05/27/05 - DAC News V5-#67 - DMAS Meeting - Joanne Wilson - Hager - Housing Cuts->
05/16/05 - DAC News V5-#66 - Section 8 - Cuts 4 SS - Medicaid Net? - AARP - Medicare
05/09/05 - DAC News V5-#65 - Free Dental - Oppose Decree - Filibuster - Grants - Expo ->
05/03/05 - DAC News V5-#64 - DMAS Meet? - SCI Survey - Conf. Call - LTC - Info->
04/29/05 - DAC News V5-#63 - Free Power Chairs - Bush Spin - Action - Bias - S. Gold -> 
04/26/05 - DAC News V5-#62 - LifeIsFull - DMAS Woes - ADA - Bridges4kids - Bully's->
04/21/05 - DAC News V5-#61 - DMAS - Fil-buster - Boyle - NCD - S Gold - PiP - Ragged Edge->
04/18/05 - DAC News V5-#60 - IDEA - DisabilityWorld - No VR Plan & Nuclear Option - 811-> 
04/12/05 - DAC News V5-#59 - Call-in HUD, Medicaid - ADA & VBPD - VaFFFB - about.com->
04/06/05 - DAC News V5-#58 - IKAN Bowler - NJ Abuse - Terri - NH Rates - Fact Sheets->
03/31/05 - DAC News V5-#57 - Schiavo Dies - Bridges4kids - Autism - Facts - Civil Rights-> 
03/24/05 - DAC News V5-#55 - Op-ed Schiavo - Autism Funds - ADA Myths - SS - SCI-> 
03/20/05 - DAC News V5-#54 - Schiavo Reprieve? - Caregivers 2 of 2 - Medicaid - Conf. ->
03/17/05 - DAC News V5-#53 - We Won - Survey UK vs USA - Grants - Medicare - Cap. Insider->
03/14/05 - DAC News V5-#52 - URGENT ALERT - Job - Terri - Bush Policies - Choosing PCA's->
03/11/05 - DAC News V5-#51 - DDA Crisis In MD - NGA LTC - Drugs - SCI Vote - Support->
03/08/05 - DAC News V5-#50 - Schiavo - Bridges4kids - Call-in - New Guide - Job - SpEd->
03/03/05 - DAC News V5-#49 - Special Report by Steve Gold on Social Security & SSDI
03/03/05 - DAC News V5-#48 - Caregiver Grants - DOJ - Housing Cuts - Medicaid - Work->
02/28/05 - DAC News V5-#47 - Oscars "4" Baby - Q'nair - Save Medicare, Die - Aid - Alert-> 
02/24/05 - DAC News V5-#46 - SS Rally - Autism/Mercury - S. Gold - Elder Cards - Wrighslaw->
02/21/05 - DAC News V5-#45 - SCI Nom's - Baby again - SpEd - DOJ - Vouchers - SABE->
02/18/05 - DAC News V5-#44 - Vet. Care - Latinos w/dis - Youth Forum - Expo - MiCASSA->
02/14/05 - DAC News V5-#43 - Fable - PA Gov. - Apprentice biased? - Marci - Reject Cuts->
02/10/05 - DAC News V5-#42 - Steve Gold - Arts - SpEd - Unum pays - Budget - Advocates->
02/07/05 - DAC News V5-#41 - Represented? - SS Private - Medicare News - Hud - Repairs->
02/03/05 - DAC News V5-#40 - $M Dollar Baby - TANF - Ragged Edge - SS Not 4 Sale->
01/28/05 - DAC News V5-#39 - ProAging - PMA - HUD - Grants - Golf? - SS - Trust->
01/24/05 - DAC News V5-#37B - ARC Ball - DMHMRAS - MLK - SS & PWD - Blind Woodcutter - Oppose->
01/20/05 - DAC News V5-#37 - MLK Blvd? - Marci - IDEA - Warner - SS - Kids of Prisoners> 
01/18/05 - DAC News V5-#36 - PMA - HUD Cuts - Mercury/Autism - Education - SS ->
01/14/05 - DAC News V5-#35 - KEEN - SALT - W/chairs - ADA info - Request - MLK - OH->
01/10/05 - DAC News V5-#34 - G.A. - Medicaid - Stem Cell SCI - Sol. Rule - S.Gold - Ragged Edge->
01/05/05 - DAC News V5-#33 - Wish - Comments - MH Downsize - Trust - Housing Registry.->
01/03/05 - DAC News V5-#32 - Medicaid Cuts - ARC Ball - Q & A's - Speegle - CMS - ADA->*****2005*****
12/20/04 - DAC News V5-#31 - Turnover Costs - Autism - MS - Ragged Edge - SS & Medicaid-> 
12/15/04 - DAC News V5-#30 - Xmas Wish - Hearing Health Network - Schools/meds->
12/13/04 - DAC News V5-#29 - Response to Del. - SS Crisis? - Medicare - ARC - Hager->
12/07/04 - DAC News V5-#28 - Wilson - ADA Lawyer - Medicare Q&A - Del. Keister on Surplus->
12/02/04 - DAC News V5-#27 - "Barbara Gilley" - ADA - Living & Possibilities - Ragged Edge->
11/28/04 - DAC News V5-#26 - Fav. Sites - $10 Billion State Surplus? - Medicaid - Vets->
11/19/04 - DAC News V5-#25 - DOJ - SCI Summit - PMA Increase - Kids - $100k - TennCare->
11/15/04 - DAC News V5-#24 - Nov Gov Meeting - Blind Soldier - HUD - Health Care Fraud ->
11/08/04 - DAC News V5-#23 - 05' Fair Market Rents - Trust Scam - SCI's - HI Conf. - SP/ED
10/27/04 - DAC News V5-#22 - VOTE - Rx's - Kaine & GOTV - CA IPlus - Voter Tips ->
10/06/04 - DAC News V5-#21 - Center 4 PAS - Pres. Poll - Debates - CMS - Harris Poll - HUD 
10/01/04 - DAC News V5-#20 - Kerry Meeting? - Vioxx - NVRC - Expo - DOJ - Grants - Vote->
09/28/04 - DAC News V5-#19 - DRS Pay - Vans - Ex. Alts. Group Homes - HUD - DOJ->
09/23/04 - DAC News V5-#18 - Vote - Links - Kids - BCRA - Quads - ADAPT - Theatre->
09/20/04 - DAC News V5-#17 - PAS Direct Deposit - Needy Kids - Deaf Event - Rehabs->
09/13/04 - DAC News V5-#16 - NCOSD - FA - Stroke Center - Cameras NH's - Sports->
09/09/04 - DAC News V5-#15 - Medicare Q's&A's - Deductibles - AAPD - Caregiver Raise - Workshops
09/07/04 - DAC News V5-#14 - Expo - Touch - HUD - ILL Rx Site - Job - Disability Census->
09/01/04 - DAC News V5-#13 - Circle of Support - Jobs - Alert - SCARC - Reader - Conf.->
08/06/04 - DAC News V5-#12 - Assisting Asleep - ADA - Maine - Housing? - Caregiving-> 
08/04/04 - DAC News V5-#11 - DMAS - Prez Questions - NJ - Troops - Mutiny - NGA->  

========================================================
DAC News V5-#67  Friday, May 27, 2005 -- No Vote, No Voice!  
========================================================
It's been confirmed and the time and date is set for a meeting with our Virginia Secretary of Health and Human Services, Jane Woods, along with our Director of Medicaid or DMAS as it's referred too Patrick Finnerty, for Tuesday, May 31st at 2:30pm in Richmond. Several advocates, service providers, consumers and myself will discuss problems we feel as needing addressed with DMAS will be discussed. As always I'll report to you the results of this much needed meeting were hopefully a very positive outcome will prevail.

As usual the news is piling up so here it goes:)

NEXT
Two good news sources from DS-News

1.  National Autism Association Grant Fund
NAA's Helping Hand Program is now awarding a grant of up to $1,500 each month to families in need of financial assistance in getting biomedical treatments, supplements, therapies, etc., for their child with autism. For more information, please visit: www.nationalautismassociation.org/helpinghand.php

2.  2005 National Transition Conference, June 16 -17
"From Roots to Wings" is a first-time conference to bring together the key players in transitioning youth from school to work or to post-secondary education or training.  The event will be held at the Capital Hilton in Washington, DC on June 16 - 17, 2005. It is co-sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education's Rehabilitation Services Administration and the Council on State Administrators of Vocational Rehabilitation.  For information, visit: www.dtiassociates.com/rsatransitions

NEXT
Michael Ragland has some comments from a recent newspaper story about "Hospital-bed shortage for mentally ill creates potential dangers" and you can read both stories here:  respond.htm or: http://members.aol.com/dac4va/respond.htm

NEXT
ADA & IT Information Center bulletin May 15, 2005
http://www.adainfo.org/whatsnew/

NEXT
Developmental disabilities
http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition=smithlemliopitzsyndrome

Gene therapy to prevent hearing loss
http://www.nidcd.nih.gov/research/stories/archives/05/05_10_05.asp

Cancer treatments in kids can lead to later disabilities
http://www.nypost.com/news/nationalnews/46710.htm

Autism
http://www.cdc.gov/od/oc/media/pressrel/r050516.htm

Canada and inclusion for People With Disabilities
http://www.sdc.gc.ca/en/cs/comm/sd/news/2005/050425.shtml

AND
We have lots of interesting stories and news for you to digest over this Memorial Day Weekend. Don't forget about our military forces both past and present who have been protecting our rights to freedom, especially those who made the ultimate sacrifice, keep them all in your thoughts and prayers. Have a safe Holiday weekend:)

Much more news so read, enjoy and comment if you wish:)  

Keith-

========================================================
1. JOANNE WILSON REPORTS ON 5/26 RALLY
2. HAGER WRITES RSA REDESIGN INITIATIVE (GEEZ, DO WE NEED HELP)
3. FATHER'S DAY - SOCIAL SKILLS - ASPERGERS GENIUS
4. MEDICAID INSTITUTIONAL vs COMMUNITY BASED EXPENDITURES
5. PROTESTERS RALLY TO OPPOSE HOUSING CUTS
6. RALLY AGAINST SECTION 8 HOUSING CUTS
7. TWO NEW PUBLICATIONS ADDRESSING EQUAL EMPLOYMENT
========================================================
********************************************************
JOANNE WILSON REPORTS ON 5/26 RALLY
********************************************************  
Joanne Wilson, NFB, Reports on Rally to Save Rehabilitation Services Administration

May 27, 2005

Dear Colleagues,

We did it!  We did it very, very well!  Thank you all! To all of you who could make it to the Rally in front of the Department of Education in person, and to all of you at home who are doing what you can to save the Rehabilitation Services Administration I thank you!  Yesterday, the National Federation of the Blind handed out 600 signs and there were at least 2 people to every sign.  The many signs from the cosponsors added more color and information.  Signs were everywhere!

May 26, 2005, was a splendid day for a rallysun shining, breeze blowing, moderate temperature.  You were all great participantsmen and women with good lungs, good hearts, and GREAT enthusiasm for letting Secretary Spellings know the flawed plan a small clique in her department is trying to put into effect is a disaster in the making for Americans with disabilities. 

We had over 1,200 participants at the rally by our count. They came from Hawaii and Maine, Maryland and Virginia, near and far from nearly every state. We filled the block-long front sidewalk with rally marchers 4 people and more across, and more again on the sidelines. Todays Washington Post article by Stephen Barr quotes department officials saying only 300 to 400, but dont you believe it.  When we publish the photos, that bit of wishful thinking will be readily apparent.  The faces we saw peeking out the windows know better too.

It was really great having the many representatives there from so many different groups in the disability community, and the unions! We picked up 3 more cosponsors the day before, two of them at five minutes to five, and we were joined by one more cosponsoring group at the rally site, complete with their own banner.  This brings the current total number of cosponsors to 48. The full list is attached.

Of course, this is only the beginning of the fight to save RSA.  Here are some suggestions for what we need to do next.  Each small action is vital to the overall effort when one sets out to change a course set by a bureaucracy.

BACK HOME: 
Please urge your members at home to do any or all of these actions.

1.    Email (or Fax: (202) 401-0596) a personal letter to Margaret.Spellings@ed.gov; with a copy to Christina.Wilson@ed.gov; or call her office at (202) 401-3000.  Each person should email or fax a copy of this letter to his or her elected representatives in Congress.
2.    Contact the local press and get an article in the newspaper or on television or radio. Right awayGet a follow-up article after the rallytell the local press about local people traveling to Washington, D. C. as Americans using a time-honored democratic tool. Include photos you took of your own members at the rally.  Old news is not news, so get your copy and photos to your local daily paper or weekly paper, union paper or online Web site today, or no later than tomorrow.
3.    Write a letter to the editor or an opinion piece and get it published in your local press.
4.    Go to local political forums and press conferences. Ask your elected representatives to support your needs.
5.    Write and sign a petition to be emailed or faxed to Secretary Spellings. In Maryland, a local organization wrote a petition that was signed by all 500 members.
6.    Hold your own press conference, and pass out Press Kits to educate the reporters on the issue.

Thanks! Lets keep the pressure on!

Joanne Wilson
National Federation of the Blind
(thax jfa)

********************************************************
HAGER WRITES RSA REDESIGN INITIATIVE
********************************************************
[NOTE: John Hager is so full of himself and really didn't do justice for PWD's in VA, but I suppose 'sucking-up' helped him get his new federal post......kk-]

John H. Hager, OSERS, writes RSA Monitoring Redesign Initiative

John H. Hager, assistant secretary of the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS), U.S. Department of Education, is pleased to share with you the following message regarding a new initiative at the Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA). RSA program legislation and Department of Education regulations require oversight and monitoring of all programs and grant projects administered by RSA. This responsibility includes conducting annual reviews and performing periodic monitoring of programs to determine whether states are complying substantially with the provisions of their plans and with established evaluation standards and performance indicators.
--
When Secretary Spellings visited us here at OSERS soon after she was appointed secretary, she made the point that in our work we should never lose sight of the fact that we are about results for people. Since then, she has been challenging us to think beyond business-as-usual to how we can best improve results for people with disabilities.

We know that improving vocational rehabilitation (VR) services and employment outcomes for people with disabilities requires a robust system of monitoring. That has led Acting RSA Commissioner Ed Anthony and me to launch the Monitoring Redesign Initiative (MRI) to improve RSA's monitoring system of state VR agencies.

The MRI will build on the most effective aspects of our current monitoring activities. It will be a collaborative effort among consumers, community partners, state rehabilitation councils and state agencies to create a system that will be continuous, performance-based and tailored to the needs of individual state agencies. Under the new system, RSA's monitoring reports will be issued in a timely manner and our review procedures will be implemented consistently across the country. RSA's data collection and monitoring activities will be integrated so that the process of review and improvement will be continuous and eliminate time lags between assessing performance and conducting review activities.

Over time, we want this collaboration to result in a state-level network of stakeholders who assist us in identifying and realizing improvements that need to be made to the VR service delivery system. We want the monitoring system's development and operation to be transparent and the results to be widely disseminated to our stakeholders and all interested parties.

I am pleased to tell you that we have created a Web site in order to share information about the status of the MRI. A steering committee of VR stakeholders has been assembled and has begun to plan for a monitoring conference in Washington, D.C., this coming August, when a blueprint for the new monitoring system will be developed. For information on the status of the MRI, including how you may participate at the August Monitoring Conference, please go to:
www.ed.gov/rschstat/eval/rehab/monitoring-redesign

PO Box 1398, Jessup, MD, 20794

********************************************************
FATHER'S DAY - SOCIAL SKILLS - ASPERGERS GENIUS
********************************************************
Father's Day
Use these handy 'graphic organizer' type Father's Day activities with your learning disabled students to help with that feeling of success. Free Father's Day Printables....read more

Social Skills
A wealth of activities to teach social skills to middle school students. Many behavioral challenged students will benefit from these well organized social skills resources....read more

Aspergers - Genius!
He speaks 7 languages and learned one in just a week, computes mental calculations that have the rest of us reaching for a calculator, and has Aspergers. Read more about Daniel Tammet in the Belfast Telegraph....read more
(thax about.com)

********************************************************
MEDICAID INSTITUTIONAL vs COMMUNITY BASED EXPENDITURES
********************************************************
FY 04 - MEDICAID EXPENDITURES -INSTITUTIONAL (NURSING HOMES) VS. COMMUNITY BASED EXPENDITURES - STATE BY STATE - Info Bull. 88

The FY 2004 Medicaid Expenditures have been compiled by MEDSTAT. These expenditures show clearly whether your State is truly committed to end segregation and to promote integration of persons with disabilities or whether your State spends its Medicaid funds to perpetuate discrimination

The chart below shows the Insituttional Long Term Care expenditures for Persons who are in Nursing Homes and the comparison group of persons who recieve MA Long term care services and expenditures in the community. The percentage breakdowns are also provided.

Institutional services include nursing homes services.  Community-based services include home health services, personal care services, and HCBS waiver services for older adults and people with physical disabilities.

The States are listed in order, with those spending the smallest % on Institutional LTC services and the largest % on community-based LTC at the top and those spending the largest % on Institutional LTC services and the smallest % on community based LTC at the bottom of the chart.

Most disturbing is that only five states spend approximately the same on both institutional nursing home care and community based services.

This information should be used by disability advocates when your State and Governors are discussing and proposing cut-backs. For most states, it is very clear that they could SAVE a lot of money AND INTEGRATE PERSONS with disabilities in the community.

The chart has five columns that we have labelled A - E. A. Institutional LTC Services Expenditures B. Instituitional LTC Services as % of Total Medicaid LTC Dollars C. Community-Based Services Expenditures D. Community-Based Services as % of Total Medicaid LTC Dollars E. Total LTC Expenditures [the Institutional and Community-Based Services}

Because I cannot line up these columns, each column is separated with a "/"    
A /B/ C /D /E. 

For example, New Mexico in FY 04 spent $179 million LTC Institutional MA funds on nursing homes, which is 44.8% of its Total $401 million LTC expenditurees.  It also spent $221 million on LTC Community-based services, which is 55.2% of its total $401 million.

New Mexico     $  179,818,250/ 44.8%/ $  221,299,204/ 55.2%/ $  401,117,454
Oregon            $  238,642,419/  5.0%/ $  291,763,912/ 55.0%/ $  530,406,331
Alaska             $  107,091,559/ 49.1%/ $  110,851,849/ 50.9%/ $  217,943,408
Washington     $  593,061,233/ 50.4%/ $  583,762,579/ 49.6%/ $ 1,176,823,812
California        $3,033,946,724/ 61.1%/ $1,927,897,109/ 38.9%/ $ 4,961,843,833
Idaho           $  126,613,061/ 61.8%/ $   78,325,181/ 38.2%/ $  204,938,242
North Carolina     $1,096,619,059/ 62.0%/ $  671,887,077/ 38.0%/ $ 1,768,506,136
Texas           $1,781,030,713/ 62.4%/ $1,073,594,094/ 37.6%/ $ 2,854,624,807
New York        $6,486,722,331/ 63.7%/ $3,704,386,264/ 36.3%/ $10,191,108,595
Minnesota       $  904,205,889/ 64.1%/ $  506,781,212/ 35.9%/ $ 1,410,987,101
Vermont         $  104,364,396/ 68.0%/ $   49,024,326/ 32.0%/ $   153,388,722
Colorado        $  423,944,387/ 70.7%/ $  175,708,439/ 29.3%/ $   599,652,826
Kansas          $  344,645,407/ 71.4%/ $  137,864,905/ 28.6%/ $   482,510,312
Missouri        $  789,726,442/ 72.3%/ $  302,694,031/ 27.7%/ $ 1,092,420,473
Wisconsin       $  917,421,595/ 73.5%/ $  330,128,014/ 26.5%/ $ 1,247,549,609
Nevada          $  141,377,842/ 73.7%/ $   50,466,036/ 26.3%/ $   191,843,878
Arizona         $   23,172,901/ 74.9%/ $    7,773,140/ 25.1%/ $    30,946,041
West Virginia     $  367,149,385/ 75.4%/ $  120,058,110/ 24.6%/ $   487,207,495
New Jersey     $1,479,889,851/ 76.2%/ $  462,486,604/ 23.8%/ $ 1,942,376,455
Maine           $  248,697,265/ 76.5%/ $   76,549,901/ 23.5%/ $   325,247,166
Montana         $  164,145,366/ 77.9%/ $   46,520,911/ 22.1%/ $   210,666,277
Massachusetts  $1,617,497,416/ 78.1%/ $  454,574,351/ 21.9%/ $ 2,072,071,767
Connecticut   $1,015,579,338/ 78.2%/ $  283,773,739/ 21.8%/ $ 1,299,353,077
Iowa        $  426,181,610/ 78.6%/ $  116,247,671/ 21.4%/ $   542,429,281
Arkansas    $  540,193,697/ 79.2%/ $  141,654,858/ 20.8%/ $   681,848,555
Oklahoma    $  462,935,035/ 79.3%/ $  121,037,188/ 20.7%/ $   583,972,223
Kentucky          $  627,317,272/ 79.5%/ $  161,799,090/ 20.5%/ $   789,116,362
Illinois        $1,608,092,952/ 79.7%/ $  408,583,690/ 20.3%/ $ 2,016,676,642
Maryland        $  867,262,512/ 80.1%/ $  215,119,936/ 19.9%/ $ 1,082,382,448
Nebraska       $  359,714,726/ 81.4%/ $   82,181,609/ 18.6%/ $   441,896,335
Wyoming       $   60,552,927/ 81.7%/ $   13,606,200/ 18.3%/ $    74,159,127
South Carolina     $  461,865,198/ 81.8%/ $  102,983,428/ 18.2%/ $   564,848,626
Hawaii          $  182,705,650/ 82.2%/ $   39,526,269/ 17.8%/ $   222,231,919
Ohio              $2,722,643,741/ 83.3%/ $  544,833,191/ 16.7%/ $ 3,267,476,932
Virginia        $  656,180,320/ 83.7%/ $  128,196,332/ 16.3%/ $   784,376,652
Georgia           $1,466,092,237/ 85.2%/ $  254,811,774/ 14.8%/ $ 1,720,904,011
Michigan          $1,704,056,909/ 85.3%/ $  292,760,123/ 14.7%/ $ 1,996,817,032
Washington DC     $  188,211,034/ 86.3%/ $   29,947,825/ 13.7%/ $   218,158,859
Utah            $  105,854,730/ 86.3%/ $   16,769,632/ 13.7%/ $   122,624,362
Delaware          $  158,840,995/ 87.4%/ $   22,901,079/ 12.6%/ $   181,742,074
New Hampshire   $  276,085,727/ 88.0%/ $   37,539,757/ 12.0%/ $   313,625,484
Florida      $2,250,455,672/ 88.8%/ $  283,871,973/ 11.2%/ $ 2,534,327,645
Alabama      $  766,521,275/ 88.8%/ $   96,671,113/ 11.2%/ $   863,192,388
Louisiana          $  593,234,878/ 89.4%/ $   70,041,288/ 10.6%/ $   663,276,166
Rhode Island       $  292,744,235/ 89.9%/ $   32,997,712/ 10.1%/ $   325,741,947
South Dakota     $  118,375,810/ 90.4%/ $   12,531,319/  9.6%/ $   130,907,129
Indiana         $  948,116,230/ 90.9%/ $   95,123,914/  9.1%/ $ 1,043,240,144
Pennsylvania     $4,069,955,523/ 93.2%/ $  298,144,790/  6.8%/ $ 4,368,100,313
Mississippi       $  563,151,164/ 93.6%/ $   38,256,037/  6.4%/ $   601,407,201
North Dakota     $  166,456,173/ 94.9%/ $    8,899,311/  5.1%/ $   175,355,484
Tennessee     $1,006,485,725/ 99.4%/ $    6,275,229/  0.6%/ $ 1,012,760,954

US.           $45.835,billion/ 74.9%/ $15.341 billion /25.1%/ $61.177billion

ADVOCATES -

On a state by state basis, we have A LOT OF WORK to do.  Stop this extraordinarily lop-sided expenditures that perpetuate segregation and discrimination against persons with disabilities.

Steve Gold, The Disability Odyssey continues

********************************************************
PROTESTERS RALLY TO OPPOSE HOUSING CUTS
********************************************************
Protesters rally to oppose housing cuts
by Kennedy Smith

The Daily Journal of Commerce
05/27/2005

"What does HUD spell backwards?" read one sign from about 200 protesters gathered Thursday at City Hall to support Mayor Tom Potter and County Commission Chair Diane Linn in bringing attention to proposed cuts to federal housing programs.

"This sends a very strong message, I believe, to our representatives in Washington, D.C.," said Potter during the Rally for Housing Justice event.

Noting that the region is 17,000 housing units short, Potter said, "I will do everything I can, working with fellow commissioners, to make sure this is recognized as a top priority for our city. This isn't going to be solved overnight, but we won't give up."

"Thanks to federal cuts from last year, I got a 25 percent rent raise despite the fact I moved from a two-bedroom to a one-bedroom apartment," said Mary Latourette, a Section 8 Voucher holder who receives a monthly social security disability check for $579 for all of her living expenses. "At the end of the month, I have to choose between food and medication."

The rally was part of the second annual National Housing Justice Day, sponsored by more than 20 advocacy groups, including Affordable Housing NOW, City Club of Portland, Northwest Center for Independent Living, Portland Habilitation Center, and the Mental Health Association of Oregon, among others.

"All of these organizations understand that housing gives people an opportunity to build better lives," said Sam Chase, executive director of the Community Development Network. "These proposed changes and cutbacks to federal housing programs take away opportunity from Oregonians already forced to make due with barely enough income to get by month to month. We must stand up as a community and say these cuts are wrong."

President Bush's Fiscal Year 2006 budget calls for cutting funds to the Department of Housing and Urban Development to $28.5 billion, a decrease of 11 percent from 2005's $32.2 billion. It includes cutting all funding to the Federal HOPE VI grant program and Community Development Fund.

Among other federal policies on the cutting board are the Section 8 housing voucher program and the Community Development Block Grant. The administration's proposed housing policy also calls for shifting the grant program from the Department of Housing and Urban Development to the Department of Commerce.
(thax S.W.)

********************************************************
RALLY AGAINST SECTION 8 HOUSING CUTS
********************************************************
Rally Against Section 8 Housing Cuts
By Kristian Foden-Vencil

PORTLAND, OR (2005-05-26) (Oregon Considered) - Affordable housing advocates rallied in Portland this afternoon to oppose further cuts in federal housing benefits. Reductions last year pushed rent up for thousands of poor and disabled Oregonians, and they're concerned the same is going to happen again.

Steve Weiss receives about $580 a month in his disability check. It's all he has to pay bills--everything from utilities to food.

Last year he spent about $90 on rent, but federal cuts meant that on April 1st his share of that rent jumped to $120.

Steve Weiss: While a $26 rent raise doesn't sound like a lot. When you're dealing with that low an income you have to make adjustments. I'm pretty good at doing that, at least I am this time, any future cuts next year will hit me hard.

Mary Laturette is in the same boat.

Mary Laturette: I moved into a one bedroom thinking I'd save money, from a two bedroom, but thanks to the federal cuts from last year. I'm actually paying more for rent.

The stories of Laturette and Weiss echoed throughout the 200-strong crowd outside Portland City Hall today.

Crowd: Affordable Housing Now! Affordable Housing Now! Affordable Housing Now!

They came to protest several new ideas out of Washington D.C. Firstly, the proposed State and Local Housing Flexibility Act.' It would remove the guarantee of affordable housing for some poor and disabled people.

Secondly, they don't like a Bush Administration plan to reduce Community Development Block Grants. They also want to send the message that Section 8 Housing Vouchers, for the nation's poor, need to be fully funded.

Michael Anderson, works for a Portland group called the Community Development Network, told the crowd that the proposed cuts further squeeze an already vulnerable population.

Michael Anderson: You see the reasons the White House and Congress are cutting these crucial community programs, is to fund yet another tax break for the rich. (crowd boos)

The Bush administration says it wants to change the Section 8 Housing Voucher program to make it more flexible. The federal government is running the highest deficit in history--in terms of absolute dollars--and is now trying to make significant cuts.

The battle over low-income housing is being fought across the nation today with rallies in Chicago, Atlanta, Washington D.C. and elsewhere.

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TWO NEW PUBLICATIONS ADDRESSING EQUAL EMPLOYMENT
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May 10, 2005

Contact for EEOC
Charles Robbins                     
(202) 663-4900
David Grinberg
(202) 663-4921
(202) 663-4494 TTY

Contact for NCD
Mark S. Quigley
(202) 272-2004
(202) 272-2074 TTY

Contact for DOJ
Civil Rights Division
(202) 514-2008
(202) 514-1888 TTY

WASHINGTON, DC - The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the National Council on Disability (NCD), and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) today jointly released two new publications addressing how to ensure that mediation of equal employment opportunity disputes is accessible to people with disabilities. The publications are available on all three agencies' Web sites at  www.eeoc.gov, www.ncd.gov, and www.ada.gov.
           
"More than ever, employers and employees are turning to mediation and other forms of alternative dispute resolution to resolve EEO disputes," said EEOC Chair Cari M. Dominguez, who has made expansion of voluntary
mediation a top priority. "These new materials will help ensure that the benefits of mediation can be available to everyone."

The documents, entitled "Questions and Answers for Mediation Providers:  Mediation and the Americans with Disabilities Act" and "Questions and Answers for Parties to Mediation: Mediation and the Americans with Disabilities Act," address the obligations of all private and public sector mediation providers, including employers that offer their employees mediation as a benefit of employment. The documents are written in a question-and-answer format and discuss topics such as:

     * Types of reasonable accommodations that may be necessary to make mediation accessible to people with disabilities;

     * Best practices for ensuring that mediation is accessible;

     * The confidentiality of medical information disclosed during mediation; and,

     * Recommended types of ADA training for mediators.

"These documents will enhance the use of mediation by people with disabilities to resolve employment disputes and will highlight the importance of reasonable accommodation in the alternative dispute resolution process," according to NCD Chairperson Lex Frieden. "NCD is pleased to collaborate with EEOC and DOJ to use our experience and expertise in providing technical assistance on disability issues in the mediation of employment discrimination disputes."

Both EEOC and DOJ have successfully used mediation to further their respective missions and to enhance customer service. More than 35,000 charges of discrimination have been resolved through EEOC's private sector mediation program the largest workplace mediation program of its kind in the country since it was launched in 1999. In Fiscal Year 2004, EEOC achieved a record 8,086 successful resolutions through the agency's voluntary national mediation program, resulting in $112 million in monetary benefits in addition to non-monetary benefits, such as changes in employer policies and reasonable accommodations for employees.

Additionally, EEOC and more than 670 employers have agreed to refer charges filed to mediation as an alternative to traditional investigation with an option to continue with investigation if mediation does not resolve the charge. In some cases, EEOC will also refer charges back to participating employers' internal alternative dispute resolution (ADR) programs. In federal sector employment, EEOC has enhanced the use of ADR by providing agencies with technical assistance in establishing their own programs and by expanding a Federal Sector ADR Web page at www.eeoc.gov. 

DOJ, through a contract with the Key Bridge Foundation, refers for mediation complaints it receives under Title II and Title III of the ADA. An increasing number of people with disabilities and disability rights organizations are specifically requesting that DOJ refer their complaints to mediation. Under the contract with Key Bridge, more than 400 professional mediators, fully trained in the legal requirements of the ADA, are available nationwide to mediate these cases. Over 75 percent of the cases in which mediation has been completed, have been successfully resolved. 

