Law, Health Policy & Disability Center
University of Iowa College of Law
http://disability.law.uiowa.edu/dpn/
and
The Burton Blatt Institute
Syracuse University
http://bbi.syr.edu
One–Stop Toolkit
Resources of the Week Technical Assistance Project E–Mail listserv
16 June 2006
Good morning everyone,
[Please note that due to travel there will not be a weekly resource on Friday, June 23rd; however, we will re-join you on June 30th.]
Below please find the web site and publication of the week, as well as other resources that we hope will be useful as you work on systems change activities to help improve employment opportunities for persons with disabilities.
To subscribe and / or view past resources of the week archives, access: www.onestoptoolkit.org and click on the link to "Resources of the Week" on the right hand side of the home page.
To view an indexed list of the resources of the week by subject matter, visit the L.P.H.D.C. web site at http://disability.law.uiowa.edu/lhpdc/resources/wig/default.asp. It currently includes 20 categories, covering over 300 annotated references. Each category opens to a new window with each Resource of the Week which covered material in that area.
Have a good day and weekend!
Laura Farah
Program Associate
Law, Health Policy & Disability Center
University of Iowa College of Law
P: 617–489–0086
F: 617–489–1374
[ E–mail Lgleneck@mail.law.uiowa.edu ]
[ E–mail LFarah8@aol.com ]
[ http://www.onestoptoolkit.org ]
[The full announcement of the first Resource is located under the section heading "Resources of Interest."
]
Many Navigators are involved in emergency evacuation committees for their One-Stop Career Centers, as well as participate on other community committees that address emergency preparedness and response. This involvement provides an excellent opportunity for Navigators to help ensure that the needs of individuals with disabilities are addressed and accounted for in emergency procedures. This Fact Sheet on Obtaining and Using Employee Medical Information as Part of Emergency Evacuation Procedures is an excellent source of information to offer at these committee meetings, as well as to employers. It addresses the issues of employers asking for information to help identify individuals who might need assistance because of a medical condition and whether they can share this information with others in the workplace. It is important to know that the federal disability discrimination laws do not prevent employers from obtaining and appropriately using information necessary for a comprehensive emergency evacuation plan. This Fact Sheet points out how an employer may identify individuals who may need assistance, how to ask employees what type of assistance will be needed, and who is allowed to have this information in the case of an emergency.
[The full announcement of the second Resource is located under the section heading "Websites of the Week."
]
One-Stop Career Center staff often relay to Navigators that they feel most unprepared to assist individuals with mental health disabilities. This online resource provides practical information about reasonable accommodations for people who have psychiatric disabilities. It addresses how mental illness can interfere with functioning on the job and provides information on the types of accommodations that can be successfully implemented on the job. There are also several scenarios presented, as well as how-to tips for employers. This information can easily translate to how One-Stop staff may work more effectively and comfortably with job seekers who have a mental health disability during their job search phase.
The Federal Transit Administration (F.T.A.) has awarded grants to 32 States for United We Ride (U.W.R.). The U.W.R. grants will be used to enhance transportation services for people with disabilities, older adults and individuals with lower incomes. The significance of the grants is to improve transportation coordination, as well as, to break down the barriers between transit and human service programs. U.W.R. State Coordination grants may be used for either planning or implementation. Planning grants for up to $35,000 are to develop an extensive State transportation coordination assessment using the U.W.R. Framework for Action and to create a comprehensive State action plan for coordinating human service transportation. Implementation grants for up to $75,000 are for States which have created an extensive State action plan. These grants can be used for implementing one or more of the components identified within their State action plan relating to the U.W.R. Framework for Action. The recipients are: Planning Grants: South Dakota, Wyoming and Guam. Implementation Grants: Kansas, Massachusetts, Louisiana, Maryland, Oklahoma, Connecticut, Virginia, South Carolina, Florida, Colorado, West Virginia, North Carolina, Arizona, New Jersey, Georgia, Texas, Ohio, Wisconsin, California, Illinois, Tennessee, Utah, Washington, Kentucky, Vermont, New York, Nebraska, Alabama, and Minnesota.
The Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Community Planning and Development have several programs for persons with disabilities and individuals with lower incomes. They are the “Supportive Housing and Programs for Persons with Disabilities” and “The Revitalization of Severely Distressed Public Housing.”
The Supportive Housing Programs for persons with disabilities is “Section 811.” This program helps private non-profits entities provide housing and necessary supportive services for low-income persons with disabilities. Transportation is one of the supportive services that may be funded through this program, including the purchase and/or operation of vehicles. Funds are awarded to local non-profit housing providers by HUD field offices. For more information at Section 811 Program: http://www.hud.gov/offices/hsg/mfh/progdesc/disab811.cfm.
