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This article is reproduced here under special arrangement with Inclusion
Daily Express Email News Service.
They are the parents that long ago rejected the advice and pressure of doctors, social workers, family members, teachers, friends and countless others and refused to send their children to institutions. Nearly two million Americans with developmental disabilities have been living with their parents or family members for most or all of their lives. Many of their parents never asked for a single dime from the state or federal government. About one-fourth of those parents are over 70 years of age and need more support or need other arrangements. Unfortunately, after all these years, many of these people are going onto waiting lists for support services. Some just wait as officials tell them there simply is no money for services. Others only receive services if they are "in crisis", and being "in crisis" often translates into "needing institutional care". In the famous 1999 Olmstead decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that putting people in institutions "inappropriately" violates the Americans with Disabilities Act. The federal government followed by ordering state Medicaid programs to come up with plans for increasing community services. Since the decision, advocacy groups have filed lawsuits in a number of states, claiming that long waits on waiting lists for community services also violate the "least restrictive setting" provisions of the ADA. You'd think those families would at least get a "thank you" rather than a number on a waiting list. The above articles refer to the on-going study done by David Braddock and others at the University of Illinois at Chicago. That study, "The State of the States in Developmental Disabilities" compares service information over more than a 20-year period and is available at this web address: http://www.uic.edu/depts/idhd/StateoftheStates/home.htm Not Dead Yet in court today for Wendland May 30, 2001 -- Members of Not Dead Yet are at the California Supreme Court today as oral arguments are heard in the case of Robert Wendland, whose wife wants to remove his feeding tube; his mother has fought to keep him alive. More Special Education Figured Big in Jeffords Defection by Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express May 29, 2001 This article is reproduced here under special arrangement with Inclusion Daily Express Email News Service. WASHINGTON, DC--James Jeffords was a young congressman in 1975 when the U.S. Congress passed the law that is now known as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). In passing the IDEA, which guaranteed educational and support services for students with disabilities, Congress promised to pay 40 percent of the costs for those services. A quarter of a century later, the federal government is paying between 10 and 15 percent of special education costs, a fact that has frustrated few lawmakers like it has Senator Jeffords from Vermont. Jeffords has repeatedly pushed for increased funding in special education, only to find resistance from within his own party. Just this year, Jeffords led the Senate in passing a budget amendment that would have increased federal spending on special education to about $180 billion over the next ten years. But, because of pressure from Republican leaders and the Administration, Jeffords' provision was removed from the measure before it was approved. Last week, Jeffords announced that he would be leaving the Republican Party and become an Independent, thereby giving control of the Senate to the Democratic Party. "Looking ahead, I can see more and more instances where I will disagree with the president on very fundamental issues," Jeffords said last week. "The largest, for me, is education." More articles on Senator Jeffords and his emphasis on special education are available from this week's Extra's page section on Education: http://www.InclusionDaily.com/22/extras.htm#education PGA Tour must accommodate disabled golfers, says Supreme Court May 29 -- The Americans with Disabilities Act requires the PGA Tour waive its requirement for walking, because it is not "fundamental" to the game, said the U.S. Supreme Court in its 7-2 decision. MORE. Zum Brunnen Wants Another Showdown With Eastwood by Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express May 23, 2001 This article is reproduced here under special arrangement with Inclusion Daily Express Email News Service. SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA--The woman who sued Clint Eastwood for violating the Americans with Disabilities Act has filed a motion asking for a new trial, according to a story from Wednesday's Associated Press. Diane zum Brunnen, who has multiple sclerosis and uses a wheelchair, sued the famous actor/director in 1997, claiming that Eastwood's Mission Ranch Inn in Carmel was inaccessible when she and her husband visited. She was asking for monetary damages and for the court to force Eastwood to make changes so the hotel would be more accessible to people with disabilities. Last September, a California jury decided that Eastwood was liable for three ADA violations at the resort and ordered him to provide a ramp to the registration office, a second accessible guest room and signs about the accessible restrooms -- which were 234 feet away from the main building. The jury did not order Eastwood to pay any damages to zum Brunnen. The motion, which is scheduled to be heard on June 4, claims that jurors were "predictably biased" toward