"Mediation is an important and effective option for achieving positive resolutions of ADA complaints," said R. Alexander Acosta, Assistant Attorney General for DOJ's Civil Rights Division. "Our mediation program continues to be enormously successful in producing tangible benefits for the participants."
 
EEOC enforces Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities by private and state and local government employers, and Section 501 of the Rehabilitation Act, which prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities who are federal employees and applicants for federal employment. EEOC also enforces Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of race, sex, national origin, color, and religion; the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, which prohibits discrimination against individuals age 40 and older; and the Equal Pay Act. While EEOC may investigate and resolve charges under the ADA and Title VII against state and local government employers, it must refer litigation of such charges to DOJ.

NCD is an independent federal agency making recommendations to the President and Congress to enhance the quality of life for all Americans with disabilities and their families. NCD is composed of 15 members appointed by the President and confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Its purpose is to promote policies, programs, practices, and procedures that guarantee equal opportunity for all individuals with disabilities, regardless of the nature or severity of the disability; and to empower individuals with disabilities to achieve economic self-sufficiency, independent living, and inclusion and integration into all aspects of society.

The Civil Rights Division of DOJ is responsible for litigating cases under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, against state and local government employers, and for enforcing Titles II and III of the ADA. Title II prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability with respect to all programs and activities carried on by state and local governments; Title III prohibits discrimination by places of public accommodation. The Civil Rights Division also coordinates the Federal Government's enforcement of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability with respect to federally-funded and federally-conducted programs and activities.

Olegario D. Cantos VII
Special Assistant to the Assistant Attorney General
Civil Rights Division
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Room 5529Washington, DC   20530
Voice:  (202) 616-7920
TDD:  (202) 514-0617
Fax:  (202) 307-2839
Email:  Ollie.Cantos@usdoj.gov
(thax D.M.)

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Comments and news of interest are always welcome.  Please feel free to use or disseminate the information in these newsletters however you want and while DAC likes to be recognized, do so only if you wish.  To subscribe or unsubscribe just hit reply with your wish.  Thank you.

Keith Kessler - Founder of DAC (disabled Action committee)
14405 Artery Ln#11
Dale City, VA 22193
703-878-1737
Email: DAC4VA@aol.com

Website:  http://members.aol.com/DAC4VA/main.htm 

**Some people grin and bear it.  Others smile and change it.**

========================================================
DAC News V5-#66  Monday, May 16, 2005 -- No Vote, No Voice!  
========================================================
Being that there is much important news to get out regarding HUD, Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and more I thought I'd better get this out while I can. After losing another good caregiver due to "lack of medical benefits" more so than the obvious already low wages paid, my schedule will be somewhat impaired until more help can be retained. This is an ongoing process for thousands of people that only gets worse each year and will continue doing so as more and more baby boomers retire. So far our healthcare system lacks terribly in helping to provide adequate pay or services to those in need. With severe cuts facing us in the medical arena I look for far worse conditions ahead unless or until our representatives start tackling these issues rather than passing them on for the next year or years and administrations. One would think that living in the richest democratic society in the world that healthcare, housing, food and other basic needs wouldn't be so difficult to come by -- well it's just not so and that truly is a shame.......... 

NEXT
Gift Opens College Doors to Students With Down Syndrome
http://www.newhousenews.com/archive/heyboer051005.html

Therapies Shown to Cure Breast Cancer
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/emailafriend?contentId=AR2005051201
581&sent=no&referrer=emailarticle
(mail to yourself)

U.K. Court to rule on power to decide right to life
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,1484618,00.html#article_continue

Much more news so read, enjoy and comment if you wish:)  

Keith-

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1. SECTION 8 VOUCHER -- CLOSES DOOR ON PEOPLE W/ DISABILITIES
2. DISABILITY CUTS PART OF PLAN TO PRIVATIZE SOCIAL SECURITY?
3. 6.4 MILLION REASONS TO SUPPORT MEDICAID SAFETY NET
4. NEW PUBLICATIONS FROM AARP
5. MEDICARE FACTS
========================================================
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SECTION 8 VOUCHER -- CLOSES DOOR ON PEOPLE W/ DISABILITIES
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The following information was prepared by the Technical Assistance Collaborative:

Section 8 Voucher Proposal Closes the Door on People with Disabilities

Legislation developed by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has been introduced in Congress. The State and Local Housing Flexibility Act of 2005 (S. 771/H.R. 1999) would end the existing Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program and replace it with a new Flexible Voucher Program. The provisions of the Flexible Voucher Program would be disastrous for people with disabilities and particularly to those who rely on Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits. Similar to previous unsuccessful HUD proposals made in 2003 and 2004, the Flexible Voucher Program would undermine critically important federal housing
policies that benefit people with disabilities. It would also eliminate valuable civil rights and fair housing protections that help people with disabilities access federal housing programs.

The Technical Assistance Collaborative, Inc. (TAC) is strongly opposed to S. 771/HR. 1999, which would re-direct vouchers desperately needed by extremely low-income households to higher income households. The Flexible Voucher Program would assist households with incomes as high as 60-80 percent of median income and who already benefit from many other federal housing programs. This change would leave people with disabilities with extremely low incomes behind particularly those who rely on SSI payments equal to only 18 percent of area median income. The current Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program is the only program remaining in the safety net of federal housing programs for people with the most severe disabilities who must survive on a monthly income of $600 per month or less.

In June, TAC will release an important study that documents without question how people with disabilities are those most in need of federal housing assistance. This study, Priced Out in 2003-2004, will show that people with disabilities are three times more likely to have extremely low incomes than non-disabled households. This study also documents that the average rent for a modest apartment in 2004 cost more than the entire monthly income of a person with disabilities receiving SSI. By eliminating rules that benefit these and other extremely low-income households, the proponents of the Flexible Voucher Program are sending a very clear message that the needs of the poorest and most vulnerable people in our society should no longer be a priority in our nations housing policy.

Flexible Voucher Proposal Would Seriously Harm People with Disabilities

TAC strongly believes that this proposed legislation would completely erode federal housing assistance for the poorest people with disabilities. It would also promote discrimination against people with disabilities. The legislation combined with HUDs FY 2006 budget proposal to eliminate the production of housing for people with disabilities under the Section 811 Supportive Housing for Persons with Disabilities Program would totally undermine stated Administration disability policy goals to promote community integration through the New Freedom Initiative and to end chronic homelessness by 2012.

The Administrations Flexible Voucher proposal would cause serious harm to people with disabilities in the following ways:

The proposal would eliminate all targeting to the lowest income households at or below 30 percent of area median income. Thus it would severely curtail access to vouchers by people with disabilities receiving SSI. The extremely low income targeting in the current Section 8 voucher program has helped hundreds of thousands of people with disabilities to live in the community;

Eligibility for vouchers would be expanded to higher income households. Households with incomes as high as 80 percent of median income could receive Flexible Vouchers. These higher income households are already the primary beneficiaries of many other federal housing programs including the HOME program and the federal Low Income Housing Tax Credit program;

Public Housing Agencies (PHAs) would be permitted to use the funding exclusively for homeownership for higher income households closing the doors on many people with disabilities who need rental housing;

People with disabilities could be required to pay much higher rents than they can afford. Current rules limiting tenant rents to 30-40 percent of income would be eliminated;

In direct opposition to federal fair housing laws and the Americans with Disabilities Act, PHAs would be permitted to adopt tenant selection policies that would have the effect of excluding some disability sub-populations in favor of others. These preferences would also have the potential to create highly segregated housing a practice, which perpetuates stigma and housing discrimination;

Rules requiring PHAs to permit voucher holders to move to other localities would be eliminated;

CCD recognizes that S 771/H.R. 1999 exempts people with disabilities from arbitrary time limits on the duration of rental assistance under the flexible voucher program. Unfortunately, this policy exempting people with disabilities is undermined by other provisions in this legislation that will allow housing agencies unfettered discretion to increase rent contributions for voucher holders with disabilities;

Congress would no longer have the authority as it has for the past seven years to target Section 8 vouchers for people with disabilities who have lost housing due to elderly-only policies. Over 50,000 people with currently funded disability vouchers would be at-risk; and

The Flexible Voucher Program legislation eliminates extremely valuable civil rights protections for people with disabilities.

New Study Provides Compelling Evidence of Disproportionate Harm to People with Disabilities

In June, TAC will release a new study that clearly documents how people with disabilities would be disproportionately and adversely affected if the Flexible Voucher Program becomes law. This study Priced Out in 2003-2004 for the first time uses both American Community Survey data and SSI data to document the urgent housing affordability housing crisis faced by people with disabilities in our nation. The study provides compelling evidence of the high priority housing needs of people with disabilities evidence that directly and starkly rebuts the policy direction being proposed by proponents of the Flexible Voucher Program.

Specifically, Priced Out in 2003-2004 documents that:

People with disabilities are much more likely to have extremely low incomes than non-disabled households and are therefore greatly over-represented in the extremely low-income category. Specifically, people with disabilities between the ages of 21-64 are almost three times more likely to have incomes at or below 30 percent of area median income than households without disabilities;

In 2003, one person households with disabilities between the ages of 21-64 were 3 times more likely than one person households without disabilities to have extremely low incomes;

According to ACS data, 50.9 percent of all non-elderly single person households with disabilities in the United States have extremely low incomes as compared to 14.9 percent of non-disabled households in the same age group;

The approximately 4 million extremely low-income non-elderly people with disabilities living on SSI have incomes well below 30 percent of median.

Preliminary national data from Priced Out in 2003-2004 indicates that SSI payments in 2004 equaled only 17 percent of median as a national average well below the 30 percent of area median income ceiling for extremely low income households; and

Preliminary national data from Priced Out in 2003-2004 also shows that average monthly rents for modest rental housing were still higher than monthly SSI payments in 2004. This data means that people with disabilities are still completely priced out of the nations rental housing supply unless they can obtain subsidized housing through programs like the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program.

According to recent SSI Annual Statistics, only nine percent of non-institutionalized people receiving SSI receive housing assistance.

The current Section 8 program represents a potential lifeline for people with disabilities who rely on SSI, as well as other low income people with disabilities who simply cannot afford the cost of rental housing.

Without vouchers, they remain in institutions, are forced into seriously substandard housing or congregate board and care type facilities, or into homelessness. Section 8 vouchers are also needed by people with disabilities who are no longer eligible to move in to public housing.

Over 500,000 units of HUD public and assisted housing now have elderly only policies, and more units are converted to elderly only every day.

HUD' s Flawed Rationale

For the past two years, HUD officials have repeatedly stated that a new and more flexible voucher program controlled by local housing officials would be more effective and cost-efficient. The disability community knows better than to believe this rationale for reducing the federal governmentbs role in providing housing assistance to those most in need.

The question that HUD and others who support this proposal must answer is, effective and cost-efficient for whom? Eliminating the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher programs income targeting policies that now benefit extremely low-income households means that Public Housing Agencies would have absolutely no incentive or obligation to assist these households in the future.

Pressure on PHA voucher budgets a reality clearly illustrated during the past two years when Congress did not fund all authorized vouchers could mean that PHAs will assist more households with higher incomes because they cost less to serve. Some PHAs would be pressured to dedicate substantial amounts of Flexible Voucher funding for more politically popular homeownership programs.

Across the country, housing advocates and self-advocates know first hand what often happens when local housing officials have control over who receives federal housing funds. For the past ten years, TAC has documented that in many communities, people with disabilities with the lowest incomes rarely benefit from other federal housing programs such as the HOME program. The role of Congress and HUD in directing precious housing funding to those most in need must be preserved.

Protections for Voucher Recipients with Disabilities Misleading

Section 105 of the bill contains a provision that appears to protect voucher holders with disabilities. Specifically, the provision would allow existing voucher holders to continue receiving assistance under current program rules through January 1, 2009. After January 1, 2009 all elderly and disabled voucher holders would be subject to provisions in the legislation that allow for higher tenant rent contributions. This provision appears to offer some protection for vulnerable voucher recipients with disabilities. However, this protection is significantly undermined by another provision in the legislation that allows a PHA to immediately put in place new rules for higher tenant rent contributions for new voucher holders with disabilities.

TAC is troubled by this inadequate protection for people with disabilities because it fails to account for the needs of individuals with long-term chronic or permanent disabilities who will need housing stability beyond January 1, 2009. Further, this provision offers no protection for people with disabilities currently on Section 8 waiting lists who may not be selected due to higher income targeting requirements that PHAs will be putting in place immediately after the bills effective date.

Civil Rights and Discrimination Issues

The Flexible Voucher Program legislation contains disturbing provisions that TAC believes would promote and increase housing discrimination and segregation. The legislation also eliminates many civil rights protections that people with disabilities need and use successfully in the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program. Specifically, the legislation would permit PHAs to create disability-specific preferences that would have the affect of reducing or eliminating access to vouchers by people with other disabilities. For example, PHAs could establish a preference for people mobility impairments that would have the affect of discriminating against people with mental disabilities. This feature of the Flexible Voucher Program would also result in segregated housing that promotes both stigma and discrimination, and would roll back much of the progress achieved by people with disabilities through the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program during the past 10 years. For example, the bill fails to include important features of the Section 8 program that help people with disabilities such as provisions that explicitly cover live-in personal care attendants. . In addition, it appears that this provision would also permit disability-specific public housing.

Conclusion

The current Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program is the most important federal housing resource to address the housing needs of households with extremely low incomes especially people with disabilities who are disproportionately represented within that income category. TAC encourages advocates to contact their members of Congress and urge them to immediately and soundly reject the Flexible Voucher Program proposal because it would severely and negatively affect the most vulnerable people with disabilities. After two years and two other failed Administration proposals, TAC believes that it is extremely important for Congress to immediately restore the credibility and viability of the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program, which continues to be at-risk because of these ill-advised proposals. TAC believes that it is vitally important for Congress to continue to have the direct authority to ensure adequate funding for the program, and to retain control of important policies including income targeting and tenant selection policies to ensure that people with disabilities who are the most in need of housing assistance in this country are not left behind!

Technical Assistance Collaborative, Inc.
May 4, 2005

TAC is a national organization that works to achieve positive outcomes on behalf of people with disabilities or other special needs by providing state-of-the-art information, capacity building, and technical expertise to organizations and policymakers in the areas of mental health, substance abuse, human services, and affordable housing.

Write a letter to your Senators Write a letter to your Congressman


Technical Assistance Collaborative
535 Boylston Street
Suite 1301
Boston, MA 02116

Phone: (617) 266-5657
Fax: (617) 266-4343
Web site: http://www.tacinc.org
E-mail: info@tacinc.org
--
Steve Gold, The Disability Odyssey continues

Back issues of other Information Bulletins are available online at
http://www.stevegoldada.com

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DISABILITY CUTS PART OF PLAN TO PRIVATIZE SOCIAL SECURITY?
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Disability Cuts as Part of Plan to Privatize Social Security?

Pelosi: President Still Considering Disability Cuts as Part of Plan to Privatize Social Security

U.S. Newswire
Friday - May 13, 2005

WASHINGTON, May 13 /U.S. Newswire/ -- House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi released the following statement on the President's Social Security plan, which the White House acknowledged yesterday, would drastically cut benefits to Americans with disabilities:

"Just two weeks ago, President Bush assured Americans that disability benefits would not be cut under his privatization plan. Yesterday, a White House spokesman said disability cuts are still on the table. Either disability benefits will be cut or they won't be. Which is it, Mr. President?

"The White House also confirmed this week that benefits would be cut for the middle class and for survivors.

"Social Security has given millions of Americans the opportunity to live with dignity and independence, and Democrats will not walk away from our commitment to ensuring that families receive the benefits they have earned.

"In order to push through his risky privatization plan, the President has proposed slashing benefits for middle-class families, cutting benefits for widows and children, and trillions of dollars in additional debt. Despite the high cost of privatization, the President's misleading plan makes the challenge facing Social Security worse, not better.

"Democrats stand ready to strengthen Social Security on a bipartisan basis as we did in 1983 when Speaker Tip O'Neill joined with President Reagan for the common good. In that spirit, we urge the President to begin considering proposals that strengthen Social Security in a way that does not gut benefits for middle-class families and does not jeopardize the economic security of those struggling to make ends meet when faced with disability or death."

http://www.usnewswire.com/
Contact: Brendan Daly or Jennifer Crider, 202-226-7616, both of the Office of House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi
(thax jfa)

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6.4 MILLION REASONS TO SUPPORT MEDICAID SAFETY NET
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6.4 Million Reasons to Support a Medicaid Safety Net

May 12, 2005 • Volume 5, Issue 19

Ouch!

Last week, Asclepios explained how the massive data handover from 51 Medicaid programs to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) transitioning 6.4 million people from Medicaid drug coverage to Medicare drug coverage will undoubtedly leave people without access to their legally guaranteed prescription drugs. Even if CMS hits a 90 percent success rate in moving data, 640,000 very poor older and disabled Americans could lose their access to needed medicines from agency error alone. Who will bet their farm that the systems will work 90 percent of the time?

But the bureaucratic challenge is only a comparatively small cause of the havoc that will face people with Medicare as they grapple with the move from a Medicaid to a Medicare drug benefit. The bewildering array of prescription drug plan choices will create even more barriers between people with Medicare and Medicaid and their prescription drugs.

Congress and the Administration need to post this message on their home mirrors. Unable to access needed medicines, many people will suffer, and some people may well die because they will be unable to navigate the new benefit come January 1st.   People cannot skip doses or divide pills in half while waiting for the system to catch them.  The person with a kidney transplant needs to take his anti-rejection drug.  The cancer patient cannot hit a pause button on her chemotherapy.

Consider these 10 scenarios where people fall through the cracks in the system.

What if you

1) move and do not receive notification of your new Medicare drug plan?

2) receive notification of your new Medicare drug plan in October 2005 and do not know what it is; and throw it away?

3) receive notification of your new Medicare drug plan in October 2005 and misplace the notification; and cannot find it when you have to go to the pharmacy in 2006?

4) receive notification of your new Medicare drug plan in October 2005 and call Medicare only to find out that the plan does not meet your needs; learn that you cannot switch your plan for another four weeks; and then forget to call back?

5) receive notification of your new Medicare drug plan in October 2005 and call 800-Medicare in December to switch plans; but do not receive confirmation of your new plan before you have to go to the pharmacy in 2006?

6) receive notification of your new Medicare drug plan and call Medicare only to learn that your plan does not cover your drugs; file an appeal for an exemption; but have your appeal delayed or denied?

7) receive notification of your new Medicare drug plan and save the notification; then go to the pharmacy in 2006 to find out that your pharmacist does not accept your plan?

8) receive notification of your new Medicare drug plan and save the notification; go to the pharmacy only to learn you can’t get your prescription because it is not on your plan’s formulary of preferred drugs, meaning you need a new prescription for a different drug but must wait to get it until you can get an appointment with your doctor?

9) live in a nursing home and the nursing home receives notification of your new Medicare drug plan in October 2005; assigns a staff member to document residents’ drug plans and what drugs are covered; and when the facility tries to refill your prescriptions in January it finds out your drug plan does not have a contract with its long-term care pharmacy?

10) receive notification of your new Medicare drug plan and save the notification; go to the pharmacy in January 2006; learn that the plan you were enrolled in does not cover your prescription drugs; file an appeal for an exemption; but cannot access your prescription drugs while you wait for a decision?

There are 6.4 million reasons for common sense to prevail.  Congress needs a backup plan: interim Medicaid drug coverage for people who fall through the cracks either because of agency breakdown or simple consumer confusion.

Click here to tell Congress the true reality facing 6.4 million people who will face a loss of Medicaid drug coverage on January 1, 2006. (We encourage you to personalize your letter.)
(thax Medicarerights)

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NEW PUBLICATIONS FROM AARP
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New Publications from AARP Public Policy Institute

The AARP Public Policy Institute is pleased to make available a set of five publications on facts about the Medicaid program and the people it helps, by Lynda Flowers, Mary Jo Gibson, Wendy Fox-Grage, and Ari Houser.

The following link provides access to PDFs for all the titles listed below.  For more information about Medicaid long-term care, please contact Mary Jo Gibson at (202) 434-3896.  For more information about other Medicaid publications, please contact Lynda Flowers at (202) 434-3889.  Original copies of all are available by request at: mailto:ppi@aarp.org or calling (202) 434-3890.

http://www.aarp.org/research/health/medicaid/medicaid_facts.html

Created in 1965, Medicaid is a federal and state-funded program that most people think of as simply a health insurance program for low-income Americans.  Today, Medicaid is the largest public or private health insurance program in the United States; this year, 53 million people are expected to be enrolled.  Medicaid covers two-thirds of nursing home residents, one in five persons under age 65 with chronic disabilities (including about 70% of poor children), one-third of all births, and half of spending for states' mental health services.

There are many myths about the program, about what it covers, and the people it helps, including the misconception that most Medicaid beneficiaries are on welfare.  This set of five documents aims to shed additional light on the Medicaid program - today's safety net for those who are unable to pay for their health and long-term care.

1. "SIX THINGS THAT YOU MIGHT NOT KNOW ABOUT THE MEDICAID PROGRAM,"
April 2005 (FS#113, 3 pages) - This Fact Sheet provides key facts about the Medicaid program that demonstrate why the program is such an important part of the nation's health care system.

2. "MYTHS ABOUT THE MEDICAID PROGRAM AND THE PEOPLE IT HELPS," April 2005 (FS#115, 4 pages) - This Fact Sheet provides the real facts surrounding nine common myths concerning Medicaid eligibility, services, and beneficiaries.

3. "MEDICAID OPTIONAL ELIGIBILITY AND SERVICES: OPTIONS THAT AREN'T
REALLY OPTIONS," April 2005 (DD#115, 5 pages) - This Data Digest describes the role of "optional" categories in providing acute care services through the Medicaid program, and provides examples of how individuals and families benefit from such optional eligibility and/or optional services.

4. "SLICING THE LONG-TERM CARE SAFETY NET: MEDICAID'S MOST VULNERABLE AT RISK," April 2005 (DD#116, 4 pages) - This Data Disgest looks at the role of "optional" Medicaid categories in providing long-term care services for older people and those with disabilities lacking sufficient resources to afford these services themselves.

5. "THE FACES OF MEDICAID LONG-TERM CARE BENEFICIARIES,"
April 2005 (FS#114, 2 pages) - This Fact Sheet uses vignettes to give examples of
common situations faced by Medicaid beneficiaries who receive long-term care services including nursing facilities, personal care, and HCBS waiver services.

To view other publications on topics of importance to midlife and older Americans, please visit our webpage at http://www.aarp.org/ppi  Copies of all publications are available by request at mailto:ppi@aarp.org or by calling (202) 434-3840.

AARP Public Policy Institute
(thax J.B.)

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MEDICARE FACTS
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FAST FACT
Nearly 25 percent of people with Medicare have cognitive impairments, and 61 percent of people with Medicare have a high school education or less (Kaiser Family Foundation, April 2005).

GOVERNORS TRY TO SHAPE MEDICAID CUTS
In a draft proposal, the National Governors Association’s Medicaid working group accepts many of President George W. Bush’s ideas for cuts to Medicaid, but balks at suggestions that would shift costs to the states.

The draft proposal addresses the high costs of prescription drugs, asserting that since “Medicaid has therefore been overpaying for prescription drugs for many years,” a number of changes would help save Medicaid programs money.

President Bush’s proposed budget also addresses prescription drug costs and recommends reducing Medicaid payments to pharmacies and using drug manufacturers’ Average Sales Price instead of the Average Wholesale Price, as the basis for determining the state purchasing price.  The Governor’s Association draft proposal goes further, suggesting rebates from drug manufacturers, multistate purchasing pools, and front-end discounts on drug purchases.

The working group also proposes stepping up restrictions on asset transfers—people can now shelter some of their assets in order to qualify for Medicaid long-term care services.

Congressional Budget Office Director Douglas Holtz-Eakin raised questions about this proposal. Testifying before the House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee, Mr. Holtz-Eakin said that tightening restrictions on people’s ability to transfer assets to gain eligibility to Medicaid would not significantly reduce Medicaid’s costs.

The Medicaid program is targeted for $10 billion in cuts under the 2006 Budget Reconciliation agreement passed by both Houses.

CRITICS SAY MEDICARE HANDBOOK Misleading AT BEST
Consumer advocates, health insurance groups and members of Congress criticized a draft version of the Medicare & You handbook, the annual consumer guide to Medicare, calling it inaccurate, confusing and willfully misleading.

The 2006 draft omits any mention of the Medicare Part D “doughnut hole”—a coverage gap that leaves people with no insurance coverage between $3,600 and $5,100 of prescription drug spending.

The 2006 edition introduces new vocabulary including “credible coverage” and “Medicare Health Plans,” provides misleading information about how people with Medicare can switch insurance plans and uses income figures that conflict with Social Security Administration materials.

In comments submitted to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, one consumer group wrote: “we believe that the draft handbook makes these choices even more difficult to understand, rather than less.”

In a letter to CMS Administrator Mark McClellan, a group of Democratic lawmakers wrote: “As currently written, Medicare & You" is rife with omissions and inaccuracies and could exacerbate, not mitigate, beneficiary confusion later this year.”

CMS Deputy Administrator Leslie Norwalk acknowledged the criticisms saying, “They made lots of legitimate points.  We’re quite confident we’ll address the issues that arise.”

Medicare & You is mailed annually to the 42 million Americans with Medicare.
(thax Medicarewatch)   

===============================
Comments and news of interest are always welcome.  Please feel free to use or disseminate the information in these newsletters however you want and while DAC likes to be recognized, do so only if you wish.  To subscribe or unsubscribe just hit reply with your wish.  Thank you.

Keith Kessler - Founder of DAC (disabled Action committee)
14405 Artery Ln#11
Dale City, VA 22193
703-878-1737
Email: DAC4VA@aol.com

Website:  http://members.aol.com/DAC4VA/main.htm 

**Some people grin and bear it.  Others smile and change it.**

========================================================
DAC News V5-#65  Monday, May 09, 2005 -- No Vote, No Voice!  
========================================================
With summer approaching I plan to slow down a bit and have some fun. So from now until September my newsletters will be less frequent (like 2 or 3 mo) but should important news come to my attention rest assured you will receive it. I hope you all have a safe and enjoyable summer:)

Many people who have been reading these DAC newsletters on the Handi-Net Listserv's are wondering why Handi-Net has not been operating for the past month. I've written to Warren but have received no response so if you'd like to receive these newsletters directly or until and when Handi-Net is operational again just reply with "subscribe" and you''ll be added to our mailing list.

Remember, if you've missed a DAC newsletter you can always look it up off of our 'main' page where you'll find our 'Archives' section. This makes it easier for you and for me because I don't have the time to research for you. Thax: archives05

NEXT
Do you know a victim of "domestic" violence? If so, here's a great site which will tell you how to get FREE dental care for those who were abused and are unable to afford dental work. Please read "GIVE BACK A SMILE" at: http://www.aacd.com/givebackasmile/default.aspx or click here:  Give Back A Smile (GBAS) - A Charitable Foundation of the American Academy of C

NEXT
DISABILITY AND VOTING - THE (AS OF YET) UNFULFILLED POTENTIAL OF THE ADA AND REHABILITATION ACT
http://www.rit.edu/~easi/itd/itdv10n2/watersto.htm  OR:  ITD Journal

NEXT
New test may diagnose autism in babies
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7759224/

Autism Overview (pdf)
http://www.nichd.nih.gov/publications/pubs/autism_overview_2005.pdf

What Teens Know About Hearing Loss
http://kidshealth.org/research/teens_know_hearing.html

Sweeping Changes in Medicaid by Billions
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/09/national/09medicaid.html?th&emc=th

NEXT
VIRGINIA BOARD FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES

Biennial Report
Virginia’s Disability Services System
An overview of Virginia’s service system for people with developmental and other disabilities, identifying levels of service provided by key agencies and highlighting some of the critical issues pertaining to our disability services system.

Public Comment Forum
Thursday, May 19, 2005,
4:00pm to 6:00pm
ENDependence Center of Northern Virginia, Inc.
3100 Clarendon Boulevard, Arlington

To view or download a copy of the Biennial Report or to learn the schedule and locations of other Public Comment Forums to be held across the state, visit the Board’s website at www.vaboard.org, or contact the Board as indicated below. 

Interpreters will be provided at all sessions.  Those needing additional accommodations should contact the Board at least two weeks prior to the event to allow adequate time for arrangements.

Comments or questions concerning the Biennial Report may also be submitted by U.S. Mail to:

Director of Policy, Research & Evaluation
Virginia Board for People with Disabilities
Ninth Street Office Building
202 North 9th Street, 9th Floor
Richmond, Virginia  23219

by E-mail to:
VBPD@vbpd.virginia.gov (Report feedback only.)
info@vbpd.virginia.gov (All other inquiries.)
by Fax:  804-786-1118
by Telephone: 
804-786-0016 (Voice & TTY)
or 1-800-846-4464 (Toll-Free, Voice & TTY)

AND (People keep asking so here is a repeat)
The Plains Pharmacy is no longer serving NoVa with medical supplies so I've got another source for you state wide. Contact Home Care Delivered, ask for Ryan Shumate 800-565-5644, he handles NoVa and can get monthly supplies, diabetic supplies plus more. Just tell him Keith referred you:)

PLUS ANOTHER SUPPLIER
Home Delivered Incontinence Supplies
9385 Dielman Industrial Drive
Olivette, MO 63132

TEL: 1-800-2MY-HOME (1-800-269-4663)
Web site: www.hdis.com
E-mail: custcare@hdis.com.


Much more news so read, enjoy and comment if you wish:)  

Keith-

========================================================
1. OPPOSE FEDERAL CONSENT DECREE FAIRNESS ACT
2. SAVE THE FILIBUSTER
3. JOB & GRANT OPPORTUNITIES & NEW ARTICLE ONLINE
4. TREASURE CHEST - TEACHER RESOURCES
5. THE WORLD OF POSSIBILITIES DISABILITIES EXPO! IN MD MAY 20th
6. RAGGED EDGE NEWSLETTER
7. BOOKCRAFTER - CONVERTS PRINT TO DIGITAL BOOKS
========================================================
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OPPOSE FEDERAL CONSENT DECREE FAIRNESS ACT
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Oppose the Federal Consent Decree Fairness Act
BACKGROUND

Consent decrees are an efficient means for willing parties in a lawsuit to enter into a negotiated agreement without long, drawn-out and expensive court proceedings. Many disability lawsuits against state and local governments, including institutional closure litigation, education litigation and civil rights litigation are settled with consent decrees. In many cases, it takes a number of years before the terms of the consent decree can be met.

CURRENT ACTIVITY IN CONGRESS

The Federal Consent Decree Fairness Act (S. 489/ HR 1229), introduced by Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and Representative Roy Blunt (R-MO), would impose unfair burdens on people protected by a wide array of federal laws, such as people with disabilities who often rely on consent decrees to ensure that civil rights, health care, education and other laws that protect them are upheld. The proposed legislation would allow a state or local government (the defendant(s)) to file a motion to vacate or modify a consent decree four years after the decree is entered or after the election of a new top state or local official. In order for a consent decree to continue, the original plaintiff(s) would be required to prove again in court that their federal rights continue to be violated, AND a judge would have to rule in their favor, all within 90 days of the state or local government’s motion. Not only would this be a difficult process, we might assume that the state and local governments responsible to comply with a consent decree would be tempted to “drag their heels” in compliance, knowing that they would be likely to have the decree terminated in the near future.

ACTION NEEDED

The week of May 9-13 is a week of national action on the issue, with constituents of a large coalition of organizations making contacts throughout the country. The goal is to have every Member of Congress contacted multiple times in the next week.

