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Disability Policy Consortium Weekly Update
Greetings!
Summer started over 2 months ago for most people, but for me, it starts in August. The phone goes quiet, emails slooooow down, and vacation usually mean time in Maine.
This issue was supposed to be short and to the point, but something happened when I looked at the email in box. Turned out it was full, so this issue is full.
Bill Allan
Disability Policy Consortium
wfallan@dpcma.org| 617-542-3822
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Editorial: Dog Days of August
From wikipedia
The Romans referred to the dog days as diēs caniculārēs and associated the hot weather with the star Sirius.
They considered Sirius to be the "Dog Star" because it is the brightest star in the constellation Canis Major (Large Dog). Sirius is also the brightest star in the night sky.
The term "Dog Days" was used earlier by the Greeks (see, e.g., Aristotle's Physics, 199a2).
The Dog Days originally were the days when Sirius rose just before or at the same time as sunrise (heliacal rising), which is no longer true, owing to precession of the equinoxes.
The Romans sacrificed a brown dog at the beginning of the Dog Days to appease the rage of Sirius, believing that the star was the cause of the hot, sultry weather.
It's August, guys. You expect more? :)
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Advocates Corner:
5 Fundamental Rights:
From Jon Dosick:
Greetings friends and fellow advocates (and apologies for any duplication!)
PLEASE sign this petition:
Stop illegal human rights violations at mental health facilities!
by September 1, 2011 on Change.org, addressing violations of basic civil rights at psychiatric hospitals in Massachusetts. Also, please share it with anyone you know.
Massachusetts law states that five BASIC civil rights must be provided to persons in inpatient psychiatric units and residences. This is called the "Five Fundamental Rights" law.
The "Five Fundamental Rights" are:
1.) The right to make phone calls, in privacy;
2.) The right to send and receive unopened mail;
3.) The right to receive visitors, in privacy;
4.) The right to a humane physical and psychological environment, including privacy in dressing, bathing, resting and sleeping.
5.) The right to speak with an attorney, outpatient mental health provider, and clergy.
Simple stuff. However, the law is brazenly violated on a daily basis. Hospital administrators and their lobbyists have stubbornly denied, for years, that anything is wrong!
Our demand will be delivered to top hospital lobbyists and key legislators. In September, a bill designed to correct these abuses will receive a public hearing at the Mass. State House. We expect the lobbyists to address the issue seriously, which they have failed to do in the past. We say, no more!
No more phones in hallways, no more highly limited visiting hours, no more lack of privacy. As a peer, I believe we must send a powerful message to those who deny us our basic civil rights and dignity. Help us make a public stand for justice.
Here's the link to the petition:
https://www.change.org/petitions/stop-illegal-human-rights-violations-at-mental-health-facilities
**PLEASE NOTE that for safety reasons, Change.org requires petition signers to register on the site before signing. This is a free, fast and easy procedure, and Change.org is a trustworthy organization which hosts hundreds of social justice petitions. When you follow the link to the site, click on "Join" in the upper right-hand corner of the page.
If you have already joined and forgot your password, they will email it to you.
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On the Calendar: All's Well in ASL
ASL Performance:
Commonwealth Shakespeare's All's Well That Ends Well
Date and Time: Saturday, August 13th at 8:00pm
(Raindate: Sunday August, 14th at 7:00pm)
Admission: Free
Where: Boston Common
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On the Calendar: Para-Transit
The Governor's Commission on Paratransit
is holding a PUBLIC HEARING on August 25.
The purpose of the Comrrlission is to develop detailed
recommendations for reform and the introduction of efficiencies in the provision of community and social services transportation in the Commonwealth, including, but not limited to, conducting a detailed review of the MBTA's The RIDE services, demand response services provided by the RTAs and transportation services funded by EOHHS. The Commission shall conduct a comprehensive review of all demand responsive services, paratransit services, ADA complementary paratransit service and social services transportation.
August 25, 2011
State House
24 Beacon Street
Boston
Gardner Auditorium
3:30 - 5:30
Accessible Entrance: is located on Bowdoin Street side through the court yard.