Eastwood, and that he had been allowed to unfairly influence jurors by playing piano for them when they visited Mission Ranch to see the layout and by signing autographs for them when the case was over. Eastwood has portrayed himself as a hero for small business owners who do not follow the Americans with Disabilities Act, suggesting they are victims of "renegade lawyers". He has also claimed that people with disabilities are being used by such attorneys who just want a "fistful of dollars". In May of last year, Eastwood argued before the U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary that businesses should be given a 90-day notice before a discrimination complaint could be filed based on the ADA. Eastwood was defending a proposed "ADA Notification Act", which many disability rights advocates say would severely weaken the law. Institutions violate rules on restaints, says report by Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express May 22, 2001 This article is reproduced here under special arrangement with Inclusion Daily Express Email News Service. CHICAGO, ILLINOIS--Staff members in Illinois mental facilities violated federal and state guidelines regarding physical restraints used on residents, according to a long-awaited report released Friday. The report, entitled "The State of Restraint Utilization in the New Millennium: Practical Recommendations for Positive Intervention", was released by Equip for Equality, Illinois' protection and advocacy service. The study was to have been completed last year, but the agency was delayed by having to take the state Department of Human Services (DHS) to court in order to gain access to the records. The study was initiated in response to complaints from residents and their families. The agency performed a review of 325 incidents where restraints were used in 10 Illinois mental facilities during the last six months of 1997. Among other things, reviewers looked at whether physician's orders were given and followed; how long each person was restrained; whether the person was monitored during the restraint; and whether or not the restraint was appropriate, that is, was needed to protect the person or others from harm. Some of the results are disturbing. Only one-fourth of the required doctor's orders listed a reason for the restraint. Several people were restrained simply because they did not cooperate with staff members or because they had shouted insults at them. And nearly twenty-percent were left in restraints for more than an hour after they had calmed down, or had even fallen asleep. The report includes a number of recommendations for protecting residents that could prove valuable for other states and other programs. The Restraint Monitoring and Policy Project Final Report is about 84 pages long and is available in Microsoft Word format from Equip for Equality's website: http://www.equipforequality.org/headerg.html Wisconsin panel ends Medicaid waiting lists by Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express May 21, 2001 This article is reproduced here under special arrangement with Inclusion Daily Express Email News Service. MADISON, WISCONSIN--Three weeks after 3,000 advocates, many with disabilities, packed the state capital demanding an end to waiting lists for community-based services, a legislative panel has approved a $19 million package to do just that. According to the Madison Capital Times, the plan approved by the Joint Legislative Council last week uses federal Medicaid funds to address the shortfall in services to people who have developmental disabilities and their families. Over the next two years, the plan would dedicate $3.5 million to the Family Support Program, thereby reducing the waiting list by two-thirds. The Family Support Program funds flexible services for people with developmental disabilities who live with their parents or other family members. The Community Integration Program, which provides community-based alternatives to institutions, would receive $7.4 million over the next two years. An additional $8 million is planned for getting rid of all waiting lists for services over the same time period. Money would also be added for respite care. The plan is expected to pass the full legislature because it would not rely on state funds, and frees up funds for other social service programs. It also would help the state avoid legal action related to the 1999 U.S. Supreme Court Olmstead decision, which ruled that services for people with developmental disabilities and mental illness must be provided in the least restrictive setting appropriate for their needs. The Wisconsin Developmental Disabilities Council estimates that 15,000 seniors and people with disabilities are on waiting lists for services in the state. Disability groups protest Sutton nomination Friday, May 25 -- Disability rights advocates from across Ohio protested in in front of attorney Jeffrey S. Sutton's law offices in Columbus, Ohio to demand his withdrawal as President Bush's nominee for the 6th U.S.Circuit Court of Appeals. The demonstration was coordinated by the Ability Center of Toledo. Sutton told protesters he would not withdraw his name from nomination. Sutton's philosophy is "in direct contradiction with the philosophy of independent living that we promote," said Ability Center's Sue Hetrick. "The Americans with Disabilities Act has produced real change in this country for people with disabilities, so we have to take a stand against a nominee who says that our civil rights law is unnecessary." More on Sutton and the ADA..
