In my most recent blog posts, I’ve written about developments
at the Department of Behavioral Health (DBH) that warrant attention from
disability advocates (DBH proposed legislation and DBH and
people with disabilities), and about the early-stage discussion on
September 27 of next year’s Department on Disability Services (DDS) budget (Preliminary
DDS budget discussion). Here, I’d
like to give a brief update on these issues:
- DBH. I
had a productive conversation earlier this week with councilmember Christina
Henderson’s senior policy staffer, Marcia Huff, to follow up on the concerns I
had raised in my two blog posts above. I
learned from her that the proposal to lengthen the routine detention period in
psychiatric hospitals has been removed from bill B25-692, which is good
news. At the same time, she told me
that, partially in response to the recent DRDC report on the many ongoing problems
at the Psychiatric Institute of Washington, or PIW (Unsafe
and Unprotected), there will be a hearing about PIW before the council on
October 28. They are looking for people
to testify, in either written or oral form, and she is interested in particular
in hearing about the experience of people with disabilities who have found
themselves at PIW. If you have any
experience to share, you should contact Marcia at mhuff@dccouncil.gov. Also, on the separate issue of the closure of
35 K psychiatric services, if you are a person, or the family member of a
person, who was receiving support at 35 K before its closure, please also reach
out to share your experience with Marcia.
- DDS budget discussion. At the DDS forum on September 27, DDS
director Andy Reese gave a brief presentation (the final Power Point listed on
this page: DDS Friday forum Power
Points) about the current (FY 2025) budget and the likely stringency in
next year’s budget. The session then
broke up into smaller groups moderated by DDS staff, in which participants were
asked to propose areas where greater budget efficiencies might be possible, or
if increases are proposed, how those would be offset. Since the largest amount of the DDS budget
goes for long-term disability supports from DDA (as always, see Disability-related organization
and terminology if you’re confused about the terms I use), that is where
most savings will likely need to be found. A broad variety of issues came up in
the breakout groups. The ideas for potential
savings that most caught my attention were:
1) pursuing SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) benefits
for people who qualify; and 2) examining more closely the cost of some services
that DDS now contracts out. However,
even if you weren’t there on Friday, you may want to take the trouble to weigh
in with your ideas to director Andy Reese, andrew.reese@dc.gov,
but do that only after you’ve reviewed the recording of the session, which can be
found here: DDS September 27 recording.
Carol Grigsby (she/her/hers) is
a dedicated advocate, focused on advancing rights and increasing opportunities
for people with developmental disabilities in Washington, DC. I am a
former member and chair of the DC Developmental Disabilities Council and currently
serve on several committees and groups chaired by DC’s Department on Disability
Services. In addition to advocating for full inclusion of people with
disabilities in our local community, I strongly support statehood for DC, where
I have lived since 1978, since without that no DC resident, disabled or
non-disabled, will ever be fully empowered. Opinions in this blog are my own.