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Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) Director Honored
Author: | Saturday May 26, 2007
Dan Holder will have more time for sailing with retirement.
ADA Coordinator
Honored by Advocates
At Historic Gathering
It was as much a homecoming and a verbal history of accessibility as it was a going away party for one of Florida's long time accessibility advocates, Dan Holder. Holder is retiring as the Director of the Office of ADA Coordination after 33 years with Miami Dade.
Friends and colleagues gathered in the office of the Miami Dade government office building recently to remember the early days of the accessibility movement and the part played by Holder and others.
His former boss, Harry Russell was on hand and recalled how the office was started back in 1959. In those days the office worked with the Dade's Employ the Handicapped Committee to advance employment opportunities and to include the ANSI standards for accessibility in the South Florida building code.
Also at the party was Colleen Fix Huff, who recently retired from Miami-Dade Community College. She remembered the start up of the Mayor's Committee that became the Commission for the Advancement of the physically Handicapped (CAPH) and later the Commission on Disability Issues (CODI).
Paul Edwards, who has held a number of offices in the American Council of the Blind and is head of the Disabled Students Services at the North Campus of Miami-Dade Community College was also at the event. He spoke of the early years when he and others who were blind attended a federal conference on disability issues and were unable to obtain any of the printed materials in Braille. They made their point by not translating their comments, which they submitted in Braille.
Edwards also remembered the early years and how far Miami-Dade County government has come since the days when he chaired CODI, particularly in the efforts to establish a central ADA office with ADA coordinators in each department.
Jim Kracht, Assistant County Attorney for Miami-Dade government for 30 years, read from his Braille notes as he talked about his experiences. He pointed out the advances in access to websites and communications and the beginnings of a program toward providing audible pedestrian signals.
Jesus Garcia, who works for an STS provider, said Miami-Dade had one of the first Para Transit systems long before it was required by the ADA. He noted the early effort was a disaster, but has evolved into one of the best systems in the nation.
Michael Brennan, another former chair of CODI and a private, expert consultant on the ADA spoke of the progress that has been made.
His points and those of the other speakers were not lost on current CODI chair, Betty McNally who promised to make sure CODI continues to make the government and community aware of disability issues.
Contributors to the advancement of accessibility in Miami-Dade who have died, but are not forgotten were former CODI chair Sol Zitter, advocate George Armitage and former CODI chair Jim Parrish.
Unable to attend were former CODI chairs, Elly duPre, Fran Bonshack and Peter Manheimer.
His place in Miami-Dade history secured, Holder was non-the-less pleased with the comments about his tenure and the personal praise directed his way. "I was surprised at how nice and how much they had to say. Coming from a group of really fine, intelligent people, who have done so much with their lives and for others, while dealing with their own challenges, I felt deeply honored," Holder said. "I felt that my 33 years in the field had been validated."
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