Thursday, January 31, 2008

Disability Day at the Capitol! February 21.

Every year, as you very likely already know, the Governor’s Council on Developmental Disabilities sponsors Disability Day at the Capitol. This year Disability Day will be held on February 21. A segment of the program, “Recognition of Fallen Soldiers,” will commemorate members of the disability community who have gone to their rest since last year’s Disability Day.

We kindly ask you to email John Edward Dallas by February 15 the names of any persons with disabilities in your community or circle who have passed away since February 22, 2007. We would like to recite their names and thereby remember them on Disability Day at the Capitol 2008. Please feel free to forward this link to other organizations that serve persons with disabilities.

On behalf of the GCDD, I thank you kindly for your help, and hope to see you at the 10th Annual Disability Day. (If you have any questions or comments, please don't hesitate to contact me.)

Sincerely yours,
John Edward Dallas
Program Associate
Coordinator, Disability Day at the Capitol
Governor's Council on Developmental Disabilities
Suite 246 - Twenty-Sixth Floor
Two Peachtree Street, N.W.
Atlanta, Georgia 30303
Direct Line: 404-656-6593
Fax: 404-656-2132
Toll Free: 888-275-4233
TDD: 404-657-2133
Email: jodallas@dhr.state.ga.us
www.gcdd.org

Please Mark Your Calendar!
Thursday, February 21, 2008
-JOIN THE TRADITION-

Make A Difference in Georgia!

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Partners and HB 540

Yesterday, Debbie Malone, Joyce Catrett, and I testified in front of the House Judiciary Committee in favor of HB 540 to give post majority child support for adult children with disabilities. It appeared at first that they were not going to take public comment because it was expected that the bill would pass out of committee, but Chairman Willard did allow testimony. At least four other Partners who could not be there sent me their comments, and the Chairman said they would be included in the public record of the meeting. Debbie and Joyce did an amazing job with their testimonies, and we all had to field questions from legislators. A big thanks to everyone who responded and offered to help on such short notice. The bill will now move on to the Rules Committee. I will keep you posted as HB 540 moves along.

Monday, January 28, 2008

Training for FAMILIES regarding New DD Waivers - REGION 5 -Savannah - Feb. 18, 2008

Families and other interested stakeholders who live in the DHR Division of MHDDAD Region 5 (Savannah) area are invited to an informational session about Georgia's "New" DD Waivers. This event will take place at the Coastal Georgia Center in Savannah on the evening of Mon. Feb. 18, 2008.

Please help us to reach families in DMHDDAD Region 5 by forwarding the links below to individuals and groups who are stakeholders regarding developmental disabilities.

You can print or download the announcement by clicking here: DHR's MHDDAD website.

Registration online is quick and easy by clicking here: Georgia Department of Human Resources TRAINING. (Refreshments will be provided so we ask that families please register so that we will know how many people to expect.)

Questions about the event can be emailed to: manais@cviog.uga.edu or to RegistrationMHDDAD@dhr.state.ga.us

Similar events are being held in each region of the state, so keep checking back!

Thank you!

Thursday, January 17, 2008

TRAINING ANNOUNCEMENT


The snowy weather recently experienced in Georgia provides a fun opportunity to remind families and other advocates about an exciting upcoming educational opportunity. The Division of MHDDAD Office of Developmental Disabilities is excited to announce a new seminar titled Redefining Disability and Inclusion to Transform Practice: "Snow Day in Georgia" Seminar for Those Who Support Persons with a Developmental Disability Diagnosis.The 'nickname' for this seminar is "Snow Day in Georgia" because the two presenters are Kathie Snow and Judith Snow. We encourage families to attend this inspiring event! There are still seats available for the Savannah session on Tues. Jan. 22 and the Tifton session on Wed. Jan. 23. You may register at the door for those sessions. Forsyth, Marietta and Morrow sessions will take place in March —please register in advance for these sessions as they will fill up more quickly...