Contact your Senators and your Representative TODAY and urge them to oppose the Consent Decree Fairness Act.
(thax dpc)

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SAVE THE FILIBUSTER
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Dear Colleague:
Next week will be a vital one in our efforts to protect the ADA and other disability rights protections! ADA Watch has partnered with the Alliance for Justice to stop the "Nuclear Option" in the U.S. Senate and we need your help!

As you may know, the Republican leadership -- despite both Republican and Democratic opposition -- is planning to impose rule changes that will prevent the use of the filibuster to block judicial nominees who have undermined human rights protections for children and adults with disabilities.

While the focus now is on judicial nominations, there is no reason to believe that they wouldn't use these same rule changes to push through the ADA Notification Act and other weakening amendments to the ADA. If they succeed in undoing these essential checks and balances, the minority will be powerless to stop any assault on our basic civil rights.

But you can -- and must -- do something! It is crucial that your voice be heard in this debate.

Here is what you can do:

- Forward this message to colleagues, friends and family members.

- Call the local offices of both of  your U.S. Senators.

- Fax them letters explaining your opposition to the Nuclear Option.

- Visit the office nearest to you and make your case against the Nuclear Option. (Talking points below).

- Write a letter to the editor of your state and local newspapers.

- Organize and/or attend local coalition meetings with disability, civil rights, and social justice organizations opposed to the Nuclear Option. Contact us to find out about existing meetings you can attend next week.

- Contact us at info@adawatch.org if you need help to organize a local meeting, office visit, peaceful protest, or other grassroots activities to stop the Nuclear Option. Let us know what you are doing in your community to speak-out against this abuse of power. 

ADA Watch/National Coalition for Disability Rights has partnered with the Alliance for Justice to give voice to the concerns of our community and to mobilize citizens around the country to fight this abuse of power. The Alliance has been working since its inception in 1979 to promote a fair and independent judiciary and strengthen public interest advocacy. For more info, go to www.afj.org or www.adawatch.org

Talking Points

The filibuster is the right to engage in extended debate.

In order to end debate on a piece of legislation or a nominee in the Senate, at least 60 Senators need to agree to move forward to a vote. Without 60 votes to end debate, the legislation or nominee is “filibustered.” For 217 years the Senate filibuster has been an essential part of our system of checks and balances.

Checks and Balances ensure that the voices of all Americans are heard.  They limit the power of the President and the majority party in Congress and require that they respect the rights of the minority.

When the same party controls the Presidency and both houses of Congress, the ability to extend Senate debate is one of the critical checks that promote bipartisan compromise and protect the rights of the minority.  

Without the filibuster the minority party would have limited means to fulfill its constitutional advice and consent duty.

The Senate will become just a rubber stamp that confirms whomever Bush nominates unless there is significant dissent within the President’s party. Even though Republican Senators hold more seats in congress, they collectively do not represent a majority of the people. 

·         Because both the least and most populous states are represented by two Senators a minority of Senators can represent a majority of the people.

·         Today, the 55 Republican Senators represent only 131 million Americans, while the 44 Democratic Senators represent 144 million Americans. 

·         Each democratic senator represents almost a million more people than each Republican Senator.   

President Bush won’t compromise.  He wants to have his way 100% of the time

·         During President Bush’s first term, the Senate confirmed 204 of his federal court nominees,

·         Senate Democrats rejected only 10 of the most radical, out of the main stream nominees.

·         That’s a 95% approval rate—pretty impressive

·         President Bush is unwilling to settle for anything less than 100% and will change the rules and divide Americans to get it.

·         President Bush has now appointed 24% of all active federal judges in just four years.

·         If Senate Republicans get their way and eliminate the judicial filibuster there is no reason why they couldn’t eliminate the right to filibuster legislation like Social Security and Medicare.

There have been judicial filibusters in the past. 

While Republicans are telling people otherwise, the filibuster has often been used to thwart presidential nominations, and occasionally even Supreme Court nominations. The first recorded filibuster was in 1881, when Republicans were unable to end the filibuster Stanley Matthews, President Rutherford B. Hayes’ nomination to the Supreme Court.

There have been nine Supreme Court nominees who did not receive floor votes. During the Clinton administration, Senate Republicans blocked over 60 of his judicial nominees – often through the actions of only one Senator rather than a substantial minority of 41 – by refusing to schedule committee hearings, blue slipping and delaying committee votes. The current nominees are hostile to the rights of seniors and people with disabilities.

Judge Boyle has repeatedly argued that sections of the ADA are unconstitutional.  He also said that employers are almost never required to accommodate people with disabilities in their jobs.

William Pryor argued that the Supreme Court should limit the ADA to prevent people like Patricia Garett, a breast cancer survivor, from suing her employer, the State of Alabama, for discrimination.

William Pryor also ruled that state employees who are victims of age discrimination could not sue their employer.

Janice Rogers Brown believes that Social Security is unconstitutional.  Even if we win the fight to preserve Social Security, if Janice Rogers Brown gets a seat on the DC Circuit Court of Appeals, her ideology would make her a threat to the very existence of Social Security.

Janice Rogers Brown is so anti-Social Security she has said senior citizens receiving benefits are “cannibalizing their grand-children”. 
(thax ADAwatch)

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JOB & GRANT OPPORTUNITIES & NEW ARTICLE ONLINE
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Opportunity #1
The Canadian Centre on Disability Studies (CCDS) has announced its Small Grants Awards program for 2005. A maximum of $5,000 will be awarded per application and the intent is to stimulate research partnerships between researchers and groups representing consumers with disabilities and/or with other community groups. The closing date for applications is May 27. Details can be found on the CCDS Web site at: www.disabilitystudies.ca.

Opportunity #2
There is a new position opening with the Gilman International Scholarship Program. The new Program Coordinator works as part of a close team to administer the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs' (ECA), Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship Program.  The Gilman Program diversifies the kinds of students who study abroad and the countries and regions where they go.  The Program provides funding for underrepresented students to study abroad.

Start Date: As soon as possible
Application Deadline: May 13, 2005
Incumbent: New Position

Interested applicants should send a resume and cover letter to:
(Electronic submissions are accepted)

Michelle Dass Pickard
Manager
Gilman International Scholarship Program
Institute of International Education
520 Post Oak Blvd. Suite 740
Houston, Texas 77027
mpickard@iie.org

More information on the position can be found at:
http://www.iie.org/Content/NavigationMenu/About_IIE/Employment/Other_Locatio
ns/Jobs.htm.
===============
NEW ARTICLE ONLINE
The Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund wrote a new article posted on our Mobility International USA website that addresses if foreign exchange students with disabilities are covered by U.S. special education laws when studying at high schools in the United States. You can read it at: http://www.miusa.org/ncde/youthexchange/AFS%20meeting%20-%20IDEA%20legislation.doc

Regards,
Michele Scheib

Project Initiatives Specialist
National Clearinghouse on Disability and Exchange
Mobility International USA
PO Box 10767
Eugene, Oregon 97440 USA
Tel/TTY: (541) 343-1284
Fax: (541) 343-6812
Email: mscheib@miusa.org
Website: www.miusa.org
(thax NCDE)

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TREASURE CHEST - TEACHER RESOURCES
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Just came back from the advisory board with NIUSI (folks who bring you Inclusive Schools Week). One of our fellow advisors, State Director of SpEd, Mike Armstrong, shared with us his state's "treasure chest" of support and ideas for inclusive practices. Thought I'd bring it to you too.

It is available on CD through the State Dept of Ed
http://www.ode.state.oh.us/exceptional_children/Children_with_Disabilities/

A new document, intended to be used as a tool by principal-led building teams to improve access to and progress in the general curriculum for students with disabilities and other at-risk groups, was released in June 2004. The document, titled Standards-Based Instruction for All Learners: A Treasure Chest for Principal-Led Building Teams in Improving Results for Learners Most At-Risk, was developed by ODE in cooperation with the Ohio Association of Elementary School Administrators (OAESA) and the Ohio Association of Secondary School Administrators (OASSA).

Authored by consultant Margaret Searle with the assistance of a development team comprised of teachers, principals, regional providers, and ODE personnel, the Treasure Chest provides information on standards-based assessment mapping, instructional design, scheduling and co-teaching models, intervention assistance teams (IATs), and more.

For more information, contact your special education regional resource center (SERRC), the Office for Exceptional Children at 614.466.2650, or the Office of Curriculum and Instruction at 614.466.1317.

Please click on the link below to see the PDF document:
Standards-Based Instruction for All Learners: A Treasure Chest for Principal-Led Building Teams in Improving Results for Learners Most At-Risk
http://www.ode.state.oh.us/exceptional_children/PDF/Treasure%20Chest.pdf

or http://www.nwoserrc.k12.oh.us/Treasure.pdf
(thax D.M.)

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THE WORLD OF POSSIBILITIES DISABILITIES EXPO! IN MD MAY 20th
********************************************************

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT ABOUT THE WORLD OF POSSIBILITIES DISABILITIES EXPO!

PLEASE HELP US TO SPREAD THE WORD!

FREE Shuttle Bus Service to the Maryland State Fairgrounds, Exhibition Hall will be provided  by MTA from a nearby light rail stop.  Service directly to the Fairgrounds has been temporarily interrupted.   More details to follow.

A special ProAging Meeting (to serve seniors in Maryland) will be held right before the Expo on Friday, May 20th, 8:30am - 10:30am, in the Exhibition Hall. Meet other professionals, enjoy great refreshments, and hear a thought provoking  presentation. Bring  plenty of business cards and brochures!  FREE EVENT - NO RSVP Necessary!

We are very excited about changing the Virginia Expo Site to a more central location in Alexandria, VA at the Landmark Mall. Vendors reserve your spaces now for this well traveled area.

The 2005 Expos will be bigger and better!

Do not miss the World of Possibilities Disabilities Expos, the most anticipated disabilities events in the Mid-Atlantic Region.

PLEASE NOTE THAT THE EXPOS ARE NOW 2-DAY EVENTS.

In Central Maryland: Maryland State Fairgrounds, Timonium, Maryland Friday and Saturday May 20-21, 2005. 

In Northern VA: Landmark Mall, Friday and Saturday November 4-5, 2005.

Features include: * Durable medical products and resources * Assistive and adaptive equipment * Local agencies and support groups * Many informative workshops ranging from children's issues such as parents rights, positive behavioral supports, and inclusion, through adult issues such as housing, transportation, and supported employment and much, much more * Free benefits planning and help desk * Product  demonstrations * Exhibitors and attendees from across America (and outside the U.S.A.) * Meet and Greet our Disabilities Champions (dignitaries will be invited to make special appearances) * Plays * Art Exhibits * Strolling entertainers including jugglers, clowns and magicians * Raffles and giveaways * Radio and television personalities invited * Celebrities and mascots invited * Free wheelchair rentals and free emergency repair services! * First aid station on site * Personal care attendants * Free admission and free parking!
                  
WORLD OF POSSIBILITIES will also offer informative workshops, demonstrations, and representatives from local and state wide agencies/organizations to assist the disability community in gaining more information about supports, services and resources that they may need now or in the future. WORLD OF POSSIBILITIES Expos are dedicated to improving the lives of seniors, adults, children, their families and caregivers, as well as health care and education professionals. Each Expo will provide an opportunity for an anticipated 3,000-6,000 attendees to explore a vast array of products and services. All conveniently displayed to see, touch, and
compare in a one-stop shopping experience. This will give individuals who do not typically have easy access to comparison shopping a hands-on opportunity to try devices and speak directly to equipment representatives about the products, services and resources.

Caring Communities, Inc. is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization. Expo proceeds from WORLD OF POSSIBILITES will go directly to serving children with disabilities and their families.

Please visit http://www.caringcommunities.org for more information or for free expo passes. Caring Communities phone number is 1 866 227-4644. We hope to see you there!

Mona Freedman, RN, Executive Director

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RAGGED EDGE NEWSLETTER
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** BUSINESS STRIKES BACK!!
The U.S. business community has never liked the Americans with Disabilities Act. That's not surprising, since it requires them to change their standard ways of doing business. But the howl against removing architectural barriers in small stores and businesses has been particularly noisy.

Yesterday, May 3, the California Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on SB 855, one of at least two bills that promise to take the burden off businesses of having to provide access -- this bill requires a crip who can't get into a store to notify the business then wait another 4 months to see if the business makes access changes -- before suing.  CA. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has been calling for a law like this for quite awhile. Read our story on his latest effort at
http://www.raggededgemagazine.com/focus/notifact0505.html

It doesn't seem to occur to anyone -- other than disability activists -- that in California, access has been the law for two decades and businesses that remain inaccessible are breaking the law. The story's much the same nationwide -- read "Why the Disabilities Act Exasperates Entrepreneurs" from the May, 2005
issue of Fortune Small Business -- online at
http://www.fortune.com/fortune/smallbusiness/managing/articles/0,15114,1048529-1,00.html

Last fall we took a look at the access suits being filed in California -- and the business community's howls back then. That story can be found at: http://www.raggededgemagazine.com/focus/molski1104.html

And for a really in-depth look at businesses' fight against access, led by none other than Clint Eastwood, get Ragged Edge Editor Mary Johnson's book "Make Them Go Away: Clint Eastwood, Christopher Reeve and The Case Against Disability Rights." Order the book at http://www.advocadopress.org/ordermtga.html

** THE REAL MS WHEELCHAIR WISCONSIN STORY
The "suing for access" controversy crops up everywhere. All that national media coverage of the Ms. Wheelchair Wisconsin meltdown, and the media still missed the real story -- which turned out to be about ... access lawsuits.  Janeal Lee thinks the reason her crown was taken away was actually that she confronted Gina Hackel over a series of anti-discrimination lawsuits Hackel had filed. Dave Reynolds reports that anyone paying attention to the news coverage might have figured this out. Read his Media Circus article at: http://www.mediacircus.org/mswcwisc0405.html

** BLOGGERS 'R' US
Some of the best disability commentary around is now coming from blogs: Gimp Parade, Crippled Monkey, NAG. There are hundreds -- maybe thousands. Today IronJawedAngel has a response to our story about the California Notification Act --
read it at: http://ironjawedangel.blogspot.com/2005/05/californias-notification-laws.html

Ragged Edge has a list of just a few blogs to get you started. Get our list at
http://www.raggededgemagazine.com/life/bloggers0405.html  -- if you know of another good blog, email us at editor@raggededgemagazine and let us know about it! We'll try to keep the list updated.

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BOOKCRAFTER - CONVERTS PRINT TO DIGITAL BOOKS
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Books transform people…
BookCrafter transforms books!

Bellingham, WA. Feb, 15 2005.

The BookCrafter™ Publishing Suite, from Colligo Corporation, could well be a technological innovation as significant as the printing press itself. A complete turnkey solution, BookCrafter enables users to convert printed books to accessible digital books as fast as pages can be fed through the system's included scanner. The Accessible Books read themselves out loud, become large type books, books in Braille, Audio Books,  DAISY (Digital Accessible Information SYstem) format and more.

For libraries, schools and institutions serving the needs of the disabled, or for organizations and academia seeking more effective and more cost-effective ways to disseminate content in its entirety, it is a quantum leap beyond existing methods.

"The greatest university is a collection of books. BookCrafter opens these books to millions who cannot read due to vision and print disabilities."  Doug Powles, Colligo Corp.

A totally new approach

Synthesized text-to-speech is nothing new. BookCrafter goes beyond present technologies while costing far less. Not only does it slash book production costs to pennies a page, but the system retains and converts everything on a printed page into an exact rendition of the original-pictures, colors, graphs, reversed type and more. Graphically intensive magazines, picture books, text columns, worksheets, drawings, handwritten and illuminated manuscripts or elaborate manuals are converted as readily as a black and white article like this one you are now reading.

For all of its prolific capabilities, BookCrafter is remarkably easy to use, whether converting a single page or a whole library to a searchable, indexed digital format that complies with many accessibility rights and accessible text book laws. Push a single button and the BookCrafter's scanner and software automatically scan and convert both sides of a page, up to hundreds an hour. It takes little time or training and users can be producing their first Books in just hours.

Students and end users find it just as easy and don't have to adopt new assistive technologies. Print-disabled users can use the widely-distributed Adobe Reader® to access audio and large type formats. Now in the hands of over 800 million users around the world, the free program and available plug-ins enable a host of text, graphic, and multimedia handling capabilities. Colligo's ReadText™ with AT&T Natural Voices® is included in the Suite.

Poet Ezra Pound called a book "a ball of light in one's hand." With BookCrafter, teachers, librarians, special educators and instructors now can bring light to the mind and imagination with a scale and speed never equaled before-even to those who must otherwise live in darkness.

Contact:
Larry Tingley, COO Colligo Corp
LarryT@colligo.us  
360 647-3404

===============================
Comments and news of interest are always welcome.  Please feel free to use or disseminate the information in these newsletters however you want and while DAC likes to be recognized, do so only if you wish.  To subscribe or unsubscribe just hit reply with your wish.  Thank you.

Keith Kessler - Founder of DAC (disabled Action committee)
14405 Artery Ln#11
Dale City, VA 22193
703-878-1737
Email: DAC4VA@aol.com

Website:  http://members.aol.com/DAC4VA/main.htm 

**Some people grin and bear it.  Others smile and change it.**

========================================================
DAC News V5-#64  Tuesday, May 03, 2005 -- No Vote, No Voice!  
========================================================
Apparently my squeaky wheels got a little attention last week as our Medicaid system in Virginia or DMAS as they are referred as, (whom I've been calling for a complete investigation into their operations), got me an invite to meet with our Secretary of Health and Human Services Jane Woods and the Director of DMAS Patrick Finnerty. I'm waiting at this time for Secretary Woods staff to schedule an appointment. This is a long overdue meeting to let both DMAS and the state know that everything isn't going so well within DMAS nor has it been for the past several administrations. I'm hopeful that a group I plan to take with me can help give DMAS a better vision for a "quality" service that they claim to be offering but fail miserably at delivering. I also hope that Secretary Woods will understand all the issues brought forth by stakeholders, consumers and service providers that we are having with DMAS and either correct them or order an investigation into the poorly operated state agency. Time will tell and so will I:)

NEXT
Navigating Medicare and Medicaid: A Resource Guide for People with Disabilities
http://www.kff.org/medicare/loader.cfm?url=/commonspot/security/getfile.cfm&PageID=50946
(this is a timely PDF file)

NEXT
In the May EQUITY:
State Asset Building- Financing Full Inclusion
http://www.wid.org/publications/?page=equity

FEATURE ARTICLE:
Using Tax Policy to Promote Asset Building Strategies for People with Disabilities: A Case Study of the New Hampshire Community Development Finance Authority
http://www.wid.org/publications/?page=equity&sub=200505&topic=fa
Woullard Lett and Michael Swack, researchers for the Applied Research Center at Southern New Hampshire University, describe how New Hampshire’s state tax policy supports asset development programs that inclusively serve people with disabilities.  

PROGRAM OF THE MONTH:
Rethinking Rehab: Using Vocational Rehabilitation Funds to Start Individual Development Accounts
http://www.wid.org/publications/?page=equity&sub=200505&topic=pm
Abby Cooper, Washington State Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, has found a new source for matching funds for Individual Development Accounts to help people with disabilities become more economically self-sufficient.

PROFILE OF THE MONTH:
Asset Building Pitfalls: Navigating the Maze with a Disability
http://www.wid.org/publications/?page=equity&sub=200505&topic=profile
Two stories illustrate the difficulty for people with disabilities and their families to build assets. Knowledge of public benefits programs and how they interact with asset building programs can help participants move towards economic self-sufficiency while maintaining vital health insurance and income supports.

TIP OF THE MONTH:
New Hampshire Community Development Finance Authority (CDFA) Replication Recommendations
http://www.wid.org/publications/?page=equity&sub=200505&topic=tm
Woullard Lett & Michael Swack provide recommendations to other states interested in developing state tax credits to support asset development, as well as how to better serve people with disabilities.

NEXT
Call for Proposals: Medicaid Value Program: Health Supports for Consumers with Chronic Conditions

Applications are now being accepted to join Medicaid Value Program: Health Supports for Consumers with Chronic Conditions, a national collaborative to test and validate best practices in serving the needs of adult Medicaid consumers with multiple chronic conditions.

CHCS will select up to 10 innovation teams to participate in this program, which is funded by Kaiser Permanente with additional support from The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Each of the selected teams will receive innovation awards of up to $50,000 to help defray participation costs. The goals of the 18-month project are to strengthen the system of care, test care management models, enhance the evidence base, encourage collaboration among stakeholders, identify financial incentives, and promote further investments toward improving the quality of care for consumers with chronic conditions.

Applications are due June 17, 2005. A prospective applicant call is scheduled for May 11, 2005. For more information and to apply, visit www.chcs.org.

NEXT
'Diverted' Drugs Scheme Shut Down; List of Affected Medicines Posted
FDA and the Department of Justice have announced indictments against several prescription drug distributors that illegally distributed "diverted" drugs, which bypass established distribution systems that help ensure quality. The scheme could affect the safety and effectiveness of more than 40 medications sold in more than 80 pharmacies nationwide. FDA urges consumers to check the list of drugs and pharmacies at http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/answers/2005/ANS01353lists.html to determine if they may have bought a diverted drug product.
http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/ANSWERS/2005/ANS01353.html

NEXT
Prevention Connection Web Forum May 5
On Thursday, May 5, 2005, 2:00-3:30 pm EST (11:00 am - 12:30 pm PST), Prevention Connection: The Violence Against Women Prevention Partnership will host a free web conference, "Toward a Community Solution: Fostering Strategic Partnerships to Prevent Violence Against Women". Presenters will be Larry Cohen and Lisa Fujie Parks of the Prevention Institute. For more information and to register, visit http://www.calcasa.org/access/preventionconnection.htm

Much more news so read, enjoy and comment if you wish:)  

Keith-

========================================================
1. SURVEY PARTICIPATION NEEDED FOR SPINAL CORD INJURY (NSCIA)
2. CONFERENCE CALL ON MEDICAID 5/5/05
3. KAFKA, BROWN ON LONG TERM CARE
4. MAY IS MENTAL HEALTH MONTH - ARTICLES OF INTEREST
5. STUDENTS INFO SOURCE
6. PROTECT NONPROFIT ADVOCACY
7. DISTANCE LEARNING REASONABLE ACCOMMODATION 5/17/05
========================================================
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SURVEY PARTICIPATION NEEDED FOR SPINAL CORD INJURY (NSCIA)
********************************************************  
Your participation is needed for a national mail survey on SCI, Physical Activity, Exercise and Secondary Conditions!

On behalf of the NSCIA and our research partner, the National Rehabilitation Hospital-Center for Health and Disability Research (NRH-CHDR), I would like to invite individuals with spinal cord injuries (SCI) to take part in a national survey on Physical Activity, Exercise, and Secondary Conditions in People with SCI.

The survey is part of a Rehabilitation Research and Training Center (RRTC) on SCI: Promoting Health and Preventing Complications through Exercise. This RRTC is funded by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) which is a part of the US Department of Education.

As a collaborator, the NSCIA has been involved in the various research and training activities of this RRTC. We are involved so we can help people with SCI to maximize the quality of their lives. We believe that projects like this will help make life better, easier, and more fun for people with SCI.

Although the literature indicates that there are more than 200,000 people living with SCI in the United States, less than half report that they exercise or engage in physical activity.

It is unclear if a lack of physical activity or exercise is associated with increased risks of other health-related problems, such as heart disease, urinary tract infections, and bone loss. The purpose of this survey is to therefore study the relationship between physical activity and exercise and the health of people with SCI.

If you or someone you know has a spinal cord injury and is interested in taking part in this survey, please contact:

Matt Kehn
E-mail: matthew.e.kehn@medstar.net
Phone: (202) 877-1603
Toll-free voice mail: 1-866-380-4344 (leave a message and Matt will call you back)

If you are eligible, he will send you a consent form and the survey. You will be asked to fill out this mail survey once a year over two years. All the information you provide will remain strictly confidential .

As the Executive Director of NSCIA, I have been impressed with your responsiveness to such requests in the past. The future health of people with SCI depends on our growing knowledge. I know that your contribution to this important research project will make a difference.

Sharing your experiences will help us better understand how exercise and physical activity can benefit people with SCI. Without the input of people with SCI, all we are doing is guessing. With your help, we can learn from the experts.

Sincerely,
Marcie Roth

********************************************************
CONFERENCE CALL ON MEDICAID 5/5/05
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Dear Keith

Last night, the House and the Senate passed the FY2006 federal budget, ending one chapter in our long fight to protect Medicaid and opening a new one. The final budget includes $10 billion in cuts to Medicaid--a disappointing number that will hurt millions of the sickest, most vulnerable Americans and shift costs directly to the states.

Before touching on the details of the budget and discussing where we go from here, I'd like to invite you to participate in a conference call next week about the next phase of the Medicaid budget fight. The call will be next Thursday, May 5, from 4-5 pm Eastern Time.

To RSVP for this call, click on this link: http://www.familiesusa.org/rsvp

The Medicaid Fight: What Happened?

Even though Congress passed a budget resolution that includes $10 billion in cuts to Medicaid, the budget doesn't specify any policy requirements for achieving those cuts. In other words, the budget doesn't say what will be cut within Medicaid. Those decisions will be made by the Senate Finance and House Energy and Commerce committees during the reconciliation process, which we expect will be completed by or before mid-September.

Our staff has produced a table that shows how much cuts of this magnitude could cost each state, and how many kids and seniors could be covered with that amount of money in one year. Click here to view the document (PDF).

During the budget negotiations, there was much discussion about the creation of a Medicaid commission that would be charged with recommending Medicaid cuts to the congressional committees. At this point there's no decision about the framework, composition, scope and timeline of this commission, but it's an issue we're watching closely. The commission may issue some recommendations as early as September. It may be a very partisan, sham commission, but that is not yet clear.

Where We Go From Here

While it's hard to feel good about a budget that is balanced on the backs of the poor while adding to the fortunes of the wealthy, it's important to take a step back and look at the big picture as well. Yes, we are all disappointed; this budget will undoubtedly hurt millions of the most vulnerable among us. However, from the perspective of where we started last December (when we expected enormous structural changes in Medicaid and tens, if not hundreds, of billions of dollars in program cuts), the approximately $10 billion in Medicaid budget cuts is a far cry from what we feared. Because of your hard work and dedication, together we have prevented enormous and irreparable harm to millions of people who would otherwise have become uninsured and lost their health care.

We have a lot of work ahead of us in the coming months, but one thing remains clear: we are an extremely powerful voice when we work together. Make no mistake: your calls, e-mails and other efforts made a real difference during this fight. During the coming months we'll keep you informed about the latest developments in this fight, and will continue to ask for your help. I look forward to our work together in the coming months.

Sincerely,

Ron Pollack
Executive Director, Families USA

PS: If you haven't done so already, please RSVP for our conference call on the next phase of the Medicaid fight: http://www.familiesusa.org/rsvp

********************************************************
KAFKA, BROWN ON LONG TERM CARE
********************************************************
Dear Advocates for Home and Community Services:

Below are the comments of Representative Sherrod Brown, Ranking member of the Health subcommittee of the Energy and Commerce Committee at the hearing on Medicaid and Long term Care, April 27th.  He makes a strong case for adequate funding for Medicaid and his support for home and community services.

What he is saying that adequate access to home and community services is difficult without funding.

What he isn't directly saying, but can be read into his words, is that the entitlement only to nursing home services corrupts the access to home and community services.

ADAPT has recommended making the entitlement to long term services and supports, not just nursing homes, and let the people decide.  This is what ADAPT means by "REAL CHOICE".  We need to "END THE INSTITUTIONAL BIAS!"

Free Our People

The ADAPT Community
512/442-0252
www.adapt.org

ADAPT Action
September 17th-September 22nd
Washington, DC

--
CONGRESS:  "End the Institutional Bias"
Remarks of Congressman Sherrod Brown

April 21, 2005

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and welcome to Dr. McCLellan and our other witnesses.  Mr. Chairman, I commend you for enabling the subcommittee to consider the future of long-term care.  It is a critical issue.

However, Id like to suggest a subtle, but important, shift in perspective.

Instead of focusing on spiraling long-term care costs, lets focus on spiraling long-term care needs.  Our population is aging and the need for long-term care is keeping pace.  Lets focus on the actual issue, not on one of its manifestations.

If we frame this discussion around the need to reduce long-term care costs, we are basically saying that the cost of caring for individuals is more important than the individuals themselves.

If, on the other hand, we focus on the need for long-term care, we wont neglect important considerations.  For example, we know that there are gaps in access to long-term care, particularly home and community-based services.  Is that fact more or less important than the fact that long-term care costs are growing?

And we know that regardless of how these services are financed in the future, there are elderly and severely-disabled Americans who need long-term care today.   Medicaid covers 70% of that care.  If we cut Medicaid funding today, we place particularly vulnerable segments of our population at risk. 

We can discuss reverse mortgages and long-term care insurance and personal responsibility until we are all blue in the facebut the fact is that if we cut Medicaid today, we jeopardize the health and safety of real people.  All our efforts to prepare for the future dont change that basic fact.

If you think Im being overly dramatic, talk to an elderly person in an under-staffed nursing home.  Talk to her family.

Do we really think that todays nursing homes are filled with scheming seniors who are free-riding on the taxpayers dime?

There will always be people who work the system, but most Medicaid beneficiaries do not want to be Medicaid beneficiaries.  They have no choice. 

If we focus on long-term care needs rather than on long-term care costs, we will make sure our efforts to prevent asset transfers do not disenfranchise people in real need. 

We will make sure that long-term care insurers do not cherry-pick or fail to deliver adequate benefits.   We will think carefully before forcing people in an ownership society to give up their homes in order to get needed care.

Instead of focusing on how to reform Medicaid to address spiraling costs, lets focus on how to make sure every American who needs long-term care has access to it. 

That means promoting private long-term care savings, and it means investing in Medicaid as a cost-efficient safety net for people in need.  Absent a universal long-term care system, there will always be people in need.

I understand Dr. McClellan will talk about the Presidents commitment to home and community-based care, and I share the Presidents enthusiasm for it.  However, home and community-based care waivers typically have enrollment caps. 

Making these waivers permanent, as the President has proposed, doesnt expand access to home and community-based care.  Additional funding is needed to accomplish that.

I dont recall any increase in funding for home and community-based care in the Presidents budget.  This care is very cost-effective, but there is unmet need outside the nursing home population.  Expanding access will require additional dollars.

That does not mean we should give up on the idea of expanding access to home and community-based services.  In fact, promoting access to these services should be a priority.

But championing the expansion of home and community-based care and at the same time pushing for cuts in Medicaid is like handing a person an umbrella, then pushing him off a cliff.

We cannot reduce the need for long-term care by reducing our current investment in it.  It is certainly important to plan for long-term care needs in the future, but it is even more important to meet our long-term care commitments in the present. 

If we are willing to cut Medicaid without regard to those we hurt, why even bother with this hearing?  Apparently, the best way to reduce federal long-term care spending is to simply abandon those who rely on it.
(thax jfa)

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MAY IS MENTAL HEALTH MONTH - ARTICLES OF INTEREST
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May is Mental Health Month, an annual observance designed to increase awareness about mental health and mental illness. One week is set aside for educating communities about children with emotional and behavioral disorders and the impact these disorders can have on families. Listed below are a collection of related articles and resources. Please share them with your family, friends, colleagues, and listservs.  

Articles

We All Have Mental Health; Time To End the Stigma
http://www.family.samhsa.gov/get/stigma.aspx
This article focuses on what the public can do to help end the stigma associated with mental illness.

