Things Don't Always Turn Out as Planned!

Just yesterday, I reported that I would be serving today on the first round of selection for the new DDS director.  Yet here I am, writing another blog post instead.  The panel is indeed interviewing, but I decided not to be a part of the process. 

As part of the pre-interview briefing, Mr. Walker, whom I’ve mentioned in earlier blog posts (May 12 and May 26 of this year), passed out the non-disclosure agreement each of us was expected to sign.  It was small print, 4 or 5 pages (but who’s counting?), and in my personal opinion it was overly broad – way more restrictive than any personnel-related agreement I ever had to sign in my 30-plus years in government.  But whether I’m right in my opinion about it or not, we all frankly could and should have seen the agreement in advance - it certainly would have saved me a trip to the Wilson Building!  I knew, as I wrote in this blog yesterday, that I would need to protect the confidentiality of the specific candidates and their answers in the interview, but if I had signed I would have been unable to mention what topics were discussed today for two whole years!  To me, that would be inconsistent with my primary role of information sharing and issue advocacy, and I simply don’t want to have to ask myself when I sit down to write, “Now when exactly did I hear that information?”  I can be much more useful to the community by keeping the issues on the table, as openly as I can.  And let’s face it, the issues facing the District’s disability community just aren’t that much of a secret!

And I’ll tell you straight – the room was full of very able folks who will make sure the right questions get asked, and I hope most of them long ago read my post, “Here’s What I Would Ask” (May 26, 2016).  I did want to add a new question today about the balance between the CMS rulemaking on community-based supports and person-centered planning, an issue I raised in “Who’s Watching Out?” (February 13, 2016), but I’m not sure that would have made the cut since there wouldn’t be time for everyone’s questions.  In the end, my own two-cents’ worth would have been unlikely to tip the balance in the interview process today, and in any case there are going to be other rounds of interviews going forward, including one with the ultimate decision maker, the mayor herself. 

So hey, I have no idea who walked through the door after I left.  What I do know is that, whoever winds up as Laura Nuss’s successor, I’ll still be here to pester them.  And in the meantime – panel members, all readers, maybe Madame Mayor herself – keep reading.

August Update

The past few weeks have turned out to be pretty busy ones for me.  I hope some of you are enjoying a bit of vacation, and if all goes well I’m hoping to get some of that a little later this month!  In the meantime, here are some updates:

Project Action! folks got some quality time with a number of council staff on July 26, but unfortunately Yvette Alexander’s office didn’t agree to meet with them.  So – especially for folks from Ward 7 -  put the pressure on Councilmember Alexander (and others!) for a hearing on B21-0385 as soon as the council’s back in session in mid-September.

Quality Trust’s July 31 cruise on the Potomac was one of the best I’ve been on.  It was well attended, and great fun in spite of the steamy weather – most everyone stayed inside where there was air conditioning.  QT plays an essential role in advocacy and monitoring for folks receiving support in the District – so even if you didn’t make it on the cruise, give them your support year-round.  (And yes, I’m on the board.)  Next year the event will be on dry land.

I was surprised to get an email about a week ago from the mayor’s Office of Talent and Appointments – the folks running the effort to replace Laura Nuss as head of DDS (check the separate page on acronyms if you don’t know what DDS is).  Tomorrow will be the first round of interviews for candidates who’ve applied for the position, and I’ll be there along with some other people who are involved in local disability issues.  There will be two more rounds of interviews after that  (see my posts, “Here’s the Scoop” from May 12 and “Here’s What I Would Ask” from May 26) so there won’t be any definitive results from tomorrow’s meetings, but I’m encouraged things are starting to move.  I won’t be able to provide specifics about the candidates given the nature of the process, but I’m  hoping to be impressed by the folks who’ve applied for the position.

Maybe I’ll have something more to write before the end of this month, but if not, watch this space in September.  And – small personal mention – this month marks two years that I’ve been writing my blog.  I sincerely hope you get something out of reading it.  Speaking for myself, it’s brought a large number of people into my life that I didn’t know two years ago, and I am so much the richer for having met you. 

