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
11 August 2006
Good morning everyone,
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 announcements are located under the section heading "Upcoming Events of Interest."
]
Mark your calendars, Navigators for this October webcast on dealing with substance abuse in the workplace. Invite One-Stop staff and disability partners from the mental health and vocational rehabilitation communities to participate in the webcast with you and learn more about an often misunderstood topic. The Job Accommodation Network is facilitating this webcast, which will provide information on the types of challenges substance abuse poses for employers, employment laws related to employees with substance abuse, and ideas and resources to help employers deal with substance abuse in the workplace. Also introduced will be Drug-Free Work Week, a new Department of Labor Initiative that will take place in October 2006. Drug-Free Work Week provides an opportunity for employers to acknowledge the importance of building, safer, healthier workplaces through substance abuse prevention and intervention.
[The News Release is included below in its entirety.]
The National Council on Disability (N.C.D.) released The Impact of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita on People with Disabilities: A Look Back and Remaining Challenges, a guide for the President, Congress, and other emergency planners to develop inclusive emergency preparedness and response plans. According to N.C.D. chairperson Lex Frieden, “Hurricanes Katrina and Rita devastated the lives of many people who lived in the Gulf Coast region. Fortunately, millions of Americans opened their homes and their hearts to hurricane survivors while local, state, and federal government employees worked around the clock to evacuate and rescue people. With almost a year since the Hurricanes made landfall and wreaked havoc on the lives of many, we now have a clearer understanding of what went right, as well as what went wrong, with the response and recovery efforts.”
“People with disabilities were disproportionately affected by the Hurricanes because their needs were often overlooked or completely disregarded. Their evacuation, shelter, and recovery experiences differed vastly from the experiences of people without disabilities. People with disabilities were often unable to evacuate because transportation was inaccessible. For example, most evacuation busses did not have wheelchair lifts. Moreover, people with visual and hearing disabilities were unable to obtain necessary information pertinent to their safety because said communication did not comply with federal law. To ensure that people with disabilities do not experience similar injustices during future catastrophes, emergency plans must acknowledge and address the difficulties experienced by people with disabilities discussed within this paper, as well as include people with disabilities in rebuilding effort,” Frieden concluded.
N.C.D. offers findings and recommendations on the impact of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita on people with disabilities to guide the President, Congress, and other emergency planners to develop inclusive emergency preparedness and response plans. Recommendations include:
Based in part on its eerily prophetic 2005 report Saving Lives: Including People with Disabilities in Emergency Planning (http://www.ncd.gov/newsroom/publications/2005/saving_lives.htm) that preceded the disaster, and on data emerging in the storms’ aftermath, N.C.D. believes there is ample basis for believing that suffering was proportionally greater for people with disabilities than it need have been.
N.C.D. hopes that this paper will receive the attention it deserves and that history will not repeat itself in this and future hurricane seasons. For more information or to obtain a copy of the paper, please contact Mark S. Quigley at 202-272-2004.
The Emergency Preparedness and Response Conference, presented by the Homeland Defense Journal and National Organization on Disability's Emergency Preparedness Initiative, will cover all aspects of emergency management planning and response for people with disabilities, the elderly, pediatric populations, and animal issues. Recent disasters have made us aware of plans and operational procedures related to response and recovery to these populations in any natural or non-natural disaster. This conference will bring together national experts to discuss changes in policies, legislation, response protocols, workplace safety, and disaster management. You will learn new concepts for addressing disability planning in their jurisdictions and “best practices” that can be integrated into all levels of government responsibility and how to incorporate special needs into your emergency management plan.
For more information including the schedule and registration access the U.R.L..
Trainers: Elena M. Carr, Drug Policy Coordinator, U.S. Department of Labor, Working Partners for an Alcohol- and Drug-Free Workplace with Linda Batiste, JAN Consultant.
Dealing with substance abuse in the workplace can be challenging for employers. No business, regardless of size or location, is immune to the countless problems that substance abuse can cause. Most individuals with substance abuse are employed and, when they arrive for work, they do not leave their problems outside the door. Everyone involved in running a business, both employers and employees, is affected when there is workplace substance abuse.
This Webcast will provide information on the types of challenges substance abuse poses for employers, employment laws related to employees with substance abuse, and ideas and resources to help employers deal with substance abuse in the workplace. Also introduced will be Drug-Free Work Week, a new Department of Labor Initiative that will take place in October 2006. Drug-Free Work Week provides an opportunity for employers to acknowledge the importance of building, safer, healthier workplaces through substance abuse prevention and intervention.
