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!

Tell Mayor Bowser Next Week: People with Developmental Disabilities Need Her Support!

Next week, Mayor Bowser will be holding budget engagement forums (https://www.eventbrite.com/e/mayor-muriel-bowser-presents-the-2020-budget-engagement-forums-tickets-89658337501) to help her administration shape the D.C. budget for the fiscal year starting in September.  Find the forum nearest to you, and attend. 

Your message:  Supports from the DDS Developmental Disabilities Administration must not be limited to people with an intellectual disability. People with other developmental disabilities need to be eligible for the I/DD waiver administered by DDS.

Yesterday’s hearing before the D.C. council’s Human Services Committee attracted an impressive turnout of witnesses, about half of whom came out to tell committee chair Brianne Nadeau that it’s time to extend eligibility for the I/DD waiver to people with autism and other developmental disabilities in the District.  But when it came time for DDS Director Andy Reese to testify, the councilmember asked if a bill would need to be passed by the council in order to make this change. Andy said yes, and that was that.  This is where the conversation always ends.  Not everyone agrees that DDS’ hands are tied without specific legislation, but even if that’s the case, nothing except a lack of political will prevents the administration from presenting a bill to the council to make this change:  after all, they did it two years ago with the Disability Services Reform Amendment Act calling for a rollback of civil commitment.

When I first started this blog back in 2014, the memory of the Developmental Disabilities Reform Act, which died in the D.C. council in December 2010, was still relatively fresh (https://www.ddinwdc.com/2014/12/).  And in late 2015, the issue was still alive as then-committee chair Yvette Alexander asked DDS for a report on what it would mean to expand services:  https://dds.dc.gov/release/dds-report-committee-health-and-human-services-re-fy16-budget.  But it just drifted away.  Now, it’s clear we’re all just going to keep circling around on this issue, since DDS insists a bill is needed but has no intention of presenting one.

We have to take it to the mayor, folks.  Get out there and let the mayor and her budget folks hear that expanding eligibility for the I/DD waiver is a priority!  It’s a matter of justice.

Project ACTION! and an Important Healthcare Survey

An observant reader asked that I send an additional reminder about Saturday's (tomorrow's) Project ACTION! meeting (Feb. 8, 10-12, at the Kennedy Institute, 801 Buchanan St. NE).  This is an important monthly meeting of self-advocates, and worth every minute!

This month, after the meeting lunch will be provided, and then the Georgetown University School of Medicine’s Community Based Learning will hold a focus group on healthcare experiences - communication problems or other barriers - of people with developmental disabilities in our community.   The information they collect will help generate recommendations to improve education for healthcare providers in the D.C. area, so a good turnout will have a great payoff!

Come to the Kennedy Institute tomorrow!  Don't miss it - and don't miss next Tuesday either (see my last post, below) -

DDS Performance, Fair Wages for DSPs, and Progress Toward D.C. Statehood!

First off, go back and re-read my January 23 blog post:  https://www.ddinwdc.com/2020/01/disability-advocacy-events-in-dc-that.html.  There is such a lot happening in February!  

I know everyone reading this will be in room 412 of the Wilson Building for the hearing on DDS performance at 10:00 Tuesday, February 11.  Here’s the link on the D.C. council website:  https://dccouncil.us/event/performance-oversight-hearing-committee-on-human-services-4/.  Contact the Human Services Committee at humanservices@dccouncil.us if you’d like to testify.  Here's some late-breaking news, DDS answers to the committee's questions:  https://dccouncil.us/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/dds.pdf.  I’ll be testifying on behalf of the Developmental Disabilities Council (https://ddc.dc.gov/page/ddc-members), and I look forward to seeing you there!