It’s All in the Family—Mental Health Link Between Parents and Children
http://www.family.samhsa.gov/be/family.aspxI
In families, emotional states and behaviors can influence the moods of others. This article talks about the mental health link between parents and children.

Teen Mental Health Problems: What Are the Warning Signs
http://www.family.samhsa.gov/talk/teenmh.aspx
Signs that may point to a possible mental problem in children are discussed in this article.

The School Bully Can Take a Toll on Your Child’s Mental Health
http://www.family.samhsa.gov/teach/bullies.aspx
Children who are victims of bullying or witness acts of bullying often suffer from serious emotional problems including depression and anxiety. This article provides tips on how adults can address bullying.

Does Your Child Have a Mental Health Disorder?
http://www.family.samhsa.gov/get/mentalhealth.aspx
Youth substance abuse and addiction often co-occur with mental disorders. Learn about what adults should know and do about mental health problems in children.

Resources for Mental Health Concernshttp://www.family.samhsa.gov/main/help/help3.aspx This page links users to referrals and resources to help with mental problems in children as well as adults.
(thax safeyouth)

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STUDENTS INFO SOURCE
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New on students.gov
New sites on students.gov this month

Frequently Asked Questions (Firstgov.gov) -- The official portal to US government information and web sites online! Start here to get the information you need from any part of the Federal government. Browse by your area of interest or search the full directory for specific information.  http://answers.firstgov.gov

White House Tapes - Listen to the secretly recorded conversations of six US Presidents from 1940-1963. These recordings about politics, civil rights, Vietnam, and the space race offer insight into the character and thoughts of these Presidents. http://www.whitehousetapes.org

New Law Promotes Access to Credit Report (FTC) -- The Fair Credit Reporting Act now allows you to get a free credit report every 12 months from the three national credit reporting companies.  Read what the Federal Trade Commission has to say about your rights and how to order your credit report.  http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/edcams/credit/ycr_free_reports.htm

Financial Aid Resources for Military Dependents (DODEA) - The Department of Defense Education Activity helps military dependents find scholarships, grants, and other financial aid resources that are available to them. http://www.dodea.edu/instruction/curriculum/Financial Aid/FinancialAid.htm

Students.gov is always adding great sites. For more, visit www.students.gov

Featured Sites: Visit or work at one of our National Parks
Great web resources from students.gov

You've been inside classrooms all year long - are you yearning for life outdoors?  If you would like to visit or spend the summer living and working at one of America's 388 spectacular National Parks, visit these sites and find out more. ParkNet (National Park Service) - This site provides information about national parks and historic places, along with maps, descriptions, photos, and guides to famous and some not-so-famous
places.  http://www.nps.gov

Recreation.gov -- A one-stop resource for information about recreation on federal lands. Offers information from all of the federal land management agencies and allows you to search for recreation sites. http://www.recreation.gov

Coolworks - Find a summer job at Yellowstone, Yosemite, or another national park. Use this site as a gateway to your outdoor adventure.  http://www.coolworks.com

ReserveUSA (National Recreation Reservation Service) - Managed jointly by the USDA Forest Service and Army Corps of Engineers, this site allows you to reserve campsites and cabins - online - at over 1,700 locations across the country.  http://www.reserveusa.com

Students.gov has other resources dedicated to discovering America's natural treasures. Find them at the link below. http://www.students.gov/STUGOVWebApp/SG_Ctrl?Topic=0807
(thax Students.gov)

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PROTECT NONPROFIT ADVOCACY
********************************************************
May 3, 2005

In 1996, the nonprofit and philanthropic community joined forces to defeat attempts by members of Congress, led by Representative Ernest Istook, to place severe limits on the rights of nonprofit organizations to advocate for what they believe in.  Now, a case at a federal appeals court will have similarly important ramifications for nonprofit advocacy, and for the rights of foundations to fund and nonprofits to spend their private funds as they see fit to advance their respective missions. 

Please consider signing on to a friend of the court (amicus) brief in this potential landmark case, Velazquez v. Legal Services Corporation.  Signing on to an amicus brief is a non-lobbying activity; all nonprofits, including private foundations, can legally sign on. 

Velazquez challenges the implementation of a 1996 federal law that forbids any private nonprofit organization receiving funding from the government’s Legal Services Corporation (“LSC”) to conduct lobbying and certain other types of client representation with its own private money.  Private donors, in turn, are restricted in the activities they can support if the recipient organization receives funding from the LSC. 

These harms are compounded by an onerous “physical separation requirement” imposed on the nonprofits.  In order to conduct the activities that Congress has restricted, a legal aid nonprofit must first set up a separate organization, housed in physically separate facilities with separate staff.  This requirement forces nonprofits to squander scarce resources on duplicative costs and sets a dangerous precedent for all public-private partnerships. 

When this case was in the lower court (and called Dobbins v. Legal Services Corp.), many of you – more than 100 nonprofits and foundations – joined the Alliance for Justice in a friend of the court brief to voice concern about a government-endorsed model that would deeply interfere with core rights of nonprofits to use private funds to advance private goals.  Our efforts were vindicated by the court’s December 2004 ruling declaring the physical separation requirement unconstitutional.  But the government has appealed that decision and the case is now before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

The Alliance for Justice believes these burdensome restrictions represent a fundamental challenge to the rights and independence of the philanthropic and nonprofit community. 

As this Foundation News and Commentary article makes clear, while the case deals specifically with funding that goes through LSC, the implications of a negative decision could be far-reaching for all nonprofit and philanthropic organizations. 

The amicus brief will be similar to the brief filed at the District Court, available online at http://www.brennancenter.org/programs/pov/dobbins/dobbins_fdn_nonprofit_amicus.pdf.

The brief will argue that the First Amendment protects the nonprofit sector's rights; that the activities of the nonprofit sector to pioneer new solutions and enhance democracy are at the core of First Amendment freedoms; and that this restriction on nonprofits infringes on the First Amendment rights of donors and nonprofits to target and use private funding.

If you are interested in signing on to the amicus brief, please contact Colleen Gallagher (cgallagher@gibbonslaw.com or 212-649-4771) at Gibbons, Del Deo, Dolan, Griffinger & Vecchione, P.C., the law firm that will be representing the philanthropic and nonprofit amici.  Please get in touch now.  They will need to know if you are interested in signing on by May 23.  (If you’re interested but unable to get board approval by then, please let them know that too.)  When Gibbons, Del Deo has completed a draft of the brief, they will send it to everyone who has expressed interest for final approval.

We will continue to keep you informed about the appeal and hope that you will join us in protecting essential rights of the nonprofit and philanthropic sector.  For further information on this topic, please visit the website of the Brennan Center for Justice, which, along with Kaye Scholer LLP, represents the nonprofits in this case.
(thax afj)

********************************************************
DISTANCE LEARNING REASONABLE ACCOMMODATION 5/17/05
********************************************************
If you live outside Columbus, OH, anywhere in the U.S., please see the last paragraph of this message for information on how to access the following distance learning session within your area of the country.  The session will be held on Tuesday, May 17, 2005, 2-3:30 P.M., EST, and will be presented by Great Lakes ADA Center in Chicago, IL, via speaker phone.  You will note that this session is the final one of three presentations on the subject of reasonable accommodation. 

Special 3 Part Series: Reasonable Accommodation

This is the third of a three-part series which will focus on the issues surrounding reasonable accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act and focus on practices currently being utilized by employers to address this critical issue in the employment process. The session will highlight best practices, share strategies for addressing reasonable accommodation requests as well as discuss issues related to documentation, assessment, and reassessment and the critical nature of the interactive process. Plan to participate in the final session!

May 17, 2005: What Are The Courts Saying About Reasonable Accommodation?
David Fram, National Employment Law Institute

The cost for the session is $25 for nonprofits and $40 for other entities for each location, regardless of the number of participants at each location (multiple people can attend at one location for the same flat fee).  There is no charge for participants who come to the following locations:  Ohio Rehabilitation Services Commission in Columbus, OH, and Southeastern Ohio Center for Independent Living (SOCIL) in Lancaster, OH.

Sessions are 90 minutes in length and delivered via audio conference. Participants are in a "listen-only" mode until the question and answer period.  The sessions are offered real-time captioned on the Internet, and a transcript is developed and posted to the Internet following the session.  In addition, a digital recording of the session is archived on the Great Lakes ADA Center web site at http://adagreatlakes.org/PnServices/AudioConferencing/Archives/
If you are unable to access this site, please email us at adaohio@aol.com, and we will assist you further.

If you wish to come to RSC in Columbus, OH, please let us know  by May 10 by sending an email to adaohio@aol.com or by calling us at one of the numbers listed in the signature block below.  Please provide your name, organization, address, email address, and telephone number.  Please do not send a check to ADA-OHIO.  If you wish to come to SOCIL in Lancaster, OH, please call 740-689-1494.  If you wish to attend elsewhere, please go to web site http://adata.org/centers.htm to locate an office in your area.  If you are unable to access this site, please email us at adaohio@aol.com, and we will assist you further.  We look forward to hearing from you.

ADA-OHIO (The Americans with Disabilities Act)
700 Morse Road, Suite 101
Columbus, OH 43214
800-ADA-OHIO (800-232-6446)
800-ADA-ADA1 (800-232-2321) TTY
614-844-5537 FAX
adaohio@aol.com
http://www.ada-ohio.org/

===============================
Comments and news of interest are always welcome.  Please feel free to use or disseminate the information in these newsletters however you want and while DAC likes to be recognized, do so only if you wish.  To subscribe or unsubscribe just hit reply with your wish.  Thank you.

Keith Kessler - Founder of DAC (disabled Action committee)
14405 Artery Ln#11
Dale City, VA 22193
703-878-1737
Email: DAC4VA@aol.com

Website:  http://members.aol.com/DAC4VA/main.htm 

**Some people grin and bear it.  Others smile and change it.**

========================================================
DAC News V5-#63  Friday, April 29, 2005 -- No Vote, No Voice!  
========================================================
Remember the adage of "be careful of what you wish for because you might just get it"? Well, it appears that all of you Bush fans just got a taste of what is to come after listening to President Bush's speech last night on television. Do you still think the president and his majority house members have "our" best intentions in mind? If you do I've got some "swamp land" down south that would make for a nice retirement place with all the amenities included i.e., ticks, alligators, snakes, fly's, and more bugs than you can count. I hope you remember these great representatives come their next election and give them the boot. In the mean time please read our 1st story without all the "spin" of Bush and his cohorts. It doesn't matter what your political affiliation may be but it does matter what this administration is trying to do for Americans. If you agree with this president then you certainly got what you wished for. As for everyone else its very obvious what you just got so I won't go into further details.

Our 2nd story from the Disability Policy Collaboration gives you an idea of just how serious these budget cuts are and how they will affect you. Next read our 3rd letter which is a CALL TO ACTION about housing issues and we urge you to respond. Then read our 4th story and you'll learn why public opinion is running 4 to 1 AGAINST President Bush. You've got the facts now put them to work. Don't miss our 5th story about Institutional bias or our last story where Steve Gold informs you on how to inform your state governors and elected officials....

NEXT 
FDR on HBO tomorrow night

1. Watch HBO on April 30th, 8PM, film previews at http://www.hbo.com
2. Review at: http://movies2.nytimes.com/2005/04/29/arts/television/29tvwk.html?  Just a Man Until Polio Made Him a Leader, by Alessandra Stanley, The New York
Times, April 29, 2005
3. Watch for these scenes

-FDR, pool side the 2nd time he returned to Warm Springs
-confrontation between FDR and a train conductor
-FDR in his car with hand controls
-Dance with local actresses with disabilities
-FDR and Eleanor at a gathering of doctors
-Eleanor's answer to the reporters ? at the end of the movie

NEXT
RIDING THE BUS WITH MY SISTER
CBS-TV, MAY 1

Rosie O'Donnell and Andie MacDowell star in a movie inspired by the true story of Beth, a spirited, self-determined woman with mental retardation and her sister Rachel. When Beth enjoins Rachel to partake in her favorite pastime and ride buses with her for months at a time, their travels solidify their bond and change Rachel's life. (The screenplay was adapted from the book Riding the Bus with My Sister, by Rachel Simon.)  http://www.supportnac.org/hallmark/hallmark.html

NEXT
Terri Schiavo's Final Hours An Eyewitness Account 
http://www.priestsforlife.org/euthanasia/terrisfinalhours.htm 

NEXT
Judiciary Committee pushes back vote on Pryor
http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?Date=20050428&Category=A
PN&ArtNo=504281049&SectionCat=&Template=datelineprint

Senate should vote Judge Boyle's nomination up or down
http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/news/opinion/11508477.htm

Filibuster prevents U.S. Senate from doing its constitutional duty
http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/news/opinion/11508476.htm

FREEBIES LOOK!!!!!
Items Available for Donation
Please call Ellen Merritt at 301-775-5662 or ellenmariem@yahoo.com to make arrangements if you are a charity and can use any of these items and give a donation receipt to the family cleaning out their deceased relative's home in northeast, DC:

walker
bath chair
potty chair
glucose meters
3 bags of adult diapers
stethoscope
several blood pressure monitors
crutches

NEXT
Trying Times for Special Ed
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/emailafriend?contentId=AR2005042501
477&sent=no&referrer=emailarticle
(mail to yourself)

***AND FREE WHEELCHAIRS***
Wheelchair Resourses
Angels Have Wheels
(Good for Medicare recipients)
800-810-2877

Wishes on Wheels
Available to non-ambulatory senior citizens 65 years & older usually at NO out of pocket cost if they qualify. Power chairs to those who cannot walk or self propel a manual wheelchair.  May be available to the permanently disabled of any age.

800-823-5220 or: http://222.threewishes2.com

Three Wishes Inc., Program
Available to senior citizens and permanently disabled, power wheelchairs at no cost if they qualify. For those who cannot propel a manual wheelchair in their homes. No deposit required.
800-817-1871

Much more news so read, enjoy and comment if you wish:)  

Keith-

========================================================
1. STUCK IN THE SPIN CYCLE
2. UPDATE ON FY O6' BUDGET PROCESS
3. CALL TO ACTION - STOP HOUSING BILL WHICH HARMS LOW INCOME
4. BUSH COMMENTS ON PWD's & CONGRESS APPROVES $2.6B CUT
5. END THE INSTITUTIONAL BIAS
6. CLOSING THE FRONT DOOR - STEVE GOLD
========================================================
********************************************************
STUCK IN THE SPIN CYCLE
********************************************************  

Stuck In the Spin Cycle

by Robert L. Borosage

With the economy slowing, wages stagnant, the Republican Congress stained by scandal and his poll numbers plummeting, George W. Bush called only the fourth press conference of his presidency to stanch the hemorrhaging. "I have a duty as the president," he said, "to define the problems facing the nation and to call upon people to act." What are those problems? Social Security benefits are too high and must be cut? Oil and gas subsidies are too low and must be raised? No wonder more and more Americans are beginning to think this president is part of the problem and not the solution.

The staggering failure of leadership was most apparent in what the president chose not to talk about -- the economy This economy is in trouble. Wages are not keeping up. Four years into the supposed recovery and Mr. Bush's plan has produced a net loss of private sector jobs. The dollar is falling but our trade deficits and foreign debt keep growing. We're borrowing over $2 billion a day, largely from China and Japan, to buy the goods they make with the jobs our corporations are taking there. This cannot be sustained.

Mr. Bush's answer for the economy? A stirring call for "legal reform" starting with passage of the asbestos bill, "an important reform in order to make sure that our economy continues to grow." He also called for keeping the tax cuts in place and continuing his feckless trade strategy by ratifying the Central American Free Trade Accord. This is a bad joke. CAFTA and asbestos reform do not address the perils facing our economy. The president is literally blind to this fundamental threat to this nation's security and prosperity. If his "duty as president" is to identify problems facing the nation and call people to act, his failure here is complete.

This is a bad joke. CAFTA and asbestos reform do not address the perils facing our economy. The president is literally blind to this fundamental treat to this nation's security and prosperity. If his "duty as president" is to identify problems facing the nation and call people to act, his failure here is complete.

The president wasn't much better on the two subjects he did choose to address On Social Security, the president offered a warmed-over stew of distortions and dodges. With the retirement of the baby boomers, America faces a serious, long-term fiscal challenge. But Social Security isn't the problem. Even if nothing is done, Social Security will meet the president's standard of paying out higher benefits in the future than are received today. Soaring Medicare and Medicaid costs are the major problem, an expression of our broken health care system. The president's only significant initiative in regard to this 'right now' crisis has been to make it worse -- passing a prescription drug bill that prohibited Medicare from negotiating a lower price for drugs, a multi-billion dollar payoff to drug companies and HMOs.

While Social Security isn't in crisis, the president's plan would create one. He disparages the Treasury bonds held by the Social Security Trust Fund as simply "file cabinets full of IOUs." Then he proposes issuing another $15 trillion of those IOUs over 40 years -- effectively tripling the national debt -- to pay for private accounts. The president describes this as a boon to younger workers. But they will end up paying the interest on that debt, while suffering deep cuts in their guaranteed benefits. The only certain results of the president's plan are more seniors in poverty and more debt for the nation.

On energy, the divide between the president's rhetoric and his program grows ever wider. He calls for a comprehensive energy strategy, but offers a program laden with subsidies to oil, gas and nuclear producers, largely cobbled together in secret meetings with oil and gas industry lobbyists run by Dick Cheney. The president calls for energy independence, but offers a program that leaves us more dependent on foreign oil.

Here the crisis is real. We desperately need a president who will summon the country to launch a crash program on energy independence. Invest in renewable energy and energy efficiency. Mobilize American science and technology to make certain that we capture the green markets of the future. The Apollo initiative for new energy and good jobs for America -- named after the John F. Kennedy-era Apollo program that put a man on the moon in 10 years after Kennedy issued the challenge to the country -- outlines a $30 billion a year, 10-year program that will produce three million new jobs here at home while freeing America from its dependence on Persian Gulf oil. It stands in stark contrast with the president's failure of vision and leadership.

Most Americans like George Bush. His party controls both houses of Congress. His right-wing allies have built the most effective propaganda machine in the history of American politics. His administration is more disciplined about message than any in memory. But now the wheels are falling off. Americans are sensibly alarmed about the direction of the country. And in last night's press conference, Mr. Bush demonstrated clearly that they have every reason to be so.

(thax ourfuture.org)

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UPDATE ON FY O6' BUDGET PROCESS
********************************************************
Update on FY 2006 Budget Process

The Fiscal Year 2006 Budget Resolution is a recipe for disaster for people with disabilities and the final vote was completely partisan––not one Democrat voted for it and 13 Republican House members and three Republican Senators voted in opposition.  Unfortunately, the Budget Resolution narrowly passed the Senate (52-47) and the House (214-211) last night.  This was a truly tumultuous week – beginning with the appointment of House budget conferees and a floor vote on the Democrats “Motion to Instruct” Budget Resolution Conferees to agree with the Senate Budget Resolution on Medicaid, and ending with late night negotiations and a final vote.

Tuesday’s Action on the Motion to Instruct

On Tuesday, the House leadership quickly appointed its Budget conferees (two Republicans and one Democrat).  When the floor debate began, House Democrats responded quickly by introducing a “Motion to Instruct” calling for striking cuts to Medicaid and asking for a bipartisan Commission to study Medicaid reform.  While these motions are usually voted down when introduced by a minority party, this motion surprisingly passed by a vote of 348-72 – a true victory and symbolic disapproval of the Medicaid cuts.  This vote, unfortunately, was only symbolic because Medicaid cuts remained in the Budget Resolution. 

Thursday’s Budget Vote – Program Impact

Under the Budget Resolution, the Senate and House authorizing committees are instructed to reduce spending on mandatory (entitlement) programs by $34.7 billion over the next five years, from fiscal year 2006 – 2010.  Included is $10 billion in proposed cuts to Medicaid, starting in FY 2007.  As for other entitlement program, like SSI, TANF, Title XX Social Services, Foster Care and Adoption Assistance and others, significant cuts are possible as well.  Domestic discretionary cuts could be $212 billion over five years.  This budget also makes room for substantial tax cuts that primarily benefit wealthy households. 

Aside from the proposed cuts, budget negotiators agreed to a Medicaid Commission (also referred to as a federal advisory panel) that would study Medicaid and report to the Congress and the Administration in September 2005 about reforming the program.

This year will truly test Congress’s resolve for limiting entitlement and domestic discretionary spending in light of the increasing demand for public services.

The Budget Battle is Far From Over

Throughout the remainder of the year, we will see how attacks on disability programs play out.  The Senate and House will start the annual appropriations and the reconciliation processes where the actual spending decisions are made.  Disability advocates must now intensify their outreach to Congress and urge them to reduce or eliminate most of the proposed cuts.  The targets for our advocacy efforts will be the following:

Entitlement Spending

House Energy & Commerce Committee (jurisdiction over Medicaid) – the committee must adopt $14.7 billion in cuts.
House Ways & Means Committee (jurisdiction over SSI, Medicare, etc.) – the committee must adopt $1 billion in cuts.
Senate Finance Committee (jurisdiction over Medicaid, Medicare, SSI, and other important programs) – the committee must adopt $10 billion in cuts.Appropriations for Discretionary Programs

For FY 2006, domestic discretionary programs are slated for $23 billion in cuts - or almost 6% - as compared to FY 2005 funding levels when adjusted for inflation.  Slated to be cut, eliminated or frozen are a number of human services discretionary spending:

HUD housing
Special Education
Vocational Rehabilitation
Supported Employment
Assistive TechnologyThese human services programs are targeted for cuts to make room for large tax cuts that will primarily benefit only the highest three percent of wage earners.

Next Steps

No further details on the extent of the program cuts is available since the final Budget Resolution is only a blueprint and does not spell out how the Senate and House authorizing committees must achieve the requested cuts.  Once the committees begin working on the appropriations and reconciliation bills, the bills must go through conference committee votes, floor votes and the president’s signature before their enactment.

The Arc and UCP Disability Policy Collaboration will work to ensure that the programs and service important to people with disabilities and their family remain at the forefront of this budget debate.  We also will provide our expertise and influence at all levels in this process.

Thank you again for responding to our Action Alerts and taking the time to contact your elected officials on our behalf and on behalf of people with disabilities and their families.  Your advocacy efforts a truly appreciated and I am confident that our voices are truly effective.
(thax dpc)

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CALL TO ACTION - STOP HOUSING BILL WHICH HARMS LOW INCOME
********************************************************
Call to Action
April 29, 2005

Stop Housing Bill Which Will Harm Lowest Income Families

Call all Senators and Representatives toll free (888)818-6641.
(Ask to speak to staffperson who covers housing.)

TELL THEM YOU STRONGLY OPPOSE the State and Local Housing Flexibility Act and YOU WANT CONGRESS TO REJECT IT!

Senator Wayne Allard (R-CO) has introduced HUD’s “State and Local Housing Flexibility Act of 2005” (SLHFA) in the Senate (S. 771) on April 13, 2005 and Representative Gary Miller (R-CA) introduced companion legislation, H.R. 1999, in the House on April 28, 2005.

SLHFA will drastically change how affordable housing programs operate and reduce the number of extremely low income families and individuals - those with incomes below 30% of Area Median Income (AMI) – who will benefit from public housing and the Section 8 voucher program.  WE MUST STOP THIS BILL!

SLHFA will make the following changes in Public and Assisted Housing, among others:

Income Targeting:

SLHFA allows 90% of vouchers to go to households with incomes up to 60% of area median.  Nationally, 84% of severely cost burdened households have incomes below 30% of area median income.  Today, at least 75% of voucher must go to households with incomes below 30% AMI.  The bill represents a mismatch between known housing needs and use of federal resources.

Rents:

In both the public housing and voucher programs, the bill would allow rents to no longer be tied to incomes, which currently keeps rents affordable to low income people.  The bill would allow housing authorities to establish their own rent policies, which may or may not be affordable to people with low income households.

Time Limits

The bill allows housing authorities to establish time limits for participating in the voucher program. 

Portability:

The bill greatly restricts portability and poses other serious fair housing and civil rights problems.  On portability, only certain housing authorities could port voucher to other authorities, and even then only with a written agreement.

Enhanced Vouchers:

Currently, residents are protected with enhanced vouchers if owners of HUD multifamily properties prepay on their mortgages or opt out of renewing project-based Section 8 contracts, Under SLHFA, enhanced vouchers will only be good for one year then they are converted to regular tenant-based vouchers. Over 60,000 tenants with enhanced vouchers would be forced to move and find housing they can afford with a regular voucher.

Moving to Work

Any housing authority could apply to be a Moving to Work site.  As such, most housing requirements would no longer apply or could be waived (except for public housing demolition/disposition rules).  A housing authority’s funds could be transferred and/or merged between the public housing operating and subsidy funds and the voucher program.

See NLIHC website for more information on this legislation’s impact on low income families. Please report back on your calls to Craig Stevens at craig@nlihc.org.

National Low Income Housing Coalition
727 15th Street, N.W, Sixth Floor, Washington, DC 2005 (202) 662-1530  www.nlihc.org

(thax S.W.)

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BUSH COMMENTS ON PWD's & CONGRESS APPROVES $2.6B CUT
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1. Bush Comments on PWD?s and SS Social Security
2. Congress approves $2.6 trillion budget.  Cuts Medicaid.

1. Marty Ford, Ford@thearc.org, writes:
President's Comments on People with Disabilities and Social Security

In his televised press conference last night, President Bush outlined parts of his plan for changes to Social Security.  His remarks made distinctions between treatment of seniors and treatment of people with disabilities.  He stated: "As we fix Social Security, some things won't change: Seniors and people with disabilities will get their checks; all Americans born before 1950 will receive the full benefits."  There is an important distinction here.  He did NOT say that people with disabilities will receive their FULL BENEFITS (as he did for seniors); he only stated that people with
disabilities will get their CHECKS.

Similar distinctions were made when he appointed the Commission to Strengthen Social Security in 2001.  Two of his principles for the Commission were:
Z    Modernization must not change Social Security benefits for retirees or
near-retirees.
z    Modernization must preserve Social Security?s disability and survivors insurance programs.

The principles did NOT protect BENEFITS for people with disabilities; the principles just protected the disability and survivors PROGRAMS.  And, in act, the Commission?s final proposals in 2001 included cuts in benefits for people with disabilities.

These distinctions in how the President talks about seniors versus people with disabilities are significant.  Especially given the final recommendations of the 2001 Commission, we cannot afford to assume that people with disabilities will be protected in the Bush plan.  We need to remain vigilant and continue to educate Members of Congress and the public about the importance of Social Security to people with disabilities and to oppose privatization of Social Security.

Marty Ford
NOTE NEW ADDRESS:
The Arc and UCP Disability Policy Collaboration
1660 L St., NW  Suite 701
Washington, DC  20036
(202)783-2229
FAX (202)783-8250
www.thearc.org
www.ucp.org

2. Congress approves $2.6 trillion budget. Cuts Medicaid
By Brian DeBose
www.washingtontimes.com
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Published April 29, 2005

Congress yesterday passed a $2.6 trillion budget resolution for fiscal 2006 after the House reached a deal with Senate negotiators to shave $10 billion from Medicaid. The budget virtually freezes domestic spending at $391 billion, with $33 billion going to homeland security, and will hold military spending to $420 billion. It reduces future increases in automatic spending by nearly $35 billion over five years, including the $10 billion reduction in Medicaid that would come over that last four years. In exchange for the Medicaid cuts, negotiators agreed to create a bipartisan commission, with members appointed by President Bush, to find ways to eliminate fraud and abuse in the state reimbursement component of Medicaid.

The House voted 214-211 early in the evening, with the Senate passing it 52-47 a few hours later. Republicans said the budget showed significant spending restraint. "This will be the first budget to cut or freeze nondefense discretionary spending since Ronald Reagan," said Rep. Jim Nussle, Iowa Republican and House Budget Committee chairman.

President Bush praised the House vote. "This is a responsible budget that reins in spending to limits not seen in years," he said. Most House Democrats opposed the budget and complained they had only three hours to review the proposal before it came to the floor for a vote.

"This budget is an assault on our values," said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat, adding that it would "pass mountains of debt onto our children and grandchildren." "My great concern is the explosion of debt that goes up $600 billion a year, what seems to me to be a reckless way to proceed," said Sen. Kent Conrad of North Dakota, the ranking Democrat on the budget committee.

The budget includes up to $106 billion in tax cuts over five years, and offers a path to approve drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Final action on ANWR drilling will come later this year, when the two chambers produce a budget reconciliation measure.

Senate Republican leaders originally wanted to save $14 billion to $15 billion from Medicaid over the next five years, but centrist Republicans joined all Senate Democrats in a 52-48 vote in February to eliminate those savings. Instead, they proposed the commission.

The commission is expected to offer its initial report to Congress in early September and then spend another 13 months compiling a list of comprehensive recommended reforms. That compromise won the support of centrist Republicans, including Sen. Gordon H. Smith of Oregon. "It was made clear to me that a minimum of $10 billion [in Medicaid savings] was necessary to get a budget," he said. "I would have preferred $5 billion, but it is important to remember that the budget is just a number."

Mr. Smith said Medicaid savings could be adjusted in future years as appropriations committees work to contain spending within the budget's recommendations.
(thax jfa)

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END THE INSTITUTIONAL BIAS
********************************************************
Bob Kafka (bkafka@juno.com) writes: END THE INSTITUTIONAL BIAS

Quote from Mark B. McClellan CMS Administrator's testimony to the Subcommittee on Health of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.

April 27, 2005
(All Medicaid issues goes through this committee)

"If we believe that every American - young and old - has the right to live in the community, if we have really learned that this can be achieved, the time is now to go farther down the 'road to independence.'  It is time for action by Congress to give individuals the choice and control over their future that the deserve." ...

Nice words but...

We need to take Administrator McClellan's words and challenge every Republican in Congress to co-sponsor MiCASSA and Money Follows the Person.

We need to take Administrator McClellan's words and challenge every Democrat in Congress to co-sponsor MiCASSA and Money Follows the Person.

We don't need block grants.  We don't need caps.

We need an "END TO THE INSTITUTIONAL BIAS".

Send that message to your Senators and Representatives.

Challenge them to "END THE INSTITUTIONAL BIAS"

Don't Mourn...ORGANIZE! to FREE OUR PEOPLE

The ADAPT Community
www.adapt.org
(thax jfa)

********************************************************
CLOSING THE FRONT DOOR - STEVE GOLD
********************************************************
"Closing the Front Door" - Information Bulletin # 87, 4/05

The flip side to getting persons with disabilities who want to live in the community out of nursing homes ("Money Follows the Person") is to offer persons appropriate community services BEFORE they go into the nursing homes.  That is not rocket science, especially since we know that once a person is in a nursing home they may lose their apartment, support systems, etc. and many become "institutionalized" to believe they are really helpless.

This is especially critical when states are complaining about increased Medicaid costs.  Why would your state want to pay $40,000 - $50,000 or more in Medicaid expenditures for each person in a nursing home, when the same person with appropriate and MUCH LESS EXPENSIVE Medicaid services could remain in the community.  Doesn't your Governor want to save money?

As disability advocate,. you must find out what your state does BEFORE the person enters a nursing home.  Many states do nothing!  They learn that the person is in a nursing home AFTER the person is a resident there when the nursing home requests reimbursement for that person.

Persons go to or are sent to the nursing homes by any number of sources and for a number of reasons.  Most states have NO mechanism BEFORE the person enters to determine if the person would want to stay in the community with services.  The irony is that your state could receive MA rreimbursement for Case Management services to meet with each person BEFORE she or he enters the nursing home.

