| Volume 08 | Issue 40 | October 6, 2008 |
Welcome to Monday Morning in Washington, D.C., published weekly by The Arc of the United States. We will bring to you news of interest to self advocates and their families, volunteers, professionals, and supporters of the disability movement. Please send any comments to mmwdc@thearc.org. You are welcome to reproduce and distribute items from Monday Morning in Washington, D.C., but please credit Monday Morning in Washington, D.C. (The Arc of the United States, 2007).
The Arc of the United States advocates for the rights and full participation of all children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Together with our network of members and affiliated chapters, we improve systems of supports and services; connect families; inspire communities; and influence public policy.
[NOTE: Having trouble reading this newsletter? Read it online.] [Past Issues]
The Presidential Candidates on Disability Issues
Availability of disability-specific information on candidate's Web site
McCain
Disability-related information is found within some of the issue areas of the Web site, such as the Veterans and Health Care sections.
See: http://www.johnmccain.com/ ; See also: http://www.gopplatform2008.com/2008Platform.pdf
Obama
Disability-related information is found within the Disabilities section of the Web site.
See: http://www.barackobama.com/issues/disabilities/ ; See also: http://www.democrats.org/a/party/platform.html
This is a new website for young adults with disabilities who want to learn about the voting process and make a difference in theircommunities. The site includes resources for voters in Minnesota
and across the country, including the many different ways one can vote and what it means to be a good citizen. The website also includes an open-captioned video on the voting process.
Please visit www.myvoicemyvote.org. You can embed the video in your website by going to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6zL_PJYz-g
Please share this website and YouTube link with all who may be interested.
NECTAC eNotes - October 3, 2008
Current and past issues of eNotes can be searched online at http://www.nectac.org/enotes/enotes.asp
FVND Share the Wealth Week of Sept. 29th, 2008
The Institute of Education Sciences (IES) has published the 30-day Federal Register Notice inviting comments on the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) 2004 National Assessment Implementation Study (NAIS).
The NAIS will provide a national picture of the implementation of early intervention and special education policies and practices at the state and district levels with a focus on new provisions included in IDEA 2004. Data collection will include surveys of: (1) all State Part B administrators; (2) all State 619 coordinators; and (3) all State IDEA Part C coordinators. A fourth survey will collect district level data from a nationally representative sample of local special education administrators. Interested persons are invited to submit comments on or before October 22, 2008. For more information go to http://www.ed.gov/legislation/FedRegister/other/2008-3/092208a.html. To access the EDICS Collection Package go to http://edicsweb.ed.gov/browse/browsecoll.cfm?pkg_serial_num=3753
The Sloan Work and Family Research Network recently released an action plan generated from a panel meeting in May entitled Work-Family Issues for Employed Parents of Children with Disabilities.
The plan recommends additional research to better understand the complex and often hidden hardships faced by working parents caring for children with disabilities and increasing the visibility of this issue to help inform employers, policy makers, and the public. To read the full press release go to http://wfnetwork.bc.edu/press_release/091508_parents_children.pdf. The action plan is available at http://wfnetwork.bc.edu/pdfs/Disability_Panel_Summary_0908.pdf
The California Social Work Education Center (CalSWEC) has developed a curriculum entitled The Other Side of ICWA: A Cultural Journey to Fairness and Equity.
Although it was developed to assist with the successful implementation of the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), it is appropriate for a variety of professionals working with Native American communities. The materials focus on trust and relationship-building, the effects of historic and collective trauma on the Native American experience, and culturally sensitive communication and needs assessment. It is available online at http://calswec.berkeley.edu/CalSwec/FE_Curriculum_Other_ICWA_v1.0.html
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has released a more user-friendly version of healthfinder.gov.
To see the new version go to: www.healthfinder.gov.
Impact of Expanded Newborn Screening in the United States
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5737a2.htm
The U.S. Census Bureau recently released its annual report entitled Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2007.