Louisiana Limits Suits Against Nursing Homes by Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express May 10, 2001 This article is reproduced here under special arrangement with Inclusion Daily Express Email News Service. BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA--Nursing home residents and their families will not be able to use state inspection reports as evidence in lawsuits against the facilities under a proposed bill moving through the Louisiana legislature. On Monday, the House Civil Law Committee overwhelmingly passed HB1798, which was written almost entirely by a lobbyist for the nursing home industry. More details are available from the May 8 Baton Rouge Advocate at http://www.theadvocate.com/news/story.asp?StoryID=21333
Activists get Bush promise to sign Olmstead order in 30 days WASHINGTON, DC, May 15, 2001 -- With hundreds of activists at the gates of the White House, ADAPT got a firm assurance from the Bush Administration that the President will sign an Executive Order to implement the Olmstead Supreme Court decision within 30 days. MORE ON THIS STORY. ADAPT activists from around the U.S. are in the nation's capitol for a week of actions to press the Bush administration to make good on promises made at the start of his administration. ADAPT organizer Bob Kafka says the group is pushing Bush to support MiCassa legislation, to be introduced soon, "that will finally eliminate the outdated institutional bias that continues to plague our Medicaid/Medicare funded long term care service and support system" so that "no American is ever again forced into a nursing home." For daily updates, visit the ADAPT Action Report Officials Meet Resistance to Inclusion Plan by Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express May 4, 2001 This article is reproduced here under special arrangement with Inclusion Daily Express Email News Service. DETROIT, MICHIGAN--Summer break is just a few weeks away for most schools across the United States. For the 20,000 high school students in Detroit's special education system, school may be radically different when classes start up in the fall. Over the summer, the district plans to dismantle four of its twelve "specialized" schools that currently provide services in a segregated setting. Eventually nearly all of the district's students will be included in regular classrooms with other students their own age. The changes come 26 years after the passage of what is now called the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). The law specifies that children with disabilities should be taught in the least restrictive setting. Detroit school officials are finding resistance to the change from some teachers and parents. The May 2 Detroit News carried a short article on the controversy surrounding the move toward inclusion: "Special ed revamped" [Editor's Note: I have to say I found a quote from one teacher rather ironic. Cecilia Totty, a teacher at one segregated school, said of her students, "They aren't isolated. It's just that they are in a building together where they are learning at their own pace." In another part of the article, Totty notes that "When we take our students on field trips, we get the stares." Sure, they "get the stares". That is what happens when a group of students with disabilities go on a field trip together. My bet is that if ALL of the students were going on the field trip, those with disabilities and those without, they wouldn't even be noticed.-- Dave] Louisiana thinks about implementing Olmstead decision by Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express May 3, 2001 This article is reproduced here under special arrangement with Inclusion Daily Express Email News Service. BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA--On May 2, the Louisiana Senate Health and Welfare Committee approved SB855, which sets up a consumer task force and a planning group to come up with a plan as well as steps to implement it. The bill is consistent with the state's response to the 1999 U.S. Supreme Court decision in the case of in L.C. & E.W. vs. Olmstead. The court ruled that it is a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act for states to discriminate against people with disabilities by providing services in institutions when the individual could be served "more appropriately" in a community-based setting. Supporters of SB855 say nearly all of the state's Medicaid money for long term care goes to institutions. To see how other states are responding, check out this March 2001 status report from the National Conference of State Legislatures: "THE STATES' RESPONSE TO THE OLMSTEAD DECISION" at http://www.ncsl.org/programs/health/forum/olmsreport.htm Director says California's institutions will close by Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express May 2, 2001 This article is reproduced here under special arrangement with Inclusion Daily Express Email News Service.
POMONA, CALIFORNIA--Institutions for Californians who have developmental disabilities will be a thing of the past, according to Clifford Allenby, director of California's Department of Developmental Services. In a Los Angeles Times article about Lanterman Developmental Center, Allenby is quoted as saying that closing the state's five institutions is "inevitable". "Lanterman at some point in time in the not too distant future will not exist," Allenby said of the institution at Pomona. On February 23rd, Berkeley Assemblywoman Dion Aroner introduced a bill that would transfer resources from California's five remaining institutions, called "developmental centers", and use it to develop homes in the community and to improve pay for direct support staff working in the community. If it is approved, Aroner's AB 896 would develop a unified, community-based service system out of the current dual system. In the LA Times story, Allenby says that even if AB 896 is not approved, the institutions will gradually be down-sized and closed. "Eventually, clients will all be living in the community," he said. California's community-based service system for people with developmental disabilities serves about 170,000 people at an average cost of $11,700 a year per person. The state also houses about 3,800 Californians in five developmental centers, at an average of $166,753 a year per person. In other words, the state spends about 25 percent of its developmental disabilities budget on 2 percent of the people it serves. The aging facilities themselves may help to bring about deinstitutionalization. Two of the institutions are over 100 years old. The buildings themselves are decaying and the cost to renovate them and to bring them up to code is estimated at over a billion dollars. Town fights group home for Jewish disabled boys by Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express May 1, 2001 This article is reproduced here under special arrangement with Inclusion Daily Express Email News Service.
RAMAPO, NEW YORK--The attorney for this small town just north-west of New York City has filed a lawsuit with the state Supreme Court to block a proposed group home for youths who have developmental disabilities. Last fall, Provider-Hamaspik of Rockland notified officials that they were planning to establish a group home for youths who have disabilities in what is a largely Jewish community. But during a special Site Selection Committee hearing, over 100 residents showed up to demonstrate their opposition to allowing the boys to move in. Why did the neighbors object? They objected, in part, because of the boys' religion. Herman Friedman, who is a member of Ramapo's Zoning Board of Appeals, is one of those who said he opposed having the boys move into the neighborhood. Friedman said he believed the boys would not "fit in" because they would be "ultra-orthodox" Hasidic Jews. The town's councilmen passed a resolution officially objecting to the proposed home, and sent that resolution on to the state Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities. In December, the state office held a hearing and decided there was no reason to stop the group home from being established. Opposition from the local community continued, however, and that prompted Town Attorney Alan Simon to file the action against the state. Simon reasoned that if he had not taken action on behalf of residents, there would be "warfare in the community". A hearing on the issue is expected later in May. |
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