Let's look at the national data from the MDS report (3/31/05).  We know that 27% of the 1.4 million persons in nursing homes LIVED ALONE BEFORE they entered the nursing home, 56% lived with other persons, and only 17% lived in another facility.  (www2.cms.gov/states/mdsreports/res3.asp?var) (MDS question #AB3). (Data for your state is available.)

The overwhelming bulk of persons ENTER a nursing home DIRECTLY from an acute care hospital (58%) from a Rehabilitation Hospital (10%). (www2.cms.gov/states/mdsreports/res3.asp?var) (MDS question AB2.) Very often the state is paying Medicaid funds for the person in both the acute care hospital and rehabilitation hospital.  We know that these hospitals often urge persons to go to nursing homes because the hospitals can no longer justify keeping them in their institutions and do not want to jeopardize their Medicaid reimbursements when the person no longer requires hospitalization.
 
Another 17% persons ENTER a nursing home DIRECTLY from their own homes.
Many are actually receiving some Medicaid home health services.

We have no idea what community based services these persons were receiving IF ANY.  Nor do we know what community based services they needed to stay in the community, nor do we know IF any community services were offered?

Closing the front door requires that your state set up a procedure to ensure that no one enters a nursing home UNTIL the state's Case Management system has met the person, has assessed what services s/he might need to live in the community, and has discussed these community services and option with the person.

Simple solutions:

Why doesn't your state require the acute or rehabilitation hospitals, as part of their Medicaid responsibilities, to give 30 day notice to the state Medicaid office PRIOR to discharging the person to a nursing home. Then Case Management officials could meet the person and discuss what services the person might want and need to live in the community.

Why doesn't your state require all Medicaid funded agencies (home health, personal care option, waivers) that are currently providing community based services to notify the state Case Management team 30 days before referral to a nursing home of any additional services a person might need to avoid nursing home institutionalization.

What radical ideas - offering and providing services "in the most integrated setting," offering community services BEFORE persons are unnecessarily institutionalized, and saving Medicaid funds in the process.

    Steve Gold, The Disability Odyssey continues

Back issues of other Information Bulletins are available online at
http://www.stevegoldada.com
with a searchable Archive at this site divided into different subjects.  To contact Steve Gold directly, write to stevegoldada@cs.com    

Steve Gold, The Disability Odyssey continues

Back issues of other Information Bulletins are available online at
http://www.stevegoldada.com

===============================
Comments and news of interest are always welcome.  Please feel free to use or disseminate the information in these newsletters however you want and while DAC likes to be recognized, do so only if you wish.  To subscribe or unsubscribe just hit reply with your wish.  Thank you.

Keith Kessler - Founder of DAC (disabled Action committee)
14405 Artery Ln#11
Dale City, VA 22193
703-878-1737
Email: DAC4VA@aol.com

Website:  http://members.aol.com/DAC4VA/main.htm 

**Some people grin and bear it.  Others smile and change it.**

========================================================
DAC News V5-#62  Tuesday, April 26, 2005 -- No Vote, No Voice!  
========================================================
Isn't it amazing that this country, supposedly the richest country in the world, cannot supply "affordable" healthcare to our citizens in need? On a recent 60 Minutes segment I viewed a portion of their show where we as Americans are opting to "outsource" our own healthcare needs to India and other so-called less sophisticated countries simply because it's far less expensive. A woman who needed a hip operation which would cost $25-30 thousand dollars stateside with fair hospitalization received the same operation in India for around $5,800 U.S. dollars. Not to mention she had a beautiful room, private bath with hot tub and a PRIVATE nurse. Then she went on to recuperate at a luxury resort on the ocean for $145 a day for two people. Isn't there something wrong with this picture? Perhaps this is the wave of the future since we outsource many jobs already, but, I must confess when they (India) or any other 3rd world country that offers a great friendly healthcare service which I can benefit from I'll be right in line for my luxury treatment. This only goes to show that this country is leading us down a road I don't even want to think about and that is truly a shame. Not only that but we could do better if our representatives would simply represent us instead of padding their political war chests and listening to only special interest groups. I wonder how long it will be before we simply outsource ourselves to live a better quality of life in another country????? Just a thought:)   

NEXT
A New Disability E-zine!  <---I checked it out....great site...good luck:) .....kk-

Hello,
I have put together a new web magazine for people with disabilities, called LifeIsFull. We are promoting an active lifestyle for people with disabilities – Living Life to the Fullest! You are invited to come and check it out. We encourage any feedback and hope you will spread the word to others! I have placed a direct link for your convenience. www.LifeIsFull.com

For questions, comments or if you would like to contribute an article, you may email: editor@lifeisfull.com

Best regards,
Jenny

NEXT
Critics call for overhaul of program aimed at employing disabled 
http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0405/042205nj1.htm

NEXT
The Plains Pharmacy is no longer serving NoVa with medical supplies so I've got another source for you state wide. Contact Home Care Delivered, ask for Ryan Shumate 800-565-5644, he handles NoVa and can get monthly supplies, diabetic supplies plus more. Just tell him Keith referred you:)

NEXT
Resources for Catholics with Disabilities
With the recent focus on the Catholic Church due to the death of Pope John Paul II and the election of Pope Benedict XVI, some resources for Catholics with disabilities. Pope Benedict XVI e-mail: benedictxvi@vatican.va

National Catholic Partnership on Disability - Advancing Inclusion in Church and Society  http://www.ncpd.org/

Disabled Catholics In Action: http://www.dcia.org

NEXT
Prevention Connection Web Forum May 5
On Thursday, May 5, 2005, 2:00-3:30 pm EST (11:00 am - 12:30 pm PST), Prevention Connection: The Violence Against Women Prevention Partnership will host a free web conference, "Toward a Community Solution: Fostering Strategic Partnerships to Prevent Violence Against Women." Presenters will be Larry Cohen and Lisa Fujie Parks of the Prevention Institute. For more information and to register, visit http://www.calcasa.org/access/preventionconnection.htm

NEXT
Family-style alternative for care of the mentally retarded flourishing in the Lynchburg area
http://www.newsadvance.com/servlet/Satellite?c=MGArticle&cid=1031782194411&pagename=LNA/MGArticle/LNA_BasicArticle

AND
Don't miss the latest edition of Bridges4Kids NewsDigest: April 26, 2005
Bridges4kids or: http://members.aol.com/dac4va/Bridges4kids.htm

NEXT
ACTION ALERT on Judicial Nominations of Boyle and Pryor 
If you care about ensuring a strong Americans With Disabilities Act, and about protecting our civil rights then it is IMPERATIVE that you ATTEND a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday, April 28 at 9:30 a.m. in Room 226 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building (First Street and Constitution Avenue, NE in Washington, D.C. -- Metro Union Station on the Red Line).  The Judiciary Committee is slated to vote on the nominations of Terrence Boyle (candidate for the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals) and William Pryor (candidate for the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals).  Both have judicial records that are hostile to the ADA and both have expressed opinions that ADA Title II is unconstitutional.  Keep in mind that if Boyle is confirmed then he will hear ADA cases from Virginia.

Please try to be at the hearing and to contact the key legislators.  Read the alert that follows.  Those of us who remember what it was like before can tell you -- WE WON'T GO BACK!

IT'S YOUR RIGHTS, OR THE RIGHTS OF SOMEONE YOU CARE ABOUT -- BE THERE TO SHOW THE SENATORS VOTING ON THESE NOMINATIONS THAT WE WILL FIGHT FOR OUR RIGHTS!!

NEXT
ADA & IT Information Center Bulletin April 15, 2005
Hope all is going well for you all this Spring!
Please check out the most recent ADA and IT Info Center bulletin, which includes interesting articles on Richmond schools and the ADA, attempts by business groups to lessen the scope of the Family Medical Leave Act, info on innovative thinking that would provide deaf people with wearable captioning technology and new documents from the DOJ on reasons why smart businesses are accessible. Many more interesting articles are included this time, as well. Read on at: http://www.adainfo.org/whatsnew/

FINALLY
It appears as if my last newsletter telling about how "inept" DMAS is struck a raw nerve with many stakeholders, Service Providers, CIL's, and more throughout the state. Everyone that I've heard from is being MISINFORMED by DMAS or WVMI about Waiver services and/or appeals. I've asked Governor Warner to call for a complete investigation into ALL of DMAS's operations and practices. I urge you to call or write Secretary Jane Woods at: jane.woods@governor.virginia.gov after all, it is her job to see why DMAS is so dysfunctional and now is as good as a time as any to check into all of the problems within DMAS.

Much more news so read, enjoy and comment if you wish:)  

Keith-

========================================================
1. JOANNE WILSON: BUSH DISMANTLING DISABILITY PROGRAMS
2. RSA INITIATIVE NEEDS REPS FOR GROUP SUMMIT
3. MEDICARE CHANGE WILL LIMIT ACCESS TO CLAIM HEARING
4. SPECIAL EDUCATION - IDEA & NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND
5. BULLY EFFECTS: LIFELONG - AUTISM STUDY - TAKE CHARGE
6. SPIRITUALITY, LOSS, & AGING FOR PERSONS w LIFELONG DISABILITIES
7. MANY VOICES, ONE VISION
========================================================
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JOANNE WILSON: BUSH DISMANTLING DISABILITY PROGRAMS
********************************************************  
Disabled Program Changes Decried

Former RSA Chief Faults Consolidation
By Brian Faler
Special to The Washington Post
Monday, April 25, 2005; A17

The woman who, until recently, led the federal government effort to get the nation's disabled into the workforce is lashing out at the Bush administration, saying it is quietly attempting to "dismantle" programs critical to helping the blind, deaf and otherwise disabled find jobs.

Joanne Wilson, who left her job as commissioner of the Rehabilitation Services Administration on March 1, now says she quit in protest of what she said were the administration's largely unnoticed efforts to gut the office's funding and staffing.

"Programs for people with disabilities are being dismantled, and nobody is crying out and saying, 'Look what's happening,' " said Wilson, who, as RSA commissioner, was one of the government's highest-ranking disabled officials.

Wilson said the Department of Education, which has jurisdiction over the office, is pushing to allow governors to combine RSA programs with a number of other job placement programs that serve both the disabled and the able-bodied. The net result of such a move, she said, would be less money and fewer services dedicated to helping those with disabilities. Wilson said the agency is also cutting RSA staffing by about half while pushing to downgrade the authority of the commissioner who runs it.

The agency defended the proposal, saying the consolidation would make the program more efficient and flexible and would not affect the government's vocational services for the disabled.

"Even though you combine it with other programs, it's going to be the responsibility of the states to use it responsibly and to generate the results that they are going to be required to have in order to qualify for the money," said John Hager, assistant secretary for special education and rehabilitative services.

Hager said the staffing cuts -- expected to slice the RSA's personnel to about 70, from 138 -- are coming at the expense of its regional offices, which the agency has deemed unnecessary thanks, in part, to advances in technology. "This is something most parts of the Department of Education did years ago," he said.

The reorganization, which the administration proposed in its 2006 budget plan, would have to be approved by Congress.

The RSA provides money, technical assistance and oversight to state agencies that, in turn, provide rehabilitative and vocational services for those who are blind, deaf, paralyzed or intellectually disabled. Such services may include training on how to live independently, navigate communities and develop marketable skills.

The program serves about 1.2 million people at an annual cost of about $2.9 billion. Those who enroll in the programs participate for a few months to several years. Hager said that the RSA places about 215,000 each year and that two-thirds of those who enter the program come out with jobs.

Fredric K. Schroeder, who ran the office for much of the Clinton administration and is teaming up with Wilson to draw attention to her criticisms, said the proposed consolidated job program would not be able to provide the same range of the often expensive and extensive services RSA offers.

"The way you rehabilitate a person with a severe disability is very different than the way you help a dislocated worker return to the workforce," he said.

Moreover, they said, the disabled would probably get lost in the mix of a combined program because many state agencies are pressured to place as many people in jobs as possible. That would often lead them, Wilson said, to focus on those easiest to place.

Hager, the education official, called those warnings "speculative" and said the administration has proposed increasing the RSA's funding. It has proposed expanding the office's state grant programs by slightly more than 3 percent. The overall RSA budget would remain essentially unchanged, however.

The president of one of the major advocacy groups for the disabled, the American Association of People with Disabilities, said the organization has not taken a position on the proposal. Andrew Imparato said the group is waiting for more details to emerge.

"There's an ongoing dilemma within disability policy," he said. "Do we want separate programs that we can then try to hold accountable? Or do we want to hold the generic programs accountable? Or do we want a little bit of both?"

Wilson, who was named to the post in 2001, is herself the beneficiary of a job placement program designed for the disabled. She became blind as a child and was illiterate for much of her childhood, she said. Wilson entered a program in Iowa at age 19. She went on to become a public school teacher before running the Louisiana Center for the Blind and, later, the RSA. She is now a director at the advocacy group National Federation of the Blind.

"The system invested money in me, and they invested a lot of time in me," Wilson said. " . . . But as a result I've been employed for how many years now? That was when I was 19. I'm now 58. I was employed for 40 years and paid a lot of taxes back into the system with that. I couldn't have gotten that if I had walked into a generic job placement program."

© 2005 The Washington Post Company
(thax adawatch)

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RSA INITIATIVE NEEDS REPS FOR GROUP SUMMIT
********************************************************
RSA Monitoring Re-design Initiative Needs Reps for Stakeholders Group Summit, Aug 24-25

The Steering Committee of the Rehabilitation Services Administration’s Monitoring Re-design Initiative is looking for representatives of a stakeholder groups to participate in a summit on August 24 and 25 to produce a blueprint for a new monitoring system for state vocational rehabilitation programs.  The Steering Committee has identified consumers, advocacy organizations, providers, employers, State Rehabilitation Councils, state agencies and RSA staff as stakeholders. 

If you are interested in participating or have someone that you would like to nominate, please send the contact information for the person (name, e-mail, phone, address).  Include a short paragraph explaining why the person would be an asset to the re-design initiative.  Send all information to:  Julie Ward, Disability Policy Collaboration ward@thedpc.org 1660 L Street NW Suite 701 Washington DC 20036 by Friday, April 29. 

Overall approximately 150 people representing the stakeholder groups will be invited to participate in the summit.

On a related note, we are interested in learning more about how chapters of The Arc and affiliates of United Cerebral Palsy interact with the State Rehabilitation Councils and how well you believe they are fulfilling their legislative mandate to provide consumer input into the vocational rehabilitation system.  Please send your input to Julie Ward at the above address. 

Thank you in advance for your input.

Julie Ward
(thax dpc)

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MEDICARE CHANGE WILL LIMIT ACCESS TO CLAIM HEARING
********************************************************
Medicare Change Will Limit Access to Claim Hearing

By ROBERT PEAR

WASHINGTON, April 23 - A new federal policy will make it significantly more difficult for Medicare beneficiaries to obtain hearings in person before a judge when the government denies their claims for home care, nursing home services, prescription drugs and other treatments.

For years, hearings have been held at more than 140 Social Security offices around the country. In July, the Department of Health and Human Services will take over the responsibility, and department officials said all judges would then be located at just four sites - in Cleveland; Miami; Irvine, Calif.; and Arlington, Va.

Under the new policy, Medicare officials said, most hearings will be held with videoconference equipment or by telephone. A beneficiary who wants to appear in person before a judge must show that "special or extraordinary circumstances exist," the rules say.

But a beneficiary who insists on a face-to-face hearing will lose the right to receive a decision within 90 days, the deadline set by statute.

The policy change comes as Bush administration officials are predicting an increase in the volume of cases, with the creation of a Medicare drug benefit expected to generate large numbers of claims and appeals. But in a recent study, the Government Accountability Office, an investigative arm of Congress, questioned the heavy reliance on videoconferences, saying that "beneficiaries are often uncomfortable using videoconference facilities and prefer to have their cases heard face to face."

All beneficiaries are 65 or older or disabled. About 5 million of the 41 million beneficiaries are 85 or older, and some are so sick they die while pursuing appeals.

When claims are denied, beneficiaries and their health care providers can challenge the decisions in an appeals process that has several levels of review. Their best chance to win coverage comes when they appear before impartial, independent adjudicators known as administrative law judges.

Over the last five years, beneficiaries and providers prevailed in two-thirds of the 283,000 cases decided by these judges.

The Department of Health and Human Services defended its new policy, saying the use of videoconference equipment would enable judges to "complete more cases" within the 90-day deadline, because they would not have to spend time traveling to remote sites. In a summary of its plans, the department said it was "not economically or administratively feasible" to station judges around the country.

"Having fewer offices is more cost-effective in terms of management, technology and training," the department said in a letter answering questions from Congress.

Michael O. Leavitt, the secretary of health and human services, said, "Access to hearings for Medicare beneficiaries will be as good as or better than" what is now available. For some beneficiaries, he said, video hearings could be more convenient.

"Video teleconferences will allow hearings to be provided more timely, with vastly more access points than Social Security currently provides through its offices," Mr. Leavitt said.

But lawmakers, judges, consumer groups and lawyers for beneficiaries expressed concern.

Senator Charles E. Grassley, the Iowa Republican who is chairman of the Finance Committee, and Senator Max Baucus of Montana, the senior Democrat on the panel, said four hearing offices were not enough.

Mr. Grassley and Mr. Baucus were among the principal authors of the 2003 Medicare law. The law, they noted, says Medicare judges are to be distributed "throughout the United States."

Under the new arrangement, hearings for Medicare beneficiaries in New York, New Jersey and all of New England will normally be held by judges in Cleveland. Hearings for people in Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska will be held by judges in Southern California.

Judith A. Stein, director of the Center for Medicare Advocacy, which has represented thousands of people in hearings since 1986, said: "The videoconferences are one of many changes that will reduce the beneficiaries' ability to get fair, favorable decisions. Sick, old and disabled people can be much more effective in person because the judge can see their illnesses and infirmities - how they walk, how they get up from a chair, how their hands shake with tremors."

Nancy M. Coleman, director of the Commission on Law and Aging, a policy and research arm of the American Bar Association, said, "It's a travesty, what's happening to the appeal rights of Medicare beneficiaries."

Videoconference equipment transmits a picture and sound so that a Medicare beneficiary, a judge and witnesses in different parts of the country can see and hear one another over secure networks. Signals will be encrypted to protect the privacy of medical information. The judge will have the file, but a beneficiary can send and receive additional documents using a fax machine.

Ronald G. Bernoski, president of the Association of Administrative Law Judges, said face-to-face hearings were valuable for judges and beneficiaries alike.

"Video teleconferences will undermine the judges' ability to assess the credibility and demeanor of witnesses," said Mr. Bernoski, a judge based in Milwaukee. "And it could reduce the beneficiaries' confidence in the proceedings. The intrinsic value of a Medicare hearing is that citizens have an opportunity to sit down in front of a high-ranking official and tell their story to someone who listens carefully and makes a reasoned decision."

One person who benefited from a Medicare hearing is Ethel L. Swarm, 76, of Bethel, Conn. She said she had excruciating pain in her left leg, was unable to walk and spent four days at Danbury Hospital. But Medicare refused to cover her stay, saying it was not medically necessary. Medicare also refused to pay for a subsequent 37-day stay in a nursing home.

After reviewing the medical evidence, administrative law judges ruled in favor of Mrs. Swarm. She won $7,437 for her hospital care and $9,250 for the nursing home stay, which helped her walk again.

The 2003 law shifted the responsibility for hearing Medicare appeals from Social Security to the Department of Health and Human Services, which is in the process of hiring 50 judges.

The government is still working out details and lining up sites with the necessary videoconference links. Nancy A. Thompson, director of the transition team at the department, refused to answer questions about the new hearing and appeal procedures or the logistical arrangements.

Ronald T. Osborn of Charlotte, N.C., who has been an administrative law judge since 1974 and has specialized in Medicare cases since 1996, said he had no interest in moving to the Department of Health and Human Services.

"Under the department's procedural rules," Mr. Osborn said, "judges will have less freedom to handle individual cases as they see fit."

Ms. Stein said that under the rules "it will be easier for Medicare officials to participate in hearings and to influence decisions, often to the detriment of beneficiaries."

Bill Hall, a spokesman for the department, said such concerns were unfounded because the judges would report to the health secretary, not the Medicare program chief.

Medicare and Social Security officials have long contended that some administrative law judges were improperly favoring beneficiaries. For their part, the judges have periodically complained that officials put pressure on them to approve fewer claims. In the early 1980's, the tension became so acute that the judges filed suit against the secretary of health and human services to preserve their independence.

Under the new rules, issued in March by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, administrative law judges must follow the Medicare law and regulations and must "give substantial deference" to manuals and guidelines issued by Medicare officials. In a particular case, a judge can decline to follow a Medicare policy but must explain why.
(thax S.W.)

********************************************************
SPECIAL EDUCATION - IDEA & NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND
********************************************************
Special Education--IDEA and No Child Left Behind

In light of the current national discussion on special education for students with disabilities and No Child Left Behind, the National Council on Disability (NCD) again puts forward its timely paper of May 17, 2004, Improving Educational Outcomes for Students with Disabilities.

NCD commissioned this paper to assist policy leaders and stakeholders in identifying, disseminating, and aligning evidence-based outcome producing practices with the Federal Government's commitment to leaving no child behind in the attainment of a free appropriate public education. This paper is a precursor to a more detailed analysis that NCD will be conducting in coming months to provide additional input and recommendations to Congress and the Administration. NCD is an independent federal agency making recommendations to the President and Congress on issues affecting Americans with disabilities. NCD's overall purpose is to promote policies, programs, practices, and procedures that guarantee equal opportunity for all individuals with disabilities, regardless of the nature or severity of the disability; and to empower individuals with disabilities to achieve economic self-sufficiency, independent living, and inclusion and integration into all aspects of society.

The full paper can be found at: http://www.ncd.gov/newsroom/publications/2004/educationoutcomes.htm#execsummary

NCD will publish an update in 2006.

Thank you.

Mark S. Quigley
Director of Communications
National Council on Disability
1331 F Street, NW, Suite 850
Washington, DC 20004
202-272-2008
202-272-2074 TTY
202-272-2022 fax
mquigley@ncd.gov
www.ncd.gov

********************************************************
BULLY EFFECTS: LIFELONG - AUTISM STUDY - TAKE CHARGE
********************************************************
Bully Effects: Lifelong
Time Magazine reports that Victims of Bullying suffer from lower grades, higher absenteeism and depression that could last a lifetime. Time Magazine full story.Intervention for the bully and other behavior types....read more

Autism Study
Responsive teaching is showing economical and worthwhile results according to a research study from Case Western Reserve University's Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences. PDD and Autistic children children made an overall 60 percent increase in their rate of cognitive...read more

Take Charge!
Are you using the Pro-active model for classroom management in your inclusional classroom? Use this handy checklist to help you avoid behavior and discipline issues....read more
(thax about.com)

********************************************************
SPIRITUALITY, LOSS, AND AGING FOR PERSONS w LIFELONG DISABILITIES
********************************************************
Spirituality, Loss, and Aging for Persons with Lifelong Disabilities

Conference Sponsored by the Area Planning and Services Committee on Aging with Lifelong Disabilities (APSC)

DoubleTree Hotel, Richmond Airport
May 12, 2005

Thursday, May 12, 2005

8:00-9:00 Registration and Coffee

9:00-10:30    Welcome and Keynoter
The Last Years May Matter Most: Reflections on the Culture of Caregiving  
Harry R. Moody, PhD, AARP, Washington, DC
Caregiving is in our future, as individuals and as a society. But do we have an appropriate story to tell ourselves that makes sense of caregiving and disability?  How can we re-imagine caregiving as a spiritual journey with deep lessons about our human condition?  We will create a culture of caregiving only by returning to our spiritual roots.

10:30-10:45   Networking Break

Breakout Sessions:

10:45-12:15

A. Faith in the Grieving Process: The Role of Parish Nurses 
Rev. Donna Coffman, RN, CARES Ministries, LLC, Richmond

B. Common Conditions in Growing Older with Lifelong Disabilities
Charlene Peters, MSA, Instructive Visiting Nurse Association

C. Down Syndrome and Dementia
Mary Ann Johnson, Alzheimer's Association and Edward Ansello, PhD, Virginia Center on Aging

12:15-1:30   Luncheon

Breakout Sessions: 

1:30-3:00

D. Chronic Sorrow: Recognizing and Understanding Ongoing Loss and Grief
Linda Kendall, RN, MS, CANP, VCU School of Nursing

E. Aging-Related Community Resources
Kathy Miller, Senior Connections: The Capital Area Agency on Aging

F. Sacred Moments: Conversation at the End of Life
Alexander Tartaglia, DMin, VCU Program in Patient Counseling

3:00-3:15   Networking Break

3:15-4:30   Closing Plenary Session
Handing Over Care: Family Caregivers Speak of Their Concerns
Ruby Chappell, parent caregiver; Janet Fortune, parent caregiver;  Sherrye Ward, impending kin caregiver
Moderator: Paul Izzo, JD, Thompson & McMullan, PC

This conference is made possible through the generous assistance of AARP-Virginia and the Virginia Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services.

Costs: Conference fee is $30 a person, including materials, luncheon and breaks. When two persons register from the same direct service agency, the second registration is half-price. Scholarships are available, when needed, for family members who are caregivers.

Registration: Please make checks payable to Virginia Center on Aging, and mail to: APSC Conference, Virginia Center on Aging, Virginia Commonwealth University, Box 980229, Richmond, VA 23298-0229.

Information: For more information about this conference, call (804) 828-1525 or e-mail to eansello@hsc.vcu.edu
(thax J.H.)

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MANY VOICES, ONE VISION
********************************************************
Alliance for Full Participation

Many Voices, One Vision

September 22-23, the Alliance for Full Participation will host a 2005 Summit:
Many Voices, One Vision in Washington DC to bring together those committed to making the promises inherent in the Developmental Disabilities Act for Americans a reality. Over twelve hundred individuals are expected to attend to help craft a new strategic policy and social agenda in support of full participation, and to carry that agenda forward in their communities following the Summit. Please join us in making full participation a reality.

The Alliance for Full Participation is offering a discounted rate of $199 before May 1 and $225 after May 1 for self-advocates, family members, direct support providers and graduate students. Graduate Students must attach proof of current full time status to obtain the student rate.

For more information or to register, click on the following link:
http://www.allianceforfullparticipation.org/main/
(thax J.B.)

===============================
Comments and news of interest are always welcome.  Please feel free to use or disseminate the information in these newsletters however you want and while DAC likes to be recognized, do so only if you wish.  To subscribe or unsubscribe just hit reply with your wish.  Thank you.

Keith Kessler - Founder of DAC (disabled Action committee)
14405 Artery Ln#11
Dale City, VA 22193
703-878-1737
Email: DAC4VA@aol.com

Website:  http://members.aol.com/DAC4VA/main.htm 

**Some people grin and bear it.  Others smile and change it.**

========================================================
DAC News V5-#61  Thursday, April 21, 2005 -- No Vote, No Voice!  
========================================================
The news keeps pouring in faster than I can get it out so here's some things to think about and then react. If you're a Virginia resident and happen to be receiving waiver services through DMAS and in particularly with their new EDCD Waiver then most likely you are experiencing many problems. Don't be alarmed as this is a STATEWIDE problem for the people/stakeholders, Service Facilitators, CIL's, and everyone else who are having problems with DMAS & WVMI and their mishandling of an otherwise easy program to implement. If any agency in our state government can literally screw up a program DMAS leads the pack in being "inept, inefficient, unaccountable, wasteful in use of federal and state money and completely incompetent" and the blame must go to the top on down at DMAS because those that want to do right have their hands tied.

I've written a letter to Governor Warner asking for a complete investigation into the un-business like practices that are no where to be found at DMAS. Unfortunately this has been the Standard Operating Procedure at DMAS for several past administrations who didn't want to get caught up in the DMAS fiasco so nothing has ever been done in the past. With millions of your tax dollars at stake our state Medicaid Agency has been in an endless sea adrift and devoid of any governmental intervention because our legislators don't understand all, if any, of the idiosyncrasies involved and past governors have just turned a blind eye to all the problems that exist in an agency run amuck.

Hopefully, Governor Warner will begin to tackle some of the important issues before his term is over and our new candidates for governor will look into what they can do "if elected" to end all the waste and abuse in our nonfunctional DMAS. If you''re one of hundreds experiencing problems I urge you to write Secretary Jane Woods, of Health and Human Services at: jane.woods@governor.virginia.gov and urge her to work with Governor Warner to form an investigative committee into ALL of the ongoing problems at DMAS and not just those I mentioned. No agency should be left unaccountable and we deserve to be represented.

NEXT
STOP OUR REPRESENTATIVES FROM PREVENTING A FILIBUSTER

As you know, we held a call yesterday with members from the coalition.  We are hearing rumors that a vote on the nuclear option could happen as early as next Thursday, 4/28.  We decided to move forward on a few different actions to oppose the nuclear option. 

The coalition will re-circulate the organizational sign-on letter to attempt to build the organizations represented.     Deadline: Tuesday, April 26th

The coalition will re-circulate the elected officials sign-on letter. Deadline:  Tuesday, April 26th

The coalition is going to participate in a national lobby day along with the national coalition on Wednesday, April 27th.  NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia and NCJW agreed to send a representative.   Rabbi Jennifer Weiner will also attend the lobby day.  

If your organization is interested in participating, please contact Morgan at msheets@prochoiceamerica.org.  We are working to have a diverse group of community leaders from VA represented at the meeting.  The lobby day is being held on 4/27 from 11-5 pm. 

NARAL Pro-Choice America is holding a set of press events in Richmond and Tidewater in the coming weeks.  The coalition agreed to work to get elected officials from these areas to sign onto the letter in order to do a “delivery” event and discuss the work at this upcoming press event.  

There were other possibilities discussed.  Due to the time sensitivity, we wanted to get these important issues out first.  Please, direct any questions to Morgan at msheets@prochoiceamerica.org or 202-973-3009.  We are excited about all of the upcoming activism.  Other organizations are encouraged to sign on by contacting Morgan Sheets at the above email address. Thank you.

NEXT
Join Rallies All Over the United States to Protect Social Security on April 26th!

Rally to defend Social Security!  To find rally information in your state, click here:
http://www.americansforsocialsecurity.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=125&Itemid=62

The rally in Washington, DC will take place at 1 pm in the Upper Senate Park (near the intersection of Delaware and Constitution Avenues, NE). To find more information for the rally in Washington, DC, click here:
http://www.chn.org/pdf/SocSecRallyApril26.pdf or contact Joanne Solazzo at 202-955-1002 or josolazzo@yahoo.com.

There's Another Way You Can Take a Stand for Social Security!
Send CHN's easy-to-use email letter that will automatically go to your Senators and Representative to urge them to oppose the President's privatization proposal.  If you have not already sent this email letter, click here: http://hq.demaction.org/dia/organizations/chn/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=419

NEXT
Establishing proof - blindness
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/admin/emailfriend?contentId=A64052-
2005Apr18&sent=no&referrer=emailarticle
Email to yourself....

AND
Coleman testimony - House subcomte, April 19, 2005

Diane Coleman, president of Not Dead Yet, presented testimony on April 19 before U. S. House of Representatives' Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Drug Policy and Human Resources Of the Committee on Government Reform.

The topic: "Federal Health Programs and Those Who Cannot Care for Themselves: What Are Their Rights, And Our Responsibilities?"