The report shows that in 2007, 13.3 million or 18 percent of children in the U.S. were living in poverty, an increase from the 17.4 percent who were living in poverty in 2006. Additionally, children in poverty were more likely to be uninsured than the population of all children — 17.6 percent compared with 11.0 percent. The full report is available at http://www.census.gov/prod/2008pubs/p60-235.pdf
Chronically Ill Children and Public Health Insurance Coverage discusses findings from a state-by-state analysis of children's access to health care services, especially children with special health care needs (CSHCN). The report, prepared for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation by researchers at the University of Minnesota's State Health Access Data Assistance Center, draws on data from the 2005-2007 State and Local Area Integrated Telephone Survey and the 2007 National Health Interview Survey to determine whether children who have public or private insurance coverage access health care services differently than children who are uninsured. The report is available at http://covertheuninsured.org/pdf/ANeededLifeline.pdf
The cost of raising children with special health care needs
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) National Center for Health Statistics recently released the following two data briefs examining rates of children’s mental health services use and depression in U.S. households:
To view the entire report, please see: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db08.htm
Recommended Transition Practices for Young Children
A new report from the National Early Childhood Transition Center (NECTC) entitled Recommended Transition Practices for Young Children, by Beth Rous provides findings from a national validation survey. The report provides information on 21 transition practices validated across early childhood and early childhood special education professionals. A short summary of the report is available at http://www.ihdi.uky.edu/nectc/documents/TRANSITIONALERTS/Validation%20Survey%20TA4.pdf The full technical report is available at http://www.ihdi.uky.edu/nectc/Documents/technicalreport/Validation_Survey_Final.pdf
Friday's Child: September 26, 2008 Edition
This edition is avaiable here: http://www.familyvoices.org/pub/fc/FC_2008-09-26.pdf
REFERENCE POINTS:
New Employment Awareness Campaign from ODEP
The Department of Labor's Office of Disability Employment Policy's (ODEP) recently announced its new PITCH Campaign - Proving Individuals with Talent Can Help. The campaign's spokesman, Jim Abbott, is a former Major League Baseball pitcher. Along with ODEP, Jim is helping to spread the word about the value that people with disabilities can bring to the workplace. To learn more about PITCH, and get answers to your questions about hiring people with disabilities and how parents can help put their children on the path to future employment, go to http://www.dol.gov/odep/mlb/index.htm .
REFERENCE POINTS:
Conference and Workshop Updates Added to the TATRA Website
REFERENCE POINTS Conference and workshop updates feature NEW additions to the listing of transition related national and regional conferences maintained on PACER Center's TATRA Project web site. To see our complete calendar of events, please visit us at http://www.pacer.org/tatra/calendar.asp.
STATES SEE RISING ENROLLMENT IN MEDICAID AS ECONOMY FALTERS
New 50-State Survey Finds Few States Have Taken Action to Cut Medicaid To Date, But Many See Potential For Revisions If Budget Constraints Worsen
WASHINGTON – With states confronting a weakening economy, enrollment in Medicaid began to rise last year with states expecting even larger increases for fiscal year 2009, according to a new 50-state survey released today by the Kaiser Family Foundation’s Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured (KCMU). With the increased enrollment, Medicaid spending is also rising more rapidly than in the recent past, raising the potential for program cutbacks as states confront the combined impact of more enrollees and fewer available resources.
The survey finds that Medicaid enrollment across the country grew 2.1 percent in fiscal year 2008, more than erasing a slight decline in enrollment experienced the previous year. States also experienced spending growth of 5.3 percent, up significantly from the previous two years. For fiscal year 2009, states expect to see even larger increases in Medicaid enrollment (3.5 percent) and spending (5.8 percent).
The survey comes as states face serious financial constraints, with 30 states having confronted significant budget shortfalls as they prepared their fiscal year 2009 budgets. Looking ahead, two thirds of state Medicaid directors say that there is at least a 50-50 chance that they will face a shortfall in their Medicaid budgets during the current year. Such shortfalls could force mid-year changes to control costs, potentially including cuts in eligibility and outreach efforts.
“We’re just beginning to see the impact of the economic slowdown, as growing Medicaid enrollment and shrinking revenues pose new threats for health coverage,” said Diane Rowland, executive vice president of the Kaiser Family Foundation and Executive Director of KCMU.
Medicaid directors attributed the growth in enrollment and spending to the weakened economic outlook facing their states. During economic downturn, as unemployment rises people may lose employer-based coverage and incomes decline, making them potentially eligible for a state’s Medicaid program. Ongoing state efforts to address the uninsured such as expanding Medicaid eligibility, improving outreach and simplifying enrollment procedures also played a role in the growth.
