Friends,
I’ve been quieter than usual lately because my family has
been going through challenging times with D.C.’s Department on Disability
Services. I’ve written in general terms
about this, but we are in the midst of things so I prefer not to be more specific
at this time. I haven’t hung up my
spurs, though. I mean to continue
keeping people informed, and hopefully motivating you to greater advocacy on
behalf of yourself, your family or your friends.
In that vein, I want to update you on the policies I
mentioned in my last blog post (“For Your Own Sake…Give DDS Your Input!”
11/5/18). Both policies received
attention in two separate meetings on Thursday 11/15. One was the Family Support Council’s public
meeting (the FSC, on which I now serve, holds a public meeting every other
month), where the policies were discussed in some detail. The other was the Developmental Disabilities
Council, where Liz Seaton (liz.seaton@dc.gov) touched on them
in the DDS update. I’m happy to see that
DDS is now working to spread the word and collect broad input on both these
policies, which are of huge importance to people receiving residential supports
under the I/DD waiver (see my Acronyms and Organizations list if you’re
confused). Unfortunately, what we
learned in the FSC meeting that I did not know when I wrote last time is that
what’s in the contribution to costs policy is pretty much dictated by D.C.
regulations that are about to be published following a public comment period
last year. Here are those regulations,
linked to my Google Drive:
In the FSC meeting, a number of us were dismayed that there
had not been a more concerted and systematic effort to make concerned
stakeholders aware of the opportunity last year for public comment on these
regulations (which, it should be noted, are based on a law passed in the D.C.
council in October 2016). Although DDS
has put a lot of effort into outreach in recent years and many different
meetings take place – FSC public meetings, Supporting Families Community of
Practice (SF CoP), Monday afternoon waiver meetings, DD Council, and others –
the challenge now is that, even for very active advocates such as myself, it’s
still easy to miss out on critical information such as the public comment
period for such a critical set of regulations.
For overwhelmed families and people working full-time, there’s just no
way to keep track because there are too many different meetings and it’s
catch-as-catch-can whether you’ll pick up on important issues like this at any
particular one of them. Part of the
answer, in this case, would probably have been a DDS meeting dedicated
specifically to this issue, as has been done in the past. From what Liz said on Thursday, even though
it’s too late for comment on the regulations, DDS may indeed hold such a
focused meeting soon on the two policies.
In the meantime, if you can make it to the next SF CoP meeting, it’s scheduled for Thursday, December 13th,
9:30 to 3:30, at Georgetown’s University Center for Excellence in Developmental
Disabilities Center for Child and Human Development, located at 3300 Whitehaven
Street, NW Suite 3300 (north of Georgetown, just off Wisconsin Avenue NW), and there will be another opportunity to
hear about these policies then. I don’t
yet know at what point in the day’s agenda this will come (it’s a long day),
but I will do my best to get the word out.
I’ve communicated views on these policies to DDS, but to a
very large extent, I’m more concerned about the procedures which are supposed
to spell out how the policies will be implemented. There are many details DDS often doesn’t
think through when it rolls out well-intentioned policies, and I believe they
need to understand better the realities confronted by people and families who
are directly affected. (Public meetings
may not always be the best way to get input on sensitive subjects.) Although this will sound self-serving, it’s
odd to me that it’s been so long since anyone at DDS read my blog and called to
ask what I meant by something I wrote or how they might try to address a
particular issue I’ve raised - even though my posts reflect not only my
personal experience, but the experiences of others who communicate their
concerns to me.
In a related development, congratulations are in order to Erin
Leveton (erin.leveton@dc.gov) on her elevation to the position of deputy
director for Quality Assurance and Performance Management at DDS. She replaces Jared Morris, who remains as
chief of staff. Although I’ve
appreciated having SOPPI as a freestanding state-level office, but this may make
it more likely that DDS policies will be understood and implemented at the
operational level.
