|
|
July 27, 2011 
July 27, 2011 Calendar of Events
 |
|
Disability Policy Consortium Special Update
Dear william,
The Disability Policy Consortium and 8 individuals filed a lawsuit in federal court on July 26, 2011, alleging that the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Office of MassHealth (Medicaid) violated Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The plaintiffs allege that the MassHealth office has not complied with the Americans with Disabilities Act because it does not and that it does not
Four of the plaintiffs are blind. They allege that MassHealth has not provided them with written notices in alternative formats such as Braille or electronic forms that can be filled in without assistance. The plaintiff allege that they missed deadlines and had benefits discontinued because of it.
Two Deaf plaintiffs similarly allege that they suffered harm from the fact that materials are not available electronically in their native language which is American Sign Language. TTY numbers are not listed on the MassHealth home page or in a list of Disability Accommodations Contacts.
Two plaintiffs with other disabilities allege that the telephone answering system is not accommodating because the opportunities to speak with a human being are limited and
not clear.
Legal counsel is being led by Mark E. Cohen and Suzanne Young of Zelle, McDonough and Cohen, Boston, MA.
A copy of the complaint may be found at www.dpcma.org.
Bill Allan
Disability Policy Consortium
wfallan@dpcma.org| 617-542-3822
|
|
Editorial: When is a Plan Not a Plan
When it doesn't have deadline or resources attached!
Many of us have been critical of the Governor's Community First Olmstead Plan for that very reason. Here's what the Governor Deval Patrick's Community First Olmstead Plan has to say about communication access.
The Press Release stated that the Olmstead Plan is "a roadmap and action plan reflecting the Governor's commitment to ensuring that people with disabilities and elders have access to community-living opportunities and supports that address each individual's diverse needs, abilities and backgrounds."
In the Community First Olmstead Plan, the Commonwealth expressed the following objective:
OBJECTIVE 5:
Implement system-wide improvement processes in the existing and future longterm support delivery systems
d) Provide recommendations to the EOHHS Office of Health Equity regarding the adoption of a focus on disparities in accessing HCBS services. Analysis would
include looking at disparities by race; language; sexual orientation; disability type, especially among individuals who are Deaf, late-deafened, hard of hearing
or deaf blind; and individuals dealing with communication barriers on top of another disability (physical, cognitive, or psychiatric). (Completion Date:
Ongoing).
All we can say at this point is that we expect the Ongoing Deadline to be filled in with a REAL date at some point in the near future.
 |
Boston Globe
Disabled sue state agency for forms
Say MassHealth failed to assist on documents
By David Abel Globe Staff / July 27, 2011
Eight disabled residents and a local advocacy group filed a lawsuit in federal court yesterday against the state agency that provides health care to more than a million low-income people, arguing it has failed to comply with laws that require documents to cater to the needs of the deaf, blind, and other physically and mentally impaired recipients of care.
On the 21st anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Boston-based Disability Policy Consortium and other plaintiffs - four who are blind, two who are deaf, and two with other disabilities - filed a suit in US District Court in Boston, alleging MassHealth violated the law by failing to provide written notices in Braille or other electronic forms, failing to use American Sign Language to communicate, and not listing phone numbers to help the hearing impaired on the agency's website.
"The ADA was pretty clear that state governments have to make communications accessible to people with disabilities, so they can participate as fully as anyone else,'' said Bill Allan, executive director of the Disability Policy Consortium. "The Commonwealth has ignored this issue for years. It has been brought up to them in reports and by individuals. It's time for them to take action.''
Jennifer Kritz, a spokeswoman for the Executive Office of Health and Human Services, said the administration was examining the lawsuit. "At this point, we have not yet had the opportunity to fully review the complaint, so I cannot comment on it at this point,'' she wrote in an e-mail.
Allan did not know how much it would cost the state to comply. "Costs should not be an issue; this is really a civil rights issue,'' he said. "That this administration has not thoroughly committed to adhering to the law is astounding.''
In the lawsuit, several plaintiffs said they had their health care canceled or suspended because MassHealth sent them forms they could not read or fill out without assistance.
"Where necessary to ensure that communications with individuals with hearing, vision, and cognitive/developmental disabilities are as effective as communications with nondisabled persons, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as a 'public entity,' must provide appropriate aids,'' such as qualified interpreters, note-takers, and computer transcription services, the plaintiffs argued in the lawsuit.