Best practices that model inclusion are based on redefining disability in order to transform perceptions and impact behavior. In these sessions, strategies are presented to produce a positive, diversity-inclusive mindset toward disability and to identify clinical and organizational priorities that improve access to community supports.

A wide array of people will benefit from attending this training. We encourage you to attend this seminar, be uplifted and learn how you can improve services for persons with a developmental disability diagnosis.

Details about the seminar and how to register are on the MHDDAD's training website: http://mhddad.dhr.georgia.gov/training.

Online registration for the seminar is quick and easy at: www.cviog.uga.edu/training/dhr.

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Training for FAMILIES regarding New DD Waivers - REGION 4 -Thomasville, Feb. 4, 2008


Families and other interested stakeholders who live in the DHR Division of MHDDAD Region 4 (Thomasville) area are invited to an informational session about Georgia's "New" DD Waivers. This event will take place in Thomasville on the evening of Mon. Feb. 4, 2008.

Please help us to reach families in the southern portion of DMHDDAD Region 4 by forwarding this link: Georgia's "New" DD Waivers, also linked to the MHDDAD website.

Click here for online registration. The announcement includes details about how to do this. Refreshments will be provided so please register so that we will know how many people to expect.

Questions about the event can be emailed to manais@cviog.uga.edu or to RegistrationMHDDAD@dhr.state.ga.us

Similar events are being held in each region of the state. Continually check back for more information!

Colorado Group Pushes Ballot to Increase Taxes and Remedy Wait Lists

From Answers And Alternatives for Families of the Developmentally Disabled:

Dear Parents and others:

It is official. We are moving forward with a proposed ballot measure for 2008. After much consideration and a great deal of trying at the Capitol, we are making plans to take matters into our own hands and go directly to the people of Colorado.

A group of dedicated individuals, parents, and advocacy organizations have joined forces to end Colorado's wait list for people with developmental disabilities by generating revenue through a proposed ballot measure. Collectively, we feel that the children and families on our state's developmental disability wait list can no longer wait any longer for critical services, and that going to the people of Colorado may be the only option to remedy this unjust situation.

While we are hopeful that the Legislature will address the problem of long term care for persons with developmental disabilities via a referred measure, we can not wait until May to move ahead with our own plans. As we move forward with our ballot measure effort, we will continue to explore other opportunities in the legislative process that may address long-term fixes. For now, however, we feel that we owe it to our children, our loved ones and the constituencies that we serve to move forward with a proposed ballot measure to end Colorado's wait list for children and families with developmental disabilities now. And while we all agree there are other issues, such as systems reform, that are critically important -- we feel there remain other advocacy routes at this time to address those broader issues.

Our Leadership Coalition will begin meeting monthly. There are also opportunities to participate in various campaign sub-committees. We will continue to provide you with a monthly update and let you know how you can participate in this effort because it will take each and everyone of us to make the impossible, possible.

Please contact me at dnvrfox@aol.com if you have questions. You may also contact Marijo Rymer, who is serving as the chair of this campaign effort, at the ARC of Colorado, 303-864-9334 or at _mrymer@thearcofco.org_ Please contact us if you are interested in actively joining our coalition. We will send you a copy of the resolution that all coalition members are committed to and details about future meetings.

Denver Fox, PAD-CO
http://members.aol.com/dnvrfox

[Draft of Resolution, dated January 2008]

RESOLUTION: End the Waiting List for Persons with Developmental Disabilities NOW

WHEREAS, as of November 2007, in the state of Colorado, more than more than 7,000 adults and 150 children with developmental disabilities were in need of long-term health care services and support and more than 4,000
families supporting children with developmental disabilities were in need of family support services; and

WHEREAS, the undersigned is committed to supporting all reasonable efforts to end the waiting list for services for persons in Colorado with developmental disabilities; and,

WHEREAS, the State of Colorado is constitutionally constrained from fully appropriating funds to end the waiting list and support ongoing efforts to sustain acceptable levels of service without harming other programs and services that benefit the people of Colorado; and

WHEREAS, it is evident that new funding sources be accessed to address this critical need; and

WHEREAS, the Colorado constitution requires voter approval for imposition of any new tax, tax rate increases, change in use of a tax resource or collection or retention of moneys above limits established by TABOR.

