Print Friendly VersionADVOCACY ACTION NEWS
April 2005, Issue 88
SPOTLIGHT: ADVOCACY LEADERSHIP
FEDERAL/NATIONAL
WISCONSIN
OTHER STATES
LOCAL
RESOURCES ON THE INTERNET
EVENT ANNOUNCEMENTS
National Autism Awareness Month
National Donate Life Month
National Youth Sports Safety Month
Sexual Assault Awareness Month
National Fair Housing Month
National Public Health Week, April 4-10
YMCA Healthy Kids Day, April 2nd
World Health Day, April 7th
Candlelight Vigil for Eating Disorders Awareness, April 16th
Monthly News Bulletin Published by IndependenceFirst
Spotlight: Advocacy Leadership
By Karen Avery, Associate Director
We are starting a new feature in Advocacy Action News. Each month, we will include a summary about a person who been active in disability-related advocacy activities. We will include nationally known persons, as well as people from our local community. It was difficult to know who to begin with, but I felt compelled to start with Ed Roberts, the man known as the “father” of the independent living movement.
Ed Roberts
In the late 60's & early 70's the University of California at Berkeley was nationally known as the home of radical politics and progressive social movements. Many students took note and developed progressive movements to benefit various causes. Among the students on the Berkeley campus was Ed Roberts. The university hesitated to admit Ed as he had a severe disability from polio which he contracted as a teenager. He had virtually no functional movement and was dependent on a respirator to breathe. "We've Tried Cripples Before and It Didn't Work", said the university. They reluctantly admitted Ed in 1962 and arranged for him to live in the campus medical facility, Cowell Hall.
Ed was accustomed to rejection, a year earlier, in 1961, the state vocational rehabilitation agency refused to serve him as he was considered too severely disabled and labeled “unemployable.” That decision was later overturned. One of the many ironies of Ed's life was that fourteen years later in 1975, Governor Jerry Brown appointed Ed as state Director of the same agency that deemed him too severely disabled to ever work.
Ed's leadership skills emerged and he took lessons from other campus movements to start the independent living and disability rights movements for persons with disabilities. Ed was quick to grasp that the struggle for independence was not a medical or functional issue, but rather a sociological, political, and civil rights struggle.
Berkeley students with severe disabilities organized into a group known as The Rolling Quads. Led by Ed, they began exerting pressure on the university to become more accessible and began seeking funding to develop a student organization to work for barrier removal and support services, including Personal Attendant services, for students with disabilities to live independently while attending school.
After establishing the campus organization, Ed and others realized the need for an off campus, community-based organization. In 1972, with minimal funding, the Berkeley Center for Independent Living (CIL) was started. The core values of the Berkeley CIL - dignity, peer support, consumer control, civil rights, integration, equal access, and advocacy - remain at the heart of the independent living and disability rights movements. Today, as many as 400 CILs (also known as “Independent Living Centers”) exist throughout the country, funded with a mix of federal, state, local, fee for service, and private money.
In the early 80's, Ed and others established the World Institute on Disability in Oakland, a progressive think tank focusing on independence and civil rights for people with disabilities. Ed traveled the country and the world influencing the lives of people with disabilities. In 1990, Ed visited Milwaukee and spoke at an IndependenceFirst Board meeting. As is true of far too many leaders with disabilities in the independent living and disability rights movements, Ed died at a young age in March 1995. He was 55 years old. Ed’s iron lung is on display at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C.
(Edited narrative written by Dick Goodwin, Executive Director of Impact, Inc. The complete narrative is available on their website at: www.impactcil.org)
Federal/National
Federal Budget News
From the Natl. Assn. of Head Injury Administrators Capitol News, February 15, 2005 issue
President Bush announced the Administration's recommendations for FY 2006 federal programs; eliminates more than 150 non-defense discretionary programs.
Department of Health and Human Services
-- Proposed budget eliminates Traumatic Brain Injury State Grant Program and Emergency Medical Services for Children Program.
