On Target is a monthly publication
of the Indiana Governor's Council for People with Disabilities.
We welcome your suggestions for newsletter content and
ideas concerning the actions of the Council. On Target is made available
in accessible formats upon request.
Suellen Jackson-Boner
Executive Director
Christine Dahlberg
Associate Director
Paul Shankland
Grants Manager |
Reports outline plan for community-based living
On March 25, Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Tommy Thompson
presented President Bush with reports from nine federal agencies outlining more than
400 ways agencies can support community
living for people with disabilities.
The reports stem from the first comprehensive federal review of barriers that prevent people with disabilities from living in their communities. Bush called for the review in June 2001 as part of his New Freedom Initiative.
Suggestions presented in the reports include:
Health care structure and financing
- Establish a Medicaid Community Services Reform Task Force to recommend ways to promote community living through Medicaid.
- Develop a strategy to address quality of care issues in home and community-based settings.
- Provide Systems Change, Medicaid Infrastructure and other grants to states to improve community-based services and support employment.
Employment
- Begin an Olmstead Community Empowerment Initiative to ensure that federal policies fully address the employ-ment needs of people with disabilities.
- Award Olmstead Community Employment Planning and Implementation grants to states that develop an employment focus in their Olmstead state implementation plans.
- Evaluate and improve transition services for youth with disabilities going from school to work or post-secondary education.
Housing
- Provide information to public housing authorities about the need for and use of vouchers for people with disabilities.
- Investigate and enforce actions against those who design or build inaccessible multi-family housing.
- Clarify how Medicaid can help people with disabilities transition from institutional to community-based settings.
Public awareness, outreach and participation
- Launch a public awareness campaign to decrease stigma, eliminate attitudinal barriers and increase employment opportunities for people with disabilities.
- w Develop documents to educate people with disabilities about their rights based on the Olmstead decision.
In addition, several agencies will work to design a plan to improve the availability, affordability and accessibility of assistive technology. Other suggestions addressed
public transportation, special education and the need for personal care assistants and respite care services.
Agencies involved in creating the reports are the departments of Justice, Education, Labor, Housing and Urban Development, Transportation, Veterans Affairs and HHS;
the Social Security Administration; and the Office of Personnel Management.
Under the leadership of Secretary Thompson, these agencies formed the Interagency Council on Community Living, a collaborative effort the HHS calls "unprecedented" among federal agencies.
For a copy of the full report, visit www.hhs.org/newfreedom.
Be a Partner in Policymaking
If you are a committed advocate for people with disabilities, the Partners in Policymaking (PIP) program is for you. The Council and the United Cerebral Palsy Association of Greater Indiana are actively recruiting people with disabilities and parents of children with disabilities to participate
in PIP's intensive training program this fall.
Participants will be empowered through training to become effective advocates and active partners with policy-makers. PIP's goal is to educate participants about general disability issues and legislative procedures, as well as to train them to advocate for change in public policy and disability services.
Thirty-five partners are accepted each year from more than 100 applications. They attend two-day training sessions eight times a year and are required to complete assignments between sessions. Partners also complete at least one major disability-related project in their hometown after graduation.
The training program, an estimated $5,000 value, is free.
The Council seeks applications from people who are committed to the values of integration/inclusion and who believe all people with disabilities should be respected, contributing community members. Applications should be submitted by Aug. 16.
For more information or an application, contact Rose Black, PIP community specialist, at (800) 821-6708 (voice), (317) 632-3578 (voice) or pip@ucpaindy.org (e-mail). The application is available at www.state.in.us/gpcpd by clicking on the Partners in Policymaking icon.
Mortgage program assists people with disabilities
National Homeownership Week is June 3 - 9
People with disabilities traditionally have a low home-ownership rate, but several Indiana organizations are working to assist them in realizing their home-ownership dreams.
