The Connecting Point
Volume 2 Issue 4 Date July 28,2004
In This ISSUE:
1) Mental Health Task Force Meetings
2) Home Accessibility Design and Funding Guides
3) The Healthy Student - A Parent's Guide to Preparing Teens for the College Years
4) Disability Studies for Teachers
5) ADAPT Announces 2004 Top Ten Worst States, then Visits Regional HUD Office
6) Involving People with Disabilities as Members of Advisory Groups
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1) Mental Health Task Force Meetings
The first meeting of the Joint Legislative and Executive Task Force on Mental Health Services was held in Olympia on June 15th. At that meeting the Task Force selected Co-Chairs (Senator Linda Parlette and Representative Eileen Cody), adopted a work plan, established a meeting schedule for the rest of 2004, and heard public testimony from numerous folks with concerns about the state of the current mental health system and interest in participating in the Task Force's deliberations over the next year.
The Task Force meeting schedule adopted for the rest of the year is as follows:
* July 27th (Tuesday) - Doubletree Hotel, Sea-Tac
* August 26th (Thursday) - Doubletree Hotel, Sea-Tac
* September 24th (Friday) - Doubletree Hotel, Sea-Tac
* October 28th (Thursday) - Doubletree Hotel, Sea-Tac
* November 16th (Tuesday) - Red Lion Hotel, Sea-Tac
* December 8th (Wednesday) - Doubletree Hotel, Sea-Tac.
Legislative committee staff have developed three advisory groups that will begin work soon. The three groups are as follows: Non-Medicaid Issues; Bed Needs Issues; and System Accountability and Organizational Issues.
The next (second) meeting of the Joint Legislative and Executive Task Force on Mental Health Services and Financings is scheduled to be held next week on Tuesday, July 27th, in the Evergreen Room 4 in the Doubletree Hotel in SeaTac (street address is 18740 International Boulevard). The meeting is currently scheduled to run from 9:00 am until 5:00 pm. (Parking at the hotel is $5/day.)
The draft agenda for the meeting is as follows:
9:00 - 11:45 Background re: Non-Medicaid Clients and Services
11:45 - 1:00 lunch break
1:00 - 3:45 Background re: Residential and Inpatient Beds
3:45 - 4:00 break
4:00 - 5:00 Public Comment
For those of you who are interested in the proceedings, but not able to attend in person, you may be interested to know that the meeting will be televised and broadcast live by TVW.
Kari Burrell
Executive Policy Advisor
2) Home Accessibility Design and Funding Guides
Two publications providing to help persons with disabilities explore how to make existing homes more accessible are available online. The publications provide information on both home accessibility design and funding and were developed by the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency. (Most information, however, is not state specific.)
Home Accessibility Remodeling Series http://www.mhfa.state.mn.us/homes/Access_Series.pdf
technical information and illustrations covering the following topics:
Chapter 1: Design and Contractor Issues
Chapter 2: Movement (Circulation, Flooring, etc.)
Chapter 3: Ramps
Chapter 4: Stairs
Chapter 5: Lifting Equipment
Chapter 6: Bathrooms
Chapter 7: Kitchens
Chapter 8: Grab Bars and Handrails
Chapter 9: Controls (Windows, Lights, Outlets, etc.)
Chapter 10: Additional Reading
Home Accessibility Remodeling Funding Resources- http://www.mhfa.state.mn.us/homes/Access_Financing_Grid.pdf
Profile of a range of federal, state and local financing options; their basic eligibility requirements; and how to get more information about or apply for them.
3) The Healthy Student - "A Parent's Guide to Preparing Teens for the College Years,"
It is available on the Society for Adolescent Medicine web site. While this brochure is designed for the typical teen (and not for the teen with a disability or chronic health condition), it identifies and briefly addresses many of the issues that are of concern to youth with special health care needs who plan to attend college, including insurance; medical records, prescriptions, confidentiality, and student health services. An excellent resource. This brochure is available as a PDF file at: http://www.adolescenthealth.org/html/The_Healthy_Student.pdf or go to http://www.adolescenthealth.org and look for the link to "The Healthy Student" on the left side of the SAM home page.
4) Disability Studies for Teachers
This website developed by the Center for Human Policy at Syracuse University contains lesson plans and materials designed to help teachers integrate disability studies into social studies, history, literature, and related subjects in grades 6-12. The plans and materials also can be adapted for use in postsecondary education. Lesson plans & essays on "disability studies" examine disability as a social, cultural, & political phenomenon. Among the topics: a history of deaf education, efforts to reform poorhouses in the 1840s & 1850s, P.T. Barnum & "freak shows," & conscientious objectors during World War II who exposed horrific conditions at state institutions, & an introduction to disability studies. http://www.disabilitystudiesforteachers.org/
For further information about the project, please contact the Center Human Policy, School of Education, Syracuse University at info@disabilitystudiesforteachers.org . Center on Human Policy, School of Education, Syracuse University, http://thechp.syr.edu
5) ADAPT Announces 2004 Top Ten Worst States, then Visits Regional HUD Office
Seattle---Mississippi topped the ADAPT 2004 list of the "Top Ten Worst States for Community Services", announced Monday at a morning press conference held on the "Triangle" on Fifth Avenue between Olive and Stewart, in front of the Westin Hotel. The Westin is where the National Governors Association has been holding its summer meeting.
Mississippi's dubious honor of "First Worst" was the result of 87% of its long term care funding being spent on nursing homes and other institutions, while only 13% goes for community services. In addition, Mississippi is last among the states and the District of Columbia in community services for persons with developmental disabilities, and 47thin the nation on overall spending for community services.
Following Mississippi were:
ADAPT's "Ten Worst" list is based on a combination of statistics the states report to the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid which are then collated by the Medstat group; the 2004 National Study of Disability Finance from the University of Colorado Department of Psychiatry; and an informal survey of persons with disabilities, advocates and state personnel on their state's services. The rankings weighed the ratio of institutional spending to community spending, the per capita spending on nursing homes and community and ICFs-MR, and the overall spending on community long term care.
6) Involving People with Disabilities as Members of Advisory Groups
This Guideline offers suggestions and a lot of great resources on how to involve people with disabilities as active members and advisors of local and community groups. Topics covered include: Educating Yourself and Your Group, Recruiting Participants, Providing Accommodations and Access to Meetings, Physical Access, Information Access and Exchange, Additional References and Resources,
Rural Practice Guideline from the Montana Disability and Health Program - March 2004; Revised July 2004
http://rtc.ruralinstitute.umt.edu/advocacy/Advisory.htm
This Guideline offers suggestions and a lot of great resources on how to involve people with disabilities as active members and advisors of local and community groups. Topics covered include: Educating Yourself and Your Group, Recruiting Participants, Providing Accommodations and Access to Meetings, Physical Access, Information Access and Exchange, Additional References and Resources.
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Readers are invited to send information about new resources on secondary education, transition from school, services and supports for adults with disabilities to connectingpoint@projectcore.org . Approved information will then be posted. Additional questions or comments can be sent to the Project Coordinator at coordinator@projectcore.org .
While The Connecting Point is not a discussion group, additional questions and discussions can be posted at bulletinboard@projectcore.org .
The CORE Project is funded by the Department of Education Rehabilitation
Services Administration.
The CORE Project (In Washington State)
Phone- 1-800-5-PARENT
Phone- 1-509-928-1522
Fax 1-509-928-1522
Web site www.projectcore.org
CORE Project
PMB 175
1324 N. Liberty Lake Rd
Liberty Lake, WA 99019
( A Project of Washington PAVE)
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