Another Chance to Testify about D.C. Performance on Disability Issues: February 18

On Tuesday, February 11, councilmember Nadeau held a performance review hearing for the D.C. Office on Disability Rights (ODR) and the Department on Disability Services (DDS).  The link for the video of that hearing is here:  http://dc.granicus.com/viewpublisher.php?view_id=2 – scroll down to the Committee on Human Services hearing on February 11 to view it.  There were many important witnesses at the hearing, but here is some of the key testimony:

-          ODR  https://odr.dc.gov/release/director-mathew-mccollough-provides-fiscal-year-2019-performance-oversight-testimony

-          DDS  https://drive.google.com/open?id=1i_m4PTI-kV5831JJ3ounTefuXuWizE5E

-          Quality Trust https://drive.google.com/open?id=1ALppjfjo2iaDBLYMomhZO3YlylHNrU7M

-          ULS/DRDC https://drive.google.com/open?id=1h4ZWJSYVDCR8vNSIkYXkpNPl-b7G4Lka

-          DD Council https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Gyf0N3_cuzGxLh3dfyEUxvdrOW191UZA

You can submit written testimony until February 25 by email to HumanServices@DCCOUNCIL.US.  But the committee is also providing an opportunity for anyone who couldn’t attend the daytime hearing to come to the RISE center (2730 Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue SE) on Tuesday evening, February 18, 6:00-10:00 p.m.:  https://www.brianneknadeau.com/committee-human-services-performance-oversight-evening-community-hearing-rise-center.

As I mentioned in my last blog post, the need for DDS to expand eligibility for the I/DD Medicaid waiver across the spectrum of development disabilities (not just to those who meet an IQ cutoff) received a great deal of attention in this hearing.  If you’re on Twitter and you want to let the mayor (@MayorBowser) and the committee chair (@BrianneKNadeau) know you care about this issue, use hashtag #DDeligibilityDC, or retweet my texts @DDinWDC .  Also let the mayor know you care about this at one of her budget engagement forums (https://www.eventbrite.com/e/mayor-muriel-bowser-presents-the-2020-budget-engagement-forums-tickets-89658337501) and while you’re there, ask the mayor to fund bill 23-0214 (https://www.ddinwdc.com/2020/02/dds-performance-fair-wages-for-dsps-and.html)!

I’ll see you at next Thursday night’s budget forum, at UDC!