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT: The undersigned support efforts during the 2008 legislative session to address Colorado's serious healthcare needs and partnership efforts with other organizations to mitigate the crisis with the proviso that long-term care needs of all persons with developmental disabilities are fully addressed and other important programs that benefit Colorado citizens are not harmed;

AND IT IS FURTHER RESOLVED THAT: The undersigned support efforts to ask Colorado voters to approve new sources of revenue and/or changes in uses of revenue that will end the waiting list for services for persons with developmental disabilities and provide for the long-term care needs of persons with developmental disabilities at the next general election in November of 2008;

AND IT IS FURTHER RESOLVED THAT: The undersigned will make significant contributions in time and effort to inform the Legislative and Executive branches of state government and voters of the critical need to solve this problem.

Monday, January 14, 2008

Governor Perdue Announces December Revenue Figures



ATLANTA – Governor Sonny Perdue announced today that net revenue collections for the month of December 2007 (FY08) totaled $1,634,867,000 compared to $1,634,397,000 for December 2006 (FY07), an increase of $470,000.

The percentage increase for FY08 compared to FY07 is 4.2 percent.

Click here for a PDF version.

Click here for a Word Document.

Transition often hard for disabled

By Adam Thompson - Morris News Service
Augusta Chronicle
Tuesday, January 08, 2008


ATHENS, Ga. -- Brittany Fleming's job doesn't thrill her. The 20-year-old Athens woman, who loves to take pictures, prefers the click of a camera shutter to the clack of a keyboard entering data at a Clarke County school.

But, she likes her co-workers, and after all, it's a job.

In that, she's like many Americans - except Brittany also has a mild intellectual disability that prevents her from living on her own, taking public transit by herself or doing unsupervised work.

She graduated in May from Cedar Shoals High School and immediately began working a few days a week in the nurse's office at the Clarke County School District's H.T. Edwards Teaching and Learning Center.

But that smooth transition wasn't easy to come by, say her parents, Renee Fleming, a Clarke County math teacher, and Stacy Fleming, an electrician employed by the county government.

The Flemings faced what some experts say is a road filled with obstacles, the path disabled students take from the all-day stable environment of high school to whatever comes after.

Each year, nearly 700 people with developmental disabilities - autism, Down syndrome, cerebral palsy and others - graduate from the state's high schools needing to transition into the community, said Dave Blanchard, a public policy director for the advocacy group Atlanta Alliance on Developmental Disabilities.

Those who can work are up against a work community wary of hiring people with disabilities; those who can't need care somehow, because their parents usually aren't able to stay with them all day, Mr. Blanchard said. So, they need help.

And help usually means turning to the government or other service providers, who are taxed beyond their means right now, Mr. Blanchard said.

Many quickly go on a waiting list for Medicaid waivers that's thousands of names long, and many wait for years, he said.

The waivers let people with significant disabilities get services above what Medicaid provides. They're designed to allow people to stay in their homes and interact with their communities, rather than becoming institutionalized.

"Historically, we have not as a state put enough help in place for these students," he said.

The nonprofit AADD and the Governor's Council on Developmental Disabilities are holding a series of open forums around the state for parents of disabled students.

The 2008 Legislative begins today

The General Assembly begins their work today in Atlanta with the first day of the 2008 legislative session. We will begin to blog from the Capitol so that you stay informed throughout the next few months. As always, we hope to focus on relevant information to disability issues. Often we will ask you to get involved with an email or a phone call to your legislators and others that are in a position to make a difference. Without your help, we will not be able to make our voice heard over the many issues being dealt with throughout the session.

A round up of articles from across the state that will help you get a flavor of some of the issues being address this year. The Atlanta Journal and Constitution does a good job with its Legislature 2008 Home page.