At the very same time on February 11, the House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, chaired by Representative Carolyn B. Maloney (NY), will meet to consider and mark up H.R. 51, the “Washington, D.C. Admission Act” (see D.C. Representative Norton’s announcement here:  https://norton.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/norton-bowser-mendelson-and-oversight-committee-chairwoman-maloney).  You’ll remember the hearing back in September that was presided over by the late Representative Elijah Cummings of Maryland (https://www.ddinwdc.com/2019/09/keep-celebrating-direct-support.html) - it was only due to his untimely passing that consideration of the bill has taken this long – it has more than enough sponsors to pass in the House! 

I’m also very happy to report that bill 23-0214, the Direct Support Professional Payment Rate Act of 2019, received its final (favorable) vote in the D.C. council at the legislative meeting, on February 4.  So from here on, the issue is whether the bill will be funded – and you’ll be hearing plenty more about this next Tuesday if you come!  If you don’t know what this bill is about, enter “DSP” in the Search box over to the right at the very top, and you’ll find all the information you could want.

Before closing, I want to remind folks of some links you’ll want to keep handy:

-          The DDS complaint process, whose development has been under way for some time, is now up and running, as of January 1.  The link is here:  https://dds.dc.gov/page/dda-formal-complaint-system.  The new system was announced in a memo from Kirk Dobson (kirk.dobson@dc.gov), who succeeded Erin Leveton as deputy director of the Quality Assurance and Performance Management Administration in November.  (Current DDS organizational chart:  https://dds.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/dds/publication/attachments/DDS%20Org.%20Charts%2011.25.19.pdf)

-          Also, periodically people approach me with questions for people they know who need some sort of support but don't know which agency can help.  They should be told about the DC Support Link, http://dcsupportlink.networkofcare.org/, also known as No Wrong Door.  For anyone you encounter who is trying to obtain services but is not sure which agency to approach, this is the place to go first.

See you 10 a.m. Tuesday, February 11 at the Wilson Building!

DISABILITY ADVOCACY EVENTS THAT YOU’LL WANT ON YOUR CALENDAR

I like to express opinions in my blog, but sometimes the right thing to do is to make you aware of opportunities to express yours!  What follows is information that should help you with your planning in 2020:

-          Bill 23-0214, the Direct Support Professional Payment Rate Act of 2019, received its first full (favorable) vote in the D.C. council on Tuesday, January 7, and the second vote will take place at the council’s next regular legislative meeting, on February 4.  Take a look at my page entitled “Contacting the D.C. council” (https://www.ddinwdc.com/p/members-of-d.html) and let your representatives know you want to see this bill passed.  Then also let deputy mayor Wayne Turnage (wayne.turnage@dc.gov) know you want the Bowser administration to fund it!  If you don’t know what this bill is about, enter “DSP” in the Search box and you’ll find plenty of information.

-          On Tuesday, February 11, the D.C. council will hold its performance hearing on the Department on Disability Services (https://dds.dc.gov/).  This is the foremost opportunity each year for folks to weigh in on how well the D.C. government is supporting adults with developmental disabilities, so I hope to see (and hear) you there.  Here is the information on where and when, and how to sign up to testify:  https://dccouncil.us/event/performance-oversight-hearing-committee-on-human-services-3/.  (Note:  the council calendar still shows Feb. 7 but the date has changed.)

-          Project ACTION!, D.C.’s very active self-advocacy group, meets monthly at the Kennedy Institute, 801 Buchanan St. NE.  The next meeting is Saturday, February 8, 10:00-12:00.  All are welcome, and there’s always great food, great fun, and a lot to learn.

-          Ever since last summer’s vigorous discussion around the expiration of the DDA Health Initiative contract with the Georgetown University Center (https://ucedd.georgetown.edu/index.php), there’s been a lot of ferment about improving DDS operations and communications.   As part of its follow-up DDS, in collaboration with Quality Trust and others, is launching several workgroups under its Quality Improvement Committee (https://dds.dc.gov/page/quality-improvement-committee-qic), to look at different aspects of its performance.  I’m still trying to get a fuller understanding of this exercise and hope to share more information soon.

