Speaking out
By JESSICA ROBERTS Special to the Daily Press
30TH STREET — Chris Knauf’s passion for helping those with disabilities is not exclusively a professional pursuit. The new chair of the Santa Monica Disabilities Commission watched his own mother struggle in the grips of schizophrenia, an untreated illness that led to her suicide at age 40.
“It’s so sad and so ironic that I started doing disability rights after she died,” he said. “I wish I knew then what I know now. I really could have gotten her some help.
“Mental illness is a big issue of mine because of that experience.”
Knauf recently accepted a proclamation from the City Council declaring October to be Disabilities Awareness Month. Later this month, the Disabilities Commission will hold its “First Annual Disability Awareness Month Celebration” at the Santa Monica Public Library.
His unwavering concern for people with mental disabilities has led to Knauf’s involvement in the controversial effort by Step Up on Second to buy property across from Santa Monica College to house a number of the organization’s clients, all young adults who have recently suffered their first episode of mental illness.
“These are people that are in treatment with Step Up,” Knauf said. “They are working, they’re going to school, they are trying to be productive members of the community, who happen to have a mental illness.”
The reaction of people living in the area has been largely negative, especially at a meeting of the “Friends of Sunset Park” Knauf attended last week.
“It was just a very contentious meeting where it was very clear to me that the opponents were basing their opposition on stereotypes and fears, based on what they perceived to be the lifestyle and potential dangerousness of people with mental illness,” Knauf said.
As a resident of Sunset Park, Knauf said he was shocked by the reaction of his neighbors.
“It’s right down the street from me, it’s basically my neighbors who are voicing this opposition,” he said. “This is how you keep people who have mental illness from becoming homeless and get them to become productive members of society. And here’s my community saying, ‘we don’t want you here.’ It’s so unbelievably shortsighted to me.”
Knauf said he plans to bring the issue to the attention of the Disabilities Commission and make it a future item on its agenda.
“I’m speaking out wherever I can on this issue to raise awareness and suppress the knee-jerk fear of certain community members,” he said. “It’s fun. I enjoy it. It’s great to have that kind of cause.”
It is not just his personal interest in the cause, but his physical proximity to the issue that has Knauf excited.
“If this was north of Montana, I’d probably be involved to some extent, but not to the extent I am because it’s in Sunset Park,” he said.
A MIND FOR POLITICS Knauf said he was always interested in politics and government, a passion that took him to Washington, DC after he graduated from UCLA in 1991. He worked there for two years before returning to the West Coast to attend law school at USC.
“In the first year of law school, with this kind of government-political bent, I discovered something called public interest law,”he said.“I was thinking,‘this is the greatest area of law ever, where you get to be a lawyer and argue cases that are truly meaningful for the community.’ And so I fell in love with that.”
Knauf worked for the legal aid organization Bet Tzedek in Los Angeles for two years, and then for what is now called the Disability Legal Rights Center for more than four years.
Working in disability law meant that he had to take a crash course in issues affecting people with disabilities.
“I did trainings. I met the community. I just learned about all types of different stereotypes and perceptions that were untrue,” he said.
While working for the Disability Legal Rights Center, Knauf lived in Santa Monica and, through work, met his wife, Leanna, also an attorney. They lived in her condo on 11th Street until they decided to buy a house — and Knauf decided to change jobs.
“I was getting married,” Knauf said. “And my wife and I realized that we really loved Santa Monica and we really want to live here and so we thought the best move for me was to move from the non-profit world to the for-profit world.”
In private practice, Knauf worked for a firm that primarily represented school districts in special education issues. He learned about special education law and tried to resolve disputes between parents and the district about services provided for children.
“It’s kind of sad,” he said. “I know from the district perspective, if they had all the money in the world, they would love to give every kid every service that they could possibly give the kid.”
Knauf worked at the firm for three years before opening his own practice, Knauf Associates, at the beginning of this year to spend more time with his daughter Maya, who celebrated her first birthday last Monday.
