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

VOR 2011 Initiative Resource Links

VOR Resource Documents for
   H.R. 2032, the DD Act Reauthorization, & Medicaid

Contents:

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 11 years since the Congress last reauthorized the Developmental Disabilities Assistance and Bill of Rights Act (DD Act).  Some of the DD Act programs have been violating the intent of the Act in ways that have been harmful to the vulnerable people the Act was intended to help.  We urge you to reform and reauthorize the DD Act this year.

The Congress, in the DD Act and its legislative history, endorsed individual choice and opposed closure of residential institutions:

       “Individuals with developmental disabilities and their families are the primary decisionmakers regarding the services and supports such individuals and their families receive, including regarding choosing where the individuals live from available options, and play decisionmaking roles in policies and programs that affect the lives of such individuals and their families.” DD Act, 42 U.S.C. 15001(c)(3)(2000).

       [T]he goals expressed in this Act to promote the greatest possible integration and independence for some individuals with developmental disabilities may not be read as a Federal policy supporting the closure of residential institutions. [(H. Rep. 103-442 (March 21, 1994)].

Yet, many DD Act programs – through lobbying, class action lawsuits and other destructive tactics – use their federal funds to eliminate one federally-created and funded residential option: Medicaid-certified Intermediate Care Facilities for Persons with Mental Retardation (ICFs/MR). DD Act deinstitutionalization practices force the transfer of thousands of vulnerable individuals from specialized ICFs/MR that are uniquely suited to meet their extreme and intensive needs, often resulting in predictable tragedies.  VOR urges Congress to take the following actions:

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).