2008 GEORGIA LEGISLATIVE GUIDE: Can one citizen make a difference?
By Sonji Jacobs
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
When Heidi Moore of Alpharetta first began talking to lawmakers in 2003 about ways in which the state could help middle-income families with special needs children, she had a network of about 150 other concerned parents. Now, Moore's advocacy network is comprised of more than 2,500 people.

Though her work in the legislature began after her son, Jacob, was born with Down syndrome, she says her commitment and passion extend beyond him.
2008 LEGISLATIVE PREVIEW: Power players at the Capitol
By James Salzer, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Gov. Sonny Perdue: Though a lame duck (in his second term), he still sets the agenda and the spending priorities. He's a careful decision-maker who files his budget proposals and bills but generally does not get heavily involved in the legislative process until the end of the session. Last year he was criticized for being particularly absent, so expect him to be more involved in 2008. He's not afraid to use the power of the governor's office. Even though he can't run for re-election, he has been raising a lot of campaign money, leading some to speculate he'll try to play a major role in the 2008 and 2010 legislative elections.
Water, taxes top 2008 agenda
DAVE WILLIAMS dave.williams@.at.albanyherald.com
ATLANTA — Conventional wisdom holds that it’s political suicide to raise taxes in an election year.
But during the General Assembly session that begins on today, Georgia lawmakers will be asked to find more money somewhere to meet a host of pressing needs that have converged at the same time.

Like it or not, they face a record-setting drought, ever-worsening traffic congestion in metro Atlanta and a financially struggling Grady Memorial Hospital looking to the state to help bail out Georgia’s largest public hospital.
Perdue's agenda sounds familiar
By Shannon McCaffrey, Associated Press, Story updated at 11:10 PM on Sunday, January 13, 2008
If Gov. Sonny Perdue's agenda for the new year sounds familiar it should.

He'll be pushing some of the same initiatives in 2008 that he tried - and failed - to get through in 2007.

Key among them is a tax break for wealthier retirees, which the governor had made the centerpiece of his successful 2006 re-election bid. His proposal to boost fines on so-called super speeders will be brought back to life as part of a compromise plan to bail out the state's network of trauma centers.

The details of Perdue's wish list will be revealed this week as the Georgia General Assembly returns for its 2008 session. The governor will take the wraps off his state budget proposal Wednesday, the same day he'll offer his annual State of the State address before a joint session of the House and Senate.
Check back here often and visit the links on the right banner of this blog to help keep you informed.

Friday, January 04, 2008

Apply to Georgia Voices That Count!

Click here for an application for Georgia Voices that Count, a disability rights advocacy training and support project. This is a busy time of year, but do not miss out on this great opportunity! Please email this link (make further copies if you wish) to anyone who might be interested. Thank you.

Deadline for application:
January 31, 2008
Selection and notification of participants:
At the end of February 2008
Duration of project:
April 2008 to February 2009
The criteria for selection:
.Living in Georgia
·Having a disability
·Having a strong commitment to disability rights advocacy, and
·Not to have previously undertaken formal advocacy training
Participants are asked to:
·Fully participate in the project by attending all the training and support sessions and as many other advocacy activities as possible
·Agree to undertake an advocacy project during the year they participate with the project
·Encourage other people with disabilities to become active in advocacy

Please note that for the successful applicants, the travel, lodging, meals and other costs are covered by the project.

For more information contact:
Georgia Voices That Count
c/o disABILITY LINK
755 Commerce Drive
Suite 105
Decatur, Georgia 30030-2618
www.disabilitylink.org

Email:
Linda Pogue, Project Manager or
Margo Waters, "Georgia Voices that Count" graduate, Certified Peer Supporter and Project Assistant.

Thursday, January 03, 2008

Unlock Events

Happy New Year from Dave and Rita and the Unlock the Waiting List Campaign! Best wishes to you and your family for a healthy and happy 2008!