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Calendar: AT for School
The Assistive Technology Regional Center (ATRC) will host a free Open House with hands-on opportunities to see and try out various academic tools such as Kurzweill 3000, Livescribe Pulse Pen, WordQ, text to speech software, various ebook readers including the iPad 2 and Kindle, talking calculators, digital recorders, Acrobat and perhaps some other surprises. This is a drop-in event for anyone who would like to learn more about how they might better aid a student's learning with assistive technology. Staff members will be available for questions and assistance. All are welcome
Where: Easter Seals ATRC, 89 South Street, Boston, MA 02111
Time: Tuesday, August 30th from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm and 2:00 to 4:00 pm
Cost: Free
Click here to RSVP by Email or 617-226-2634
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Calendar: Emergency Registries
Dear Health and Disability Learning Community Members,
As you know, we have secured June Isaacson Kailes to be our next webinar presenter. Please see more information below about both June and her presentation. We are very excited about this opportunity, and we're glad to tell you that registration is now available. Register using the link below to join us on September 1 for this webinar opportunity.
Thank you again for your continued dedication to this community, we are so pleased to be working with you.
Best,
Sarah
Register now:
https://cc.readytalk.com/r/7g7oie8wdvur
Emergency Registries: An Objective Analysis Tool
Some communities offer people with disabilities and others with access and functional needs the chance to register for emergency assistance before and/or during an emergency. This discussion would present a new evaluation tool being developed to assist registry's sponsors and registrants in an, objective and methodical, rather than an emotional, assessment of the effectiveness of the resources and response capacity needed to develop and sustain such a registry.
September 1, 2011
3:00-4:30 pm Eastern
2:00-3:30 pm Central
1:00-2:30 pm Mountain
12:00-1:30 pm Pacific
Presented by: June Isaacson Kailes, Disability Policy Consultant and Associate Director, Center for Disability and Health Policy at Western University of Health Sciences, Pomona, California
June is one of a handful of people with disabilities who focuses on disability emergency issues internationally, with state, local, and federal agencies, community-based organizations and an array of other emergency managers, planners and contractors. Her breadth and depth of experience in access and functional needs and her work as a writer, trainer, researcher, policy analyst and advocate is widely known and respected.
June is well known for her pioneering work in conceiving, promoting, and moving the emergency management world from the vague "special needs" focus to operationalizing an access and functional needs approach to planning and response.
She has worked with the CDC, Department of Homeland Security, Health and Human Services, and FEMA on policy, planning and training issues. President Clinton appointed June to the US Access Board where she served 8 years and led the Board as its Vice Chair and Chair.
Learn more about June:
http://www.jik.com/disaster.html
Sarah C Yates
Program Analyst, Health and Disability Project
National Association of County and City Health Officials
1100 17th Street, NW, 7th Floor
Washington, DC 20036
Direct: (202) 595-1122
Main: (202) 783-5550
Fax: (202) 783-1583
E-mail: syates@naccho.org
www.naccho.org
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News from the Net: AAB vs Hollister
MEMORANDUM OF DECISION AND ORDER ON PLAINTIFF'S MOTION FOR
JUDGMENT ON THE PLEADINGS
The plaintiff, J.M. Hollister, LLC ("Hollister"), has filed a motion for judgment on the pleadings pursuant to G.L. c. 30A, §14 and G.L. c.22 §13A, requesting judicial review. Hollister is seeking to reverse the May 26, 2010 decision of the Massachusetts Architectural Access Board ("the Board"). The Board held that the Kingston Hollister store has three separate entrances and
each must be accessible. The Board also held that Hollister was not entitled to a variance. For
the following reasons, Hollister's motion is DENIED and the decisions of the Board are upheld.
The decision is too long to reprint here. Kudos to the AAB for winning!
