Legislative Voice

VOR 2013 Initiative Resource Links

VOR 2013 Congressional Resources

*2013 VOR Initiative Congressional Presentation Folder Inserts (coming soon)

*General Resources

*Resources re: federally-funded deinstitutionalization litigation by the Department of Justice and Protection & Advocacy

*Olmstead Requires Residential Choice: Olmstead Resources

*The Developmental Disabilities Assistance and Bill of Rights Reauthorization: The Need for Reform

Beyond VOR Advocacy Day: How to Keep Your Legislators Engaged Year-Round

One of the most essential components of effective advocacy is the follow-up. Whether you participated in VOR’s 2011 Annual Conference and Initiative or not, check out this this webinar to learn how to continue your advocacy efforts from home and create long-term relationships with your Members of Congress and their staff. You’ll learn how to put together a winning site visit, where and how to connect with legislators at town hall meetings and quick and easy web 2.0 practices that will keep you on their radar screen. Your voice matters- not just in DC but throughout the year.

Resources:

* PowerPoint: Beyond VOR Advocacy Day: How to Keep Your Legislators Engaged Year-Round

* Use this template to develop a one-page leave behind about “intellectual and developmental disability” issues in your community. If you don’t know the answers to all the questions, don’t worry! Just fill in what you can.

* Template Site Visit Packet, including:

*Site Visit Packet
*Top Ten Ideas for Site Visits
*Checklist for Setting up a Site Visit
*Frequently Asked Questions about Site Visits
*Sample Site Visit Agendas
*Draft Invitation Letter for Member of Congress/State Legislator
*Draft Invitation Letter for Staff

ICFs as Inclusive Communities

For the family members, friends and guardians of ICF residents, the consistent provision of highly specialized supports – assured by annual federal oversight surveys – is the highest priority. Beyond care, however, these residents also have a life. They are integral members of their communities – both on campus and off.

Read VOR's "Intermediate Care Facilities: Inclusive Communities and Good Neighbors" (January 2011)

See also, VOR's comments to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services which, in part, address defining “Home and Community-Based Services" [see VOR comments here (p. 5, Defining Home and Community Based Services)].

Medicaid

The federal Medicaid program provides medical and other program benefits to eligible groups of low-income people who are also categorically eligible, such as people with intellectual disabilities (formerly, "mental retardation") and developmental disabilities. Although the Federal government establishes general guidelines for the program, the Medicaid program requirements are actually established by each State. Most Medicaid services for people with intellectual disabilities are considered optional, that is, provided at the option of a state.

Developmental Disabilities Assistance and Bill of Rights Act Reauthorization

Reform and Reauthorization of the Developmental Disabilities Act Urgently Needed

It has been 13 years since Congress reauthorized the Developmental Disabilities Assistance Act (DD Act). Authorizations for DD Act appropriations expired in 2007, although Congress has continued to fund these programs. DD Act programs, including Protection & Advocacy (P&A), DD Councils, and University Programs, operate in every state. The DD Act programs’ administering agency is the Administration on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AIDD).

Oversight of federal AIDD and DD Act programs is inadequate. Through lobbying, class action lawsuits and other tactics, some DD Act programs are using their public funds to achieve dangerous deinstitutionalization policies, evicting vulnerable people with intellectual disabilities from public and private Medicaid-certified homes, disregarding individual choice and the legal right to appropriate services, as required by the DD Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act (as interpreted by the Supreme Court’s Olmstead decision) and Medicaid law.

We urge Congress to reform the DD Act by taking the following actions:

Additional DD Act Reauthorization Resource

New! VOR Federal Comments Urging Independent Oversight and Unbiased Audit for P&As; More Inclusive Public Input Process Necessary to Ensure Deinstitutionalization Goal Supported by Individuals Directly Impacted by Goal (September 17, 2012)

VOR Federal Comments Urging Objective Performance Measures for State DD Councils (May 28, 2012)

VOR Federal Comments Urging Objective Performance Measures for State Protection & Advocacy Systems (June 28, 2012)

VOR Federal Comments Urging Objective Performance - Not More Self-Reporting - of DD Act Programs

VOR Comments and Objections to "Realizing the Intent of the DD Act: How the DD Network Advances The Independence, Productivity, and Integration of People with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities" and VOR's Call for a Halt to DD Act Deinstitutionalization Activities Consistent with Clear Congressional Intent

VOR Responds to the National Council on Disability's "Rising Expectations: The Developmental Disabilities Act Revisted" report, released in February 2011.

Supporting Common Sense and the Law: Individuals and Families as 'Primary Decisionmakers'" (June 2011)

"Residential Choice: It's the Law" (June 2011)

Olmstead v. L.C.

The Supreme Court Supports Residential Choice!

The Supreme Court, in its landmark Olmstead v. L.C. ruling, recognized the need for a range of services which respond to the varied and unique needs of the entire disability community: “We emphasize that nothing in the ADA or its implementing regulations condones termination of institutional settings for persons unable to handle or benefit from community settings...Nor is there any federal requirement that community-based treatment be imposed on patients who do not desire it.” 119 S. Ct. 2176, 2187 (1999).