The plaintiffs are seeking a court order to require MassHealth to comply with the law and to provide unspecified monetary damages "that will fairly and adequately compensate each plaintiff for his or her endurance of great mental, psychological, and emotional pain, suffering, and anguish, shame, mortification, indignity, disgrace, embarrassment, humiliation, anger, discomfort, stigma, demoralization, inconvenience, delay, worry, distress, anxiety, nervousness, depression, powerlessness, and other injuries to his or her feelings and sensibilities and continued suffering of all of the foregoing for an indefinite period of time.''
One blind plaintiff, Sarah Gales, 33, of North Adams, said she joined the lawsuit after MassHealth officials told her she would have to come to an office in Springfield if she wanted help reading the forms they sent.
"Their solution was ridiculous,'' she said, noting a co-worker helped her fill out the form, learning her salary and other private information. "I think it's disgusting that, 21 years after the passage of the ADA, our own government is still treating us like second-class citizens.''
Another blind plaintiff, Bob Hachey, 50, of Waltham, said he grew tired of asking MassHealth officials to send him the forms by Braille or e-mail, which allows him to listen to his messages.
"They said they would read the letters over the phone, but I said they could do better than that,'' he said. "It's hard to take notes over the phone.''He said he nearly missed several deadlines, because he couldn't read his mail.
"It's sad we had to go this route,'' he said. "We tried working with these folks for a long time. I think it's just a matter of stubbornness on the part of the Commonwealth.''
|
State House News Service
By Kyle Cheney / State House News Service
Tuesday, July 26, 2011 -
Added 24 hours ago
The Disability Policy Consortium filed suit today against MassHealth, contending that the Medicaid agency that insures more than 1 million Bay State residents has failed provide disabled applicants with adequate communication options.
The suit, filed in U.S. District Court by the consortium and eight plaintiffs - four blind residents, two deaf residents and two with other disabilities - concludes that MassHealth violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by failing to provide Braille or electronic forms that can be filled out without assistance, failed to offer materials in American Sign Language, and that the agency generally makes it difficult to contact a live customer service representative.
Several plaintiffs - MassHealth members for decades - argue that their health care services were canceled or suspended as a result of their inability to fill out required paperwork and because of the agency's inability to offer assistance, despite requests for interpreters, accessible forms or other forms of help.
"Defendants have committed multiple ongoing and continuous violations of the ADA and the Rehabilitation Act, and unless restrained from doing so, Defendants will continue to violate the ADA and the Rehabilitation Act. Said conduct, unless enjoined, will continue to inflict injuries for which Plaintiffs have no adequate remedy at law," according to the suit.
The consortium is asking a judge to force MassHealth to ensure that its disabled clients receive all "forms, materials and other communications in an accessible format of their choice within a reasonable time," and to require that the agency permit callers to bypass its automated system for a live representative.
A spokeswoman for the Patrick administration's Executive Office of Health and Human Services said the agency is still reviewing the complaint.
In addition, the group is seeking "monetary damages to each individual Plaintiff in an amount that will fairly and adequately compensate each Plaintiff for his or her endurance of great mental, psychological, and emotional pain, suffering, and anguish, shame, mortification, indignity, disgrace, embarrassment, humiliation, anger, discomfort, stigma, demoralization, inconvenience, delay, worry, distress, anxiety, nervousness, depression, powerlessness, and other injuries to his or her feelings and sensibilities and continued suffering of all of the foregoing for an indefinite period of time."
One plaintiff, Donald Dawes, a blind West Roxbury resident and MassHealth member for 25 years, received a letter from the agency in April 2010 notifying him of changes to his services, but he was unable to read it, according to the suit. Although he used a scanner to convert the letter into a format that could be read aloud to him using software known as Open Book, the letter included "non-text characters, symbols and graphics" that made it unreadable. When Dawes received a recertification form from MassHealth later that year, he notified the agency that he could not read it and asked for a deadline extension to fill it out. The agency refused, the suit alleges.
Another plaintiff, Michelle Pirog, an Arlington resident with neurological and cognitive impairments, as well as a MassHealth member for 23 years, contends that earlier this year, she attempted to contact MassHealth to help understand a certain form. Because the agency failed to provide her with necessary assistance, the suit argues, she missed a deadline to recertify her health insurance. In June, her insurance was suspended.
The consortium contends that efforts to work with the Patrick administration to address concerns without litigation went unheeded.
|