-- Developmental Disabilities Councils are level funded.
-- Centers for Disease Control -- Injury prevention is level funded; Preventive Health and Health Services Block Grant is eliminated.
-- Medicaid -- $60 million in cuts from "inappropriate Medicaid spending,” reduces match for targeted case management, and increases funding for President's New Freedom Initiatives.
-- Substance Abuse & Mental Health-- Overall recommends $58 million cut, mostly from substance abuse and school violence prevention programs.
Department of Education
-- Assistive Technology -- Eliminates funding for AT Act State Grant Program, Protection & Advocacy funding for AT program, and national activities authorized under the AT Act of 2004. Recommends funding Alternative Financing Program instead.
-- Vocational Rehabilitation -- Increases State Grant program as required by law; consolidates and eliminates Supported Employment State Grants, Projects with Industry, and Migrant and Seasonal Farmworkers program. Eliminates funding for the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act.
-- Level funds NIDRR; allows new awards for spinal cord injury model systems projects.
Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
-- Severely reduces overall funding for HUD programs; recommends deep cuts for the Section 811 program that provides housing for persons with disabilities.
Department of Justice
-- Provides no funding for the Mentally Ill Offender Treatment and Crime Re-education Act signed into law by President Bush in 2004.
Department of Labor
-- Reiterates the Administration's Work Incentive Act (WIA) proposal to consolidate Adult Employment and Training activities, Dislocated Workers, Youth Services, and other programs into a single program; decreases funding for the Office of Disability Employment Policy by 40%.
Department of Veterans Affairs
--Increases funding, most of the increases are to support the Veterans Health Administration to support medical care.
This legislative update was prepared by Susan L. Vaughn, Director of Public Policy, on behalf of the NASHIA Public Policy Committee
Disability and the Social Security Debate - Information Bulletin 83 & 84 (edited)
By Steve Gold, Disability Rights Attorney, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
A few weeks ago, we tried to raise the issue of what would happen to persons with disabilities who receive Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits with the proposed Social Security changes being floated around.
We reminded folks that there are three different beneficiary groups that make up the Social Security Insurance program - persons who are retired, persons who are survivors of workers who deceased, and persons who are disabled. We asked how changing the retirement insurance program would affect the disability insurance program.
Nationally, there are 7.6 million persons who receive Social Security Disability Insurance benefits (this includes spouses and children of disabled workers); they are 16% of the entire Social Security program. What will happen to these 7.6 million persons with disabilities? Where is the "Beneficiary Impact Statement" analyzing how the proposed changes will impact on these 7.6 million persons?
[NOTE FROM AAN EDITOR: In Wisconsin, there are 152,182 people who receive Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits. 13% of Wisconsin Social Security beneficiaries receive Disability Insurance benefits. We need to be asking our Senators and Congressional representatives how any proposed change will affect the people in Wisconsin who receive SSDI.]
Prof. Alan Krueger's Economic Scene column in the New York Times business section is entitled "The disability insurance side of Social Security raises some questions about plans to create personal accounts." (Page C-2, 3/3/05) Prof. Krueger puts substance on the potential problems that the 7.6 million disabled persons will confront.
He argues that "fitting the existing [SSDI] program into a system of personal accounts could have serious unintended consequences." Here are the two "major problems" he identifies.
First, presently, disabled workers transfer from SSDI to SS retirement benefits (the same monthly benefits in both programs) when they reach 65. However, under the administration's proposal, "most disabled workers would not have accumulated much wealth in their personal accounts because they would have had a shorter work life than other retirees. Their benefits would drop sharply at age 65 and, in many cases, their incomes would fall below the poverty line."
Second, "leaving disability insurance alone abdicates responsibility for fixing its financial difficulties, which are much more imminent than the retirement program's financial problems." He points out that "integrating the disability program into a system of personal accounts is complicated because it is inherently an insurance program. Disabled beneficiaries take out far more from the system than they put in. Workers collectively insure the risk of disability. It is inconceivable that personal accounts could fulfill this role."