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News from the Net: Right to Sue
Democrats Challenging Administration on Medicaid
By ROBERT PEAR NY Times
August 9, 2011
WASHINGTON - In an unusual break with the White House, the Democratic leaders of Congress told the Supreme Court on Monday that President Obama was pursuing a misguided interpretation of federal Medicaid law that made it more difficult for low-income people to obtain health care.
The Democratic leaders said Medicaid beneficiaries must be allowed to file suit to enforce their right to care - and to challenge Medicaid cuts being made by states around the country.
The Obama administration maintains that beneficiaries and health care providers cannot sue state officials to challenge cuts in Medicaid payment rates, even if such cuts compromise access to care for the poor.
In a friend-of-the-court brief, the lawmakers said the administration's position "would undermine the effectiveness of Medicaid." In addition, they said, it conflicts with more than a century of court precedents that allow people to sue to block state actions that are inconsistent with federal law.
The brief was filed by seven influential Democrats, including Representative Henry A. Waxman of California, an architect of Medicaid; Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the House minority leader; Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Senate majority leader; and Senator Max Baucus of Montana, the chairman of the Finance Committee.
Similar arguments were made in a separate brief filed by a dozen former federal health officials, including Donna E. Shalala, the secretary of health and human services under President Bill Clinton; Joseph A. Califano Jr., who was health secretary under President Jimmy Carter; and Bruce C. Vladeck, who was in charge of Medicaid and Medicare in the Clinton administration.
The issue, of immense importance to poor people and states, comes to the Supreme Court in a set of cases consolidated under the name Douglas v. Independent Living Center of Southern California, No. 09-958. The court plans to hear oral arguments in October, with a decision expected by the spring. The original plaintiffs in the case, Medicaid beneficiaries and providers, say they were harmed by California's decision to cut payment rates that were already among the lowest in the country.
The federal Medicaid law does not explicitly allow such suits. But the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in San Francisco, said beneficiaries and providers could sue under the Constitution's supremacy clause, which makes federal law "the supreme law of the land."
Medicaid, the fastest-growing item in many state budgets, provides health insurance to more than 55 million people, including children, people with disabilities and nursing home residents.
Faced with severe budget problems, many states have reduced Medicaid payment rates for doctors, dentists, hospitals, pharmacies, nursing homes and other providers. In many parts of the country, payment rates are so low that Medicaid recipients have difficulty finding doctors to take them. When states cut reimbursement rates, they save money, and so does the federal government, which pays 50 percent to 75 percent of the costs.
Federal law says Medicaid rates must be "sufficient to enlist enough providers" so that Medicaid beneficiaries have access to care to the same extent as the general population in an area.
The Justice Department, siding with California, told the court in May that no federal law allowed individuals to sue states to enforce this standard. The Democratic leaders said Congress intended to allow such lawsuits.
"California has been accepting more than $20 billion in federal Medicaid funds per year in exchange for its promise, among other things, to ensure that needy patients had access to health care," their brief said, adding, "California has failed to adhere to its obligations."
"Impoverished Medicaid patients and the medical providers who serve them" must be allowed to challenge state violations of federal law by invoking the supremacy clause, the Congressional leaders said.
The Justice Department says federal health officials have "exclusive responsibility" for ensuring state compliance and can cut off Medicaid money for a state that does not comply.
However, the former federal officials told the Supreme Court that exclusive enforcement by the Department of Health and Human Services was "logistically, practically, legally and politically unfeasible." The department, they said, does not have enough employees or money to enforce the guarantee of equal access to care for Medicaid patients.
In previous administrations, they said, the department "supported and embraced" lawsuits by beneficiaries as a way to help achieve Medicaid's goals.
AARP, the American Hospital Association, the American Medical Association, civil rights groups and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce also weighed in with Supreme Court briefs supporting the beneficiaries and providers. "Judicial enforcement is the only viable means to remedy states' noncompliance with the Medicaid Act," the A.M.A. said. |
News from the Net: Outrage!
