By Dave Ranney
KHI News Service
TOPEKA, June 25
The Disability Rights Center of Kansas will begin celebrating its 30th anniversary Tuesday with an open house and an appearance by Gov. Kathleen Sebelius.
“We have a lot to celebrate,” said Rocky Nichols, the center”s executive director.
Sebelius is scheduled to address the open-house crowd at the center”s headquarters, 635 SW Harrison, at 9 a.m.
Federally funded, DRC is charged with protecting the civil and legal rights of Kansans
children and adults
with disabilities.
The open house, Nichols said, will call special attention to the agency”s accomplishments since it was reorganized in 2003.
Federal officials forced the center
then called Kansas Advocacy and Protective Services
to reform after its effectiveness was questioned and after learning the program was paying its board president more than $65,000 a year in consulting fees.
The reorganization included the installation of a new governing board.
Since then, Nichols said, the number of legal actions taken on behalf of people with disabilities has increased from four lawsuits in 2003 to more than 100 in 2006.
The cases cover “everything from abuse-neglect, to discrimination, to Americans with Disabilities Act cases, to special education,” Nichols said.
The organization also went from hosting five training sessions on the rights of people with disabilities in 2003 to 73 in 2006.
“But the best thing is our customer satisfaction ratings,” Nichols said. “They”re at 95 percent
and this includes people who have asked us to file lawsuits on their behalf and we”ve had to tell them no.”
Plans call for the center producing a 30th anniversary calendar and retrospective report and DVD on disability rights later this year.
“We also want to come up with a signature event, something to really cap things off,” Nichols said. “But that”s still in the discussion stage.”
-Dave Ranney is a staff writer for KHI News Service, which specializes in coverage of health issues facing Kansans. He can be reached at
dranney@khi.org
or at 785-233-5443, ext. 128.