-          The D.C. Developmental Disabilities Council (DDC) will now be holding four public meetings per year (previously there have only been three public meetings annually).  The first of these public meetings in 2020 is scheduled for March 19 at 3:00 – watch the DDC website for more information: https://ddc.dc.gov/.  We cover a lot of ground in these meetings, and it’s a good place to come to be exposed to the many initiatives affecting people with developmental disabilities in our community.

-          The Family Support Council (https://dds.dc.gov/publication/family-support-council-procedures) also holds public meetings, every other month, and the next of these is on March 12, 12:30-2:30. The FSC looks in-depth at issues affecting people with disabilities across a number of different D.C. government agencies, and recently its focus has been on the Department of Health Care Finance.  For more information about the FSC and its upcoming business, you can contact Emily Ornstein (formerly Emily Price) at emily.ornstein@dc.gov.

-          Later in the spring, there will also be celebratory and informational events, in March for DD Awareness Month and in April for Autism Awareness and Acceptance Month.  I’ll share specific dates as soon as I have them.  And while you’re thinking about celebrating, buy your early-bird tickets to Quality Trust’s annual Better Together reception:  https://qualitytrustforindividualswithdisabilities.networkforgood.com/events/18345-2020-better-together-reception.

That should be enough to help you plan the next couple of months!

NEW YEAR UPDATES ALREADY!

I hope that each and every one of you has had a happy turn of the year, and I wanted to let you know right away about some updates to information I provided in my last post of 2019, only days ago:

-          First, AAPD’s presidential forum on disability, previously scheduled for January 13, has been postponed:  https://www.aapd.com/advocacy/voting/2020-presidential-forum-on-disability-issues/.  Further news to come.

-          Second, bill B23-0214, the Direct Support Professional Payment Rate Act of 2019, is going to be considered by the full D.C. council even sooner than anticipated.  Its first reading and initial vote will take place this coming Tuesday, January 7, with a second vote to come later in the month.  Even if it passes the council and is signed by the mayor, though, there is a chance it will go unfunded by the administration.  Deputy mayor Wayne Turnage (wayne.turnage@dc.gov) will be the one to contact once the bill is passed, to make sure the funding is there.

And the New Year is underway!  Welcome to 2020!

ON THE CUSP OF THE NEW YEAR

My blogging over the past year has been dominated by three important issues:  1) DDS’ development of policies on housing and contributions by people to the cost of their supported-living care; 2) expiration of Georgetown’s contract under the DDA Health Initiative; and 3) consideration by the D.C. council of bill B 23-0214 on DSP salaries.  As the year comes to an end, none of these have reached full resolution.

With respect to the housing-related policies (see https://www.ddinwdc.com/2019/01/time-to-do-right-thing-on-housing-choice.html), Liz Seaton (liz.seaton@dc.gov) is in the process of updating them, after a delay while the new DDS complaint system was completed (https://dds.dc.gov/publication/dda-formal-complaint-system).  The DDS complaint system was mandated under the Disability Services Reform Amendment Act of 2018 (https://code.dccouncil.us/dc/council/laws/22-93.html), and many advocates felt it was important for the complaint system to take effect before far-reaching changes affecting supported living were implemented.  The complaint system goes online on January 1, and this means that revised housing-related policies will likely roll out soon in the Monday afternoon DDS meetings on the I/DD waiver.  (See https://www.ddinwdc.com/p/blog-page.html for terms that may be unfamiliar to you in my blog posts.)  As for the policy limiting intake for residential supports to those in emergency situations (https://www.ddinwdc.com/2019/06/dds-lets-talk-about-where-youre-headed.html), no doubt this also will be re-emerging in the new year.