Diane Coleman's written testimony is available on the NDY website in html format at:

The written testimony of other witnesses - and Diane Coleman's - are available in PDF format at the subcommittee's website:
http://reform.house.gov/CJDPHR/Hearings/EventSingle.aspx?EventID=1747

Stephen Drake
Research Analyst
Not Dead Yet
7521 Madison St.
Forest Park, IL 60130
708-209-1500
http://www.notdeadyet.org


Much more news so read, enjoy and comment if you wish:)  

Keith-

========================================================
1. BUSH NOMINEE IMPERILS GAINS OF DISABLED
2. NCD CONDUCTING COUNCIL WITH ADA IMPACT FORUM
3. COMPARISON OF NH BEDS BY STATE AND AGES
4. LOW INCOME TAX CREDIT NONCOMPLIANCE REPORTS
5. CONFERENCE CALL ON VOTER EDUCATION
6. PARTNERS IN POLICYMAKING - DEADLINE 4/29
7. RAGGED EDGE NEWSLETTER
========================================================
********************************************************
BUSH NOMINEE IMPERILS GAINS OF DISABLED
********************************************************  
The following Op-Ed is from today's Baltimore Sun. The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee will vote on the nomination of Terrence Boyle tomorrow...

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bal-op.boyle20apr20,1,2689524.story?coll=bal-oped-headlines

Bush Nominee Imperils Gains of Citizens with Disabilities

By Jim Ward
Originally published April 20, 2005 in the Baltimore Sun

WASHINGTON - When President George H. W. Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in 1990, he said this landmark law would enable everyone with a disability to "pass through once-closed doors into a bright new era of equality, independence and freedom." Yet by nominating Judge Terrence W. Boyle to serve on the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the current President Bush threatens to shatter the legacy his father established 15 years ago.

Slowly but steadily, the ADA is helping to remove the obstacles - both physical and attitudinal - that have denied people with disabilities access to the American dream.

Sidewalk curb cuts now permit freer access, not only for wheelchair users but also for strollers and bicycles. Train and subway platforms contain textured surfaces to make them safer for people whose vision is impaired. The ADA helped to prompt the Supreme Court decision that gives people with disabilities greater options to receive services in their homes or communities as opposed to the isolation of institutions.

But the progress created by these and other ADA-related changes will be severely undermined unless the Senate rejects Judge Boyle's nomination.

Although the former President Bush hailed the ADA as a "basic civil rights" law, Judge Boyle holds a very different view. Indeed, his record as a judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina should deeply concern the more than 800,000 Marylanders with physical, mental, cognitive and developmental disabilities.

After all, the Court of Appeal to which Judge Boyle has been nominated is the last stop for Maryland residents before the U.S. Supreme Court. Of course, most federal legal cases never reach the Supreme Court.

In a 1997 decision, Judge Boyle, who was appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1984, criticized the ADA as a law that "seeks to single out the disabled for special, advantageous treatment." He also has permitted state officials to use the doctrine of states' rights to avoid complying with the ADA. This states' rights interpretation was later overruled by the Supreme Court.

In another case, Judge Boyle was willing to let an employer largely define the "reasonable" accommodation it was required to make under the ADA for a worker with a disability. Judge Boyle's judgment tipped the playing field so heavily to the employer that a higher court called this part of his ruling "particularly inappropriate."

As a federal judge, his rulings have been reversed more than 150 times - a fact that should give senators an additional reason to question Judge Boyle's ability to render verdicts that are sound and just.

President Bush's decision to resubmit Judge Boyle's nomination to the Senate couldn't have come at a more critical time. Last year, a commission of the American Bar Association reported that judges sided with employers in nearly 98 percent of the 304 ADA employment-related cases decided by federal courts last year. The bar commission's conclusion? Federal courts are interpreting the ADA in ways that "still create obstacles for plaintiffs to overcome."

With the odds already stacked against people with disabilities, confirming someone such as Judge Boyle to the nation's second-highest level of courts would make a bad situation even worse.

Under the ADA, millions of people with disabilities have entered the public square and are making meaningful contributions in their communities and workplaces.

Judges who deride this progress by pointing to "advantageous" treatment are forgetting what makes America great - our nation's willingness to remove barriers and extend opportunity to all.

Jim Ward is president of ADA Watch and the National Coalition for Disability Rights. He lives in Bethesda.
(thax adawatch)

********************************************************
NCD CONDUCTING COUNCIL WITH ADA IMPACT FORUM
********************************************************
National Council on Disability to Conduct DC Americans with Disabilities Act Impact Forum

WASHINGTON—The National Council on Disability (NCD) is sponsoring five public forums around the country to gather testimony from people with disabilities, their families, and their advocates on the impact the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 has had on their lives. This fifth forum will be held on May 3, 2005, from 8:00 a.m. until 5:30 p.m. at the Auditorium (formerly DC Council Chambers) One Judiciary Square, 441 4th Street, NW, First Floor North, Washington, DC (Judiciary Square Metro Station).

Fifteen years ago, the ADA was hailed as a major civil rights law guaranteeing equal opportunity for Americans with disabilities to participate more fully in their communities, to have greater access to goods and services, and to enjoy more employment opportunities. Testimony is sought regarding the extent to which the ADA has achieved its goals of equality of opportunity, full participation, independent living, and economic self-sufficiency for people with disabilities.

This forum is being co-sponsored by the Washington, DC, Mayor's Committee on Individuals with Disabilities.

AGENDA
8:00 a.m. Opening Remarks 

Public Testimony:
8:30–9:30 a.m. Telecommunications: Has the ADA had an impact on the ability of people who have hearing and/or speech impairments to communicate by telephone?

9:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m. Employment: Has the ADA improved employment opportunities and job retention for people with disabilities?

1:30–3:00 p.m. Public Services: Are goods and services provided by local and state agencies more accessible to people with disabilities because of the ADA?

3:00–4:30 p.m. Public Accommodations Operated by Private Entities: Are goods and services provided by businesses more accessible to people with disabilities because of the ADA?

4:30–5:30 p.m. General comments on the ADA

For more information, contact Mark Quigley at 202-272-2004 or Patricia Jackson, Lockheed Martin Services, Inc. at 703-208-5042.

Mark S. Quigley
Director of Communications
National Council on Disability
1331 F Street, NW, Suite 850
Washington, DC 20004
202-272-2008
202-272-2074 TTY
202-272-2022 fax
mquigley@ncd.gov
www.ncd.gov

********************************************************
COMPARISON OF NH BEDS BY STATE AND AGES
********************************************************
Comparison of Nursing Home Beds by State and Ages - Information Bulletin
#86 - 4/05

CMS collects the number of "certified" (i.e., Medicaid and Medicare) nursing home beds per thousand of persons per state (as of 4/1/05). CMS also uses the census data to determine by State how many beds there were for persons of "All Ages" and also for persons "Ages 65+".

To see how your State compares, the total number of Medicaid/Medicare reimbursed beds is divided by the total state-wide population (for "All Ages") and by the total "Ages 65+" population.

We were quite surprised at the apparent irrationality of the results. It's NOT the total number of beds that is important, but the ratios of beds by age per thousands of people.  Compare your state's ratio to others.

Why would some States have twice the number of nursing home beds per thousand persons of "All ages" than other states?  Well, you might believe they have more "older persons" in those States.  We then compared the States using only the "Ages 65+" category, assuming that those states with larger populations in the Age 65+ category would have more beds.  Not so.

Then why do some States have many fewer beds per thousand persons than other States?  For example, comparing TN with S.Carolina, TN had 55.0 beds per thousand persons Ages 65+ but S. Carolina had 35.5 nursing home beds per thousand persons 65+.  Comparing Michigan and Missouri - why is Michigan's beds per thousand for All Ages 4.8, but Missouri is 8.6; why is Michigan's beds per thousand for persons "Ages 65+"  39.1, but Missouri's is 65.1?

We will give a surprise prize for the best answers.

If your Governor is proposing Medicaid cutbacks and threats to reduce medicaid services, it's time you started asking why the number of nursing beds in your State aren't reduced. Ask your Governors to save the money spent on nursing home beds and have Medicaid "Money Follow the Person" into the community?

There are three numbers for each state: the first is the Total # Certified Beds; the second and third numbers are the Beds Per Thousand Persons by "All Ages" and separately for "Ages 65+"

Alabama         26,539 Certified Beds; 5.8 nursing home beds per thousand people of "All Ages"; and  44.3 nursing home beds per thousand of people "Ages 65+"
   
Alaska           718 Certified beds; 1.2 nursing home beds per thousand people of "All Ages"; and 21.2 nursing home beds per thousand of people  "Ages 65+"

Arizona             16,084;   3.5;   26.5
Arkansas            23,974;   9.6;   67.8
California         123,657;   3.6;   32.8
Colorado            19,791;   4.8;   48.0
Connecticut         30,391;   9.6;   67.1
Delaware             4,320;   5.4;   41.1
D. C.                3,035;   5.7;   40.7
Florida             82,183;   5.3;   29.2
Georgia            40,074;   5.1;   51.8
Hawaii               4,019;   3.3;   24.5
Idaho                6,187;   4.9;   43.3
Illinois              98,344;   8.0;   65.1
Indiana             48,008;   9.2;   73.8
Iowa                 33,276;  11.9;   79.7
Kansas              23,989;   9.0;   67.2
Kentucky            25,525;   6.2;   49.7
Louisiana           37,916;   8.6;   74.8
Maine                7,456;   6.2;   44.3
Maryland            29,163;   5.6;   48.2
Massachus           50,794;   8.7;   62.7
Michigan            47,111;   4.8;   39.1
Minnesota           37,552;   8.5;   69.7
Mississippi         18,171;   6.2;   50.7
Missouri             49,886;   8.9;   65.1
Montana              7,433;   8.6;   64.4
Nebraska            15,735;  10.1;   73.5
Nevada               5,132;   3.0;   26.5
New Hampshire        7,767;   6.5;   53.9
New Jersey           50,868;   6.2;   45.9
New Mexico           7,285;   3.8;   32.8
New York           121,492;   6.5;   48.5
North Carolina      42,880;   5.3;   42.7
North Dakota         6,529;  10.9;   74.9
Ohio                     92,168;   8.2;   61.6
Oklahoma            32,196;   9.6;   71.8
Oregon              12,617;   3.8;   29.0
Pennsylvania        89,201;   7.6;   48.1
Rhode Island         9,368;  10.1;   65.0
South Carolina      17,728;   4.3;   35.5
South Dakota         7,218;  10.4;   72.3
Tennessee           37,352;   6.8;   55.0
Texas              115,199;   5.4;   53.4
Utah                 7,596;   3.5;   40.4
Vermont             3,441;   6.2;   50.8
Virginia              31,200;   4.3;   37.7
Washington          22,664;   4.3;   37.6
West Virginia       10,952;   6.0;   39.7
Wisconsin           39,352;   8.5;   64.5
Wyoming              3,061;   6.4;   55.5

The data is from CMS's OSCAR reports as of 4/1/05 and the 2000 census.

    Steve Gold, The Disability Odyssey continues

********************************************************
LOW INCOME TAX CREDIT NONCOMPLIANCE REPORTS
********************************************************
Low income tax credit Noncompliance Reports - 4/05

IRS published in the Federal Register (3/25/05 at page 15390) a "notice and request for comments" regarding its Form 8823, entitled "Low-Income Housing Credit Agencies Report of Noncompliance or Building Disposition." Each State's Housing Finance Agency that allocates these federal tax credits must monitor the tax credit recipients.  As you know, low-income housing tax credits is a BIG housing program.

Your state's Housing Finance Agency physically inspects the housing that received the low-income tax credits.  Your State must inspect the physical condition of each property.  Form 8823 checks for noncompliance.

Many recipients of these sought after housing tax credits also receive federal funds (CDBG, HOME, other federal programs) that trigger Section 504 requirements, as well as construct housing units that are supposed to comply with the Federal Fair Housing Act.

Why not check for compliance with Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act's and the Federal Fair Housing Act's "accessibility requirements?"

How hard would it be to add one more "check the box(es)" to require the Housing Finance Agency to check whether or not the tax credit property has complied with the accessibility and occupancy requirements of these disability civil rights laws?

Many states already require a certain percentage of the tax credit units be accessible, but then do not check to make sure the developer in fact made them accessible or that persons reside in those units who require the accessibility features.  Why not another box to check off whether the resident requires the accessibility features?

Let's require each Housing Finance Agency to monitor access for and occupancy by persons with disabilities b the same as it monitors "physical conditions" of the units.

Advocates should download the above Notice and then go to www.IRS.gov and download Form 8823 with the instructions.  Your written comments are due by May 24, 2005 and should be addressed to Glenn P. Kirland, IRS, room 6516, 1111 Constitution Avenue NW, Wash. DC 20224.

Tell IRS to include in Form 8823 a requirement that each State Housing Finance Agency must check for "noncompliance" with Section 504 and FFHA.

    Steve Gold, The Disability Odyssey continues

Back issues of other Information Bulletins are available online at
http://www.stevegoldada.com
with a searchable Archive at this site divided into different subjects.  To
contact Steve Gold directly, write to stevegoldada@cs.com

Steve Gold, The Disability Odyssey continues

Back issues of other Information Bulletins are available online at
http://www.stevegoldada.com

********************************************************
CONFERENCE CALL ON VOTER EDUCATION
********************************************************

REMINDER

527 Reform Briefing Conference Call
Tomorrow (Friday, April 22)
3:00 pm – 4:00 pm EST

As you know, Congress is considering legislation that would severely restrict 527 activities focused on voter education, mobilization, and participation.  Although a substitute bill is being considered in the Senate, the substitute does not address the impact on state-based 527s and the potential impact to 501(c) organizations.

Senator Lott is a major proponent of the legislation and is working in close coordination with House Leadership and the White House to get it through Congress and to the President’s desk for his signature.

Please join us via conference call for a briefing on Friday, April 22nd from 3pm to 4pm EST. 

Attorneys Judy Corley from Perkins Coie and John Pomeranz from Harmon, Curran, Spielberg and Eisenberg will provide an overview of the legislation and take your questions.

To join us, please email or call Emily Mintz at Emily@americavotes.org; 202-974-8316.
(thax afj)

********************************************************
PARTNERS IN POLICYMAKING - DEADLINE 4/29
********************************************************
Recruitment for the PARTNERS IN POLICYMAKING Class of 2006 is under way!

Application Deadline is April 29!!!

Partners in Policymaking is an exciting and energizing eight month-long advocacy training program for adults with disabilities (self-advocates) or parents of young children with disabilities. It is sponsored by the Virginia Board for People with Disabilities,

Partners in Policymaking began in 1987 in Minnesota, and has since spread to 46 states and territories, including the Northern Mariana Islands, and to the Netherlands, England, and Scotland. Virginia’s first class graduated in 1995 with 20 Partners. There are now 240 Partners in Policymaking graduates in Virginia and over 13,000 worldwide.

Participants, also called Partners, learn about the history of the disability movement, self-advocacy, independent living, inclusive education, supported employment, personal futures planning, building inclusive communities, natural supports, assistive technology, communication, team building, and legislative process and strategies. They hear lectures from nationally respected figures and well-known Virginia advocates. Partners are required to commit one weekend per month for eight months to training sessions. Active learning is always a part of each session, and each Partner is required to complete homework assignments, testimony on a current issue before a simulated General Assembly committee, and a final project that brings tangible benefits to his or her home community.

PIP is a fantastic opportunity to learn and participate in systems change initiatives – the deadline is right around the corner…don’t miss out,  apply now!!

Applications, recommendation forms and additional information can be downloaded from the Board’s web site at www.vaboard.org (Click on Sponsored Programs, Partners then Forms).  Completed applications must be received at the Board office no later than Friday, April 29, 2005.   For further information, please contact John Richmond or Teri Barker-Morgan at 1-800-846-4464 (voice/TTY).
(thax VBPD)

********************************************************
RAGGED EDGE NEWSLETTER
********************************************************
BOYLE COURT NOMINATION SPELLS DISASTER FOR DISABILITY RIGHTS
Tomorrow , April 21, the Senate Judiciary Committee votes on the nomination of anti-ADA Judge Terrence Boyle to a lifetime position on the federal Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit -- deciding cases from North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, and Maryland. Boyle, considered a protege of former Senator Jesse Helms, is the third Bush Appeals Court nominee with a horrendous record on disability rights. More at: http://www.raggededgemagazine.com/drn/04_05.html#864  Read the Bazelon Center's analysis of Judge Boyle's disability rights record at: http://www.bazelon.org/issues/disabilityrights/judicialnominees/boyle.htm

ADA Watch wants you to show up at the hearing and contact your Senators. Find out more at: http://adawatch.org/Boyle%20Committee%20Vote.htm

**
ASL, THE UNIVERSITY, AND THE WIDER COMMUNITY
Prestigious Brown University says it's dropping its 10-year-old American Sign Language program. " For those of us with no ties to Brown and no plans or hopes or dreams to enroll any time soon, it's still worth considering what the status of ASL at Brown tells us about the ebb and flow of disability rights," writes Cal Montgomery. " It's worth considering what effect ASL programs of which we never expect to take advantage can have on the larger society, and indirectly on our own lives.  Read Montgomery's article at:
http://www.raggededgemagazine.com/focus/brownASLckmont0405.html

Brown students Willa Mamet and Adrienne Thal, who are leading the drive to reinstate the program, write about what having ASL at Brown means to them at: http://www.raggededgemagazine.com/focus/brownaslMametThalessays.html

"A world in which Deaf languages and cultures are marginalized is a world full of injustices," says Montgomery. Like emergency road call boxes that deaf people can't use to call for help after their car's been hit. That happened to two California deaf people. More at: http://www.raggededgemagazine.com/drn/SAFECATTYsuit0405.html

Read all this month's news at
http://www.raggededgemagazine.com/drn/04_05.html

** DID YOU MISS...?
Protests of the annual Jerry Lewis Labor Day MDA telethon run like a leitmotif through Harriet McBryde Johnson's new book, "Too Late To Die Young." Readers may remember Ms. Johnson when she burst onto the nation's literary scene with
her February, 2003 cover story for the New York Times Magazine -- an article that may have broken that publication's record in recent years for causing a stir. "Unspeakable Conversations," her tale (retold in the book) of her meeting and subsequent debate with well-known Princeton philosopher Peter Singer, generated an unparalleled amount of commentary on the magazine's online forums and in its letters to the editor. Read our review of her book -- with a link to buy the book from amazon.com -- at:
http://www.raggededgemagazine.com/reviews/johnsontoolate0405.html

Pat Figureoa writes in Media Circus that "An unholy trinity -- the medical field, the media and the courts -- see those of us with disabilities as expendable."
http://www.raggededgemagazine.com/mediacircus/merchantsofdeath0405.html
(thax Ragged Edge)

===============================
Comments and news of interest are always welcome.  Please feel free to use or disseminate the information in these newsletters however you want and while DAC likes to be recognized, do so only if you wish.  To subscribe or unsubscribe just hit reply with your wish.  Thank you.

Keith Kessler - Founder of DAC (disabled Action committee)
14405 Artery Ln#11
Dale City, VA 22193
703-878-1737
Email: DAC4VA@aol.com

Website:  http://members.aol.com/DAC4VA/main.htm 

**Some people grin and bear it.  Others smile and change it.**

=======================================================
DAC News V5-#60  Monday, April 18, 2005 -- No Vote, No Voice!  
========================================================
Many more "Action Alerts" are called for this week so be sure to be part of the solution and not just an idle lump on the log. Let your voices be heard loud and strong just as people in Virginia are doing thru the "Virginians for a Fair Federal Budget" group and get equal results in your states. Read on:

"Good News! I have heard from two sources that Rep. Tom Davis has joined Rep. Jo Ann Davis and Rep. Frank Wolf by signing the House Republican letter calling for a Medicaid commission rather than Medicaid cuts.  Good work!  I will thank these Representatives for their support.

So, Rep. Thelma Drake is the only rep. we have targeted for this action who hasn't signed on.  Her district includes parts of Hampton, Norfolk, Virginia Beach and the Eastern Shore.  She needs to hear from constituents today!"

Rep. Thelma Drake   202-225-4215    fax 202-225-4218    http://drake.house.gov

The message:

1.  Please sign on to Representative Heather Wilson’s letter on Medicaid.
Her letter to House Budget Committee Chairman Nussle calls for no cuts to Medicaid in the House budget. Instead, there would be funding to create a Medicaid commission to evaluate appropriate reforms.

2.  The $15 to $20 billion in proposed Medicaid cuts would be devastating for Virginia’s Medicaid program, which is considered one of the leanest in the entire country. We have low eligibility levels, limited services, and provider reimbursement is inadequate. Many cost containment measures have already been implemented.  There is truly no place to cut our program.

3.  Virginia’s Medicaid program provides health care to over 700,000 low income Virginians who are elderly, disabled, pregnant, children and working poor families. Federal Medicaid spending also helps Virginia’s economy by supporting new jobs, wages and business activity.

If you haven't called yet - PLEASE CALL TODAY!!  Also, please spread the word to your networks.  Thank you!

Jill
Jill A. Hanken
Staff Attorney
Virginia Poverty Law Center
700 E. Franklin St.  Suite 14T1
Richmond, VA  23219
804-782-9430  ext. 13
804-649-3746 (fax)
jill@vplc.org

NEXT
IDEA Public Meetings
Today's Federal Register announces a series of public meeting to be held in June and July for the public to provide input on the proposed IDEA regulations.  Feel free to distribute this schedule as you desire.

http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/01jan20051800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2005/pdf/05-6510.pdf

http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/01jan20051800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2005/05-6510.htm

NEXT
Don't miss this edition of Bridges4Kids NewsDigest: April 13, 2005
Bridges4kids or http://members.aol.com/dac4va/Bridges4kids.htm

NEXT
Congress' implicit healthcare rationing.

By John Kitzhaber

PORTLAND, ORE. - As an emergency physician and former governor, I am struck by the towering contradictions - and indeed the hypocrisy - in the controversy over the tragic plight of Terri Schiavo. On the same day that the US House of Representatives voted to involve the federal courts in her case, it also approved a 10-year $92-billion cut in Medicaid funding - $30 billion deeper than the cut recommended by President Bush.

Read more: from the April 04, 2005 edition -
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0404/p09s02-coop.html

NEXT
National Council on Disability Calls for Immediate Changes in Emergency Planning for People with Disabilities

WASHINGTON—The National Council on Disability (NCD) today released a report (http://www.ncd.gov/newsroom/publications/2005/publications.htm) recommending immediate federal changes in emergency planning for people with disabilities.

AND
April Information Summary
With disability related news, updates & resources. Great info:)
Special Alerts and Information or  http://members.aol.com/dac4va/information.htm

Much more news so read, enjoy and comment if you wish:)  

Keith-

========================================================
1. DISABLED YOUTH CAN BE TRAINEES OR VOLUNTEERS
2. DISABILITY WORLD 34 COUNTRIES ON LEGS. UD, EDUCATION, MORE 
3. OPPOSE VR CONSOLIDATION PLAN
4. OPPOSE "THE NUCLEAR OPTION"
5. SSI IS IN JEOPARDY
6. ASK SENATOR'S BAUCUS & GRASSLEY TO KEEP MEDICARE
7. SECTION 811 SUPPORTIVE HOUSING FOR PWD'S 06' HUD PROPOSAL
8. ACTION ALERT ON WIA PLUS
========================================================
********************************************************
DISABLED YOUTH CAN BE TRAINEES OR VOLUNTEERS
********************************************************  
Disabled Youth too can be Trainees or Volunteers

Dear Colleague,

People with disabilities are under-represented in the workforce and in traineeships and volunteer opportunities, especially those requiring travel to another country. With support from the Swedish government the Independent Living Institute   compiles information about university study, traineeships and volunteer work   for all, including people with disabilities. Our online database covers many countries. It is in English, access is free of charge and open to anyone.

We encourage businesses, national and international government agencies as well as non-governmental organizations within and outside the disability field, everywhere, to include disabled people when offering traineeship or volunteer positions.

People with disabilities differ in their need for access or workplace adaptation. What may be inaccessible to one person, may not be an obstacle to another: an upstairs office without elevator is not a problem for a person with a hearing impairment.

To help businesses and organizations include disabled people we offer a resource kit   with a checklist for assessing organizations’ accessibility, suggestions for a disability policy and similar resources.

Here’s how you can make a difference:

- if you are associated with an organization that offers traineeships or volunteer
  work, please have the human resources department fill in the form below
- if you know people working in an organization, business or governmental
  agency, anywhere – and who doesn’t – please forward this message to them
- spread this message within your networks through newsletters, announcements,
  websites and word of mouth

Please, be part of this effort and register your organization at
www.independentliving.se/studyworkabroad/register-organization.php  

Sincerely,

Adolf Ratzka, Ph.D.
Independent Living Institute
adolf.ratzka@independentliving.org  

Other Services from the Independent Living Institute

Study and Work Abroad for All: www.independentliving.org/studyworkabroad/   In addition to information about traineeships and volunteer positions this free online database lists universities offering services for disabled students. Presently over 1,100 universities in 36 countries are covered. The database is in English, free of charge and open to anyone.

Accessible Vacation Home Exchange: www.independentliving.org/vacaswap.html   lists offers for home exchanges for vacations. Next time you go for a vacation swap your home with somebody with similar accessibility needs in such destinations as France, Egypt, the UK or Canada. We have almost 200 homes in our free online database.

Assistant Referral Service: www.independentliving.org/assex/index.html     matches disabled assistance users and assistants in their hometown or in other parts of the world, for live-in or part- time positions or as travel companions. Assistants help with the activities of daily living, such as getting bathed and dressed, going shopping, driving, etc.

Global Networking: www.independentliving.org/donet/index.html    currently lists 300 organizations of and for persons with disabilities from around the world looking partner organizations for joint projects, events, sharing resource persons for lectures, training or technical assistance, for study visits, internships or other cooperation including funding.

Online full text Library: http://www.independentliving.org/library.html   contains hundreds of articles, guides or manuals on independent living, Universal Design, human rights, legislation, women with disabilities, assistive devices. 

Independent Living Discussion Forum: http://www.independentliving.org/discuss/  Regardless of what you have on your mind, you'll find an appropriate discussion forum that allows you direct contact with the thousands of visitors to our site each month.

Get Published: www.independentliving.org/publish.html   Expose your articles, reports, training manuals or other resources to people with disabilities, researchers, service providers and policymakers all over the world.

Index of Previous Newsletters: www.independentliving.org/newsletter/newsltrindex.html

********************************************************
DISABILITY WORLD 34 COUNTRIES ON LEGS., UD, EDUCATION, MORE 
********************************************************
DisabilityWorld features reports and interviews from 34 countries on new legislation, universal design, inclusive education and governance

DisabilityWorld features reports and interviews from 34 countries on new legislation, universal design, inclusive education and governance

The latest issue of DisabilityWorld, the online international periodical of news and views was posted on March 1, 2005 at www.disabilityworld.org

Main features are reports from Southeast Asia on the impact of the 2004 tsunami on people with disabilities; an essay on disability and poverty by Nobel Prize winning economist Amartya Sen; interviews with disabled individuals from Europe and the Americas who have been elected or appointed to high governmental positions; the latest developments concerning the UN convention on disability rights; and examples of progress for disabled children and youth in Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia.

Other articles in this 26th issue highlight:

Afghanistan: applying the minority perspective with a disability lens
Pakistan: Disabled women's group documents abuses & progress
Thailand: protest to draw attention to disability discrimination bill
Maldives: innovative public education program on early childhood
Vietnam: first children's book featuring disabled parent
Jordan: why influential Prince Ra'ad supports UN disability convention
Yemen: national disability profile
Iran: new rehabilitation journal
Russia: a 5 year old wins her right to education and associated article on inclusive education inroads
Newly Independent States: activist youth teams tackle disability issues
Brazil: results of first worldwide conference on universal design, and
Latino Charter on next steps
Paraguay: disability human rights film wins award
Mexico: interview about role of Presidential office on disability
UK: compelling Brit actor in off-Broadway play about thalidomide's impact
Netherlands: why disability should be integrated across the spectrum of development projects
Sweden: popular international accessible home exchange for vacations
South Africa: labor law reviewed & new book announced  "Nothing about us
without us", tracing history of national disability rights movement"
USA: disability historyEd Roberts' 504 victory speech, 1977
2004 review: a light hearted look back at some of the best products and productive events of the last 12-15 months
Paralympics 2004: selection of presentations to symposium on sports & human
rights
Oscars 2004: reviews & reactions to disability-themed contenders

DisabilityWorld is a collaborative project of the World Institute on Disability (www.wid.org) together with Rehabilitation International (www.riglobal.org), Independent Living Research Utilization (www.ilru.org) and the Inter-American Institute on Disability (www.iid.org).

The comprehensive online periodical provides frontline reporting from around the world on the realities of integrating disability issues into development projects and chronicles progress of the worldwide social change movement encompassing disability rights, community based rehabilitation (CBR) and independent living.

Funded by the National Institute for Disability and Rehabilitation Research since 2000, DisabilityWorld publishes reports and research on developments in governance and legislation; accessibility and technology; employment and entrepreneurial approaches; independent living and self-sufficiency; and arts, culture and media.
DW76

********************************************************
OPPOSE VR CONSOLIDATION PLAN
********************************************************
Vocational Rehabilitation Program in Jeopardy
Urge U.S. Senate to Oppose VR Consolidation Plan 

click here on the following link:
http://capwiz.com/thearc/issues/alert/?alertid=7400786&type=TA

The Administration's Fiscal Year 2006 budget request included the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) Plus Consolidated Grant Program giving states the flexibility to consolidate nine employment-related federal programs, including the Vocational Rehabilitation program. The Administration's proposal requires the consolidation of four U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) programs (Adult Training, Dislocated Worker Training, Youth Training, and Employment Services) and gives states the option of consolidating the Veterans Employment, Trade Adjustment Assistance, Vocational Rehabilitation, Adult Education and Food Stamps Employment and Training. The VR program, which was budgeted at $2.6 billion in FY 2005, is by far the largest of the programs slated for possible consolidation.

The Arc and United Cerebral Palsy are working to preserve the funding for the VR program. However, the current budgetary crisis has changed the climate in Washington. Historically speaking, when programs become block granted or are subjected to waiver authority, a program loses its identity, its advocacy and eventually, its funding.

STATUS:

On April 14, the Senate is having a hearing on this issue and Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao and Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings will be testifying. They are expected to urge Congress to include the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) Plus Consolidated Grant Program in the Senate bill. To make matters worse, we understand that the Senate HELP Committee Chairman Michael Enzi (R-WY) has already signaled his support for the Administration's proposal. The Senate is expected to mark up the WIA legislation later this month.

ACTION NEEDED:

The VR program's future is dire. E-mail your Senator and the members of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee IMMEDIATELY and urge them to oppose any amendments that would incorporate the Administration's WIA Plus Consolidated Grant Program.

Thanks for your help on this critical matter.  Your immediate attention is greatly appreciated.
(thax D.M.)

********************************************************
OPPOSE "THE NUCLEAR OPTION"
********************************************************
The Nuclear Option - An Action Alert from The Arc and UCP Disability Policy Collaboration

Urge Your Senators to Oppose the “Nuclear Option” Take Action!
BACKGROUND:

For more than 200 years, the standing Rules of the Senate have required a two-thirds vote to change any of the Senate’s rules. One of the most important of those rules involves the “filibuster.”

By definition, the “filibuster” permits “extended debate,” and gives a Senator the right to speak at length, without time restrictions, unless 60 members of the Senate vote to stop him or her from speaking. Most often, it is used to delay votes on controversial issues.

The filibuster is a critical part of the Senate’s constitutional responsibility of “advice and consent” and our government’s system of “checks and balances.” Many current and former Senators view the filibuster as a protection against partisan extremism. In fact, former Senate Majority Leader Howard Baker (R-TN) called the filibuster “one of the pillars of American Democracy, the protection of minority rights from majority rule."

