03-23-2005, 09:49 PM
I was sent this information, I don't know much about legal procedures in the USA, it might be of interest to some people.
Dear ASPIES FOR FREEDOM
At the suggestion of Mark Swanson, Editor, Retrospect newspaper, I am writing to you. I thought you would be interested in the efforts by my son, a Senior at Haddonfield Memorial High School (Class of 2005) to have a bill become law.
He helped draft and persuaded three NJ state Senators to introduce S2142 the Gifted Disabled Community Needs Study Commission, and testified on its behalf before the NJ Senate Committee on Education (archived on the NJ legis webpage Jan 24 2005). Jay, whose father is a professor in North Carolina, and whose grandparents and uncle are lifelong residents of Perry Georgia, has a learning disability that impedes his ability to write and to read.
S2142 is now out of committee and must be posted by Senator Codey, who is also Acting Governor of the State of New Jersey. The correspondence below suggests that Acting Governor Codey is reviewing the bill, but we would love to know the name of the staffer involved in the review. Once posted in the Senate, the bill will go to the Senate floor for a vote and then it will automatically be referred to the assembly (regardless whether there are any sponsors).
Please write to the Acting Governor at sencodey@njleg.org to request that he post s2142 in the New Jersey Senate (in his capacity as Senator),
S2142 is budget neutral, may result in long term savings, has bi-partisan support and no known opposition and most interesting of all, is consistent with the governor's own agenda to advance the needs of disabled people. The governor's recent proclaimation of April as Autism Awareness month and efforts concerning mental health issues dovetail very nicely with the needs of the gifted disabled population. This is a remarkably universal bill since many people autism, chronic issues along the autistic spectrum, learning disabilities, physical disabilities or who have chronic or profound mental health problems such as depression, personality disorders, etc are also exceptionally creative or gifted in other ways.
We need, as a society, to give them space and freedom to be creative rather than pigeonholing thme into disability programs or obstructing learning with narrow defintions of gifted that exclude people who need accomodations.
The most recent correspondence from the Acting Governor's office follows below.
Reprinted below that correspondence is testimony, etc and letters of support for S2142 and (hopefully if the message is not truncated) the bill itself whgich is also availbe at njlegislature webpage. Thank you for your attention.
All the best, Ilise L. Fietshans JD and ScM
Author DESIGNING AN EFFECTIVE OSHA COMPLIANCE PROGRAM (Westlaw.com)
Mom of Jay Feitshans HMHS Class of 2005
Dear ASPIES FOR FREEDOM
At the suggestion of Mark Swanson, Editor, Retrospect newspaper, I am writing to you. I thought you would be interested in the efforts by my son, a Senior at Haddonfield Memorial High School (Class of 2005) to have a bill become law.
He helped draft and persuaded three NJ state Senators to introduce S2142 the Gifted Disabled Community Needs Study Commission, and testified on its behalf before the NJ Senate Committee on Education (archived on the NJ legis webpage Jan 24 2005). Jay, whose father is a professor in North Carolina, and whose grandparents and uncle are lifelong residents of Perry Georgia, has a learning disability that impedes his ability to write and to read.
S2142 is now out of committee and must be posted by Senator Codey, who is also Acting Governor of the State of New Jersey. The correspondence below suggests that Acting Governor Codey is reviewing the bill, but we would love to know the name of the staffer involved in the review. Once posted in the Senate, the bill will go to the Senate floor for a vote and then it will automatically be referred to the assembly (regardless whether there are any sponsors).
Please write to the Acting Governor at sencodey@njleg.org to request that he post s2142 in the New Jersey Senate (in his capacity as Senator),
S2142 is budget neutral, may result in long term savings, has bi-partisan support and no known opposition and most interesting of all, is consistent with the governor's own agenda to advance the needs of disabled people. The governor's recent proclaimation of April as Autism Awareness month and efforts concerning mental health issues dovetail very nicely with the needs of the gifted disabled population. This is a remarkably universal bill since many people autism, chronic issues along the autistic spectrum, learning disabilities, physical disabilities or who have chronic or profound mental health problems such as depression, personality disorders, etc are also exceptionally creative or gifted in other ways.
We need, as a society, to give them space and freedom to be creative rather than pigeonholing thme into disability programs or obstructing learning with narrow defintions of gifted that exclude people who need accomodations.
The most recent correspondence from the Acting Governor's office follows below.
Reprinted below that correspondence is testimony, etc and letters of support for S2142 and (hopefully if the message is not truncated) the bill itself whgich is also availbe at njlegislature webpage. Thank you for your attention.
All the best, Ilise L. Fietshans JD and ScM
Author DESIGNING AN EFFECTIVE OSHA COMPLIANCE PROGRAM (Westlaw.com)
Mom of Jay Feitshans HMHS Class of 2005