Yes, You Really Can Do Something

PLEASE CONTACT COUNCILMEMBERS YVETTE ALEXANDER AND KENYAN MCDUFFIE, AND YOUR OWN COUNCILMEMBER, TODAY TO EXPRESS SUPPORT FOR BILL #B21-0385 AND ASK FOR A HEARING TO BE SCHEDULED AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.  You can find all councilmembers’ addresses at:  http://dccouncil.us/council.  The Health and Human Services committee, chaired by Alexander, and the Judiciary committee, chaired by McDuffie, have joint responsibility for this bill.  

Please re-read my blog posts from this past winter, in particular “Overdue Change for the District” and “A New Year, A Chance for New Beginnings” if you need to be reminded what B21-0385 is about.  You’ll remember that the hearing scheduled for January 27 had to be cancelled due to the Snowzilla blizzard, but it has never been rescheduled.  A prompt hearing is needed so that the council has time to vote on the bill before it adjourns this year.

Folks in the legal profession can be very persuasive, and quite a few of them have a stake in keeping in place D.C.’s system of mandatory court commitment for people with intellectual disabilities.  It’s hard to fault them for advocating on behalf of their own self-interest and incomes.  They’ve been loud in their opposition to this bill, so loud that the committee chairs have gotten scared off and are trying to either avoid a hearing completely or to hold it so late that there won’t be time for a vote this year. 

So the two of them need to be told that a hearing has to take place as early as possible after the council returns from recess on September 15.  They also need to hear voices in favor of progress, voices in favor of civil rights, voices in favor of choice.  (Remember, this bill allows those currently under civil commitment for DDA services to choose to continue under the court system.)  Self-advocates from Project Action! (http://www.dcqualitytrust.org/advocates/join-project-action) are working overtime to write letters to the council, but the balance of power is in favor of D.C. lawyers right now and our friends with disabilities need your support!  Please flood the council with your emails and letters so they know not everyone is a lawyer with a stake in denying people their choice to receive services without court control. 

Even if you wrote the council back in the winter, WRITE AGAIN.  The time is now to get the hearing scheduled.  It won’t take you long.  One email to all three – the two committee chairs and your councilmember – will do the job.  BUT PLEASE DO IT.  

Running the Race

Summer’s here, and everything’s gone quiet:

-          Finding a replacement for Laura Nuss seems to be going nowhere fast.  Last I had heard (see “Here’s the Scoop,” May 12) the process of reviewing candidates was expected to get started around Memorial Day, but local disability organizations are hearing nothing from the mayor’s office about starting that process.  Andy Reese, the interim director, is settling in.

-          Yvette Alexander was defeated by former mayor Vincent Gray as the Democratic nominee for her seat on the D.C. council, so the long-delayed rescheduling of the joint hearing on the Citizens with Intellectual Disabilities Civil Rights Restoration Act (http://dccouncil.us/events/joint-health-human-services-judiciary-public-hearing-on-b21-385) is seeming even less likely to happen during this council session.

Summer doldrums are real, and it’s easy to feel discouraged.  But when advocating for change it pays to remember that old adage from Aesop’s fable about the tortoise and the hare, “Slow and steady wins the race.”

I was thinking about this when I attended the third public session of the D.C. statehood commission on June 13 (http://statehood.dc.gov).  Now THAT is an effort that’s been under way for decades, and the forces are still arrayed against allowing D.C. residents our full rights to representation in the U.S. House and Senate.  What’s almost worse is that those who live here are so used to the situation that few of us try to do anything about it.  This new effort, which may show up on the November ballot if it makes it through the council, deserves serious support and effort from all of us.

Think about how hard people with disabilities have pushed, and continue to push, for their civil rights.  As a matter of fact, while I was attending the statehood convention that morning, self-advocates from Project Action! were meeting to talk about how they can bring more pressure to bear to get B21-385 back onto the council agenda.  They aren’t giving up because they know how far things have come already and that, sooner or later, this odd relic of D.C.’s history, civil commitment, will finally be rolled aside.