Medicaid Policy Initiatives for Fiscal Years 2008 and 2009
Conducted by Kaiser researchers with the KCMU and researchers with Health Management Associates, the eighth annual budget survey of state officials found that more states made restorations, enhancements or expansions to their Medicaid programs than made cuts for fiscal years 2008 and 2009. These include changes to provider reimbursement levels, in Medicaid eligibility requirements and enrollment processes, in benefits, and in home- and community-based services for long-term care.
The changes reflect efforts that began during the favorable economic climate in 2007, as states prepared their fiscal year 2008 budgets, and continued for fiscal year 2009, though this year’s expansions were fewer and smaller in scope. This pattern is similar to what occurred at the start of the last economic downturn from 2001 to 2004, when states did not immediately implement widespread actions to cut Medicaid but made significant cuts later.
Other key findings from the survey include:
Today’s report, Headed for a Crunch: An Update on Medicaid Spending, Coverage and Policy Heading into an Economic Downturn – Results from a 50-State Medicaid Budget Survey for State Fiscal Years 2008 and 2009, is available online at http://www.kff.org/medicaid/7815.cfm. In addition, an audio press briefing on the release will be available.
DisabilityInfo.gov
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) & Civil Rights Update: Notice Concerning The Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) Amendments Act of 2008
The Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act of 2008 makes important changes to the definition of the term "disability". The Act retains the ADA's basic definition of "disability" as an impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, however, it changes the way that these statutory terms should be interpreted in several ways. This information has recently been updated, and can be accessed by visiting this link: http://www.disabilityinfo.gov/digov-public/public/ DisplayPage.do? parentFolderId=219.
DisabilityInfo.gov
Medicaid Update: CMS Issues Final Rule to Empower Medicaid Beneficiaries to Direct Personal Assistance Services
A final rule that would allow more Medicaid beneficiaries to be in charge of their own personal assistance services, including personal care services, instead of having those services directed by an agency, has been issued by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). The final rule - http://federalregister.gov/OFRUpload/OFRData/2008-23102_PI.pdf becomes effective November 3, 2008.
This information has recently been updated, and can be accessed by visiting this link: http://www.disabilityinfo.gov/digov-public/public/DisplayPage.do?parentFolderId=143.
Role of Youth in Making High Schools Inclusive Teleconference. Featuring Youth Leaders from Kids as Self-Advocates (KASA).
October 15th, 3:30-5:00 p.m. e.t.
Details are in this registration link
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=fTaJFRd5gdwv8PnZ9IJh_2bg_3d_3d
The teleseminar will present effective strategies for youth with and without disabilities to work together to make high schools more inclusive. Explore why inclusive education is essential, the challenges in achieving this goal and lessons learned from the perspective of youth with disabilities
Learn about effective strategies for working with youth with and without disabilities to address barriers to inclusion at the high school level, including school environment, social skills, accessibility, etc. Learn about resources to build youth leadership in making high schools more inclusive.
US Medical Professionals Must Provide Families Current Information on Genetic Disabilities
On September 25 the Prenatally and Postnatally Diagnosed Conditions Awareness Act was approved by the US House and is on its way to President Bush for signature. This bill was made as an amendment to the Public Health Service Act with the intention to make medical professionals provide accurate, current information on Down syndrome and other genetic diagnosis when a parent has a prenatal or postnatal (up to 12 months) diagnosis for their baby.
Currently, information given parents is outdated and inaccurate according to current research and services that are available to families today. In addition, medical professionals must provide information for support services to these families, so they will know they are not alone in raising their child and will have the opportunity to speak with families also experiencing raising a child with the same disability.
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:SN01810:@@@L&summ2=m&
News & Notes - Television Captioning and Description
“Seeing is believing” for the millions of deaf individuals who rely on captioned video as a means of access to television, movies, and the increasingly ubiquitous videos in our lives. Likewise, those with blindness and vision impairments find that audio description brings to life the video images to which they’re otherwise denied access. As a society we’ve come much farther in providing captioning than we have in offering description, but rapidly evolving technologies pose significant challenges to both.
This issue of Family Center News and Notes tracks the history of captioning and description with three leaders in the field – Bill, Dianne, and Jason Stark – and looks at the current status of both. It’s an important topic and one we hope you’ll find of interest. In addition, Jenifer Simpson of the American Association of People with Disabilities provides important information on the transition from analogue to digital broadcasting.