"The Indiana Housing Finance Authority has made a million-dollar commitment to people with disabilities so they can own their own homes through low-interest loans," said Deborah McCarty, coordinator of the Back Home in Indiana Alliance. The funding is tied to the Fannie Mae HomeChoice program and the Alliance.
Funding is available to residents of Marion, Bartholomew and Knox counties. McCarty said this is because partnerships between housing and disability organizations already exist in those communities.
The mortgage includes several features for people with disabilities. For example, it allows a person to designate a co-borrower who does not live in the home. (Parents can assist with payments for adult children with disabilities who own a home.)
McCarty said some income is required to qualify. "We've been able to assist people who have incomes as low as $10,300 per year, but not much lower than that," she said. When a person's income doesn't qualify, the Alliance helps him or her find quality rental housing.
People with disabilities should be aware that they can own a home and still qualify for Medicaid and Social Security benefits, McCarty said.
"The assumption is that those programs have limitations on your assets. What people don't realize is that your home is not counted as an asset for these programs. It doesn't jeopardize your benefits," she said.
To apply for the program or learn more about the Back Home in Indiana Alliance, contact Deborah McCarty at (317) 638-2392 (voice) or dlmccart@indiana.edu.
Fannie Mae offers a variety of mortgage products for people with disabilities statewide, including support for individual and group home mortgages and home modifications. For more information, visit www.fanniemae.com.
CTI Academy completes second year of training
This month, four teams will graduate from the Council's Community Transportation Initiative (CTI) Academy. The teams are from Wayne, Posey and Bartholomew counties and a five-county southeastern Indiana coalition.
The Transportation Academy trains teams from Indiana communities to develop inclusive transportation solutions for people with disabilities.
"While long-term outcomes should take three to five years, there is already a great deal of change going on in communities because of the cooperation and collaboration taking place," said Paul Shankland, Council grants manager.
Teams apply for admission to the Academy and are interviewed to determine their level of commitment and potential for local impact. Teams are expected to include leaders in business, local government, disability advocacy, transportation and human services.
The Academy process is rigorous. In addition to workshops and a three-day retreat, teams develop everything from mission statements and needs assessments to an action plan with goals, objectives and timelines.
On-site consultations by CTI faculty in the teams' communities provide more opportunities for learning. Finally, teams present their reports, studies and plans to other teams and to the Academy. This year, that presentation took place May 8.
"It's the kind of presentation they'll be making at the community level to county commissioners, chambers of commerce, school boards and similar stakeholder groups," Shankland said.
Academy graduate Jo Ellen Ogle, executive director of the Paul Phillippe Resource Center in Frankfort, said, "Attending the Academy is one of the best things we did because it gets you thinking about what you really want to do in your community, and what it takes to do it. Certainly we would not be as far along as we are right now if we hadn't attended."
The Academy is one component of the Council's Community Transportation Initiative, which also facilitates a statewide coalition addressing legal, bureaucratic and legislative barriers to transportation systems for people with disabilities.
The initiative has become a model for other states to follow when addressing transportation issues at the community level. Inquiries from other states - including an offer for a team to pay to participate - have led the Council to pursue grants to establish a "train the trainer" academy to share this model.
For more information about the Community Transportation Initiative, contact Gail
Rubisch-Hawkey, CTI project coordinator, at (317) 773-5694 (voice).
Disability issues addressed in summer committees
State legislators in summer interim study commissions might explore a variety
of issues relevant to people with disabilities, depending on when the special session ends.
Special education advocates will be watching committees created by House Resolution
64 and House Concurrent Resolution 64 addressing ISTEP testing issues, including
how special education students are affected.
House Resolution 65 directs the Health Finance Commission to examine the
possibility of expanding personal care services statewide through publicly funded agencies.
Senate Resolution 69 charges the Commission on Medicaid Oversight to review long-term care and community-based alternatives. "It should be a priority of the state to ensure
that people can stay in their homes and under the care of their families until that is no longer a feasible option," the resolution states.