The second program is the Revitalization of Severely Distressed Public Housing grants, which allows public housing authorities to improve the living environments for the residents of severely distressed public housing through demolition, revitalization or replacement of housing units. These funds may also be used to promote sustainable community development and supportive services including reimbursement of transportation expenses. The program has an estimated funding level of $574,000 and monies may be used as matching funds for some Federal Transit Administration (F.T.A.) grant programs. For more information on this program at Revitalization of Severely Distressed Public Housing Program:
http://www.hud.gov/offices/pih/programs/ph/hope6/about/description.cfm.
The 2006 National Employment Conference: "Transition into High Demand Job Sectors," will bring business and industry leaders together with representatives of public vocational rehabilitation (V.R.) agencies and other stakeholders with an interest in the transition and employment of students and young adults with disabilities. Through interactive training and small group sessions, conferees will learn about and develop recommendations for effective strategies for achieving successful post-school outcomes for youth and young adults with disabilities. The focus of the strategies will be employment and careers in high-growth, high demand industries.
The conference will feature promising practices in job training, job development and job placement to access career opportunities in high- growth, high demand vital sectors of the American economy. High demand job sectors are those sectors that are (1) projected to add substantial numbers of new jobs to the economy or (2) are existing or emerging businesses being transformed by technology and innovation that require new skill sets for workers. The following high-growth industries will be featured:
This is a free archived Web-Cast. Academic and Career Exploration-Individualized Techniques! (ACE-IT!) uses a supported education approach to provide individualized services to students with disabilities. V.C.U. college graduates share their experiences with the program developed at V.C.U. and what services and supports were particularly useful in reaching their career goals. Learn about the importance of this program in higher education and how to promote success using an array of supports for students with physical and neurological disabilities.
These annual fact sheets present data on the Social Security Disability Insurance and Supplemental Security Income programs. Data are given for the number of people receiving benefits and the amount of total monthly payments made to persons in the United States, in each state, and in each congressional district within the state. The text and tables in this publication are available in both H.T.M.L. and P.D.F. The tables are also available in Excel. You can also access Congressional Statistics archives on this site.
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Maryland WorkFORCE Promise has developed eleven fact sheets for Job Seekers and seven fact sheets for Businesses. These fact sheets were designed to answer the frequently asked questions related to employment and individuals with disabilities. While the resources in these fact sheets have been catered to the state of Maryland, they also include national resources and provide ideas of the kinds of agencies within your state and community that you can contact for assistance. To view a particular fact sheet, access the U.R.L. and click on the link to the name of the fact sheet, available in both P.D.F. and text formats.
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The following is a brief description of the eleven fact sheets for job seekers with disabilities.
The following is a brief description of fact sheets and brochure designed for businesses.
Two new brochures are now available on the use of Intelligent Transportation Systems (I.T.S.) technologies for coordinating and improving human services transportation. Older adults, people with disabilities, and individuals with lower incomes often have challenges accessing transportation services. Technology can facilitate development of dependable routes and schedules, readily available and reliable traveler information, and single fare payment system that are convenient and easy to use.
This wide array of technologies is of particular benefit to the transportation disadvantaged but will also improve accessibility for all people using transit.
There are times when a person's travel needs do not match up with printed bus routes or schedules offered by public transportation. In the past, this criticism has caused some riders to avoid transit. However, technologies are now available to assist transit agencies in improving their flexibility in order to meet the real-world demands of transportation-disadvantaged riders.
In light of recent events, many employers are developing or re-evaluating emergency procedures to ensure the safe evacuation of all employees. A comprehensive emergency evacuation plan should provide for prompt and effective assistance to individuals whose medical conditions may necessitate it. Many employers have asked how the Americans with Disabilities Act (A.D.A.) and the Rehabilitation Act affect their ability to achieve this goal. Specifically, employers have asked whether they may request information to help identify individuals who might need assistance because of a medical condition and whether they can share this information with others in the workplace. As the following questions and answers demonstrate, federal disability discrimination laws do not prevent employers from obtaining and appropriately using information necessary for a comprehensive emergency evacuation plan.
Access the U.R.L. to read the specific questions and answers.
Practical information for employers and educators about reasonable accommodations for people who have psychiatric disabilities.
The Assistive Technology Literature Database is designed to provide a comprehensive, searchable bibliography summarizing research on cognitive technologies utilized by persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities. This database is a collaboration between the Coleman Institute and the University of Minnesota Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Community Living, which is funded by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (N.I.D.R.R.), U.S. Department of Education. The database is structured to allow visitors to identify research articles relevant to their specific needs. Users can enter a specific search term below, or go to the "advanced search" page where the database can be searched by keyword, author name, journal, category of assistive technology, or other fields.
[The following is excerpted from the G.A.O. highlights report.]