Back issues of other Information Bulletins are available online at www.stevegoldada.com. To contact Steve Gold directly, write to stevegoldada@cs.com
MiCASSA is introduced in the House and the Senate
Edited email from National ADAPT
MiCASSA, a bill to amend Title XIX of the Social Security Act to provide individuals with disabilities and older Americans with equal access to community-based attendant services and supports, has been introduced once again in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. (Bill numbers are HR 910 and S 401.)
Medicare Part D
From the website of the National Mental Health Association
Last December, Congress passed legislation to establish a Medicare prescription drug benefit that is scheduled to go into effect in January 2006. On Friday, January 21st, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) within the Department of Health and Human Services issued the final regulations regarding the new Medicare prescription drug benefit. To receive this voluntary new benefit, Medicare beneficiaries will have to enroll in either a private drug plan (PDP) that only covers medications or leave the Medicare fee-for-service program and join a managed care plan (MA-PDP) covering all Medicare benefits including medications.
For more information, go to: www.nmha.org/newsroom/system/lal.vw.cfm?do=vw&rid=657
Bill To Support Community-Based Services For Individuals With Disabilities
From a press release issued by Senator Harkin
Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) announced that he introduced the Money Follows the Person Act of 2005 (S 528). The legislation, co-sponsored by Senator Gordon Smith (R-OR), would reimburse states for community-based services for an individual currently living in a nursing home or similar facility.
"We have a Medicaid system in this country that is spending approximately two-thirds of its dollars on institutional care and approximately one-third on community services. This bill is an important step toward switching those numbers around," said Harkin. "It is shameful that our federal dollars are being spent to segregate people, not integrate them."
Under this legislation, the Medicaid money paid by states and the federal government would follow the person with a disability from an institution into the community. The Act would provide 100 percent federal reimbursement for the community services that an individual needs during the first year after they move out of a nursing home or similar facility. After that first year, the individual would remain in the community, and states would receive their regular Medicaid match for their services.
Wisconsin
Disability-Related Provisions of Governor Doyle’s 2005-07 State Budget Proposal Prepared by Mike Bachhuber, Executive Director of Access to Independent Living, Madison
Corrections
• New AODA facilities at Racine and Taycheedah prisons
• Female Offender Reintegration Program - $279,000 for support services for non violent women prisoners
• Increased medical and pharmaceutical funding
Education
• $44 Million increases in SAGE program to lower class sizes K-3
• School Transportation Aid – $16 Million increase (from Transport. fund)
• Special Education – $15 Million increase, most targeted to high needs
• Bilingual-bicultural Education – $1.6 Million increase
Health Care and Human Services
• Medicaid deficit – several initiatives to ensure the financial integrity of the Wisconsin Medical Assistance Program, BadgerCare and Senior Care
– $88M Re-estimate of shortfall
– $62M savings from program changes
– $206M Nursing Home and HMO assessments and fed funds
– $180M from Patients Comp Fund
– $130M in revenue bonds
• Badger Rx program to keep prescription drugs affordable
• Family Visiting – $1.5M to support visits to first-time parents to offer information and referrals to health and health-related resources and services
• Screening and treatment programs - $1.4M increase in programs serving families in the child welfare system who need mental health and substance abuse services
• SSI Managed Care – Increase “to the maximum extent possible.” Budgeted saving of $12M over the biennium
• Transportation Broker – $6.6M savings projected by coordinating non-emergency transportation through a broker
• Budget re-estimates cost of Health Insurance Risk Sharing Plan, changes and clarifies eligibility for MA participants, changes prescription benefits and changes deductible for Medicare-eligible participants.
• Community Relocation Initiative – Budget assumes that MA Nursing Home Assessment and Acuity rates will increase closure of NH beds to and enhanced-rate CIP-2 slots. Biennial budget savings of $9.2M. Projected increase of 1,440 slots toward eight-year goal of 25% reduction in NH population.
• Case management for transition-age youth – services to direct youth to preventive services budgeted to save $401,000.
