Developmental/Intellectual Disabilities

Paying personal assistance services (PAS) providers competitive wages and offering them benefits is one of the keys to stopping abuse of people with disabilities by their PAS workers, according to a report from the Center on Self-Determination Oregon Institute on Disability and Development. The report details a leading list of strategies for assisting individuals with disabilities to prevent and stop violence.

National Core Indicators is a collaboration among participating NASDDDS member state agencies and HSRI, with the goal of developing a systematic approach to performance & outcome measurement. Through the collaboration, participating states pool their resources & knowledge to create performance monitoring systems, identify common performance indicators, work out comparable data collection strategies, & share results. This multi-state collaborative effort to improve performance is unprecedented.

Presentation at the 2003 CMS conference this presentation summarizes the principles of effective coalition building which emphasizes how cross-disability consumers and advocates can work together and work with state policy makers to effect meaningful systems change.

The Delmarva Foundation for Medical Care assists the State of Florida in improving the quality of care for Florida citizens with developmental disabilities. This website is one part of our Fl Quality Assurance Program & includes: Resource Center with training and information opportunities for providers, consumers, family members and other stakeholders; Waiver Support Coordination Consultation (WiSCC) Tool for DD; Collaborative Outcomes Review and Enhancement Review (CORE) Protocol also for DD.

ArcLink has created a cognitively accessible website offering information on Medicare Prescription Drug Coverage and the Discount card. The site gives answers to frequently asked questions, offers definitions of commonly used terms in Medicare and explains how to get help and how to get a card.

This brief examines employment & program participation patterns of low income adults with disabilities & how well the current safety net meets their needs. It compares low-income across employment, program participation & income status. These comparisons highlight some of the unique challenges & motivate broader discussion of gaps in the safety net. Particularly striking are the conflicting messages regarding work & program participation sent by existing programs & policies.

On 10/7/2004 eleven new states were awarded three-year Cash & Counseling grants, allowing them to replicate and expand on the Cash & Counseling model. Funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Assistant Secretary of Planning and Evaluation and the Administration on Aging, the following states will receive approximately $250,000 to implement Cash & Counseling programs: AL, IA, KY, MI, PA, RI, VT, WA, and WV. MN and NM will receive an additional $100,000 to enhance their programs.

This Policy Research Brief reviews available research on the costs and outcomes of community service provision for people with intellectual disabilities (or “mental retardation”) and developmental disabilities, with a particular emphasis on residential services. It focuses on a number of key issues related not only to public expenditures, but also to funding systems, related policies and regulations, and their impact on service systems, on specific service types, and on service users.

This Impact Newsletter was printed in the Spring of 2004 and the feature is \"Issue on Consumer-Controlled Budgets and Persons with Disabilities\". This issue of focuses on various aspects of and experiences with supporting personal freedom through self-directed supports and individually managed budgets. It includes articles from policy, service, and individual/ family perspectives illustrating what is possible when self-determination guides service provision.

The ADRC program calls for aging networks to broaden its target population & closely coordinate with the disability network to establish seamless systems for consumers. This brief provides background information on characteristics of individuals with physical disabilities, describes the major information & service needs & the existing supports & services system. The brief also addresses implications for grantees in serving this population & provides additional resources to facilitate operations.