national Battalion/Page 11 April 8, 1982 I \ I 1 iKTcent fot atxess to l he facility. | “What they’re proposing to ■kend U S Attoij ’ s 80 drastic it’s an amend- illiam French V ^ent of the statute by federal (Jience in ColtiiB l ule ' niakin g procedure,” said incidence of 4 feese Robrahn, executive dire- eached“crisis™ ct /> rot the American Coalition ime it takes tihle ol £f zem wlt , h Disabilities, s this evening,ifj > The statute s most visible re- violent crime".? P 8 mclude access ramps to across the conn bu,l,lu 1 \ s across the COUI \ n >' a , nd special buses to serve the dis abled. that same operty Crimes n’ Last year, one® • households in j victimized by s ions crime.” ItlStS on ig the total raiit 1 ley will be used ; of interieron : ,i re made bythel'j sled for its ail potential, oble Founda» , | division is enp :er reseachand ther interjen » Davis, head 3up, said ■e institutions si funding fro® 1 -oundation aft of Texas’ S «>spital, the Dm ■ ilia at LosAnj • ity, New York! ■re Medical The law bars discrimination against the handicapped by reci pients of federal funds, includ ing transit authorities, airports, schools, hospitals and other health facilities, libraries and public housing projects. The Justice Department sent the Office of Management and Budget proposed changes to soften the guidelines under Sec tion 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. OMB replied by urging big ger changes. One proposal in both drafts would shrink the law’s scope by applying it only to those prog rams within institutions that re ceive federal money. For exam ple, if a school’s physics depart ment gets federal research funds currently, the entire school is subject to the law. T he change would mean only the physics laborabory would be co vered. The budget office draft also would drop coverage of elemen tary and secondary schools, cit ing duplicate provisions in another law. Also to be discarded, under the proposal, would be all refer ences to employment discrimi nation. Courts rulings disagree on whether the law applies to employment. Robrahn said the change would leave the handicapped with inadequate job protection. The OMB draft proposes that recipients of federal funds be allowed to take into account “the value of the accommodation to society, taking full account of the potential contributions to society of handicapped persons” in deciding what accommoda tions must be made for the handicapped. Administration officials who met with handicapped groups to outline the proposed changes said they “caught so much flak” they promised to rewrite the provision. Robrahn said, however, the rewritten version is likely to be just as objectionable. “They didn’t say, ‘We’ll eli minate this provision,’” he said. “They said, ‘We’ll find some sub stitute language.”’ If “unreasonable expense” is involved, the recipients of feder al money can refuse to accom modate the handicapped, according to the OMB draft. The Justice proposal also con tained one provision praised by handicapped groups, requiring the government to determine before awarding money if the recipient was likely to discrimin ate. OMB watered down that provision in its draft. * * * ■* * * * * * * * * * * * * -* * •* * * -* Remember Us when you are planning your next PARTY Jumbo Size