Texas settles with advocacy group on Unlock the Waiting List

Summary: Pursuant to a settlement between the State and the Arc, State officials will ask lawmakers for money to reduce waiting lists for programs that provide at-home services. VOR will be studying the specifics of this settlement to determine what impact it may have on developmental center residents.

By Corrie MacLaggan
American-Statesman
Wednesday, October 25, 2006

As part of a lawsuit settlement, state officials will ask for more money to stop the growth of waiting lists for state services for people with mental retardation and other disabilities and reduce the number of people on the lists 5 percent to 10 percent a year.

Advocates say the settlement could lead to as many as 60,000 more people getting care at home or in group homes, rather than in institutions: those now on waiting lists plus those who are added to the lists in the next few years.

"This is a real issue of civil rights for individuals with disabilities," said Geoffrey Courtney, general counsel for the Arc of Texas, which is an advocate for people with mental retardation and developmental disabilities. "It enables them to live where they want to live."

But state Rep. Elliott Naishtat, D-Austin, a member of the House Human Services Committee and a supporter of reducing the waiting lists, said the settlement might not mean the issue is resolved. "I'm hopeful that the leadership in the Legislature will do the right thing, but I'm not convinced that it will happen," he said.

If it doesn't, Naishtat said, he expects advocates to file another lawsuit.

Ted Hughes, a spokesman for the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, said his agency has "long been concerned about the (waiting) lists as is evidenced by our ongoing efforts to reduce, and eventually eliminate, them."

The settlement involves a 2002 lawsuit by the Arc of Texas that said the state violated federal law granting options to people with mental retardation and other disabilities to remain at home or in group homes.


The lawsuit involved two programs that provide home-based nursing care, physical therapy, respite care and other services for people with disabilities. There were about 15,000 people on the waiting lists for
Those programs when the lawsuit was filed in 2002. There are now about 45,000.


"This is an issue that could potentially bring tremendous benefit to thousands of families across the state," said Mike Bright, executive director of the Arc of Texas. "Families can have hope that the state of Texas is going to be responding to a critical need as a result of this settlement."

But the people won't get the services if the Legislature, which convenes in January, doesn't approve $254.7 million in state dollars, which will be requested by the Health and Human Services Commission.

Among the plaintiffs in the lawsuit was Jamie Travis, whose daughter, Christy, 27, has severe physical and mental disabilities and requires around-the-clock supervision. Travis, who lives in West Columbia, near Houston, spent nine years on a waiting list for the state program that provides the services.

Now, she has a chance to take a break from full-time caregiving and volunteer at her other children's school. "It's been pretty awesome," said Travis, whose daughter is one of 12,000 Texans moving off of state waiting lists as part of a plan approved by legislators in 2005 that is not directly related to the lawsuit.

But 85,000 elderly Texans and those with disabilities are still on Waiting lists for programs that allow them to live at home or in group homes. The lawsuit aimed to reduce the waiting lists for two of the programs, both of which involved people with disabilities.