To: Governor Gavin Newsom
Sign - or, Kiss Your Access Goodbye!
How would you react if someone decided that because you’re bald, or wear glasses, or have freckles, that you could no longer use the sidewalks or sit in restaurants? That’s what Governor Jerry Brown’s appointee, State Architect Chet Widom has done to people with disabilities in California for the last four years -- he's destroyed the disability community's hard-won access to sidewalks, parking, restaurants and many other public areas.
It is time for Chet Widom to go. Please sign this important petition to demand Governor Brown fire his State Architect, Mr. Widom, and appoint someone who will comply with state laws protecting disability rights! Demand that he appoint someone who will comply with the state laws that prohibit the decrease of access standards in the state building code and who will include meaningful involvement of people with disabilities in the writing of state access standards.
It is time for Chet Widom to go. Please sign this important petition to demand Governor Brown fire his State Architect, Mr. Widom, and appoint someone who will comply with state laws protecting disability rights! Demand that he appoint someone who will comply with the state laws that prohibit the decrease of access standards in the state building code and who will include meaningful involvement of people with disabilities in the writing of state access standards.
Why is this important?
Since he was appointed in 2012 by Governor Jerry Brown, Mr. Chet Widom has repeatedly violated the law that says he cannot decrease access standards that were first enacted in California in 1981. These early access standards set a high level of accessibility that greatly shaped the Americans with Disabilities Act.
As someone who has represented the disability community for 40 years in California’s development of access standards, I have never witnessed such blatant violations of law. Nor have I ever seen such a shut-out of the disability community from any meaningful participation in the development of state regulations - regulations that impact the daily lives of people with disabilities.
Please sign this important petition!
As someone who has represented the disability community for 40 years in California’s development of access standards, I have never witnessed such blatant violations of law. Nor have I ever seen such a shut-out of the disability community from any meaningful participation in the development of state regulations - regulations that impact the daily lives of people with disabilities.
Please sign this important petition!