• Benefit specialists to assist NH relocations – increase $900,000
• Home care “management” – Budgeted savings $10M
• Children’s Long-term Support Waiver – 80 new slots at $1M
• SILC – Statewide Independent Living Council becomes free-standing agency
on 7/1/05. SILC loses $68,000 in General Purpose Revenue (GPR) from DHFS but gains $60,400 from DWD.
• Independent Living Centers – $300,000 State IL funding will come from DWD rather than DHFS. Gov. Doyle also recommends that $600,000 be transferred to DHFS for IL program.
• COR Waiver – a new MA Home and Community-Based Services Waiver will be
created to pay for relocation of NH residents with mental illness to their communities. Budgeted saving of $210,000
• Projects for Assistance in Transition from Homelessness – transferred to Div. of Housing in Dept. of Commerce.
• CIP 1A Re-estimates – Gov. estimates savings of $17.8M due to serving more individuals in community than State Centers for people with developmental disabilities.
• Emergency Medical Services Transportation – funding will come from Transportation fund rather than GPRTransportation
• Elderly and Disability Transit aids – $6M increase
Vocational Rehabilitation and Workforce Development
• Vocational Rehabilitation – $2M to ensure sufficient GPR funds for at least 90 percent of the State match
• Health Care Worker Injury Prevention Program – new program to demonstrate the benefits of a no-lift workplace in health care facilities is funded at $1M.
IndependenceFirst is a member of the Survival Coalition, a statewide coalition of disability advocates, providers, and consumers. The Survival Coalition has prepared a position paper on the state’s proposed 2005-2007 budget. If you would like a copy, please contact either Alie or Karen at 414-291-7520 (V/TTY).
Wisconsin Money Follows the Person Initiatives – 2005
Talking Points distributed by the Survival Coalition
In early February, two bills were introduced in the Wisconsin Assembly and one in the Wisconsin Senate to provide funding for nursing home residents to move to the community. Gov. Doyle’s budget bill (AB100) includes the administration’s “Community Relocation Initiative.” Sen. Grothman, Rep. Wood and several other legislators also introduced companion “Life-Lease” bills (AB124/SB54).
• Both proposals give hope to 7,000 nursing home residents who want to move to the community by creating enhanced-rate CIP II slots.
• Enhanced-rate CIP II slots allow counties sufficient funding to set up a package of supports for individuals with disabilities.
• Both proposals are estimated to save the State millions of dollars over two years, with the exact amount depending on the number of people who move to the community.
• Differences between these bills summarized below (key difference in italics).
Community Relocation Initiative
(Governor’s proposal)
• Funding slots, once created, remain in the community.
• Creation of slots depends on nursing homes closing beds but proposal includes economic incentives for facilities to close (“de-license”) beds.
• Incentives to close beds include an increase in the bed assessment and adjusting Medicaid (MA) reimbursement rates according to the degree of needs of the resident.
• Part of nursing home waiver, which must show budget neutrality (the cost of serving people in the community must be equal to or less than the cost of serving those people in a facility).
• Deletes provision for enhanced-rate slots for people relocated after July 26, 2003 and before the effective date of the bill.
Life-Lease
(Senator Grothman’s proposal)
• Funding reverts to MA budget when person no longer needs funding.
• Creation of slots depends on need rather than on nursing homes closing beds.
• Does not create permanent slots or affect the surplus of licensed nursing home beds (9th highest in nation).
• Life-lease slots on whole must be budget-neutral, in addition to all nursing home waiver slots being budget-neutral.
• Excludes Life-Lease participants from cap on CIP II slots (number of slots capped at number of beds de-licensed).
Sources: AB100, AB124, SB54, DHFS Budget documents, LFB memo dated Feb. 28, 2005 comparing SB54 with AB100, CMS MDS Report – 4th Qtr 2004, 2002 AARP Profiles of LTC
Other States
Persistance Finally Pays Off
From an email (edited) distributed by Shel Gross, Mental Health Association
Convinced that an illness of the mind is as important as one of the lungs or heart, the State of Washington passed a landmark bill that demands equal insurance coverage for mental and physical illnesses. Governor Christine Gregoire signed the bill into law on March 9, 2005.