With the legislative session starting this month, advocacy activity is about to be in full swing.

Here are just a few events for your calendar:

Two final Town Hall meetings will be held next week in Athens on the 7th and Roswell on the 8th. Please check the website for times and locations. Thanks to everyone who has come out to support the Town Halls. It is great to be able to meet parents and self advocates across the state who share a passion and enthusiasm for working for real community based options for people with disabilities.

February 13 is Legislative Day at the Capitol. This is an event that requires an RSVP. If you are interested in meeting with your legislator on the 13th regarding Unlock, please contact Rita for more information. If you can’t make the 13th but want to come another day, contact Joe.

February 21st is Disability Day at the Capitol sponsored by the Governor’s Council. Last year 1800 people came out to the rally at the Capitol.
Click here to register

Congratulations: Georgia Trend's Most Influential and Power Players

Eric E. Jacobson
Executive Director
Governor’s Council on Developmental Disabilities

Jacobson gives credit to a group of mothers at the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta for his career with the Governor’s Council on Developmental Disabilities.

He worked with the federation “when the Jewish Community was beginning to think about services for people with disabilities,” he says. Following his successful tenure there, some of the women encouraged him to apply for a job with the council. He’s been with GCDD since 1992 and has served as executive director since 1997.

The council works within the governmental framework and with the community of disabled people, advocates and service providers to help promote the things people with disabilities need in order to be contributing members of society, Jacobson says – needs such as accessible housing and opportunities for education and real careers.

A current focus of the council is on the Asset Alliance Coalition, Jacobson says. "We recognize that people with disabilities predominantly live in poverty," often because policies create barriers to work or to save.

For example, in order to keep Medicaid or Social Security, people are only allowed to save a small amount of money before losing their benefits. The coalition of bankers, micro-enterprise specialists, housing specialists and people from the disability community are working together to develop policies that will allow people to hold jobs, save money and participate in the American dream, without losing their benefits before they can afford to replace them.

"That is, long term, going to have a great impact on how people’s lives are supported," Jacobson says.

-Georgia Trend: 2008 Most Influential Georgians



Annette Bowling
Executive Director
Albany Advocacy Resource Center

For more than 30 years Bowling has carried a passionate message to elected officials and anyone else who would listen: The disabled can be productive members of society. Thanks to her tireless efforts, thousands of lives have been changed as housing and healthcare programs have brought disabled people from the fringes of society into the mainstream.

-Georgia Trend: 100 Most Influential Georgians

Training for FAMILIES regarding New DD Waivers - REGION 2 - Augusta- Jan. 16, 2008



The Division of MHDDAD Office of Developmental Disabilities will host a Regional Evening Seminar for Persons with Developmental Disabilities, Families and Advocates in Region 2.
When: Wednesday, January 16, 2008, 6:30 - 8:30pm
Where: Augusta Marriott Hotel & Suites,
Oglethorpe Ballroom
Two 10th Street, Augusta, Georgia, 30901

(706) 722-8900

AGENDA

The Seminar will provide an overview of the two new federal Medicaid waivers and plans for implementing the changes in 2008:

• NOW: New Options Waiver for persons who live with family members or in their own home, and
• COMP: Comprehensive Supports Waiver Program for persons who need a full range of out-of-home services or intensive, in-home services who do not otherwise quality for the NOW program

These new waivers are designed to offer persons more control over how their service dollars are spent, whether in-home and/or in the community.

Please help us to reach families in the East Central region of the state by emailing this link. The announcement will also be posted on the Division of MHDDAD training website, where it can be printed or downloaded.

Please be sure to register. Online registration is quick and easy at www.cviog.uga.edu/training/dhr and the announcement includes details about how to do this. Refreshments will be provided.

Questions about the event can be emailed to manais@cviog.uga.edu or to RegistrationMHDDAD@dhr.state.ga.us

Other seminars will be taking place as well. Click for information on trainings for Region 2 DD Providers and Region 2 Staff.