STATUS:

Now, Senate Republicans are threatening to resort to the so-called "nuclear option," which permits changing a rule without the traditionally required majority, and eliminate the possibility of the filibuster on judicial nominations. The “nuclear option” would involve a motion by a Senator (probably Senator Bill Frist, (R-TN)) to change the rule on filibustering with a simple majority vote. With 55 Republican Senators, it may not be difficult to do.

The major problem is that Senate rules do not distinguish between filibustering judicial nominations and filibustering legislation–making this debate more than just about judicial nominations. The “nuclear option” could potentially leave Senators in the minority without any ability to stop harmful legislation, like the ADA Notification Act and other weakening amendments to disability laws, that affect people with disabilities.

ACTION NEEDED:

It is crucial that we work to protect the U.S. Senate's constitutional role of “advice and consent” by opposing any efforts to eliminate a Senators' right to filibuster.

E-mail your Senators NOW and urge them to oppose the “nuclear option.”
(thax J.S.)

********************************************************
SSI IS IN JEOPARDY
********************************************************
SSI is in Jeopardy - Action Alert from the Disability Policy Collaboration, A Partnership of The Arc & United Cerebral Palsy
Congress Threatens to Cut Supplemental Security Income Take Action!Help us Protect It - Act Now

BACKGROUND:

The Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program was "designed to provide positive assurances that the nation's aged, blind, and people with disabilities no longer have to subsist on below poverty-level incomes."

SSI provides critical monthly income assistance to more than seven million of the most vulnerable Americans -people with disabilities and the elderly -- who have very low incomes and assets. SSI eligibility also qualifies people with disabilities and the elderly for Medicaid. For many of The Arc's and United Cerebral Palsy's constituents, SSI is a major, if not the only, source of income.

STATUS:

In the House Fiscal Year 2006 Budget Resolution, the Ways and Means Committee would have to cut $18.7 billion from the programs under its jurisdiction. The SSI program is one of the largest mandatory programs under the Committee's jurisdiction. The Senate's Budget Resolution does not require cuts in SSI.

However, Senate and House leaders are meeting this week to work out a compromise between their two positions, which could result in significant cuts to the SSI program. Cuts to the SSI program could occur in two ways - reduce the level of benefits that individuals receive or terminate assistance to subgroups of beneficiaries. Overall, a beneficiary could lose his/her SSI and Medicaid benefits depending on the extent of the cuts.

For example, if SSI is cut by $1 billion in 2006 and the cuts are achieved by terminating all assistance to some recipients, some 188,000 individuals would have to be cut off from the program. Even a cut of $500 million in 2006 would mean that some 94,000 people with disabilities or seniors would have to be terminated from the program.

ACTION TO BE TAKEN:

Time is of the essence. E-MAIL your Member of Senate and the House of Representatives NOW. Tell them that you support the SSI program and urge them to tell their leaders to stick with the Senate budget bill and reject House cuts. We need to protect key programs like SSI and Medicaid for people with disabilities.
(thax R.P.)

********************************************************
ASK SENATOR'S BAUCUS & GRASSLEY TO KEEP MEDICARE
********************************************************
ACT NOW: Ask Senators Baucus and Grassley to Keep Medicare Simple

April 14, 2005 • Volume 5, Issue 15

Ouch!

Sometimes it appears like to government is setting itself up for failure.   First, create a complex drug benefit with varying premiums, copays, and drug coverage. 

Then, underfund proven consumer education networks.  Come January 2006, we’ll see—painfully we fear—how few people actually enroll in a Medicare prescription drug plan The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced this week it is distributing $31.7 million to State Health Insurance Assistance Programs (SHIPs)—one-on-one counseling and assistance programs for people with Medicare—in preparation for the inevitable deluge of calls about the new Medicare prescription drug benefit.

While $31.7 million may sound like a lot, it breaks down to less than 80 cents per person with Medicare, and it certainly is not sufficient for current counseling needs, much less the coming flood of calls to SHIP hotlines about the confusing Medicare drug benefit.

If Congress had designed the prescription drug benefit to work for consumers, then Medicare would offer a national, standardized prescription drug plan that worked like Medicare’s medical and hospital benefits under Original Medicare.  People would be automatically enrolled in the drug plan but would have the option of choosing a private plan or disenrolling from the benefit.  This consumer-friendly benefit would be simple, effective and easy to understand, in contrast to the confusion and anxiety the drug benefit is provoking among people with Medicare.

Instead of taking this simple, straightforward route, Congress created a prescription drug benefit so convoluted no one today even knows what the plans are going to look like, how to evaluate a range of apples-to-oranges drug plans, or how to determine which plan best meets a consumer’s needs.  SHIPs—which are already underfunded—will be the go-to resource for many confused consumers who will need to sort through this confusion and make decisions about their drug coverage.

Too much choice and too little guidance will only create new quandaries for people with Medicare.  Imagine trying to figure out your prescription drug needs for the coming year, including the specific drugs you will need, and sort through the plans that cover or do not cover these medications.  And you don’t know anything about these plans, how they work, or what will happen to premiums next year. Maybe you’ll be too hesitant to make a choice this year so you’ll wait to see what happens—but if you wait too long, you’ll only have to pay more in premium penalties.

Given the complexity of the drug benefit, CMS, along with the SHIP networks and community-based organizations, can only reduce the confusion millions of people with Medicare will face as a result of the design of the 2006 drug benefit.

Congress turned its back on the 42 million people with Medicare when it did not follow the principles that serve as the foundation of Medicare, principles that have made Medicare a national treasure for nearly 40 years—simple, automatic coverage.  A national, standardized drug benefit that people with Medicare get automatically—like Medicare Parts A and B—would be the simple solution to the confusion about the new prescription drug benefit.

Click here to ask Senate Finance Chairman Chuck Grassley, Republican of Iowa, and ranking Finance Committee minority member Senator Max Baucus, Democrat of Montana to simplify the Medicare drug benefit. Or else ask them to explain to you why they are declining to do so. (We encourage you to personalize your letter.)
(thax Medicarerights)

********************************************************
SECTION 811 SUPPORTIVE HOUSING FOR PWD'S 06' HUD PROPOSAL
********************************************************
Section 811 Supportive Housing for Persons with Disabilities 2006 HUD Budget Proposal

The President's budget proposes an unprecedented deep cut for the Section 811 Supportive Housing for Persons with Disabilities program. Section 811 is the only program at the Department of Housing Urban Development (HUD) that still produces accessible and affordable supportive housing for non-elderly people with disabilities with extremely low incomes.

Historically, new units of supportive housing produced through Section 811 have been targeted to people with the most severe disabilities who rely on SSI income of $600 or less per month. For almost 30 years, this program (and its pre-cursor the Section 202 program for people with disabilities) has been a cornerstone of state and local efforts to implement community integration strategies for people with severe disabilities who currently live in nursing homes, public institutions, or at home with aging parents. 

The President's budget would cut Section 811 in half, dropping funding down to $120 million from its current level of $238 million. More importantly, the budget proposes to completely eliminate all funding for new unit production in FY 2006 by zeroing out the capital advance/project-based side of the program.

Historically, 75 percent of HUD’s 811 appropriation has been used to fund capital grants and project-based rental assistance for non-profit disability groups to develop new fully wheelchair-accessible units of permanent supportive housing. 

Instead, the President's FY 2006 budget proposes to direct the remaining $120 million in the Section 811 program to renewal of existing rent subsidies (both tenant-based and project-based), with a small amount left to fund new tenant-based subsidies. Specifically, $80 million would be directed to tenant-based renewals, $5 million for project-based renewals (also known as PRACs) and $35++ million of new 5-year tenant-based contracts (an estimated 1,000 – 1,100 vouchers). This means that more than 70% of all 811 funds would be consumed by the cost of renewing (i.e. keeping in place) housing funded under the program in previous years. 

Moreover, the elimination of the capital advance/project-based side of the program would end HUD’s commitment to support the production of new housing targeted to non-elderly people with severe disabilities with the lowest incomes. Reliance solely on tenant-based assistance (portable rent subsidies that rely on voucher recipients being able to find rental housing on their own) also represents a major change in the targeting of 811 away from people with more severe impairments who need on-going housing-related supports and/or fully accessible units. 

The Consortium for Citizens With Disabilities (CCD) Housing Task Force is a coalition of national disability organizations working to promote access to affordable housing opportunities and community supports for people with disabilities.

1331 H Street, NW – Washington, DC 20005 – 202/783-2229 – FAX 202/783-8250 – Info@c-c-d.org - www.c-c-d.org 
(thax R.H.)

********************************************************
ACTION ALERT ON WIA PLUS
********************************************************
Action alert on WIA Plus

Bradford C. Turner-Little (bturner@easterseals.com) writes:

Below is the text Easter Seals will be sending to it legislative network in the next little bit to forward to HELP members.  I opted for the short and sweet route. 
Brad

I am writing to urge you to oppose the inclusion of the Administrations WIA Plus Consolidated Grant proposal in your work to reauthorize the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) of 1998 and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.  In the past, Congress has used this reauthorization as an opportunity to improve the nations job training systems for people with barriers to employment, including people with disabilities. The WIA Plus proposal does not follow in these steps.

The proposal:

- abandons the basic principle of informed consumer choice;
- disregards the individualization of services;
- does not allow for the protections established for people with disabilities under current law; and
- lacks assurances and accountability for continuing services for people with all types of disabilities.

If Rehabilitation Act funds were to be absorbed under WIA Plus, significant numbers of people with disabilities will find it difficult to have their unique needs met as they try to find employment.  I strongly urge you to oppose any effort to adopt this plan as it stand to diminish supports and services for people with disabilities trying to enter the workforce.

Your active support for people with disabilities is appreciated.

Thank you for considering my views.

Bradford C. Turner-Little
Asst. Vice President, Job Training & Employment
Easter Seals
202-347-3066
bturner@easterseals.com
www.easterseals.com
(thax jfa)

===============================
Comments and news of interest are always welcome.  Please feel free to use or disseminate the information in these newsletters however you want and while DAC likes to be recognized, do so only if you wish.  To subscribe or unsubscribe just hit reply with your wish.  Thank you.

Keith Kessler - Founder of DAC (disabled Action committee)
14405 Artery Ln#11
Dale City, VA 22193
703-878-1737
Email: DAC4VA@aol.com

Website:  http://members.aol.com/DAC4VA/main.htm 

**Some people grin and bear it.  Others smile and change it.**

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DAC News V5-#59  Tuesday, April 12, 2005 -- No Vote, No Voice!  
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Wow! We've got an action packed week ahead of us. First try to call Medicaid today (info below) and tell your representatives not to destroy this much needed program that assists the poor, the elderly and the disabled. Next you may as well add HUD to your phone calls or pretty soon many will be living in institutions or on the streets. Our representatives are getting the idea that privatizing Social Security is simply a very bad idea but don't let up until President Bush realizes this as well. I've got an idea that much of these issues are smokescreens to hide the fact that the war in Iraq was made on a series of blundered misinformation but we still must remain vigilant in our efforts to protect our most vulnerable of citizens. So call today....
 
Help Save Medicaid:
Call Your Senators and Representative on Tuesday, April 12: 
Tell Them, We’ll pay our share in taxes, but we expect you to set the right priorities for people with disabilities!

TOLL-FREE NUMBER: 1-800-247-2971

This toll-free number is provided courtesy of the American Friends Service Committee which has launched a new budget campaign, www.saveourservices.org 
If you can't get through on that line, please call the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121, or find your Senators' direct line at www.senate.gov.

The House and Senate will be working out their differences to decide what goes into the 2006 Budget. Your calls are urgently needed! The House passed a budget that will require Medicaid/SCHIP cuts of at least $14.9 billion.

Tell them: please protect people with disabilities and their families by opposing cuts in Medicaid. Don’t vote for a Congressional Budget Resolution that cuts these vital program!

Spread the word to your friends and families to call on Tuesday, April 12!

NEXT
Read Steve Gold's report in our 1st story about your need to get involved to help save HUD from severe cutbacks. Next our 2nd story updates you on ADA issues and asks for your input to the VBPD along with locations and times for a series of meetings. And as you can see Virginia is doing what they can for a fair budget so read our 3rd story 'Virginians for a Fair Federal Budget' and do the same in your states, get organized. Our 4th story tells of disabled workers that could lose their jobs because of new laws. What kind of sense does that make????? More news...

NEXT
Prevention Connection Web Forum May 5

On Thursday, May 5, 2005, 2:00-3:30 pm EST (11:00 am - 12:30 pm PST), Prevention Connection: The Violence Against Women Prevention Partnership will host a free web conference, "Toward a Community Solution: Fostering Strategic Partnerships to Prevent Violence Against Women". Presenters will be Larry Cohen and Lisa Fujie Parks of the Prevention Institute. For more information and to register, visit http://www.calcasa.org/access/preventionconnection.htm

Prevention Connection, a program of the California Coalition Against Sexual Assault (CALCASA), works to build the capacity of local, state, territorial, national and tribal agencies and organizations to develop, implement and evaluate effective violence against women prevention initiatives.

Prevention Connection web conferences are a series of bi-monthly online workshops which explore the efforts to end violence against women before it happens in the first place. You can attend by calling on your phone and watching a presentation from your computer screen using only your regular internet connection. If for some reason you are unable to join on your computer, you can print out slides of the presentation and listen along on the phone. For more information, please contact
 
David S. Lee, MPH
Prevention Connection Manager
CALCASA
1215 K Street Suite 1100
Sacramento, CA 95814
916-446-2520 x309
916-446-8166 fax
david@calcasa.org
www.calcasa.org

NEXT
Terrific CSUN Conference

To All,

This year's CSUN Assistive Technology Conference was the best I have ever attended. To read my article and see interviews visit http://www.tvworldwide.com/events/csun/050314/ or www.at508.com.

Your comments are welcome.
John M. Williams

AND
Much more news so read, enjoy and comment if you wish:)  

Keith-

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1. FIGHT PROPOSED HUD CHANGES & USING INFO BULLETINS
2. ADA UPDATE & VBPD INPUT NEEDED
3. VIRGINIANS FOR A FAIR FEDERAL BUDGET
4. MISSOURI DISABLED WORKERS COULD LOSE JOBS BECAUSE OF LAW
5. FIGURATIVE VS LITERAL LANGUAGE
6. OREGON REGIONAL WORKSHOP FOR GRANTMAKERS
========================================================
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FIGHT PROPOSED HUD CHANGES & USING INFO BULLETINS
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FIGHT THE PROPOSED HUD CHANGES 4/05

We recently received a good summary of the proposed HUD changes from the
National Low Income Housing Coalition regarding how the HUD Proposal Will Harm Low Income Tenants, including persons with disabilities.

In some cities, the disability community has successfully joined with other low income housing advocates to successfully increase "affordable, accessible and integrated" housing. The current proposed changes will significanty impact on low income disabled families.  Fighting the proposed HUD bill is another opportunity for your disability community to join and be part of the coalition.

What follows is from the National Low Income Housing Coalition, with many thanks for their summary. We added some info relevant to disability issues.

HUD is poised to have legislation introduced that will drastically change how affordable housing programs operate and who they serve.  The bill will affect the Section 8 voucher program, the public housing program and residents of project-based Section 8.  NLIHC has called upon HUD to reverse course and to not introduce this bill.

HUD's Changes to the Voucher Program Include:

       *    Changes to income targeting guidelines.  Today, 75% of vouchers must go to families with incomes below 30% of area median income (those with the greatest housing need, by far). [For SSI recipients who are disabled, their SSI grants are about 18% of the area median income.] The HUD bill will require that at least 90% of vouchers go to families with incomes up to 60% of area median income. [This means persons with the lowest incomes will compete for housing with persons not whose incomes are higher.]

       *    Nationally, 30% of area median income is roughly $15,000 and 60% of area median income is nearly $30,000.  For example, in Washington, D.C., 90% of voucher assistance could go to families with incomes near $54,000 a year, instead of being targeted at those with incomes below $27,000 a year, as is the practice today.

        *  Allows public housing authorities to impose time limits on voucher assistance.

          *  Allows public housing authorities to change how rents are calculated, so that rents may no longer be a percentage of resident income. Rents could be market-based and unaffordable.

      *  Housing authorities would set their own rent subsidy levels without relying on a fair market rent from HUD.

          *  Vouchers would only be portable between agencies if both agencies had a standing agreement.  And, this could only be done within the same state or region, with some limited exceptions.

          *  After January 1, 2009, voucher policy changes could also apply to new elderly and disabled families, at the discretion of the local housing authority.

HUD's Proposed Changes to the Public Housing Program Include:

          *  Allows public housing authorities to change how rents are calculated, so that rents may no longer be a percentage of resident income. Rents could be market-based and unaffordable.

          *  After January 1, 2009, voucher policy changes could also apply to new elderly and disabled families, at the discretion of the local housing authority. [And the disability community thought that enforcing the civil rights protections in Section 504 was difficult in the past. Just wait!]

HUD's Changes to the Project-Based Section 8 Program:

          *  Currently, residents are protected with enhanced vouchers if owners opt out of renewing their contracts or prepay their mortgages. Under HUD's bill, enhanced vouchers would only be good for one year. Then, they become regular tenant-based vouchers. [Again, many disability advocates have been fighting for enhanced vouchers so that the quantity of accessible units might increase.  What incentives would landlords have if they thought the enhancement might end after one year?]

HUD Broadens Moving to Work Program:

          *  Allows any housing authority with more than 500 units of both public housing and vouchers, and is a high performer, to apply to participate in the Moving to Work program. [This is a major potential for disaster.  Moving to Work is like the wild west - no federal standards and local gunslingers rule. If you thought you had troubles with your Housing Authorities before, just wait.]

          *  Moving to Work housing authorities would have the ability to combine funds among public housing operating, capital and voucher programs. [Try to find, let alone follow, the bouncing ball.]

          *  Under Moving to Work, income targeting is set at 90% of assistance to families with income less than 60% of area median income. [Again, persons with disabilities whose income is SSI will compete for the limited number of units with persons whose incomes are higher.]

          *  Rent setting would be "flexible" and could be determined by the housing authority. [Guess who will lose if local Housing Authorities are not required to follow the federal regulations?]

          *  Any public housing and/or voucher program requirement could be waived for a Moving to Work site except for public housing demolition / disposition rules. [Section 504 requirements that are primarily HUD regulations could be in jeopardy!]

Urge Your Members to Oppose Forthcoming HUD Bill
Call all Senators and Representatives toll free via (888) 818-6641

       Every Center for Indpendent Living should take this on!

Steve Gold, The Disability Odyssey continues

Back issues of other Information Bulletins are available online at
http://www.stevegoldada.com
======

What follows is how disability advocates in Mississippi used, modified and adapted AND HIGHLIGHED IN RED THE SPECIFIC DATA FOR Mississippie from the recent Information Bulletin "Nursing Home Occupancy Rates and MDS " Please feel free to do the same for your States.

"Why do States fight so hard to move Medicaid's funds from the nursing homes to the community?

Why are some States opposed to using the Minimum Data Set (MDS) to identify the 273,859 disabled persons in the nursing homes who have stated they want to live in the community? That's right, 19.5% of the total nursing home population of 1,404,408 has stated they want to live in the community. Despite CMS' agreeing to provide the names and nursing home locations for each of these people, why has not your State requested this information?

With States threatening to reduce Medicaid services because they claim they do not have enough money, why does your State not agree to save MA money by instituting "Money Follow the Persons" to enable those persons who want to reside in the community AT LESS COST TO YOUR STATE have the Medicaid funds to live where they want? A win-win. Are the States and/or the elected politicians, so are beholden, politically and via contributions, to the nursing home owners - whether they are for profit or not for profit?

What happens when we review BOTH the low occupancy rates AND then include the MDS - remember that there are 273,859 persons IN the nursing home who want out? It's not rocket science to understand the occupancy rates would be nearly 20% lower!

Here's some data you might want to use in your State:

Re Nursing Home Occupancy Rates -

On January 2, 2003, nationally, the average nursing home occupancy rate was only 84.4%. Nearly 15% empty beds.

On April 1, 2005, nationally, the average nursing home occupancy rate was only 85.4%. Nearly 15% empty beds. Remember, this 85.4% occupancy INCLUDES those people who are in the nursing homes but who have answered the MDS that they want to live NOT in the nursing home but in the community. They are occupying a bed that they do NOT want to be in.

_____See Charts Below______ The following chart provides the % of nursing home occupancy rates in your

State as of 4/1/05.

AL 87.67%;
AR 74.29%;
FL 89.82%;
GA 89.83%;
KS 84.25%;
LA 79.43%;
MS 88.07%;
TN 91.87%;
TX 77.66%;

Now let's look at Disabled Persons who are occupying a nursing home bed but have stated they want to live in the community and not in a nursing homes.

Nationally, there are 1,404,406 persons (by definition they are disabled) residing in nursing homes of whom 19.5% (273,859 disabled persons) have stated they want to live in the community.

The following data is from the MDS as of 12/31/04 and represents the percent of disabled persons in your State's nursing homes who are in nursing homes but who want to live in the community. (Remember, we are not sure who gets the MDS form and doesnbt. This means ONLY those that received the formed responded.) 1700 Mississippians said THEY WANT OUT!!!! There are approximately 18,000 Mississippians are institutionalized in nursing homes. It cost the state to keep these individual in the nursing homes around $50,000-65,000 a years per person. For home and community based service the cost to the state would be around $20,000-$25,000 per year. You do the math -- not to mention the change in the quality of
life.

Alabama 15.1%;

Arkansas 15.5%;
    Arkansas has a program much like Money Follows the Person

Florida 24.3%;

Georgia 14.6%;

Kansas 6.6%;
    Kansas has Money Follows the Person

Louisiana 10.8%;

Mississippi 10.2%;

Tennessee 19.8%;

Texas 16.7%; Texas has Money Follows the Person

If these disabled persons were out of the nursing homes, the occupancy rates would be even lower!

        Steve Gold, The Disability Odyssey continues

Back issues of other Information Bulletins are available online at
http://www.stevegoldada.com
with a searchable Archive at this site divided into different subjects.  To contact Steve Gold directly, write to stevegoldada@cs.com    

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ADA UPDATE & VBPD INPUT NEEDED
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Hello Virginians,

Hope you all are doing well. I am out on maternity leave thanks to the newest arrival in our family, Noah, through early June. During this time, if you need assistance with an ADA question, you can contact the ADA and IT Information Center directly at: 800-949-4232 or through their website at www.adainfo.org, or you can contact Richard DiPeppe at the Endependence Center at 757 461 8007 during my absence. For non urgent information or training requests, you can email me, as I will be responding to email weekly during my leave.

Please read the attached ADA and IT bulletin at the ADA Info Center webpage, www.adainfo.org/whatsnew/!!

Also, read the following email from the Virginia Board for People with Disabilities:

Please help the Virginia Board for People with Disabilities be a more effective VOICE for the needs and interests of Virginians with developmental and other disabilities and their families!

Over the next few days, the Board will be distributing the interim draft of its first Biennial Report, which contains an overview of Virginia’s service system for people with developmental and other disabilities, identifies levels of service provided by key agencies, and highlights some of the critical issues pertaining to our disability services system.  If you are on our mailing list, your copy of the Biennial Report will be arriving shortly.  Otherwise, you can download the report from our website!

In the weeks following, through a series of statewide Public Comment Forums and other stakeholder feedback opportunities, the Board will actively solicit input on the Interim Report that will enable further identification of critical issues and development of recommendations to improve Virginia’s disability service system.  A final, updated report will be published in 2006 which we hope will serve as a planning and resource document for the Governor, legislators, policymakers, consumers, and advocates working toward positive change in Virginia’s service system for people with disabilities.

As a stakeholder in Virginia’s disability service system, you can help the Board in three very important ways.  First, visit the Board’s website at www.vaboard.org <http://www.vaboard.org/>  to review and download a copy of the Biennial Report.  Second, plan to attend one of the Public Comment Forums to share your views with the Board and other stakeholders.  Third, help spread the word about the Biennial Report and the opportunities for public comment by forwarding a copy of this message to others whom you feel should review the report and share their thoughts.

Additional information on the Public Comment Forums and other opportunities to provide feedback can also be obtained on the Board’s website or by contacting the Board as indicated below.

Your assistance with this important community outreach effort is greatly appreciated!

Public Comment Forums- Locations

Monday, April 18, 2005
5:00pm to 7:00pm
Endependence Center, Inc.
6300 East Virginia Beach Blvd.
Norfolk

Tuesday, May 17, 2005
4:00pm to 6:00pm
Valley Associates for Independent Living
205B South Liberty St.
Harrisonburg

Thursday, May 19, 2005
4:00pm to 6:00pm
ENDependence Center of Northern Virginia, Inc.
3100 Clarendon Blvd.
Arlington

Monday, June 13, 2005
5:00pm to 7:00pm
(following the VBPD Executive
Committee meeting)
Holiday Inn I-64
6531 West Broad St.
Richmond

Tuesday, June 28, 2005
4:00pm to 6:00pm
Blue Ridge Independent Living Center
1502-B Williamson Rd., NE
Roanoke

Wednesday, June 29, 2005
4:00pm to 6:00pm
(cosponsored by the Junction Center for Independent Living)
Southwest Virginia Higher Education Center, Room 222
One Partnership Circle
Abingdon  

Interpreters will be provided at all sessions. Those needing additional accommodations should contact the Board, as indicated below, at least two weeks prior to the event to allow adequate time for arrangements.

Comments or questions concerning the Biennial Report may also be submitted by U.S. Mail to:

Director of Policy, Research & Evaluation
VIRGINIA BOARD FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES
Ninth Street Office Building
202 North 9th Street, 9th Floor
Richmond, Virginia 23219

by E-mail to: VBPD@vbpd.virginia.gov (Report feedback only.)
info@vbpd.virginia.gov <mailto:info@vbpd.virginia.gov?subject=Biennial%20Report>  (All other inquiries.)

by Fax: 804-786-1118
by Telephone: 804-786-0016 (Voice & TTY) or 1-800-846-4464 (Toll-Free, Voice & TTY)

Your assistance with this important community outreach effort is greatly appreciated!
(thax K.G. & VBPD)

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VIRGINIANS FOR A FAIR FEDERAL BUDGET
********************************************************
Virginians for a Fair Federal Budget

As of Friday evening, Rep Jo Ann Davis and Rep. Frank Wolf were the only Virginia Representatives who had signed onto the House Republican letter that opposes Medicaid cuts and requests a Medicaid Commission.

We need more calls, emails, and faxes going directly to:

Rep. Thelma Drake   202-225-4215    fax 202-225-4218    http://drake.house.gov

Rep. Tom Davis        202-225-1492    fax 202-225-3071    http://tomdavis.house.gov

The message:

1.  Please sign on to Representative Heather Wilson’s letter on Medicaid.
Her letter to House Budget Committee Chairman Nussle calls for no cuts to Medicaid in the House budget. Instead, there would be funding to create a Medicaid commission to evaluate appropriate reforms.

2.  The $15 to $20 billion in proposed Medicaid cuts would be devastating for Virginia’s Medicaid program, which is considered one of the leanest in the entire country. We have low eligibility levels, limited services, and provider reimbursement is inadequate. Many cost containment measures have already been implemented.  There is truly no place to cut our program.

3.  Virginia’s Medicaid program provides health care to over 700,000 low income Virginians who are elderly, disabled, pregnant, children and working poor families. Federal Medicaid spending also helps Virginia’s economy by supporting new jobs, wages and business activity.

If you haven't called yet - PLEASE CALL TODAY!!  Also, please spread the word to your networks.  Thank you!

Jill
Jill A. Hanken
Staff Attorney
Virginia Poverty Law Center
700 E. Franklin St.  Suite 14T1
Richmond, VA  23219
804-782-9430  ext. 13
804-649-3746 (fax)
jill@vplc.org

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MISSOURI DISABLED WORKERS COULD LOSE JOBS BECAUSE OF LAW
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Disabled people worry as proposals move toward law

Cuts to Missouri Workers with Disabilities program could force many to quit their jobs and move to nursing homes.
http://www.news-leader.com/today/20050408-Disabledpeoplew.html

By Kathleen O'Dell
News-Leader staff

Saundra Durr broke her neck in a hit-and-run accident in Kansas City 25 years ago, one day before she was supposed to get married.

The injury left her a quadriplegic — without any sensation in her body below her neck, limited movement in her arms and no use of her hands. She uses a wheelchair and motorized device to move three fingers on one hand.

The wedding was canceled, but not Durr's life. She operates an answering service in her Springfield home and lives independently — all because a state program for Missouri Workers with Disabilities, or MAWD, allows her six hours daily of a personal assistant and in-home care.

But Durr is facing having to quit her job, leave her home and move into a nursing home. The MAWD program, which covers 18,300 Missourians like Durr, will likely end as a result of broad Medicaid cuts the Missouri House approved Thursday.

The Senate already has approved them, and Gov. Matt Blunt has said he would sign the bill into law as part of his 2006 fiscal year budget.

The House vote Thursday shook the community of disabled residents, their caregivers and friends.

"I am devastated, devastated to the point of tears, and just praying and trusting the Lord that there will be better wisdom used than what they're using," Durr said.

She's encouraging people now to call the governor's office and ask him to restore some of the programs, she said.

"So many people look at me and automatically think, 'What (the legislature) is doing won't affect you,' and that's wrong," said Durr, 45. "It is drastically affecting us."

Worse, she said, "(Gov. Blunt) is lowering the eligibility requirement for Medicaid altogether. That's what is going to devastate the truly disabled."

Despite all the petitions and phone calls that legislators got from Missourians protesting the cuts, "they could not hear all the pleas for mercy," said Sheila Nichols, whose 17-year-old son, Taylor, has severe disabilities and receives care through several programs.

He would not be directly affected by the cuts, she said, "... but the trickle-down effect for everyone in this state will be horrendous."

"I think about all the people out there with disabilities, and what are they going to do?" Nichols said after she listened to the debate on the Internet from her Nixa home.

Of the more than 18,000 Missourians who used the MAWD program in February — the most recent period for which statistics are available — 1,133 live in Greene County, 148 in Christian County and 174 in Webster County, according to the Missouri Department of Social Services.

Life without MAWD

Durr's modest monthly income from Social Security Disability and her in-home job makes her ineligible for Medicaid. The MAWD program allowed her to continue working and living in her own home and still get in-home personal and medical care.

Her elderly parents don't have the health, the strength or the training to provide the extensive medical-hygiene care she requires daily, Durr said.

If the MAWD program is eliminated, she will no longer have a way to qualify for Medicaid's personal assistance program, and she'll be forced to go to a nursing home for the same level of care, she explained.

Where is the logic in these cuts? Durr asks.

Not only would the cuts take workers like her out of the economy and eliminate clients for personal assistant companies, but it would cost the state more money to take care of them in a nursing home setting, she said. The so-called alternatives would leave her impoverished, she said.

She cannot pay her living and medical expenses and a personal attendant on her income alone, she said. A box of latex gloves required for her personal hygiene care costs $11, and she goes through about three boxes a week, she said.

If she chose to spend down her income every month to qualify for Medicaid, she wouldn't have enough money left, either, she said.

Durr has called southwest Missouri legislators to explain the human impact of the proposed cuts. But she doesn't think the message got through to enough people.

Neither does Paula Green, with the Southwest Center for Independent Living in Springfield. Those centers statewide collected more than 10,000 signatures of concerned consumers and sent them to the governor's office.

Her consumers seem most worried about being forced to move to nursing homes, Green said.

