IN THIS ISSUE:
- Take charge! DADS hosts town hall meetings about Consumer Directed Services (CDS)
- Fasten your seatbelts. The health care reform journey has just begun!
- A quarter century and counting: NAMI Texas celebrates 25 years of advocacy.
- Building bridges to better advocacy for assistive technology (AT)
- Gig Em! TAMU professor gets USDA grant to help farmers with disabilities.
- DPC supports Texas Respite Coalition/DADS effort to bring more respite services to Texas.
Take charge! DADS hosts town hall meetings about Consumer Directed Services (CDS)
| If you or someone you know gets community-based services, the Department of Aging and Disability Services (DADS) wants you to know how to have more control of those services. So, DADS is hosting a series of town meetings in August to share information about Consumer Directed Services (CDS). In CDS, consumers (or their legally-authorized representatives) recruit, hire, train, supervise and fire their own service providers. People in the CDS program must work with a CDS agency that helps with the money side of things (payroll, taxes, etc.). The town meetings will be in Austin, San Antonio, Edinburg, Lubbock, Houston and El Paso. All the details are posted on the DADS web site. For more information, please send an e-mail to Elizabeth Jones at elizabeth.jones@dads.state.tx.us. |
You can get CDS
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Fasten your seatbelts. The health care reform journey has just begun!
Before adjourning for the whole month of August, the U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce passed its version of HR 3200 
, America’s Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009. The committee’s bill has been described as only an outline for a national health care plan with much more work (and controversy) in its future.
Even though it’s early in the game, the DPC has already taken action to remind Texas lawmakers about health care issues that are important to people with disabilities. In a letter to all 34 members of the Texas congressional delegation, DPC urged them to be sure to community-based long-term supports and services are part of any reform legislation they consider.
The letter pointed to bills currently introduced in Congress that provide great examples of the community-based services that should be part of the country’s health care system:
- The Community Living Assistance Services and Supports (CLASS) Act was filed in the Senate as
S-697 (Kennedy) and in the House as HR 1721 (Pallone).
- The Community Choice Act is S-683 (Harkin) in the Senate and HR 1670 (Davis) in the House.
The DPC and its member organizations will stay active in the health care discussion—trying to be sure those things important to people with disabilities are not lost in what will surely be a raging competition among special interests. We’ll keep you posted on the progress of the reform effort and future DPC actions related to it.
Congress is taking a break for the month of August. Members will return to their districts. Most of them will use at least part of the time to get feedback from the public about what health care reform should look like.
Make sure that they do not forget community-based, long-term services for people who need them! Go to their town hall meetings. Set up visits with them. Speak up loud and clear. Tell them how important this is to you and people you care about. Amaze yourself with your on personal power.
Don’t forget! The Texas Action Center is a great place to start your health care advocacy! Sign up and sign in to find contact information for your representatives, advocacy campaigns around DPC legislative priorities and much more.
If you want to be active in this historical health-care policy discussion, we offer a good resource for timely and useful information, as well as networking with other interested groups. The Texas Voice for Healthcare Reform is a Center for Public Priorities project funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. For more information, check out the TVHR web site. Or contact Kymberlie Quong Charles, TVHR coordinator by phone at 512-320-0222, ext. 115. Send e-mail to her at quongcharles@cppp.org
A quarter century and counting: NAMI Texas celebrates 25 years of advocacy.
NAMI Texas is a grassroots education, support and advocacy organization dedicated to improving the lives of all people who are affected by mental illness. Associated with the National Alliance on Mental Illness, NAMI Texas has more than 3,000 members and 37 local affiliates throughout the state.
For its annual conference in October 2009, NAMI Texas is planning big to commemorate this landmark birthday. The theme is “25 Years of Achievements: Honoring the Past, Forging the Future.”
The gathering will be in Houston. There is a lot more information on the NAMI Texas web site .
Building bridges to better advocacy for assistive technology (AT)
If you’re an attorney, paralegal or advocate with an interest in assistive technology, you won’t want to miss this event coming up in October. Advocacy, Inc. and the National Assistive Technology Advocacy Project are joining forces to present a 2-day (3-day if you attend the pre-session) conference in downtown Austin.
The optional pre-conference is scheduled for October 21, followed by 2 days of even more useful and interesting information. The agenda, registration information and everything else you need to know are on the Advocacy, Inc. web site.
Gig Em! TAMU professor gets USDA grant to help farmers with disabilities.
A new AgrAbility grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service (USDA-CSREES) is intended to help farmers with disabilities stay actively engaged in agriculture. The 4-year grant awarded to the Texas AgriLife Extension at Texas A&M University will go toward enhanced services and outreach to assist disabled agricultural producers, family members and employees. Find out more about the grant and planned activities on the Texas AgrAbility project web site , or contact Dr. Rick Peterson, associate professor and extension specialist, at 979-845-3850 or rlpeterson@tamu.edu
DPC supports Texas Respite Coalition/DADS effort to bring more respite services to Texas.
- To support our work in the recent legislative session, the DPC created a position statement on respite services. You can check it out on the DPC web site.
- Coming up in September, a new law goes into effect. HB 802 is intended to give relief to primary caregivers for people with chronic serious health conditions or disabilities. Governor Perry signed into law in June.
DPC member organizations and other advocates that want to bring more respite services to Texas caregivers have their eyes on Washington, D.C. these days. They’re waiting to find out if a joint grant application submitted by the Texas Respite Coalition and Department of Aging and Disability Services (DADS) will be funded. The application is in the hands of the federal Administration on Aging’s Lifespan Respite Care Program. An announcement is expected soon.
If funded, the grant would give a big boost to respite services across Texas. It would:
- Create a statewide Texas respite coordination center.
- Create a Texas inventory of respite services.
- Support production of media kits and public messages aimed at caregivers across the state and across disability populations.
- Support development of training and best practice tool kits for respite service providers.
DPC’s own Kim Suiter, representing member organization National Multiple Sclerosis Society of Texas- Lone Star Chapter, chairs the Texas Respite Coalition and is a tireless advocate for better respite services in Texas. She can provide more information about the partnership with DADS on the grant application, if you need it. Contact Kim by phone at 512-340-2701 or send e-mail to ksuiter@nmsslonestar.org.
Gary Jessee, assistant commissioner for DADS’ Access and Intake Division, is another good source of information. Contact him by phone at 512-438-4245 or send e-mail to gary.jessee@dads.state.tx.us
About the Disability Policy Consortium
The DPC is made up of a diverse assortment of disability advocacy groups that have joined forces to advance the rights, inclusion and independence of Texans with disabilities. Each member organization contributes its unique perspective and resources to the collective effort to promote effective public policy for a variety of issues important to people with disabilities and their families.
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