The measure ends seven years of frustration for proponents who saw the idea rejected session after session. The measure was made more palatable during this session's budget crunch because it won't be fully phased in until July 2010.
It will potentially benefit about 900,000 people. The mandate does not apply to businesses with 50 or fewer employees, self-insured companies or plans purchased by individuals. Opponents argued that the measure will hurt businesses and workers, and could force some people off insurance altogether.
Randy Revelle, who chairs the Washington Coalition for Insurance Parity, said he is elated the measure passed the Senate. "This is a real body blow to the stigma surrounding mental illness," said Revelle, a former King County executive who has struggled with bipolar disorder. "This bill has as much symbolic value as it does practical value."
Local
Local Advocacy Victory
By Bob Driscoll, Milwaukee Mental Health Task Force
In response to community pressure by mental health advocates and the Hmong community, on February 17th Chief Hegerty announced that the Milwaukee Police Department has agreed to implement a Crisis Intervention Team. The Mental Health Task Force and the Hmong community had joined forces to pressure the MPD to implement CIT after several shootings, including the shooting death of Tou Yang, a 36-year-old member of the Hmong community.
The CIT model was first developed and implemented in 1988 by the Memphis Police Department to address the special challenges to law enforcement posed by persons with mental illness. The Memphis Police Department has experienced significant benefits as a result of using the CIT model:
(a) less need for the use of lethal force Since 1988, there have been only two officers involved in shootings of mentally ill individuals, and these by non-CIT trained officers.
(b) reduction in officer injuries Officer injuries dropped 85%.
(c) reductions in injuries to mental health consumers Reported injuries to individuals with a mental illness dropped 40%.
(d) reduction in SWAT callouts SWAT callouts dropped 55%.
(e) reduction in civil litigation Reduction in deaths and injuries have also greatly reduced costs associated with litigation.
(f) improvement in community relations The skills learned by CIT officers lead to successful interventions in all aspects of officers’ patrol responsibilities, leading to better morale and improved community relations for the department.
(g) reduction in emergency room recidivism ER recidivism rate dropped to less than 20% after implementation of the CIT model.
(h) decrease in voluntary commitments Involuntary commitments decreased from over 40% to 25%.
(i) jail diversion The census of mentally ill individuals in jail custody has dropped from 15% in 1988 to 3% today. Arrests were reduced 90%, from 20 arrests per 100 calls prior to CIT inception down to 2 arrests per 100 calls since the implementation of CIT.
Crisis Intervention Teams are now active in over 80 urban, suburban, and rural police departments across the country. They are modeled after teams originally developed by the Memphis Police in 1988. They are experiencing similar benefits.
The Milwaukee Police Department will begin training its first CIT class in the fall.
Resources on the Internet
Advocacy Tool: Making Your Case
From the Minnesota Council on Developmental Disabilities
Whether you're working with boards, policymakers, individuals, agencies, funders or other stakeholders, there is always a need to clearly convey the Who, What, When, Where, and (especially) Why of your activities.
Because this need is so widespread and so integral to accomplishing goals, we are pleased to announce a free, Internet-based learning program called "Making Your Case." There is no cost for this interactive, self-paced learning program. It takes about three hours to complete, and is available 24 hours per day, seven days a week.
By taking part in this free learning program, participants will be better able to:
- Effectively "tell their story" to policymakers;
- Identify which policymakers would be most helpful in bringing about positive change;
- Write effective letters and emails;
- Conduct productive meetings with policymakers;
- Give effective testimony and answers to questions; and
- Organize with others to address important issues.
"Making Your Case" has been designed for use by people with disabilities, family members, and concerned citizens. The program can be accessed any time by going to: www.partnersinpolicymaking.com/makingyourcase
Please contact the Minnesota Council on Developmental Disabilities for further information or to make comments regarding the website.
