
aspects
of
life
within
the
city
of
boston.
That
includes
reducing
architectural
procedural
attitudinal
communication
barriers,
as
well
as
promoting
equity
in
housing,
education,
employment,
transportation
and
civic
activities.
D
Commissioner
mccosh,
we
consider
your
team
long-standing
our
partners
to
boston
ems
and
we
have
the
utmost
respect
for
what
you
do.
Over
the
years.
We've
worked
together
to
assist
individual
residents,
as
well
as
to
inform
the
training
that
we
provide
and
during
major
storms
we
collaborate
with
with
your
office.
We
collaborate
with
utility
companies
to
support
individuals
on
the
no
shut
off
list
to
identify
persons
at
risk.
D
We've
worked
recently
at
all
our
drills
with
the
mbta
and
our
recent
disaster
drill.
We
work
with
how
we're
going
to
service
patients
with
disabilities
that
could
be
in
these
drills
and
the
the
fourth
of
july
every
year
or
the
marathon,
where,
if
we
know
where
there's
a
people
who
are
going
to
be
there's
going
to
be
certain
sections
for
disabled,
like
who's
going
to
be
in
charge
of
evacuating
those
personnel
and
getting
them
safely
out,
we
pre-plan
for
that.
We
assign
people
to
that
in
advance.
D
A
A
I
just
want
to
give
one
more
shout
out
to
mayor
janie,
chief
martinez,
chipoulli
and
councillor
flynn.
Everybody
have
a
great
day.
The
asl
in-house
job
will
be
posted
soon.
I
want
to
give
recognition
to
my
former
chief
of
staff,
jessica
doonen
for
all
her
hard
work
on
that
stay
tuned
to
our
office
check
out
website
for
the
job
posting
and
have
a
great
day.
Everybody.