“I don't want to live with the elderly for the rest of my life. I am a young man. I want to spend time being independent.” Roberto Aponte’s words characterized the theme of three Olmstead Initiatives forums in October 2009. Robert, a resident of New England Homes for the Deaf in Danvers, spoke via a CD in American Sign Language to the Boston forum on October 30.
Community Services dominated the discussion from implementation of Aging and Disability Resource Consortiums, peer supports and options counseling to services for people with adult onset disabilities, deaf-blind people, and elders. “Many of us when in crisis, we don't need a locked door. We don't need a locked door. We need a friendly ear and a safe place to be,” was Ruthie Poole’s testimony on behalf of peer supports as an option to hospitalization for people with mental illness.
Housing was an important topic recognized by participants even though it didn’t have many people speaking to it as an issue. Joe Tringali summed it up this way: “The state prepares a five year plan to reduce barriers to fair housing, and housing authorities prepare one year plans to do the same. The question is, who's watching these plans?”
“Clearly, our current system, even if it was not an economic crisis, isn't serving the people it needs to serve”. These comments by Paul Spooner open the broad range of System Transformation topics. Paul was speaking to the meta-level, while others honed in on the duplication of services with prior authorization, spousal waivers as caregivers, the Marriage Tax, and rebalancing the spending.
Institutions were painted by Pedro Ramos: “I was recently gotten out of prison” referring to his recent escape from a nursing facility. Multiple voices criticized spending $350,000,000 on a new state mental hospital in light of the huge unmet need in community-based services.
Employment received some attention with a mention of the Commonwealth’s Model Employer program. Concern was voiced over the millions of dollars being spent by the Executive Office of Health and Human Services on services for people with disabilities that did not include a commitment to hiring people with disabilities at any appreciable rate. Robyn Powell reflected on her experience: “I went on over 30 interviews, all with service providers. Some outwardly expressed their reflectance to hire me while others never returned a phone call.”
Civil Rights was not ignored. Streetscapes, employment were mentioned. However, the testimony from Ruth Moore “… some doctors who don't provide interpreters. They don't provide interpreters for their deaf patients” were significant in terms of the Olmstead Initiatives.