FCTD News and Notes can be viewed in both PDF and HTML formats at http://www.fctd.info/resources/newsletters/index.php.
Workforce development and human service professionals and volunteers will soon have access to a new training tool that will guide them in helping customers take a crucial step in successfully securing a job or other services: finding transportation.
The Community Transportation Association and Easter Seals, Inc. will be sponsoring a valuable training opportunity-using the newly developed "Transportation Solutions: Linking People with Their Community" curriculum-to guide workforce development and human service agency professionals in assisting customers find suitable transportation options.
Available as a 10.5-hour in-person training for agency supervisors and transportation resource coordinators and a 4-hour workshop for direct service staff, the Transportation Solutions course includes:
Staff at the Community Transportation Association of America and Easter Seals, Inc., designed the curriculum with input from a 17-member National Advisory Committee drawn from federal, state, and local experts in a wide range of fields (e.g., workforce development, transportation, education, rehabilitation, disability services). Representatives from the Disability Program Navigator Initiative at the national and community level were part of the Committee.
You can also access a brochure at:http://web1.ctaa.org/webmodules/webarticles/articlefiles/Brochure_final_5.21.08.pdf.
Proving Individuals with Talent Can Help Campaign
U.S. Department of Labor Office of Disability Employment Policy
The Department of Labor's Office of Disability Employment Policy's (ODEP) recently announced its new PITCH Campaign - Proving Individuals with Talent Can Help. The campaign's spokesman, Jim Abbott, is a former Major League Baseball pitcher. Along with ODEP, Jim is helping to spread the word about the value that people with disabilities can bring to the workplace.
Access the URL to learn more about PITCH, and get answers to your questions about hiring people with disabilities and how parents can help put their children on the path to future employment.http://www.dol.gov/odep/mlb/index.htm
Ask Medicare - Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services - NEW!
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) launched Ask Medicare, a new initiative to help family caregivers, those who are family members or friends who help people with Medicare, access valuable healthcare information, services and resources. More than 44 million Americans, more than one in five adults, provide care to a loved one, friend or neighbor, valued in economic terms at $350 billion annually.
The Ask Medicare website provides links to key partner organizations that assist caregivers and beneficiaries, and present personal stories from caregivers in the community. Support information and tools to help caregivers address common problems will also be available. http://www.medicare.gov/caregivers/
JAN E-News is a quarterly online newsletter of the Job Accommodation Network.
The latest JAN E-News is now available at:http://www.jan.wvu.edu/ENews/2008/Enews-V6-I4.htm
Steve Gold, The Disability Odyssey continues
2007 Institution vs Community-Based Medicaid Services,
Information Bulletin # 263 (10/08)
Each State's FY 2007 Medicaid data, submitted to CMS for reimbursement and
compiled by Thompson/Medstat, provides extremely helpful information to
analyze your State's distribution of its Long Term Care expenditures
between its Institutional versus Community-Based Services.
How a state allocates its Long Term Care expenditures demonstrates its
commitment to provide the elderly and persons with disabilities a choice
between unnecessary institutionalization and living in the community. Let's repeat - "show us the money" and where a state spends it, and you
can see how much the state respects both the ADA and the Olmstead
decision. Remember that the Supreme Court in 1999 - eight years ago -told
states to end unnecessary institutionalization! The following data shows
how much your state respects the ADA and the Olmstead decision.
Nationally, for "all disabilities," 58.3% of the long term care
expenditures went to institutions, i.e, both to nursing homes (for
physically disabled persons of all ages) and to intermediate care
facilities (for persons with MR/DD). 41.7% went for community based
services, i.e., for all MA waivers (i.e., both Aged and Physical
Disabilities and MR/DD), "personal care" option, and home health services
in the community.
As you all know, we live with the historical disability divide - persons
with MR/DD, on one hand, and the elderly and persons with physical
disabilities of all ages, on the other hand. As unfortunate as the divide
is and as much as it perpetuates divisions in the disability community,
it's what we have. MA expenditures and analysis follow this divide.
When "all disabilities" are broken down into MR/DD and Aged/PD, a dramatic
difference exists in the above 58.3% institutional vs 41.7% community
national long term care distribution.
For persons receiving MR/DD services, nationally only 36.9% went for
institutions (ICF-MRs) and 63.1% was spent for community-based (waiver)
services. Thus, significantly less Medicaid funds went to provide
services for persons with MR/DD in institutions than in the community. In dollars, $12 b was spent on institutions but $20.5 b was spent for
community-based services.