But it all takes effort.  So I’d like to add extra pressure with some direct personal appeals:

-          Ms. Alexander, I’ve appreciated your hearing me out when I’ve testified before your committee, and you seem sincere about making progress on the rights of D.C. citizens with disabilities.  You could leave an important legacy by moving ahead on B21-385 – so give Council member McDuffie a call and say, “Let’s schedule that hearing!”

-          Mr. Walker, everyone’s wondering what’s up with the search for a new director of the Department on Disability Services.  There’s a meeting of the Supporting Families Community of Practice on July 11.  How about coming to talk to families about where the process stands?

-          Everyone - add your voice by posting a comment on these issues.  And while you’re reading, pay attention to the progress of the constitution for New Columbia through the D.C. council.  It may show up on the ballot in November, and it deserves your support.  Imagine how much more we could do about the future of our family members with disabilities if we actually had national voting representation.

Now I think of it, we need to have the impatience of the hare and the determination of the tortoise in the race.  And above all, don’t just stand there!

How We Change the World

My son voted for the first time last week, in early voting before Tuesday’s formal D.C. primary.  I convinced him to register a couple of years ago, but getting him actually to vote has been much harder.  I’ve had trouble understanding exactly why.  It could be because the cocoon of support around him still makes him feel childlike and fearful of “stepping out” into the adult world.  It could just be because it’s too much trouble to try to understand candidates and issues when listening to music is a lot more fun!  Whatever the reason, he came around.  But before going to vote, I insisted that we spend a little time talking about the positions and people on the primary ballot.  At first he said he didn’t want to come with me; then he called back and said he would, and he would let me “tell him who to vote for.”  I refused to do that, and tried to be as objective as I could in describing who was who: in the end he didn’t even ask whom I favored, and that made me happiest of all.

When we walked into the voting site, it was as empty as I had hoped.  I had written ahead to say he might be anxious and need my help with voting, and I had the Board of Elections response in my bag in case the issue came up.  But I know from monitoring polling places myself that there also are election workers available to help out.  We were the only two entering the room, so I told the volunteers that it was his first time voting, and they all clapped for him.  He instantly felt at ease, and walking in with confidence, he told me he didn’t need my help.  And he didn’t.  The only assistance he received was the same that I got – being shown how the new machines work, then how to print and proofread the ballot before feeding it into the tabulator.

Sure, I know how little our D.C. vote counts in the big picture (see yesterday’s Washington Post, https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politics/dead-last--again--among-us-primaries-dc-democrats-chafe-at-a-trivial-vote/2016/06/11/3c085fc0-2e62-11e6-9b37-42985f6a265c_story.html).  With our single (non-voting) member and a shadow D.C. representative on the ballot, I had gently tried to explain to him D.C.’s “special status” without launching into a tirade about taxation without representation.   Still, the local elections count for more, and I wanted him to be enthusiastic, not discouraged.

And yes, I still felt a mother’s pride when he slapped the “I Voted Early” sticker on his T-shirt and strutted out of the community center.  After all, every vote is about the future, not about the past, and one by one, little by little, votes and advocacy do bring change.  It’s harder to believe in positive change with the ugliness of this political season and the news of our latest mass shooting out of Orlando, but I truly believe the wavy line of history does tend toward the good. 

That comes primarily by people speaking up for themselves, including people with disabilities.  We parents sometimes have a hard time stepping out of the way and shedding our protective instincts, and I know I don’t always get that right myself.  But the more people with disabilities vote, speak up, are visible in our community, across the country and across the globe, the more they have the ability to change the world.  And maybe my son and the rest of his generation will also bring about, and live to see, the full civil rights of all the people in our nation’s capital.  I’m counting on him.

