Francine Wai: The CEO of Hawaii’s DCAB opens doors for those with disabilities

Among several bills Hawaii’s Disability and Communication Access Board (DCAB) is tracking at the state Capitol is one that would set civil penalties for misrepresentation of a service animal. However, while more than a dozen other states have such laws on the books, they’re difficult to enforce due to various Americans with Disabilities Act requirements.

What else can be done to address this matter, which is setting in motion awkward and sometimes dicey incidents in shops, restaurants, airports and other public spaces?

“I, as well as many service animal handlers, believe that a system of mandatory certification and registration of service animals is the only real way to manage the situation,” said Francine Wai, who serves as the agency’s CEO and executive director of the state board, which consists of 17 governor-appointed members including representatives from each county.

Wai suggests that the state’s parking system for people with mobility disabilities, which DCAB manages, could serve as a model for a service animal program that could “call out” fakes. But such a move would require a federal law tweak as the U.S. Department of Justice, under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), cannot demand service animal registration or certification.

“Can you imagine a system where (disability-related) parking … was left to an honor system where people self-identified? That’s basically what we now have with service animals in the community,” Wai said. “It is possible that a bill with a penalty for misrepresentation at the state level will act as a limited deterrent, but our focus needs to be on congressional action to change the (ADA) law.”

Wai’s career in disability policy and services spans more than three decades — and is tied to her younger sister, who was born with a developmental disability and later acquired visual, mobility and respiratory disabilities. “She recently passed away but was my inspiration and grounding in my career,” Wai said.

A Honolulu native, Wai created her own undergraduate major — a study that would now be tagged as public policy — while enrolled at Pomona College in California. She later pursued graduate studies at the University of Toronto School of Public Health, and earned a master’s degree in health policy and management from Harvard’s School of Public Health.

Question: How large is the overall group of people with a disability in Hawaii?

Answer: Disability statistics is a very imprecise science. Unlike a relatively fixed characteristic such as age, disability is typically self-declared when you have surveys, including the U.S. Census. Compounding the difficulty is that the eligibility criteria for services differs widely based upon the program’s internal definition of disability.

Having said that, the surveys range from 13 percent on the low end to about 20 percent on the upper end, the latter figure used more commonly for the purposes of civil rights protections. This covers the full range of physical and mental disabilities. As our population ages and lives longer, the numbers will increase.

Q: Other state bills and legislative priorities for DCAB?

A: We initiated bills to strengthen the parking program for people with disabilities. We are seeking clarification on confiscation to give greater latitude to law enforcement, including penalties on people who sell placards. We recently had a situation where someone was selling his deceased parent’s placard online. We are also hoping to revise the benefits provision to minimize abuse. Within the next decade, parking meters as we know them may be obsolete with new technology, so we are trying to adapt our program as the parking industry changes.

Also, we initiated a bill to make permanent a requirement for a nominal number of open-captioned movies in select theaters to allow full access to view a movie without the use of cumbersome and stigmatizing equipment such as adaptive eyewear. Hawaii was the first state to get our foot in the door on this issue and we want to be a leader in the nation. Most of the mainstream movies have embedded captions today, so it only takes a flick of a switch to show them. Captioning will benefit people, not only those who are deaf and hard of hearing, but non-English speaking populations.

In addition, we supported a bill to assist individuals who modify their vehicles through an adjustment on the motor vehicle weight tax to offset the cost due to the additional weight of an adapted vehicle.

Q: The DCAB’s mission is to promote the independence and civil rights of individuals with disabilities. In that regard, what do you see as the state’s strengths and weaknesses?

A: Although this may not be an impartial answer, one way that Hawaii excels is the establishment of our office and the continued administrative support through multiple governors, regardless of political party, and the Legislature. We have one of the most coordinated disability access offices of any state. Being a small state helps in the coordination.

A weakness in our state is insufficient resources for enforcement in civil rights. We have some good and progressive laws on the books but not enough enforcement. Likewise, in the service delivery area, we have expansive laws that provide enabling legislation for services but not necessarily enough money for full implementation of services — community living, paratransit and housing, to name a few.

Q: How is evolving technology playing a role in the lives of people with disabilities?

A:Technology will be THE biggest game-changer for people with disabilities in the future. … When the ADA was enacted (1990), the primary focus was on brick-and-mortar features in the built environment or transit vehicles. The internet wasn’t even a consideration in the law or rules.

Making technology accessible is the newest frontier for both potential benefits or increased litigation. It’s not only the internet but all social media. Nearly every week there’s a new way to bank or make a reservation online — and all those options must be accessible in multiple formats for screen readers or with captions. … The beauty is the universality, where technology invented for everyone’s use becomes a tool for access for people with disabilities.

Q: What do you think the general public misunderstands about living with a disability?

A: Probably the biggest misconception is that disability defines a person. While it can significantly impact a person’s life, disability is a characteristic. People tend to generalize about people with disabilities by thinking that all people with a specific disability are alike. People with disabilities are diverse in interest, personality, preferences and life goals. Don’t pre-judge a person’s abilities based upon a diagnosis or a preconceived notion of what a person is capable of doing or achieving.

Q: As DCAB’s CEO, what’s your current focus?

A: We have an ambitious annual plan … in the areas of facility access, communication access, parking, transportation, education, community living, employment, emergency preparedness, civil rights.

… Our immediate focus, other than (proposed state) legislation, is to strengthen the management of the parking program, improve communication access through our administrative rules on sign language interpreters, and automate our facility access blueprint review process. We have also increased our work in emergency preparedness for people with disabilities due to the recent false missile alert.

We do this while continuing our daily work of issuing placards, reviewing blueprints, credentialing interpreters, and ADA coordination.

Q: What do you find most rewarding about your job?

A: It may be a cliche, but I enjoy making a difference — whether it be a change in policy or law, having an architect design a building to remove a barrier, or helping resolve a question or complaint. Our staff is very committed to the philosophy and values of the organization. … The work is more than a job — it’s a belief in the mission. With staff longevity, we have deep roots in navigating community resources.

When I first started the staff consisted of only two people — a clerk and me. We now have a robust, multi-faceted program with about 20 interdisciplinary staff. The goal is program longevity even when I am no longer there.