In contrast, for the aged and persons with physical disabilities, 69% was
expended on institutional services and 31% on community-based services. In dollars, nursing homes received $46.9 b but only $21.1 b was spent for
community-based services.
Why the lopsided distribution based on type of disability?
Let's look at the differences in each State. The following chart provides
two columns - the first for MR/DD and the second for Aged/PD.
How does your State compare? Advocates should make two comparisons.
First, how is your State doing for each MR/DD and Aged/PD with regards to
leveling the playing fields between institutional and community-based
services? Second, how is your State doing when you compare MR/DD and
Aged/PD expenditures?
To read what your states % of Medicaid Long Term Care expenditures for institutional services
versus community services. Go to http://www.stevegoldada.com/stevegoldada/archive.php?mode=A&id=263;&sort=D
Published by dcardin on October 2, 2008
A study released this week - http://oig.hhs.gov/oei/reports/oei-02-08-00140.pdf (pdf 783k) by federal investigators reports 90 percent of nursing homes were cited last year for violations of federal health and safety standards. For-profit homes were more likely to have problems than other types of nursing homes.
Billboard campaign against use of R-word begins
When drivers pass the roads of Belt Line and Fairway in Coppell, they
will be reminded of how everyone should ban one R-word from their
vocabulary by demonstrating another important R-word--respect.
On Sept. 15, Special Olympics Texas kicked off its state-wide campaign
to rid usage of the r-word (retard). A billboard highlighting the
campaign went up in Coppell that day.
Special Olympics is a non-profit international program that provides
year-round sports competition for people with intellectual
disabilities. In 2004, it changed its terminology from mental
retardation to intellectual disabilities. This was a response from the
Special Olympic competitors who felt there was still negative
connotation with the R-word and the fact that for years before 2004,
foreign countries had used other terms other than mental retardation.
"It's not a clinical word," Kelly said. "The R-word is just a slang
word. It's used in a negative way. It's not a word a doctor would
use."
The project is meant as a public awareness campaign to educate people,
especially children on how harmful using the R-word can be.
"If you listen, it's something you hear everyday," said Andi Kelly,
spokesperson for Special Olympics Texas. "It's become acceptable in
society, especially among younger kids."
Currently, there are billboards up in Austin, Dallas, Ft. Worth, El
Paso and San Antonio. Kelly said there will be billboards in the
Houston area. However, the outlets do not just stop there. Special
Olympics Texas has also set up MySpace and Facebook accounts for
people to join and people can also watch banning the R-word on
Youtube.
Kelly said if kids are educated on not using the R-word, they will
grow up and teach their children not to use it as well.
"It's disrespectful when you use the R-word," said Jesse McNeil, Area
10 director of Special Olympics in Texas. "The people who use it don't
know it is hurtful."
Bennett Ratliff, vice president of the Coppell Independent School
District's Board of Trustees, also agreed that many people still use
the R-word because they are unaware of the damage it causes. Ratliff
has a 22-year-old son who has intellectual disabilities. He said his
family tries to emphasize to people how the R-word is inappropriate.
"I really think it's a lack of knowledge," Ratliff said. "The R-word
is as offensive to people with disabilities as other slang words are
to people that would describe their differences…and its offensive to
the families with people with disabilities as other slang words are to
other groups."
The campaign is also being supported by the Arc of Texas and the Texas
Council for Developmental Disabilities.
For information on the campaign, go to www.specialolympicstexas.org/rword.
___________________________________________________________________________
By Jesse Williams, Staff Writer - Coppell Gazette Star (Wednesday,
October 1, 2008 12:49 PM CDT)
http://www.coppellgazette.com/articles/2008/10/02/coppell_gazette/news/10.tx
Until Next week
The Arc of the United States,1010 Wayne Avenue, Ste. 650,Silver Spring, MD 20910, Phone: 301-565-3842, Fax: 301-565-3843, Email: mmwdc@info.thearc.org, Web: www.thearc.org
Disclaimer: MMWDC publishes information about issues and events that we believe to be important and likely to be of interest to advocates and others interested in inclusion of persons with disabilities in all parts of society. However, MMWDC and The Arc of the United States and TheArcLink Incorporated do not necessarily endorse all events, sponsoring organizations and reports which appear.