Here's What I Would Ask

I mentioned in my last blog post that Steve Walker, director of the mayor’s Office of Talent and Appointments, thought they would start reviewing candidates to succeed Laura Nuss this week.  So far, folks who would have expected to be involved in the first round haven’t been contacted.  Let’s hope there are some top-notch candidates who’ve expressed interest so things can get moving soon.  The annual meeting of the National Association of State Directors of Developmental Disabilities Services (NASDDS) will take place in a couple of weeks, and I hope there will be some lively lobbying there to get more people interested in applying.

I won’t be at the table for the selection of the new director, but if I were here are some questions I would want to ask:

•           What do you view as your greatest personal accomplishment in the past five years to improve the lives of adults with developmental disabilities?
•           Besides closeout of the Evans case, what will be your #1 priority if you are chosen for this position?
•           What is your personal record of advancing organizational change and motivating staff for sometimes unpopular reforms?
•           What actions have you taken in previous jobs to foster public transparency and increase give and take with stakeholders, including families?
•           How do you plan to approach the legislation on commitment that is currently under consideration in the D.C. council?
•           As director, would you advocate for broadening DC waiver services to citizens with autism or other developmental disabilities who do not have an intellectual disability?

For background on any of these questions, a good start for candidates or other readers would be to click on the Advocacy label in this blog and read some of my past postings.  If you have additional concerns, post a comment!  There’s a lot of work ahead to make things better in our city for citizens with developmental disabilities, and we want to be sure the new director builds on past progress and takes our hopes for the future to heart.

Here's the Scoop

It’s taken some doing, but at last I have a fairly clear picture of how Laura Nuss’s successor at DDS is going to be chosen.  The selection process is being handled by the mayor’s Office of Talent and Appointments (MOTA), headed by Steven Walker (steven.walker@dc.gov), in very close collaboration with the deputy mayor for Health and Human Services, Brenda Donald (Brenda.donald@dc.gov).   Based on conversations with Steve Walker, this is how I understand the process will unfold.

The position already is being advertised, with outreach through a number of different channels normally used for executive-level positions as well as more targeted advertisements to reach those already in positions similar to the DDS director job who might be interested in applying.  MOTA has not yet collected a large enough pool of candidates to move to the first round of consideration, and Walker is eager to receive specific names of individuals he might want to reach out to.  So if you know of someone – for example someone good in a DDS director or deputy DDS director job in another state – it’s important to let Steve Walker and Brenda Donald know.                  

By May 23 or so he hopes to have a pool of at least 4 or 5 viable candidates so that the first round of consideration can start.  This first round is most important for the disability community, because this initial panel will include stakeholders in addition to D.C. government representatives.  “Stakeholders” will definitely include representatives of DDS-affiliated commissions such as the State Rehabilitation Commission (SRC), the State Independent Living Commission (SILC), and the Developmental Disabilities Commission (DDC).  (See my page, “Acronyms and Organizations You Should Know,” for more background on these commissions.)  Beyond these, there are plans to include organizations such as the Quality Trust (http://www.dcqualitytrust.org), University Legal Services (http://www.uls-dc.org), and Georgetown’s University Center (http://ucedd.georgetown.edu), and hopefully also the Family Support Council and Project Action!  I have encouraged Steve to include representation by the local D.C. Autism Society chapter (http://www.autism-society.org/chapter130) as well, since the DDS-administered Medicaid waiver will hopefully extend eligibility beyond those with intellectual disabilities on the new director’s watch.  (See my earlier post, “On the Spectrum in D.C.,” October 23, 2014, at http://ddinwdc.blogspot.com/2014/10/on-spectrum-in-dc-theres-not-yet-much.html.)

After the field of candidates has been narrowed to the strongest 3 or 4, in a second round of consideration MOTA, the deputy mayor’s office, and the National Association of State Directors of National Disabilities Services (NASDDDS, https://www.nasddds.org) will examine these candidates and narrow them down to a final 2 or 3, with the final round including Mayor Bowser, Deputy Mayor Donald, the city administrator, and the mayor’s chief of staff to make the final selection of an individual who will go before the council for final confirmation.