Disability Rights Group Outraged and Demands to Meet with Secretary Sebelius after CMS Issues Guidance on Cutting Home and Community Based Services
ADAPT, a national grassroots disability rights organization, is outraged by a Dear State Medicaid Director letter issued by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on Friday, August 5th. That letter explained how states can cut Medicaid home and community based services, which provide alternatives to institutionalization, and not run afoul of the maintenance of effort requirement in the Affordable Care Act.
The organization is particularly upset because Secretary Sebelius spoke before national disability rights groups in July, highlighting how the Affordable Care Act benefits people with disabilities, including the potential to improve access to home and community based services. While the Secretary gave rousing speeches and was applauded by our community, her staff were crafting guidance to states on cutting our services, said Rahnee Patrick, an ADAPT Organizer from Chicago, IL. This is
reprehensible.
The national advocacy group has other concerns about the federal agency.
Although the United States Department of Justice has taken action to assure that Americans with Disabilities are not forced into institutions as mandated in the Supreme Courts Olmstead decision, the Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights has done little to address Olmstead concerns identified in the states. Though talking tough about the need for states to comply with the Olmstead decision, CMS has not developed any
accountability criteria to monitor states to assess if states are really complying with the decision" said Bruce Darling, an ADAPT Organizer from Rochester, NY.
Additionally, the group is frustrated by inconsistency within the federal agency. The guidance issued Friday was developed in response to concern by states which face increasing costs as Medicaid enrollment increases
because more Americans are eligible for the program due to lost income and expansions mandated in the Affordable Care Act. This same federal agency
misinterpreted statutory language establishing the Community First Choice Option and developed proposed rules that would require states to provide more expansive services beyond what the statutory language would require.
Ultimately that means fewer states would select the option and fewer Americans will have the opportunity to live in freedom, said Ms. Patrick. The fact that the federal agency took this action despite being told directly by the provisions sponsors that this was not Congresss intent is
particularly upsetting to advocates.
The only thing these policy directions have in common is that they negatively impact Americans with disabilities and older Americans who want to stay in their own homes, said Darling who indicated that ADAPT is seeking to meet with the Secretary. We intend to take our concerns directly to the Secretary, one way or another.
For more information about ADAPT, please visit
http://www.adapt.org
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News from the Net: DPPC
Training Coordinator
Unique Employment Opportunity
Training Team Coordinator
Metro Region
Part time trainer needed to educate persons with disabilities and others on recognizing, reporting, and responding to abuse.
Seeking a person with good communication skills who can participate in three (3) hour trainings in the Metro Region, speak in front of a group and is comfortable working as part of a team.
Responsibilities include: scheduling trainings across region, organizing training materials and acting as point person for the Metro Regional Training Team.
This is a part-time position with flexible hours. Driver's license and vehicle are required.
If interested, please send your letter of interest and/or resume to:
Jennifer Edwards-Hawkins
300 Granite Street, Suite 404, Braintree, MA 02184
Email: jennifer.edwards-hawkins@state.ma.us
Or Call: (617) 727-6465 x211
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News from the Net: Architectural Access Specialist
The Mayor's Commission for Persons with Disabilities' Job Posting for an Architectural Access Specialist in our office at City Hall will be closing on September 2, 2011.
The job description is attached - please help me spread the word to your colleagues and contacts!
Boston residency is required within 6 months of employment; Architecture Degree preferred but not required.
Thank you.
Kristen McCosh, Commissioner
Mayor's Commission for Persons with Disabilities
Boston City Hall
One City Hall Square
Room 967
Boston, MA 02201
617-635-3682 phone
617-635-3290 fax
617-635-2541 TTY
kristen.mccosh@cityofboston.gov
www.cityofboston.gov/disability
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DPC Needs your Help!!!
The DPC uses the PayPal PayFast system for your tax deductible charitable donations. You do not need to have a PayPal account to use this system because credit card payments are also accepted.
The DPC also uses the Causes program for recurring donations (as well as one time donations). This is a great way to make a smaller monthly donation.
Donate by Mail
Make check or money order payable to:
Disability Policy Consortium
59 Temple Place, Suite 669
Boston, MA 02111 |
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