In March 2006, the Social Security Administration (S.S.A.) published a rule that fundamentally alters the way claims for disability benefits are processed and considered. The rule establishes the Disability Service Improvement process (D.S.I.) — intended to improve the accuracy, timeliness, consistency, and fairness of determinations. D.S.I.’s changes include an opportunity for an expedited decision during the initial determination process and the elimination of the Appeals Council, which had given claimants the right to appeal administrative law judge (A.L.J.) decisions before pursuing federal court review. D.S.I. replaces the council with a Decision Review Board, which will selectively review A.L.J. decisions. However, dissatisfied claimants whose cases are not selected for board review must now appeal directly to the federal courts.
Based on its on-going work, G.A.O. was asked to testify on (1) public and stakeholder concerns about the elimination of the Appeals Council and its replacement by the Decision Review Board and S.S.A.’s response to these concerns, as well as (2) the steps that S.S.A. has taken to help facilitate a smooth implementation of the D.S.I. process.
Concerns regarding the replacement of the Appeals Council with the Decision Review Board—raised by the public and stakeholder groups, such as claimant representatives—generally fall into two areas: (1) potential for increasing the workload of the federal courts and (2) anticipated hardship for claimants in terms of the loss of an administrative appeal level and difficulties associated with pursuing their claim in federal court. S.S.A.'s response to concerns regarding the federal court workload is that all changes associated with the new D.S.I. process—taken together—should reduce the need for appeal to the federal courts; at the same time, S.S.A. plans to implement this final step gradually and with additional safeguards to minimize impact on the courts. In response to concerns about the loss of appeal rights, S.S.A. contends that D.S.I. introduces enhanced levels of federal review earlier in the process and that claimants should experience a decline in the amount of time it takes to receive a final agency decision.
S.S.A. has prepared in significant ways for the initial rollout of D.S.I. in its Boston region, but the agency’s timetable is ambitious and much work remains. The agency has moved forward in key areas that underpin the new system—human capital development, technical infrastructure, and quality assurance—taking actions consistent with past G.A.O. recommendations for improving the disability determination process. For example, S.S.A. has taken steps to ensure that key technical supports, particularly its electronic disability case processing system, are in place—even though it has allowed itself little time to address and resolve any glitches that may arise prior to implementation. S.S.A. has also taken several steps to lay a foundation for quality assurance by centralizing its quality assurance reviews, establishing a Decision Review Board for reviewing decisions, and developing writing tools that should foster consistency and thorough documentation at all phases of the determination process. Further, G.A.O. found that S.S.A.'s decision to implement D.S.I. first in one small region prior to its introduction nationally is a good change management strategy that reflects our earlier recommendations. Additionally S.S.A. has taken a proactive, collaborative approach to both the design and the implementation of the new determination process. Nevertheless, key facets of S.S.A.'s plan to monitor and evaluate the Boston rollout remain to be developed. For example, performance measures for assessing the execution of the rollout are still unclear to G.A.O., and mechanisms for delivering feedback to staff on the clarity and soundness of their decision writing have not yet been fully developed.
[The following is excerpted from the Introduction.]
Starting in 2006, Medicare beneficiaries have the right to purchase prescription drug coverage. Drug coverage was added to Medicare through the establishment of the Part D program in which individuals voluntarily enroll in a private plan offering stand-alone drug coverage (meaning that the plan only provides prescription drugs and is not responsible for physician, hospital or other Medicare benefits which individuals obtain through the traditional Medicare program)—or participate in a Medicare Advantage health plan (which is also called Medicare Part C or managed care) that offers drug coverage as a component of its benefits package. While technically voluntary, dual eligibles (low-income seniors and people with disabilities who receive both Medicare and Medicaid services) had their Medicaid drug coverage stop when the Part D program started, and these individuals have been transitioned into Medicare prescription drug plans. Even though dual eligibles retain their Medicaid coverage for other services, they cannot receive prescription drug coverage for most of their prescription drug needs.
This guide is for Medicare beneficiaries with disabilities, friends and family members, benefits counselors, physicians and services providers, disability organizations, and others who seek to assist individuals in accessing the prescription drugs that they need. The purpose of this guide is to identify action steps for being an empowered advocate for an individual’s own prescription drugs and other service needs by describing the rules and policies of the Part D prescription drug coverage program. We believe having access to this information is critical for individuals to take appropriate actions if they encounter difficulties accessing benefits under the Part D program.
This guide is a companion to a document published in late 2005 that is focused on helping people with disabilities understand and enroll in a prescription drug plan. That document, called, Understanding Changes in Prescription Drug Coverage for People with Disabilities on Medicare: A Guide for People with Disabilities, Benefits Counselors, Disability Organizations and Others on Transitioning to the Medicare Part D Prescription Drug Benefit, is available in multiple accessible formats free-of-charge at http://ihcrp.georgetown.edu/rxchanges.html.