Sitting in his home office, Knauf can appreciate that Santa Monica has been kind to his family.
“Leanna and I have planted our roots in Santa Monica,” he said. “Il Forno’s our favorite restaurant. It’s a great community kind of local restaurant. You see the same people there over and over again... We love Clover Park.”
Knauf works from home and walks to the park with Maya every morning.
“It’s great that I can now basically wake up and work if I need to,”he said.“I can walk my daughter to the park, hand her off to my wife who takes her in [to daycare], and I just pop in and start working at home.”
Add to that the Dodgers’ playoff run and the Bruins’ performance in last year’s NCAA basketball tournament, and it’s clear why Knauf is so content with his life.
“I’m very happy and I’m very lucky,”he said.
PASSIONATE COMMUNITY INVOLVMENT Although he is quite happy with his own luck, he remains dedicated to helping others who are not as fortunate. As chair of the Disabilities Commission, Knauf works to make the city more friendly, accessible and affordable for people with disabilities.
He was there at the inception of the Disabilities Commission seven years ago.
“I thought, this would be a great community thing to get involved in, and it really became a passion,” Knauf said.
Initially, Knauf said, the city was skeptical about the need for a disabilities commission.
“I think the organizers had a credibility problem and I saw my role as to bring in some credibility to this issue,” he said. “Other cities across the country have commissions. There’s no reason why Santa Monica shouldn’t. And you had an active, vocal community that wanted this kind of representation and this forum to bring its issues. It was perfect.”
Knauf got involved and brought his years of experience as a disabilities’ rights and special education lawyer to the aid of the commission’s founding members.
“Fortunately, the city saw the light and agreed to establish a task force,” Knauf said.
The task force advised the city to create a commission, but the council was not yet prepared to take that step. Instead, it formed a committee. Knauf was appointed to serve on the committee, which came up with another set of recommendations, one of which was the formation of a commission.
Finally, two years after the initial meeting, the Disabilities Commission was established.
In July, Knauf was appointed chair of the commission, which is now in its fifth year.
He said he hopes to put his “thumbprint” on the commission and “build on what we’ve already accomplished.”
“The other night, I accepted a proclamation from the City Council declaring October to be Disabilities Awareness Month,” he said. “I was thinking, ‘remember when you opposed us? Or you weren’t so sure that we were a good idea?’”
Now, Knauf said, the council has told the commissioners that they’re a model commission, that they are active and productive, “the best,or one of the best,commissions in the city.”
“It’s because we are passionate and we care a lot about our community and we want the city to do better for our community,” he said.
In Knauf’s year as chair, he plans to take on a few major goals. One is to gain more public awareness for the commission and for disabilities issues generally.
As part of that effort, the organization will hold its “First Annual Disability Awareness Month Celebration” at the Santa Monica public library on Oct. 28. The event will feature speakers and an art show by artists with disabilities, as well as a dramatic performance by a woman who became a paraplegic after she fell from a tree on a hiking trip.
At the event, the commission will also recognize Santa Monica High School’s Circle of Friends program for its contribution to people with disabilities. The group matches students with various kinds of disabilities with their peers to increase socialization and inclusion in the community to fight the natural isolation that students with disabilities often face, especially in high school.
“It’s a tremendously successful program,” Knauf said. “They’re growing and they’re trying to replicate it at other school districts... We’re very happy to honor them with our first award.”
Knauf wants to increase public input to the commission, have the city develop a program to increase employment of people with disabilities, and improve the “visitabil-ity” — or accessibility — of private homes.
“That’s what’s so appealing to this area of law — it’s a civil rights movement,” Knauf said. “We’re not asking for anything other than an equal opportunity to participate. Get your stereotypes out of the way and look at me for my abilities and what I can do and bring to you and your organization and your community. And in order for that to happen, well, the sidewalks need to have curb-ramps and you can’t have steps leading up to every store and every restaurant.”
Knauf vows that he won’t rest until everyone gets the opportunity to be just as happy with their lives as he is.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on October 2, 2006. Read the original PDF.