Focusing on the Future

The Disability Services Reform Amendment Act of 2018 - B22-0154 – is now the law.  It was a hard slog, and now comes the implementation - also hard, but so important!  That’s why the next Supporting Families Community of Practice (SF CoP) is going to focus on what B22-0154 is going to mean - for the new DDS complaint system and for Supported Decision Making.  The meeting will take place June 14, 9:30 to 3:30, at 441 4^th St NW (One Judiciary Square).  Plan to be there, or call in, if you’ve been reading here about the bill and want to understand what it’s really going to mean for you or your family member.  Here are the details:  https://tinyurl.com/ya7fet2m.

But we can’t stop folks!  With this big win behind us, it’s time to set the advocacy agenda for further improvement in the lives of citizens with developmental disabilities in our nation’s capital.  I wrote last time about the talking points the D.C. constituency pulled together at the Disability Policy Seminar in April and our meetings afterward at the Wilson Building.  That was a great start, but advocacy is only really effective if folks pull together around a shared set of objectives.  Setting priorities, then forging a game plan, is hard but necessary, and that’s where my efforts are going to be directed over the next few months.

But in the meantime, a couple of public service announcements!

-          DRDC (see my page on Acronyms and Organizations if you don’t know what this is!) needs your help on primary day, June 19, to monitor how well polling places are doing at ensuring they’re accessible and welcoming to people with disabilities.  Please email Kristina Majewski, KMajewski@uls-dc.org, if you can visit one or two polling places to do this important work.

-          The Developmental Disabilities Council is launching a new initiative – Next Chapter Book Clubs (https://nextchapterbookclub.org) – in D.C. The goal is to get a bunch of inclusive, multi-age book clubs going across the city – socializing and conversation as important (more so!) than the reading, and there will be plenty of support.  Contact Sudie Johnson (sudie.johnson@dc.gov) if you’re interested or can help with sponsorship. 

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Find something you can get involved in – it’s on all of us to keep making the future a brighter and better place for our community.