Because of this summer's special session, legislators had not scheduled any interim study commission meetings at the time of this publication. To obtain updated information, contact the Indiana General Assembly at (317) 232-9856 (voice) or visit www.ai.org/legislative/index.html.
Of Note
Count Us IN seeks volunteers
Count Us IN, a non-partisan initiative to increase the political influence of citizens with disabilities, seeks volunteers to help register new voters at "get out the vote" drives for the fall election. Citizens with disabilities are registered to vote at a rate that is 10 percent less than the non-disabled population. Teams are being formed at the county level to recruit, educate and activate voters with disabilities. Contact Count Us IN at (317) 234-2226 (voice) or CountUsIN@gpcpd.org.
Voter registration deadline approaching
The voter registration deadline for the November 2002 election is Monday, Oct. 7. Register to vote at your county voter registration office (usually the circuit court clerk's office); a license branch; or a public assistance, disability or unemployment compensation office. Or, visit www.indiana.gov/sos/elections/forms for a registration form. If you are unsure of whether you are registered, or if you have changed addresses, contact your local voter registration office. The Council is now offering a "Voting in Indiana" booklet for people with disabilities. Contact the Council to request a copy.
Section 508 celebrates first anniversary
People with disabilities are celebrating the first anniversary of Section 508,
requiring information technology offered by federal agencies to be accessible. Section 508 applies to newly obtained office technology, such as fax machines, but its requirements for Web sites attract more attention. People with disabilities who
have accessibility problems with a federal agency's information technology can file
a complaint with the agency or sue for Section 508 compliance. For more
information, contact the Department of Justice's Disability Rights Section or visit www.usdoj.gov/crt/508/508home.html.
And the winner is...
Congratulations to the following people who returned Disability Awareness Month evaluations to win a free Disability Awareness Month
T-shirt. These names were drawn from 209 evaluations returned to us earlier this year:
- Treva Chupp, Independent Living Center of Eastern Indiana
- Lois Greene, William W. Borden High School
- Karen Hurst, North
- Central Juvenile Correctional Facility
- Estelle Huston, Immaculate Heart of Mary School
- Nancy McCullers, ISSCH Morton Memorial School
- Barbara Melcom, River Falls Access Ability Center
- John Myers, ARC of Wabash County, Inc.
- Margie Taylor, Needmore Elementary School
- Kim Umbaugh, North Central Indiana Special Education Cooperative
- Joe Wheatley, Ball Memorial Hospital - Physical Rehabilitation Center
T-shirts will be mailed directly to winners. More than 1,054 advocates ordered Disability Awareness Month materials in 2002, allowing the Council to reach tens of thousands of Hoosiers.
Organization empowers, advocates through art
VSA Arts of Indiana is a unique organization serving people with disabilities and advocating for community inclusion through the power of art.
"The mission of VSA Arts of Indiana is to educate through quality arts experiences, to advocate for children with disabilities and to provide access to the arts for all individuals," said President Jim Nulty.
The local organization, an affiliate of an international network of VSA Arts organizations, offers classes in visual arts and clay in its new home at the Harrison Centre for the Arts in Indianapolis. It also sponsors artist residencies in Indiana schools and offers continuing education for artists and educators.
"We work with agencies to include people with disabilities in culturally or educationally enriching experiences," Nulty said, "and we promote the awareness of the capabilities
of persons with disabilities through these programs."
For information about the organization's available resources, upcoming classes and events, visit www.vsai.org or call Jane McWhirter at (317) 974-4123 (voice) to receive the free quarterly newsletter.
Indiana Governor’s Planning
Council for People with Disabilities
150 West Market Street, Suite 628
Indianapolis, Indiana 46204
(317) 232-7770 voice
(317) 232-7771 TT
E-mail: GPCPD@gpcpd.org
Web site: www.state.in.us/gpcpd
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