About the Presenters 

Jay Klein is a recognized expert on housing and has been a pioneer in assisting people with disabilities to move from institutional settings into homes of their own. Jay is the Director of the Center for Housing and New Community Economics (CHANCE) and the National Home of Your Own Alliance at the Institute on Disability (IOD) at the University of New Hampshire.

CHANCE was created by the IOD, ADAPT, and a broad coalition of individuals and organizations concerned with housing, personal assistance, and economic equity to improve access to integrated, affordable, and accessible housing coordinated with, but separate from, personal assistance and supportive services. CHANCE maintains the National Home of Your Own Alliance, a technical assistance center and clearinghouse, through a website, a toll-free information and referral line, and responses to requests for information and publications.

Jay is an international leader in efforts to include people with disabilities in the mainstream of community life. As an educator, community organizer, project director, and author, Jay has worked on policy and practice related to the economic and social participation of people with disabilities in order to foster inclusion in their communities. Throughout his career, Jay has administered a variety of projects in collaboration with federal and state agencies, with a focus on state and federal policy analysis, model demonstration, technical assistance, and interdisciplinary training. He has in-depth knowledge of and experience with financial, policy and programmatic issues that effect the ability of people with disabilities to accumulate assets to live in communities, and is widely respected for his ability to translate best practices into everyday realities for people with disabilities and their families.

Jay has presented and collaborated extensively in the United States and internationally. He has provided technical assistance to individuals, families, agencies, and policy makers throughout the country and abroad on supporting individuals with disabilities to live in their communities. Jay has been an active member of numerous national advisory boards and groups, and has provided testimony to Congress. He currently serves as an adjunct faculty member at Colorado State University.

Some of Jay’s publications on topics such as housing, home ownership, systems change, community development, and supported living include: The History and Development of a National Homeownership Initiative; Post Cards on the Refrigerator: Changing the Power Dynamic in Housing and Support; Homeownership for People with Disabilities: The State of the States in 1999; A Home of Your Own Guide: Training Manual for Homebuyers Education; and Get Me the Hell Out of Here: Supporting People with Disabilities to Live in Their Own Homes.

Contact Information

Jay Klein
Center for Housing and New Community Economics (CHANCE)
4028 Crescent Drive
Fort Collins, CO 80526
(800) 220-8770 (V)
Jay.Klein@unh.edu

Stephen F. Gold is an attorney who specializes in civil rights and represents only persons with disabilities. Besides representing numerous individuals with disabilities in discrimination lawsuits, he also represents ADAPT and NOT DEAD YET.

Mr. Gold successfully brought the "curb cut" lawsuit, Kinney v. Yerusalem, arguing that whenever a municipality resurfaces a street, it must ensure access to that street by installing curb cuts. As a result of this lawsuit, communities will become fully accessible.

He also successfully argued the case, Helen L., that a state discriminates against a person by requiring them to receive services in a segregated nursing home, rather than providing them services in the community. This lawsuit established the legal principle that persons with disabilities are entitled to receive services "in the most integrated setting appropriate" to their needs and the failure to provide those services was discriminatory. The Supreme Court in the Olmstead decision followed the legal principle and consequently, "the most integrated setting" is now the law of the land. As a result of this lawsuit, advocates can help people in nursing homes live in the communities with personal assistance services.

Mr. Gold litigated a national action ADAPT v. HUD on behalf of numerous national organizations, including ADAPT and NCIL, arguing that HUD has failed to enforce the requirements of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Federal Fair Housing Act of 1988 which require that local public entities, receiving federal financial assistance, construct and rehabilitate both rental and home ownership dwelling units so that 5 percent of these dwelling units be accessible for persons with mobility disabilities and one percent for persons with visual and hearing disabilities. In ADAPT v. Philadelphia Housing Authority, a federal court required the local housing agnecy to construct 5% accessible units. He has brought other houses cases on behalf of persons with disabilities. In Young v. District of Columbia Housing Authority, a federal court settlement requires 565 accessible units be constructed and will increase the values of vouchers under the Section 8 program.

In Liberty Resources Inc.v. SEPTA, the federal court ruled that paratransit services must be provided to all eligible persons who request a "next day ride."

He also wrote the amicus brief for NOT DEAD YET and ADAPT in "physician-assisted" suicide case before the United States Supreme Court, arguing that people with severe disabilities are discriminated against because physicians do not require the same suicide prevention procedures for persons with and without disabilities. The brief argues that physician-assisted suicide will discriminate as long as physicians do not value people with severe disabilities.

He has also written an amicus brief against a "wrongful life" action, arguing that hospitals violate Section 504 the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act to deny children with actual or potential disabilities the same level of medical care as nondisabled children receive.

He wrote the amicus brief for ADAPT, NCIL and TASH in the Olmstead v LC case before the Supreme Court, arguing that it is discrimination under the ADA to fail to provide services in "the most integrated setting" for persons with disabilities.

His Information Bulletins, which have a national circulation of more than 6,000 advocates and persons with disabilities, have dealt with housing, nursing homes, education, and medical assistance.

Contact Information:

Steve Gold
125 S. 9th St., Suite 700
Philadelphia, PA 19107
215-627-7100 (v)
215-627-3183 (f)
stevegoldada@cs.com
www.stevegoldada.com