NEW YORK, Aug. 25, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --On the heels of an unprecedented class action lawsuit by disabled citizens in the US Virgin Islands against their government (VI Alliance v. the Government of the US Virgin Islands), financier, Jeffrey Epstein and the Jeffrey Epstein VI Foundation, have provided critical funding for the Disability Rights Center of the Virgin Islands (DRCVI), the only legal advocacy organization for the disabled in the US Virgin Islands.
Established by Congress in 1977, to provide legal aid to the disabled in the US Virgin Islands, the DRCVI was originally called the Committee on Advocacy for the Developmentally Disabled, Inc. Today, the DRCVI is a member of the National Disability Rights Network (NDRN), the largest provider of legally based advocacy services for people with disabilities in the United States. With the success of the lawsuit, the DRCVI is closely monitoring and supporting the US Virgin Island's obligation to implement a host of reforms for the disabled under a five year plan.
Founded in 2000, the Jeffrey Epstein VI Foundation supports science education and youth based programs around the country and is based in St. Thomas in the US Virgin Islands.
Areas that the DRCVI will be monitoring include: improving disability access in schools, government buildings, restaurants, shops, theaters and bathrooms, improving public transport access, accessible voting and election processes, reducing abuse and neglect in facilities and community settings, reducing physical and chemical restraints, seclusion, and other methods of containment for the disabled, informing the disabled of their rights, increasing the number of disabled who vote, improving quality healthcare, employment opportunities, assistive technology devices and services and emergency preparedness planning.
"The best way to help any segment of the population is to empower them," Jeffrey Epstein remarked. The DRCVI does just that, by focusing on accessibility, voting power and education." Indeed, the DRCVI's mission statement is to: "advance the legal rights of people with disabilities in the U.S. Virgin Islands."
"We have already seen vast improvements under this five year plan," Amelia Headley LaMont noted who is the Executive Director of the DRCVI. "From voter participation to entry ramps in all buildings of a certain size."
http://www.jeffreyepstein.org
SOURCE www.jeffreyepstein.org