In spite of a great deal of advocacy, media and D.C. council attention (https://www.ddinwdc.com/2019/07/dc-government-please-dont-stonewall-on.html), Georgetown’s contract under the DDA Health Initiative contract was allowed to expire at the end of August.  The D.C. council’s human services committee chair, Brianne Nadeau, requested weekly reports from DDS with respect to people who had been benefiting from Georgetown’s services, and no doubt we will hear more about this at the time of the DDS performance review on February 7, which kicks off consideration of the FY 2021 budget.  However, even though the contract itself was terminated, the dialogue around it has given new impetus to plans for a broad-ranging visioning process on the needs of the entire community of people with developmental disabilities in D.C., across the lifespan.  The DD council, which I currently chair, will be in the thick of this effort, so I’ll be writing more about this and you’ll also be able to find information about it on the DD Council website (https://ddc.dc.gov/).

As for B23-0214 (https://www.ddinwdc.com/2019/06/a-fair-deal-for-direct-support.html), the legislation has passed in both the human services and health committees, and is expected to move on to the council’s committee of the whole in January.  Since the bill will have budgetary implications if it passes, though, the D.C. council is hoping for the Bowser administration’s cooperation as budget season approaches.

I’ll be watching these and other important initiatives in the new year, which promises to be important nationally as well!  Like many of you, I’ll have my eye on the upcoming AAPD-sponsored presidential forum on January 13 (https://www.aapd.com/advocacy/voting/2020-presidential-forum-on-disability-issues/ and https://www.ddinwdc.com/2019/11/make-difference-in-presidential-election.html).  I hope that a local watch party will be arranged, and I’ll post it here if so.  Happy New Year!

MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION!

Most of the time I focus on local issues, but sometimes it’s important to think about how we can affect the national dialogue on disability!  So focus your attention on this:  On January 13, 2020,  AAPD - the American Association of Persons with Disabilities – will host a nonpartisan Presidential Forum on Disability Issues in Austin, Texas.  If any of you think you can attend, or know someone who might be able to, tickets are $10 apiece and can be ordered here:  https://www.eventbrite.com/e/elected-for-inclusion-a-presidential-forum-on-disability-issues-tickets-77923046931.  As part of its REV UP Campaign (https://www.aapd.com/advocacy/voting/), and with the cooperation of the National Council on Independent Living (https://www.ncil.org/), AAPD has submitted important questions to declared presidential candidates in advance of the Forum, and the responses from candidates so far can be found here:  https://www.aapd.com/advocacy/voting/presidential-elections-2020/.

And in the meantime, for those of you with deep pockets, USICD – the U.S. International Council on Disabilities – will host its annual gala right here in our fair city on December 3 (http://usicd.org/news/events/).  Among other honorees will be (posthumously) NCIL founder and prominent disability advocate Marca Bristo (http://www.advocacymonitor.com/ncil-mourns-the-loss-of-marca-bristo/).  The Presidential Forum will be on everyone’s lips, so pay up and attend if you’re able.  It’s always a wonderful and uplifting event.

WE CAN – AND DO – MAKE A DIFFERENCE!  SHOW UP, WHEN AND WHERE YOU CAN – AND, DEFINITELY,    VOTE!

UPDATE ON DISABILITY ADVOCACY IN D.C.

I wrote recently (https://www.ddinwdc.com/2019/10/put-november-21-onto-your-calendar.html) about various advocacy meetings taking place this month with respect to the Department on Disability Services (DDS), as well as a broader visioning effort that the Developmental Disabilities Council (DDC) will be organizing later in the year.

Project ACTION! was rightly in the forefront of the meeting on October 10 concerning follow-up on cancellation of the Georgetown contract and ensuring advocacy groups are not blindsided about future such decisions.  While I had characterized this as a meeting to plan a protest, in fact the meeting (at which I was not present) covered many other options, and there will be other upcoming discussions to narrow and prioritize the choices. 

In response to criticisms leveled at DDS over recent months about inadequate consultation and communication, last Friday DDS director Andy Reese convened a meeting of the heads of several organizations including Project Action!, the Georgetown University Center, ULS/Disability Rights DC, Quality Trust, the State Rehabilitation Council and the DDC.  This was a wide-ranging discussion, touching on such issues as why the many meetings DDS now holds are not leading to productive two-way communication, what specific challenges DDS is facing with respect to the structure and cost of the current home and community-based (HCBS) waiver, and how to begin structuring better consultation mechanisms.  DDS is doing some internal work on these issues after which Andy says he’ll be following up on this session.

