Texas State Senator Leticia Van de Putte's opening keynote address riveted the 120 participants in the 5th national conference on Bridges to Employment for Latinos with Disabilities, held May 31-June 2 in San Antonio. Weaving together history, geography, medical experience and cultural insights, the former pharmacist's impassioned speech outlined the situation of her 800,000 constituents in a dominantly Latino part of Texas: San Antonio and surrounding areas.

She recounted her father's capsule view of their family history in what is now Texas, tracing their heritage back over 9 generations and 350 years, starting with Spanish rule, succeeded by France, Mexico, the Republic of Texas, the Confederacy and, finally, the U.S. Currently, in her District 26, Senator Van de Putte stated demographic changes including that 62% of third graders are Latino, and that 'José' is now the most popular choice for a boy's name.

Using medical indicators to describe a local situation about to explode, Van de Putte informed the audience that, according to former Health and Human Services Commissioner Albert Hawkins: "In the last year, the state had paid for more than 500 amputations for young people 21 and under, illustrating the critical threshold we have reached for diabetes-related problems." As a pharmacist, she stated, even 10 years ago it would have been rare to prescribe insulin to this young population.

Additionally, she emphasized that around 42% of 4th graders were now considered obese, constituting a public health emergency. Statewide, this situation is forcing legislators to urgently examine public policy questions, such as whether to shift the budget to services now needed or to retain the emphasis on prevention and intervention?

Also active in the National Conference of State Legislators, the Senator said one of her main roles there in advocating for the K-12 population is to "remind the group that civil rights based legislation, such as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), still trumps initiatives such as "No Child Left Behind." As Van de Putte summarized, without education and healthcare, young people with disabilities will never become workforce ready.

The Senator stressed that regarding education and healthcare, Latino women often make the decisions affecting the family, and that they had to learn to put aside their training "not to be boastful," and to become fierce advocates for their family members who might be discriminated against or overlooked.

Conference organizers and sponsors
The San Antonio conference was the culmination of a series of in-depth exchanges organized by the World Institute on Disability from 2002 to 2006 about how to better connect disabled Latinos with the labor market, and to explore ways that Latino, business and disability leaders could work together on this issue. San Antonio Independent Living Services (SAILS), under the leadership of Kitty Brietzke, J.D., executive director and Marisa Ortiz-Rentería, independent living projects specialist, helped to organize the conference this year. In addition to the Department of Education's Rehabilitative Services Administration, conference presenting sponsor
Wal-Mart, and co-sponsors the American Express Foundation, AT&T, Consumers for Cable Choice, and the Epilepsy Foundation supported the event.

Representatives from corporations and government agencies including Microsoft, Wachovia and the Department of Homeland Security made great contributions to the event by traveling across the country to share information about their diversity initiatives that include Latinos with disability. Conferee evaluations indicate they appreciated the panelists' appearance at the event as they doubled as role models for many of the job seekers.

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