Medicaid and Medicare Guides
Distributed by the “Housing & Disability Issues” Listserv
The Kaiser Family Foundation has released new guides, prepared by Bob Williams and Henry Claypool of Advancing Independence and Jeff Crowley of the Georgetown University Health Policy Institute, that explain the role of Medicare and Medicaid for roughly 20 million children, adults and seniors with disabilities. These guides offer a basic introduction to the Medicare and Medicaid programs, including answers to questions such as:
* How do people with disabilities apply for coverage under Medicare or Medicaid?
* What is Medicare's policy for covering durable medical equipment?
* Where can people with disabilities turn if they need help in applying for Medicaid?
* How do people with disabilities appeal Medicare coverage decisions?
* Can a person with a disability who has Medicare and/or Medicaid be employed and still keep their coverage? The guides are available in PDF and HTML formats at: www.kff.org/medicare/med020705pkg.cfm
Cochlear Implant FAQs
From the National Association of the Deaf (NAD)
Are you looking for more information about cochlear implants and the issues surrounding them? Perhaps you have a friend or loved one considering this procedure and you want to be informed or make sure they are informed. The Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section of our website has a long list of answers to the most common questions about cochlear implants. Please visit the NAD Cochlear Implant FAQ website at: http://www.nad.org/cifaqs
Hope to Healing Website
From Sister Ann Catherine Veierstahler
The HopeToHealing website exists to share stories of ordinary people representing a broad range of society from every State and background who face the challenges of life with courage and hope enabling them to live very successful and meaningful lives. Our vision is to offer hope to persons who are still struggling with their illness. The stories are of persons who have mental illness. Also, by sharing stories and putting a name and face to the story, we will help to overcome the stigma of mental illness. Finally, we are using the stories as a means of education for the general public. Visit us at www.HopetoHealing.com
Events/Announcements
Attention Young Artists With Disabilities
VSA arts (http://www.vsarts.org/ ), an international nonprofit organization dedicated to the participation of people with disabilities in the arts, has announced "Shifting Gears," an annual call for art and juried exhibit made possible with the support of Volkswagen of America, Inc. Now in its fourth year, the program will distribute $60,000 in cash awards (including a grand prize of $20,000) to a total of fifteen finalists with disabilities. The finalists will receive their awards at a reception on Capitol Hill, and their artwork will be displayed in a nation-wide touring exhibit that debuts at the Smithsonian in the fall.
The program is open to young artists between the ages of 16 and 25 living in the United States who have a physical, cognitive, or mental disability. A disability is defined as an impairment that substantially limits a major life activity. Deadline: July 15, 2005. See the VSA arts website for further information and/or to download guidelines and an application form: http://fconline.fdncenter.org/pnd/1032/vsa
Announcements
The Milwaukee Office of the Wisconsin Coalition for Advocacy (WCA) has moved to a new location: 6737 W. Washington Street, Suite 3230, Milwaukee, WI 53214. The new location is about four blocks south of I-94, just off 70th Street. The new phone numbers are: 414-773-4646 voice/tty, 414-773-4647 fax
The 800 number (for people with disabilities and family members only) has stayed the same: 1-800-708-3034
All staff email addresses have stayed the same, as has the WCA website address: www.w-c-a.org
** P L E A S E N O T E **
You may now receive Advocacy Action News via email instead of print copy. Contact Alie at 414-291-7520 (V/TTY) or akriofske@independencefirst.org.
If you do not have access to the internet, and would like assistance in obtaining any of the internet-based items described in this news bulletin, please contact Alie at 414-291-7520 (V/TTY).
Advocacy Action News is published by IndependenceFirst on or about the 1st of each month. Submissions of articles are due by the 15th of each month prior to publication. For consideration, send your articles or announcements to Karen Avery, via e-mail to kavery@independencefirst.org.
Advocacy Action News is available by request in alternative formats such as Braille, large print, on disk or audiotape. It is also made available via our website.
IndependenceFirst
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