The two meetings described above represent efforts toward reaching across the current divide that became so apparent over the summer.  However, in my last blog post I also mentioned DD Council plans to convene the first of a more far-reaching series of visioning meetings – focused on getting a better picture of the entire D.C. disability community in all its diversity and reimagining what true community integration should look like.  At the DD Council public meeting on NOVEMBER 21 – KEEP THAT DATE ON YOUR CALENDAR – you’ll hear something about our plans for this series of meetings, but for now we’ve decided we need slightly more time for planning -  so the first visioning meeting will not take place that day.  While planning continues, and with a view toward starting to reach beyond the usual participants, you could be helpful by sending Alison Whyte, the DDC executive director, contact information for any local cultural and linguistic groups that may not normally get represented in our disability meetings, so that we can build the best contact list possible:  that email is alison.whyte@dc.gov.  (The DD Council is a federally-funded and federally-mandated board that is housed in the D.C. Office of Disability Rights but is not part of the D.C. government:  see more information by going to “Acronyms and Organizations You Should Know” under Pages, to the right of this post, or here: https://www.ddinwdc.com/p/blog-page.html.)

And now a word about the DSP salary legislation, B23-214, that received a hearing in the D.C. council’s human services committee in June:  https://www.ddinwdc.com/2019/06/a-fair-deal-for-direct-support.html.  If you’ve been alert you will have noticed articles on this topic in the Northwest Courier (https://nwc.news/) and Street Sense (https://www.streetsensemedia.org/) lately.  My understanding is that this bill will be progressing through the D.C. council in the coming weeks, so weigh in with your council members – see https://www.ddinwdc.com/p/members-of-d.html or click on the “Contacting the D.C. Council” page over to the right to get contact information.  And incidentally, if you get a chance to see the film “Invaluable” about the role of direct support professionals (DSPs), as I did with other friends at the Arc national convention last Saturday (https://www.ddinwdc.com/2019/10/film-saluting-direct-support.html), make sure you grab the opportunity next time!

PUT NOVEMBER 21 ONTO YOUR CALENDAR

As the Georgetown contract issue was building, in early July I wrote a post called, “Andy, You Need a Plan” (https://www.ddinwdc.com/2019/07/andy-you-need-plan.html), followed by another, “Dialogue and Advocacy” (https://www.ddinwdc.com/2019/07/dialogue-and-advocacy.html), about the roles of the D.C. government and the advocacy community in building a better future.  I hope you’ll go back and re-read those as background to what I write here.

Although the Georgetown contract expired five weeks ago, the interactions between DDS and the advocacy community continue to reverberate, with, on the one hand, some groups meeting yesterday to plan a protest, and on the other, Andy Reese having reached out to the heads of key advocacy groups (myself included, as DD Council chair) for a confab late next week.

However, the past few months have demonstrated a need for a much broader dialogue, originating not with DDS but within the advocacy community, about the direction in which we need to move to ensure a more inclusive future in our city.  THE DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES COUNCIL PLANS TO KICK OF THIS IMPORTANT DIALOGUE ON NOVEMBER 21, in conjunction with the Council’s regular meeting scheduled for that day.  PLEASE PUT THIS DATE ONTO YOUR CALENDAR AND SPREAD THE WORD FAR AND WIDE – there will be more information to come here in my blog and on the DD Council’s website:  https://ddc.dc.gov/ with respect to time, venue, agenda and so forth. 

This will not be a one-shot deal.  We foresee a visioning exercise that will hopefully attract more attention and ensure outreach to all ages and to cultural communities that have not yet been reached effectively in efforts up to now.  The hallmark of this effort is to make it community-driven: by people and their families who live in D.C. and have a true stake in the outcomes.  Please do what you can to spread the word, and plan to participate yourself as you’re able.