"But from my experience, I know that some individuals have such severe physical disabilities that I think they would even have trouble finding a nursing home capable of treating them because ... when you are paralyzed from the neck down, you are heavy-duty care."

Ready to fight

Frank Nease of rural Walnut Grove is a substitute teacher and is studying at Ozarks Technical Community College to become a computer programmer.

He's also a quadriplegic, the result of a car accident at age 20. He's married and drives a handicapped-equipped van with 110,000 miles on it.

He also requires about six hours a day of personal hygiene, medical and in-home care, provided by the state.

In the bill headed for Gov. Blunt's office, Nease would no longer be eligible for MAWD, nor would he be eligible for Medicaid or a personal attendant because his monthly $1,518 income from Social Security Disability alone exceeds the proposed $574.24 eligibility limit.

If he's forced to move to a nursing home to get comparable care, Nease said he'll file a lawsuit on the grounds that the Americans with Disabilities Act gives him the right to be in the most inclusive setting. And for him, that's not a nursing home, he said.

His wife can't afford to quit her job to be his attendant because the family relies on her income, too, Nease said.

"By the time we pay for out-of-pocket medical expenses, gasoline, house payment and insurance, and everything that's required to live, there really is not any money left over for an attendant."

Meanwhile, the job market for someone with severe disabilities is poor, Nease said. That doesn't bode well for all the people who would be kicked off MAWD and forced to search for a better job or go to a nursing home.

The state's cost for an attendant is far less than the cost of his care in a nursing home, Nease said. "It's a big savings to Missouri and taxpayers having me out of a nursing home. And for me to be in the work force is a bonus — I pay taxes, I buy stuff in stores, I'll be buying another vehicle soon."

Nease added, "Since I was a student and a leader with disabilities in college, I tried to encourage people to be as independent as possible — 'Get out there and pay taxes, get totally involved in your community.' Now I'm facing the knowledge that ... I'll be in a nursing home in July."
(thax D.D.)

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FIGURATIVE VS LITERAL LANGUAGE
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Figurative VS Literal Language
Don't take this for granted when you're working with students with learning difficulties. The next time you say, "I was marking those projects last night, burning the midnight oil" you might just be surprised at how quickly these statements are...read more

Disabilities in Special Education

Literacy - Reading and Writing Strategies for LD Students

Gifted Education

Individual Education Plan

Individuals with Disabilities Ed. Act

Exceptionalities and Disabilities

Struggling Readers


3 Years Later: NCLB
What has been the impact of No Child Left Behind 3 years after President Bush signed the controversial act into law? Has the achievement gap closed? Are minority students achieving well? Are schools a safer place? Are parents better informed?...read more

20 Activities to Support Reading Comphrension
Children need to be actively involved in their own learning. When you're checking their level of comprehension, let them decide on the activity they would like to do from this list of 20 comprehension activities....read more
(thax about.com)

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OREGON REGIONAL WORKSHOP FOR GRANTMAKERS
********************************************************

A Workshop for Grantmakers Hosted by

Grantmakers of Oregon and Southwest Washington

The Alliance for Justice, the source for information and training on the federal rules for foundation support of advocacy, is conducting a special program for foundation managers and staff in your area.  Our experienced attorneys will cover the rules for private and public foundation grantmaking involving public policy work.  This lively interactive session, with ample time for questions and answers, will cover topics such as:

¨Can I make a grant to a nonprofit that wants to lobby?
¨What kinds of advocacy activities are permitted under the IRS rules?
¨How can I evaluate a grantee that works on legislative or election-year activities?
¨How might our foundation help build our grantees’ advocacy capacity?
''What are other foundations doing to support nonprofit advocacy?

Friday, April 15, 2005
Multnomah Athletic Club
1849 SW Salmon Street
Portland, Oregon  97207
Workshop hours:  9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Registration begins at 8:30 a.m.

Registration fee of $60 includes all workshop materials and meals.

To register, send an email to register@gosw.org or call 503.226.6340.

For additional information, please visit http://www.gosw.org/saveTheDate/20050415.html

(thax AFJ)

===============================
Comments and news of interest are always welcome.  Please feel free to use or disseminate the information in these newsletters however you want and while DAC likes to be recognized, do so only if you wish.  To subscribe or unsubscribe just hit reply with your wish.  Thank you.

Keith Kessler - Founder of DAC (disabled Action committee)
14405 Artery Ln#11
Dale City, VA 22193
703-878-1737
Email: DAC4VA@aol.com

Website:  http://members.aol.com/DAC4VA/main.htm 

**Some people grin and bear it.  Others smile and change it.**

========================================================
DAC News V5-#58  Wednesday, April 06, 2005 -- No Vote, No Voice!  
========================================================
Great news for those of you who use wheelchairs and think your active sports life is over. I don't care if you're a C1 ventilator dependent quadriplegic or a paraplegic, if you can operate a power wheelchair you certainly can operate a brand new product to put you right back in the sports scene. Curious yet?:) A friend of mine from Leesburg, Florida who became a ventilator dependent quadriplegic from an accident is now bragging that he can kick your tail on the bowling lanes and holds the high score of 199 to prove it. How can this be true you ask? Well, Bill Miller (quadriplegic) and his friends invented a device called the IKAN Bowler which allows a wheelchair user to bowl with equal determination and skill against any able bodied person. With the IKAN Bowler attached to your wheelchair you can throw curve balls, hit splits, spares, strikes, gutter balls (like me:) and anything else possible to bowlers. For more information please read our 1 story and learn how you too can now participate instead of watching from the sidelines. And Bill, I double dog dare you and challenge you to a bowling match the next time I visit Florida. How about we bet a seafood dinner on this??????:) Let's hear him brag now<grin>....(Bill doesn't know I'm deflating his tires before I go up against him)<grin>

(Bill is also a great writer among other things and his injury has not held him back one bit. So if he can bowl then you can bowl as well so no more sitting around doing nothing and having pity parties when now you have the opportunity to enjoy life and have some fun)  

NEXT
Remember a couple of years ago when DAC ran an investigative series of stories about abuse in New Jersey's group homes and institutions (Abuse in New Jersey or http://members.aol.com/dac4va/newjersey.htm) which led to the resignation of their DHH Director Ms Harris and exposed then Governor McGreevey's poor policies which probably helped lead to his resignation too? Well, there is more abuse popping up which exposes more wrongs by institutions and the ARC of NJ's mishandling of the situation along with the poor management of Steve Eidelman from the ARC of DC to intervene. Steve threatened to sue DAC when we ran those stories in the past but backed off because I suppose he just couldn't fight the truth.

I'm glad the ARC's in Virginia have very capable and caring personnel to take all precautions to not let such misdeeds happen here. Since I work with many ARC people I can attest to their dedication to their job as it truly is a labor of love for them and you can witness it just by watching the interaction. I congratulate each of them for a job well done and now invite you to read these stories in the order of the links provided to understand that the people in NJ are fighting back and bringing these abuse issues to light.

Please read this story first which I had to sit on until it ran in the media. This is from a friend who is a lawyer in NJ that brought attention to stop the abuse and neglect regarding her cousin Perfelia. Click here: NJ.com's Printer-Friendly Page
or: http://www.nj.com/printer/printer.ssf?/base/news-13/1111848549304780.xml&storylist=jersey

Next please read this Op-ed from Robert Pruznick, Executive Director, The Arc of Warren County, NJ who naturally refutes all claims of neglect and/or abuse. It's terrible when you get caught up in your own negligence to care for the vulnerable isn't it? Read: Click here: Pennlive.com - Woman received top-quality care or: http://www.pennlive.com/letters/expresstimes/index.ssf?/base/news-2/1112177166154290.xml

This story includes some nasty pictures showing the abuse the ARC in NJ denies.
Click here: News-Star OnlineFamily fights for abused cousin 03/27/05  or: http://www.news-star.com/stories/032705/lif_37.shtml

This Op-ed from Ms Rossi Rosen refutes the claims of no abuse substantiated by Robert Pruznick, Executive Director, The Arc of Warren County, NJ. I think the pictures above speak for themselves and wonder just how the ARC in NJ is going to try and paint a pretty picture out of this blatant abuse to a vulnerable citizen. Maybe they'll try suing or threaten to sue me again to which I say "go for it" as the truth needs to be exposed of their incompetence. Click here: Pennlive.com - Injuries not fully explained or: http://www.pennlive.com/letters/expresstimes/index.ssf?/base/news-2/1112691924303450.xml

NEXT
For those who may think the Terri Schiavo saga is over they'd better think again. This will be in the spotlight not only for gubernatorial elections but especially the next presidential election. I suggest both political parties start to think about the issues because you can bet 54 million disabled persons will be.

Schiavo Raised Profile of Disabled
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/admin/emailfriend?contentId=A19752-
2005Apr1&sent=no&referrer=emailarticle
(email to yourself)

Who Lives? Who Dies? Who Decides? 
http://www.chireader.com/hottype/2005/050401_1.html

Check out Impeach Judge George W. Greer of Florida's Sixth Judicial Circuit
Click here: Impeach Judge George W. Greer of Florida's Sixth Judicial Circuit Petition or: http://www.petitiononline.com/ijg520/petition.html

NEXT
'Ms. Wheelchair' Loses Crown for Standing <--so much for independence huh? AOL News - 'Ms. Wheelchair' Loses Crown for Standing
http://aolsvc.news.aol.com/news/article.adp?id=20050401063809990006

Blind medical student earns M.D.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7318398/

INSIDE THE INJURED BRAIN, MANY KINDS OF AWARENESS
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/05/health/05coma.html?th=&emc=th&pagewanted=print&position=

Euthanasia law moves closer 
http://society.guardian.co.uk/health/story/0,7890,1452013,00.html

Property values threaten independent living for disabled (HamptonRoads
http://home.hamptonroads.com/stories/story.cfm?story=84257&ran=55356

Disabled Vets again seek end to system of pay
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/admin/emailfriend?contentId=A23706-
2005Apr3&sent=no&referrer=emailarticle
(email yourself)

Terry Schiavo Hearing
Rud Turnbull, co-director of the Kansas University Centers for Excellence, testifies Wednesday, April 6 before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee on issues related to the Terry Schiavo case. The hearing is entitled "Health Care Provided to Non-Ambulatory Persons." Also testifying is James Bernat from Dartmouth Medical School in New Hampshire; Deborah Warden, Defense and Veterans Head Injury Program; and Donald Schumacher, National Hospice and Palliative Care Association.

NEXT
Please read our 2nd story commentary by the Wall Street Journal followed by my Op-ed in response. I'm not sure if my opinion has or will be printed but you can read it here nonetheless.

Much more news so read, enjoy and comment if you wish:)  

Keith-

========================================================
1. IKAN BOWLER - WHEELCHAIR USERS CAN NOW BOWL TOO!
2. WHO WILL REMEMBER TERRI?
3. LETTER TO THE EDITOR - RESPONSE TO JAMES TARANTO
4. NURSING HOME OCCUPANCY RATES
5. LESSONS LEARNED FROM SCHIAVO CASE
6. NCD EMERGENCY PLANNING FOR PWD'S
7. FACT SHEETS FOR ADVOCATES
========================================================
********************************************************
IKAN BOWLER - WHEELCHAIR USERS CAN NOW BOWL TOO!
********************************************************  

IKAN SPORTS FOUNDATION

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:  SPECIAL TO FAAST ACCESS Newsletter

A C1-C2 Quadriplegic Athletic Champion?  It's Quite Possible, According To One Central Florida Caregiver.

By Jennifer Frazier, Director of Communications, IKAN Sports Foundation

Jackie Johnson is often more caddy and cheerleader than caregiver.  After all, the person requiring her care, Bill Miller, is the current record holder in the sport of barrier-free bowling, an exciting new sport made possible through some promising, new assistive technology.  Miller, who lives in Leesburg, Florida and holds the current high score of 199, is a C1-C2 ventilator-dependent quad who is currently setting the pace for his sport and setting his sights on the ultimate prize…the possibility of competing on an international, elite level.

How does he do it?  Lots of perseverance, plenty of playful "trash talk" to his opponents, and a revolutionary device called the IKAN Bowler.  The IKAN Bowler is the world's first and only dynamic, barrier-free, wheelchair bowling system that allows quads like Miller to compete on leagues against and with able-bodied bowlers.  The device recently won a daVinci Award from the Engineering Society of Detroit and the National Multiple Sclerosis Society Michigan Chapter for its ability to improve the lives of people with disabilities. 

Approved for use by both the American Bowling Congress and the Women's International Bowling Congress, the sport of barrier-free bowling and athletes like Miller are opening the door for hundreds of thousands of quads worldwide who might have felt the possibility of true competition was just as remote as walking. 

"Last weekend," explains Johnson, "Bill picked up a difficult and amazing 4-7-10 split!"

Johnson feels the sport gives Miller the opportunity to really participate again, and dubs him a "show-off" on the lanes.  In reality, many able-bodied bowlers would be envious of his 160 average.

"He [Miller] loves to show everyone in the bowling alley how well he can play the game, loves to hear their comments and see their surprised expressions when they see what he can do.  Bill his very outgoing and this is one very good way for him to reach others," said Johnson.

A C1 Quadriplegic Athletic Champion?  It's Quite Possible, According To One Central Florida Caregiver. 2-2-2.

Miller, who was injured in a freak accident while in college, has been living with a high-level spinal cord injury for nearly ten years.  While his life was full with writing movie reviews and developing Web sites before he helped develop the IKAN Bowler, thus giving birth to the sport, his competitive spirit had no outlet.

"There aren't any sports a C1 through C7 quadriplegic can participate in on a level playing field with able-bodied people," says Johnson.  "Because of that, his commitment to his sport runs deep.  One of his main goals in life is to create a better world for wheelchair users, and he believes barrier-free bowling can really help do that-whether a wheelchair user wants to physically compete or just have fun."

The sport of barrier-free bowling is also important for those with a little less of the competitive edge, and more of a recreational bent.  Being on the lanes is a great way for family and caregivers to see their loved ones enjoy socializing again. 

"Bill has opened the door for other wheelchair users.  When they watch him bowl, they realize there is something they can do, too.  Plus, one of my jobs is to give him the ability to get out, go where and whenever he wants.  Now he wants to bowl at least once a week," says Johnson.

And it's not just for spinal cord injured quads, according to Johnson.  Anyone who can maneuver his or her chair can use the IKAN Bowler.  There are IKAN athletes now bowling who are affected by Duchenne's muscular dystrophy, muscular neuropathy, and cerebral palsy as well.

"The IKAN Bowler really does give the user complete control of the ball," she said.

For more information on the sport of barrier-free bowling, visit: www.ikansportsfoundation.org  www.ikansportsfoundation.org or call 1-866-756-IKAN.

[Please let IKAN know you heard about this from DAC...you may get a surprise. And for DSB's, CIL's, and other groups IKAN has a great promotional package with a 5 minute CD to show how all this works. It's very simple and easy to use or you can view it on their website.] 

********************************************************
WHO WILL REMEMBER TERRI?
********************************************************
COMMENTARY from the Wall Street Journal

Who Will Remember Terri?

By JAMES TARANTO
April 1, 2005; Page A10

What lasting effect will the Terri Schiavo saga have on American politics? Probably not much. However intense the emotions of the past two weeks, for most voters they're sure to prove fleeting. But there's one important exception: disabled Americans. Some of the most impassioned arguments against killing Terri Schiavo came from profoundly handicapped people:

• Mary Johnson, left-leaning editor of Ragged Edge magazine: "There isn't a single disability rights activist I've heard from . . . who isn't afraid that this will make liberals hate them even more than they now do."

• Joe Ford, a Harvard undergraduate with severe cerebral palsy: "Like many others with disabilities, I believe that the American public, to one degree or another, holds that disabled people are better off dead. To put it in a simpler way, many Americans are bigots. A close examination of the facts of the Schiavo case reveals not a case of difficult decisions but a basic test of this country's decency."

• Eleanor Smith, a self-described liberal agnostic lesbian, whose childhood bout with polio left her confined to a wheelchair: "At this point I would rather have a right-wing Christian decide my fate than an ACLU member." Ms. Smith protested last week outside the hospice where Mrs. Schiavo lay dehydrating and starving.

Surveys of disabled Americans suggest a strong GOP tilt. According to the National Organization on Disability, Al Gore outpolled George W. Bush among disabled Americans, 56% to 38%, but four years later Mr. Bush beat John Kerry, 52.5% to 46% -- a 24.5-point shift. As late as August, Mr. Kerry had a 10-point lead, which vanished by September, coinciding with the Florida Supreme Court's striking down "Terri's law."

Polls last month suggested that most Americans favored Mrs. Schiavo's death. It was natural for an able-bodied person to think: I wouldn't want to live like that. But someone who is disabled and abjectly dependent on others was more apt to be chilled by the talk of her "poor quality of life" and to think: I wouldn't want to be killed like that.

Liberalism once championed the interests of society's most vulnerable members. Today it increasingly champions their "right to die." No one should be surprised if this affects their decisions as they exercise their right to vote.

Mr. Taranto is editor of OpinionJournal.com.
(thax D.H.)

********************************************************
LETTER TO THE EDITOR - RESPONSE TO JAMES TARANTO
********************************************************
Letter to the editor - Response to James Taranto

To The Wall Street Journal Op-ed; Would you please print my rebuttal to James Taranto's April 1, 2005, commentary? Surely he must be making an April Fool's joke as he is very out of touch with reality and persons with disabilities. Three person's opinions do not represent 54 million disabled persons, their family or friends. Thank you. Keith Kessler - Founder of DAC


In response to James Taranto's April 1st, 2005, commentary "Who Will Remember Terri" I couldn't disagree with him more. The Terri Schiavo saga will have a long lasting effect among disability advocates, the disabled and the non disabled alike who not only realize the need for a "Living Will" or advance directive, but also the political grandstanding of certain politicians who normally wouldn't give the Schiavo saga a second glance if they didn't have a hidden agenda of their own.

The voters will not forget this as Mr. Taranto suggests, in fact, this will bring forth a broad new area of questions to answer from both political parties. The GOP won't get a "free ride" out of this nor will the Democrats from disabled or non disabled persons.

There was mixed opinion about Terri Schiavo among both the disabled and non disabled communities in which the uninformed had negative feelings about allowing Terri to live.  I reject your comment that "Some of the most impassioned arguments against killing Terri Schiavo came from profoundly handicapped people." Well, we are not profoundly handicapped people we are persons with a "disability." We can think and we can vote!

You interview three people and make a false assumption that all the disabled will now support the GOP and/or President Bush who is trying to dismantle most of the entitlement programs for the disabled by making draconian cuts to Medicaid, HUD Section 8 rental vouchers, Medicare, Social Security and more, well I think not.

The ACLU has always been worthless to disability issues so nothing new has changed there. If the Democrats ever get their act together and place a viable candidate to run for president they would certainly have a good chance at taking over the White House. I disagree with survey's suggesting a "strong GOP tilt" as that is simply not true.

The next presidential election will bring out the best candidate for office despite political party but they will be held accountable to the promises that they make. Just because a few dubious polls suggest a runaway election victory for anyone, particularly favoring the GOP is simply foolhardy.

We the disabled are waiting and watching and we will certainly be a deciding factor during the next election. Polls are subject to change daily and we have a long time for potential presidential candidates to prove their self worth. Needless to say it will be an interesting election with a major minority voting block of 54 million disabled persons who will have a final say in the outcome.

Keith Kessler - Founder of DAC (disabled Action committee)
14405 Artery Ln#11
Dale City, VA 22193
703-878-1737
Email: DAC4VA@aol.com

Website:  http://members.aol.com/DAC4VA/main.htm 

**Some people grin and bear it.  Others smile and change it.**

********************************************************
NURSING HOME OCCUPANCY RATES
********************************************************
Nursing Home Occupancy Rates and MDS - Information Bulletin # 85 , 4/05

Why do States fight so hard to move Medicaid's funds from the nursing homes to the community?

Why are some States opposed to using the Minimum Data Set (MDS) to identify the 273,859 disabled persons in the nursing homes who have stated they want to live in the community? That's right, 19.5% of the total nursing home population of 1,404,408 has stated they want to live in the community. Despite CMS' agreeing to provide the names and nursing home locations for each of these people, why has not your State requested this information?

With States threatening to reduce Medicaid services because they claim they do not have enough money, why does your State not agree to save MA money by instituting "Money Follow the Persons" to enable those persons who want to reside in the community AT LESS COST TO YOUR STATE have the Medicaid funds to live where they want? A win-win.

Are the States and/or the elected politicians, so are beholden, politically and via contributions, to the nursing home owners - whether they are for profit or not for profit?
   
What happens when we review BOTH the low occupancy rates AND then include the MDS - remember that there are 273,859 persons IN the nursing home who want out?  It's not rocket science to understand the occupancy rates would be nearly 20% lower!

Here's some data you might want to use in your State:

Re Nursing Home Occupancy Rates -

    On January 2, 2003, nationally, the average nursing home occupancy rate was only 84.4%.  Nearly 15% empty beds.

  On April 1, 2005, nationally, the average nursing home occupancy rate was only 85.4%.  Nearly 15% empty beds.  Remember, this 85.4% occuancy INCLUDES those people who are in the nursing homes but who have answered the MDS that they want to live NOT in the nursing home but in the community. They are occupying a bed that they do NOT want to be in.
   
The following chart provides the % of nursing home occupancy rates in your State as of 4/1/05. 

AK   78.66%;
AL   87.67%;
AR   74.29%;
AZ   83.89%; 
CA   86.05%;
CO   85.87%;
CT   91.61%;  
DC   90.66%;
DE   84.65%;
FL   89.82%; 
GA   89.83%; 
HI   89.46%;
IA   82.79%;
ID   77.25%;
IL   83.59%;
IN   83.07%;
KS   84.25%;
KY   87.92%;
LA   79.43%;
MA   88.91%;
MD   85.42%;
ME   91.37%;
MI   88.16%;
MN   91.46%;
MO   76.48%;
MS   88.07%;
MT   75.66%;
NC   87.74%;
ND   91.70%;
NE   83.39%;
NH   90.10%;
NJ   87.64%;
NM   84.49%;
NV   85.80%;
NY   93.23%;
OH   86.66%;
OK   67.45%;
OR   66.34%;
PA   89.56%;
PR   58.65%;
RI   92.73%;
SC   90.55%;
SD   92.39%;
TN   91.87%;
TX   77.66%;
UT   70.13%;
VA   89.43%;
VT   95.21%;
WA   85.72%;
WI   88.91%;
WV   88.71%;
WY   81.08%

Now let's look at Disabled Persons who are occupying a nursing home bed but have stated they want to live in the community and not in a nursing homes.

Nationally, there are 1,404,406 persons (by definition they are disabled) residing in nursing homes of whom 19.5% (273,859 disabled persons) have stated they want to live in the community.

The following data is from the MDS as of 12/31/04 and represents the percent of disabled persons in your State's nursing homes who are in nursing homes but who want to live in the community.

Alabama          15.1%;
Alaska    25.0%;
Arizona          28.0%;
Arkansas         15.5%;
California       22.2%;
Colorado         21.6%;   
Connecticut      20.7%;   
Delaware         18.1%;   
DC               17.1%; 
Florida          24.3%;
Georgia          14.6%;   
Hawaii           15.7%;
Idaho            24.4%;   
Illinois         20.3%;   
Indiana          17.8%; 
Iowa             18.1%;  
Kansas           16.6%;   
Kentucky         17.6%;   
Louisiana        10.8%;   
Maine            21.5%; 
Maryland         22.3%;  
Massachusetts    18.5%;   
Michigan         23.3%;   
Minnesota        19.8%;   
Mississippi      10.2%;   
Missouri         20.4%; 
Montana          23.2%;   
Nebraska         19.2%;   
Nevada           23.0%;   
New Hampshire    16.2%;  
New Jersey       19.2%;   
New Mexico       22.7%;   
New York         18.6%;   
North Carolina   18.2%;   
North Dakota     14.5%;   
Ohio             22.9%; 
Oklahoma         16.5%;   
Oregon           28.9%;   
Pennsylvania     17.2%; 
Puerto Rico      75.7%;  
Rhode Island     16.3%;   
South Carolina   17.3%; 
South Dakota     15.3%;  
Tennessee        19.8%;   
Texas          16.7%;   
Utah             32.5%; 
Vermont          21.2%;   
Virginia         20.4%;   
Washington       26.0%;  
West Virginia  18.8%;   
Wisconsin        20.3%;   
Wyoming          21.5%.   

If these disabled persons were out of the nursing homes, the occupancy rates would be even lower!

        Steve Gold, The Disability Odyssey continues

Back issues of other Information Bulletins are available online at
http://www.stevegoldada.com
with a searchable Archive at this site divided into different subjects.  To contact Steve Gold directly, write to stevegoldada@cs.com    

********************************************************
LESSONS LEARNED FROM SCHIAVO CASE
********************************************************
Lessons Learned from the Terri Schiavo Case

After what seemed like interminable litigation, Terri Schiavo, who suffered brain damage at age 26, died last Thursday, March 31, at age 41, 13 days after the feeding tube that was providing her nourishment was disconnected by a court order sought by her husband Michael Schiavo.

The decision by a Florida state court judge was bitterly contested by Ms. Schiavo's parents, became the subject of emergency federal legislation enacted into law on March 21, and was appealed to the U. S. Supreme Court six times (on each occasion, the high court refused to hear the parents’ appeal).

This week, Tucson elder law attorney Robert Fleming's newsletter, Elder Law Issues, addresses the Terri Schiavo case, and her legacy. What lessons can be learned, and how can we apply them to our own lives?

"Every adult, regardless of age, should designate an individual (and one or more alternates) to make medical decisions in the event of incapacity," Mr. Fleming writes. "In addition to nomination of a surrogate to make personal and medical decisions, most individuals should also sign a statement indicating their wishes."

See http://www.elder-law.com/2005/Issue1240.html for the April 4 issue of Elder Law Issues.

Forms for "advance directives" -- health care power of attorney, living wills, health care proxy -- do not need to be drafted by a lawyer to be valid. Hospitals and other health care facilities often have state-approved forms available for patients and others. Many states, including Tennessee, make the forms available on their Web sites.

(Last year the Tennessee General Assembly rewrote the law on health care decision making in the State. The forms based on the new law may be downloaded from the Web site of the Tennessee Department of Health, at http://www.state.tn.us/health/.)

Everyone should make their wishes about health care known and published widely: certainly to their health care agent, but also to family members, friends, family physician, minister, and any other person who might need to know.

Formulating a "statement of wishes" about one's health care is not so simple, however. Many people seem to feel that they "don't want to be hooked up to a machine," but, if it were as simple as that, why did it take 15 years for "the machine" to be disconnected from Terri Schiavo? What is meant by "wishes," and what chance does the average person who is not a doctor or a lawyer or a minister have to see that his or her wishes are carried out?

Here is where seeking the guidance of others can be so beneficial to the individual.

Although it is not necessary to have a lawyer draft the advance directive, a lawyer can make sure the advance directive complies with the law, and the lawyer can help the individual understand a patient's right to self-determination, the limits of that right, and the legal process by which the patient's wishes are carried out.

A doctor, particularly one who knows the patient and the family, can help the patient understand how the health care system perceives the patient and his illness. The doctor can give guidance on issues such as terminal illness, persistent vegetative state, pain management, palliative care, the effect of food and water on a dying person, antibiotics and end-of-life care, and the uses of a feeding tube.

For people whose religion informs their beliefs about health care, the role of the spiritual adviser may be vital: this person helps the individual clarify his or her thinking about religious doctrine and values. For instance, it has been speculated that Pope John Paul II refused medical treatment for the infection that shut down his organs and led to his death on Saturday, April 2, because he believed that aggressive treatment would merely have prolonged his dying for a only a few more days. Rather than continue medical treatment in a hospital, the pope chose to die at home, in his apartment.

And, of course, the individual's health care agent serves a special role: he or she is the individual's advocate and voice when the individual is unable to speak for himself.

Remember that "wishes" are not static. People do change their minds about things, including about what health care they want and when they want it. To reiterate the advice that has been given over and over the past two weeks: sign a legal document that names a health care agent to personal and medical decisions, and -- preferably in a separate document -- make a "statement of wishes."
(thax Elderfax)

********************************************************
NCD EMERGENCY PLANNING FOR PWD'S
********************************************************
National Council on Disability Announces Speakers for Emergency Planning for People with Disabilities

WASHINGTON—The National Council on Disability (NCD) will release its report Saving Lives: Including People with Disabilities in Emergency Planning at a news conference at 10:00 a.m. on April 15, 2005, at the National Press Club, 529 14th Street, NW, Washington, DC.

The report provides an overview for the Federal Government to build a solid and resilient infrastructure that should enable the government to include the diverse populations of people with disabilities in emergency preparedness, disaster relief, and homeland security programs. This infrastructure would incorporate technology, physical, program, and communication access. It would also include procurement and emergency programs and services. 

Speakers include: Young Woo Kang, Ph.D., Member, NCDMartin Gould, Ed.D., Senior Research Specialist, NCDCheryl Heppner, Executive Director, Northern Virginia Resource Center for Deaf and Hard of Hearing PersonsRobert D. Hynes, Chair, Arlington Virginia Disability Advisory CommissionKatie Savage, Winning plaintiff in the precedent setting emergency evacuation case Katie Savage v. City Place Mall (Decision, December 28, 2004, Civil Action No. 240306, Circuit Court, Montgomery County, Maryland) Hilary Styron, Emergency Preparedness Initiative Program Officer, National Organization on Disability Daniel W. Sutherland, Officer for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, U.S. Department of Homeland Security

For more information, contact Mark Quigley or Martin Gould at 202-272-2004 or 202-272-2074 TTY. 
# # #

Mark S. Quigley
Director of Communications
National Council on Disability
1331 F Street, NW, Suite 850
Washington, DC 20004
202-272-2008
202-272-2074
TTY202-272-2022
faxmquigley@ncd.govwww.ncd.gov

********************************************************
FACT SHEETS FOR ADVOCATES
********************************************************
Hi.  As promised, here are the rest of the fact sheets for the CEO Legislative Day.   Last week we sent you the appropriations fact sheets to get you familiarized with them and supporting materials related to them.

This week here are:

        Medicaid Fact Sheet (and chart of mandatory and optional people and services KEY ISSUE)

        Rehab Act Fact Sheet

        Housing Fact Sheet

        Social Security Fact Sheet

        Legislative Feedback form what we ask you to fill out and return to us on each visit

Our recommendation for visits  -- everyone hit on appropriations and everyone hit on Medicaid Medicaid is on the chopping block and we know that it is important to all of you.  As always, we are suggesting that

You likely will be asked about Social Security but it also is unlikely that anything will happen&.if you want more information on SS, here is the link to the CCD Fact Sheets (and we will have them there for you)

www.c-c-d.org

We will have copies of all the NAPAS fact sheets and other forms available for you at the meeting.

Hopefully, everyone is busily setting up meetings and making packets of state-specific information AND inviting your Members of Congress to the reception on Wednesday, April 20th.  We included model invitations in last week s email. 
(thax S.W.)

===============================
Comments and news of interest are always welcome.  Please feel free to use or disseminate the information in these newsletters however you want and while DAC likes to be recognized, do so only if you wish.  To subscribe or unsubscribe just hit reply with your wish.  Thank you.

Keith Kessler - Founder of DAC (disabled Action committee)
14405 Artery Ln#11
Dale City, VA 22193
703-878-1737
Email: DAC4VA@aol.com

Website:  http://members.aol.com/DAC4VA/main.htm 

**Some people grin and bear it.  Others smile and change it.**