As I look at this process, I would anticipate that Andy will be acting throughout the summer.  I’ll do my best to keep you as informed as I can as I learn more about the timing.

Today's the Day

Today is the last day that Laura Nuss is on the job at DDS.  Many of you are grieving, a few may be cheering, but all of us should feel a sober determination to move forward together to ensure DDS systems remain strong and the momentum for change continues. 

I heard Laura received a standing ovation at the Wednesday hearing on the Evans lawsuit – hailed by the judge and even by the plaintiffs’ attorneys for the progress D.C. has made.  It would be great to be able to say that the lawsuit is now closed, but from what I understand there are still some legal issues to work through and it’s going to be at least several more months before the page has turned.

Andy Reese will be acting director of DDS for a time, and I understand the mayor has launched a nationwide search for Laura’s successor.  I don’t know much about that process but have offered my opinion that there should be some significant local participation in the selection.  I certainly hope this will happen.

Best of luck to you, Laura, in your next chapter.  And now – shoulders to the wheel!

Oh No You Don't!

Don’t just read this and not take action.

I know I have a lot of readers out there, and many of you tell me I speak for you.  But you need to speak for yourselves, and for those you care about – and not just when you want to complain about services.  The DDS budget is in trouble.  You need to help.

No one gets services without resources.  And remember, if you or someone you love is getting services now from DDS – DDA or RSA – you are the lucky ones.  Many, many people in our city don’t qualify for DDA supports at all under the current eligibility criteria.

So:

Here is the Power Point for the DDS budget:  https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B489LE-2ltOgbUdJV2xKbG9nU00/view?usp=sharing

Here is my testimony to the council committee:  https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B489LE-2ltOgTEpnTXpTQ3dxbEk/view?usp=sharing

I was the only family member testifying in person on Monday, and I know there are others who could have been there.  You still have time to send written testimony, anytime today until 5 p.m., to Malcolm Cameron at mcameron@dccouncil.us. It doesn’t have to be as detailed as mine – 2 or 3 lines – The DDS budget isn’t enough!  The mayor needs to pay attention to people with disabilities in our city!  DDS matters to my family, to our city!

And if you don’t get to it today, you’re not off the hook.  Find your council member here:  http://dccouncil.us/council. Then take five minutes sometime over the next two weeks to send him or her the same message. 

Numbers matter.  Let the council hear from you. Now.

We Need to do this, Folks!

All of you know that Laura Nuss is about to leave and the future leadership of DDS is unclear.  What you may not realize is that the DDS budget for the 2017 fiscal year is as lean as can be this year.  The mayor’s focus on education, homelessness, housing and safety has the resources pointed elsewhere, in an overall city budget that’s already tight.  

I had hoped to have available for you the Power Point used to present the DDS budget at a session on April 13, but with the closure of DC offices for Emancipation Day it doesn’t look like it’s yet been posted to the DDS website. But you don’t need a lot of details in order to make the case for this budget.  Please, override your (legitimate) concerns about specific aspects of services, and send even brief testimony to the Health and Human Services committee, which will be considering the budget in a hearing on Monday.  You’ll have until Wednesday to submit testimony.  Send it to Malcolm Cameron at mcameron@DCCOUNCIL.US.  Also let your council member know that this is important to you!  Find your member at http://dccouncil.us/council and send an email!  They need to hear our voices!

You know that I have long advocated to expand DDA services to people with developmental disabilities who do not also have an intellectual disability.  Well, the DDA budget is so tight that we’re close to needing a wait list just to serve those with ID who qualify under current criteria for the Medicaid waiver.  And without its budget request, RSA will be cannibalizing services for adults it serves in order to meet federal requirements for transition services to students.

Your voice must be heard.  Folks in the council are used to hearing from me – they need to know there are others out there.  Do it.  I mean it.  Do it before Wednesday.