ADAAG with the accessibility standards issued by ANSI and other model code organizations. The committee will also recommend how the Board can coordinate future ADAAG rulemaking with ANSI model code organizations.

Developing a uniform set of accessibility standards that is consistent with the ADA and that can be used by ANSI and other model codes will result in accessibility requirements being implemented through the established building regulatory processes at the State and local level.

Another key activity of the Board is providing technical assistance and training on ADAAG. Since enactment of the ADA, the Board has responded to over 58,000 phone calls, mailed out over 39,000 packets of information, and has provided 206 training sessions. In fiscal year 1995, we anticipate that the demand for technical assistance and training will increase. For example, in the near future the Board plans to publish four new sections for ADAAG containing additional scoping provisions and technical specifications for facilities of State and local governments. These will cover judicial, legislative and regulatory facilities; detention and correction facilities; residential housing; and public rights-of-way. We anticipate a very high demand for technical assistance and training on these new guidelines. From our experience, we expect to respond to approximately 22,000 telephone calls, send out approximately 15,000 information packets, and provide

about 90 training sessions in fiscal year 1995. We will also develop additional technical bulletins and training materials, and are preparing a technical assistance manual covering public rights-of-way.

As the Board continues to develop ADAAG, we have become keenly aware of the need for additional research on accessibility issues. The Board has improved its procedures for selecting research projects. The Board now recommends research projects for each fiscal year based on several considerations, including public comment in response to rulemaking, the need for technical information for future rulemaking, and our technical assistance program needs. The Board publishes a notice in the Federal Register seeking public comments on its research priorities before deciding to fund any projects.

The Board is planning to budget $184,000 for research in fiscal year 1995. Funding at this level will allow the Board to contract for the three regulatory analyses necessary for our ADAAG rulemaking. It will also allow the Board to fund one other research project.

The Board will soon publish a Federal Register notice seeking comments on its research priorities for fiscal years 1995 and 1996. At this time, four research projects are under consideration. One project calls for the development of an

ADAAG manual which would provide guidance and interpretative information on the Board's guidelines. This manual would be updated periodically to provide comprehensive and current information about ADAAG and revisions to the guidelines. There is also a strong need to identify and evaluate methods for the emergency evacuation of persons with mobility impairments from multi-story facilities. This project would examine assistive devices and products for the development of technical assistance literature. A component of the project would study and make recommendations on emergency signage and communication for persons with visual impairments and persons with hearing impairments. Another research activity under consideration is a project which would analyze methods and products for providing access to swimming pools in order to develop recommendations on requirements for such access. A final research project under consideration would gather information on the classification and categorization of various water vessels. It would identify and evaluate design and other constraints including Coast Guard requirements, to accessible water transportation, and gather and evaluate information on accessible features for boats, ferries, and docks. This research will provide information to our Water Transportation Advisory Committee.

The enforcement of the Architectural Barriers Act has been one of the

Board's primary responsibilities for 21 years. The number of complaints the Board has received under the Architectural Barriers Act has been declining. We expect

the number of complaints to level out in fiscal years 1994 and 1995 to somewhere between 90 and 100. The Architectural Barriers Act has been in effect for 26 years, and the Board has had the enforcement responsibilities for 21 years. Perhaps, the message of accessibility is being heard, and those entities constructing building and facilities with Federal funds are making them accessible. We also have found that entities seem much more willing to take corrective action to remove barriers to accessibility. The Board plans to keep the same resources allocated to its compliance and enforcement program as it has in the past to ensure efficient processing of cases.

year.

In closing, I would like to say the Board looks forward to a very challenging

We will be honored to answer any questions you may have.

JUDITH E. HEUMANN

ASSISTANT SECRETARY

OFFICE OF SPECIAL EDUCATION AND REHABILITATIVE SERVICES

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

On June 29, 1993, Judith E. Heumann was swom in as President Clinton's assistant secretary for special education and rehabilitative services in the U.S. Department of Education. She took the oath of office in the Berkeley (California) City Council Chambers to acknowledge the city where the world's first independent living center and the world's first disability policy think tank, the World Institute on Disability (WID), were established. As deputy director, Heumann managed the independent living center from 1975 to 1982, and for ten years she served as vice president of WID, which she co-founded in 1983. From 1982 to 1983 Heumann was special assistant to the executive director of the California State Department of Rehabilitation, a position to which she was appointed by former Governor Jerry Brown.

Since having polio at the age of eighteen months, Judy Heumann has known discrimination firsthand. She was able to begin her career as a teacher in the New York City school system only after she sued the Board of Education, which had turned her down for a teaching position because she could not walk. One of the first to recognize that discrimination against disabled people was a civil rights issue, she has championed the cause of equality for disabled people around the nation and around the world. She has worked tirelessly to change laws, policy, and perceptions about people with disabilities. While serving on U.S. Senator Harrison Williams' staff, she helped develop legislation that became the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (P.L. 94-142) and worked on the development of regulations for Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. Later, she helped draft federal and state legislation that led to the creation of more than 200 independent living centers nationwide. In 1979 Heumann was appointed by Governor Brown to serve on the California Commission on Special Education, a post she held until 1983. Recognized nationally and internationally as an advocate for self-determination for disabled people everywhere, Heumann has served on the boards of various organizations and received numerous awards, including the Henry B. Betts Award in 1990, in recognition of her outstanding efforts to improve the quality of life for people with disabilities. She also is a well-known authority and speaker on disability issues. With her appointment to the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS), this longtime activist is now in charge of federal programs serving almost six million disabled children, youth, and adults. Assistant Secretary Heumann manages a budget of over $5.5 billion and oversees the Office of Special Education Programs, the Rehabilitation Services Administration, and the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research. She has strongly committed herself to aligning these programs with President Clinton and Education Secretary Riley's agenda: to promote the inclusion, independence, and empowerment of disabled people throughout society.

Among Heumann's top priorities is to ensure that OSERS programs are more accessible to disabled individuals from minority and culturally diverse backgrounds. To increase the number of such applicants who receive OSERS research and training funds, she is opening up the peer review process and redirecting outreach activities. Heumann is also committed to program accountability and to spreading the word about model programs that work. Equally important, she is working with Department and Administration officials to ensure the full participation of disabled people in the Goals 2000: Educate America Act, school-to-work legislation, and other federal initiatives, and she is committed to education and rehabilitation reform in OSERS programs and priorities. To accomplish these goals, she is working to establish a dialogue with practitioners, family members, disabled people, and others. She encourages people to share their experiences, participate in public meetings, comment on proposed regulations, and become involved in the education, rehabilitation, and community reform movement.

Heumann pledges to do as much as she can to make the government and the nation see that disabled people are an integral part of the whole fabric of our country. "I will feel that I have accomplished my goal if we stop seeing the needs of disabled people as being special and different, and disabled people become integrated, productive members of our communities," she says. She has articulated her vision for OSERS as "working aggressively and collaboratively to create a society in which all disabled people can obtain the knowledge and skills necessary to achieve the goals they set for themselves."

Heumann graduated from Long Island University in 1969 and received a masters degree in public health administration from the University of California at Berkeley in 1975.

Judy Heumann lives in Washington, D.C. and is married to Jorge Pineda.