Training by nationally recognized experts is delivered to your location via telephone or Internet and each session costs only $25 per site. Access the U.R.L. for more information on how to sign up for and participate in the webcast.
For complete information on all Accommodation and Compliance Series events, please go to:
[ http://www.jan.wvu.edu/teleconf/Teleconf.htm ]
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The 7th Annual National Youth Development Symposium, ENGAGE, EDUCATE, EMPLOY - YOUTH!, aims to provide best practices and program guidance to workforce development professionals who serve youth. Our intent is to provide support for dedicated individuals working to be a strong foundation for youth and to give them the necessary tools to enter the workforce as productive adults.
Access the U.R.L. for more information including the agenda, hotel and registration.
[The following is excerpted from the Introduction.]
The Americans with Disabilities Act (A.D.A.) is a federal law that prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities. Title I of the A.D.A. covers employment by private employers with 15 or more employees and state and local government employers of the same size. Section 501 of the Rehabilitation Act provides the same protections for federal employees and applicants for federal employment. Most states also have their own laws prohibiting employment discrimination on the basis of disability. Some of these state laws may apply to smaller employers and provide protections in addition to those available under the A.D.A..
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (E.E.O.C.) enforces the employment provisions of the A.D.A.. This document is part of a question-and-answer series addressing particular disabilities in the workplace. It explains how the A.D.A. might apply to job applicants and employees with hearing impairments, including:
Access the U.R.L. to read the full fact sheet.
JAN Publications: http://www.jan.wvu.edu/media/index.htm. JAN offers numerous publications for free. For example, learn how to approach evacuation procedures, effective communication for individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing, ergonomics, and disability etiquette. JAN consultants distribute accommodation idea publications that address specific disabilities. Share their Accommodation Ideas (http://www.jan.wvu.edu/media/ideas.html) and Fact Sheets (http://www.jan.wvu.edu/media/fact.html).
Bursting with color (purple, orange and yellow) the 2006 N.D.E.A.M. poster carries the theme, Americans with Disabilities: Ready for the Global Workforce. A young man with a developmental disability is posed with a global backdrop. He is wearing a tie and a white shirt. Using a headset, he is responding to a telephone call. The words “October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month” appear at the bottom of the poster.
Congress enacted Public Law 176 in 1945 establishing October as the month to recognize the contributions Americans with disabilities are making in the workplace. This poster can be used to focus attention on employment opportunities for workers with disabilities. This poster can also be distributed at programs celebrating the anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (A.D.A.) in July and N.D.E.A.M. in October.
Access the following link to download a P.D.F. version of the poster:
[ http://www.dol.gov/odep/pubs/ndeam06.pdf ]
[ Get free Adobe Reader ]
To request a 20-inch by 30-inch or a 10-inch by 15-inch paper version of this poster, please e-mail your name, complete mailing address and number of posters requested to ndeam@dol.gov, or call 202-693-7880.
FirstStep is an easy-to-use, interactive tool for case managers, outreach workers, and others working with people who are homeless. The information contained on this website includes information on how to access benefits from Federal mainstream benefit programs. It is organized in five categories: Food Assistance, Income Assistance, Health Care Assistance, Employment Assistance and Housing Assistance.
FirstStep offers advice on how to be a good benefits counselor as well as helpful, timesaving tips from others who work with people who are homeless. In addition, it includes Tools and Resources (http://www.cms.hhs.gov/apps/firststep/content/tools.html) you can use to keep all of the benefits information in one place or learn about other programs and organizations that may benefit your client but are not included on this CD-ROM.
FirstStep focuses on the following major mainstream benefit programs. On the website, under the Tools and Resources link, you can access useful fact sheets covering these programs:
Within each benefit program, there is information offered regarding benefits clients may receive, eligibility requirements, the application process, what benefits a client may receive if he / she is an immigrant, as well as contact information and, in some cases, training materials.
[The following is excerpted from the Executive Summary.]
In Fall of 2005, the destructive forces of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita wreaked an emotional as well as a physical toll on residents of the Gulf Coast region. Millions of Americans from across the country reached out to hurricane survivors, opening their homes and their hearts. Government employees at local, state and federal levels worked long and hard to help evacuate and rescue people in the Gulf Coast. Many of these people are still in the Gulf Coast helping to rebuild communities. In the months since the hurricanes devastated the Gulf Coast, media coverage of the hurricane survivors has waned. However, for hurricane survivors with psychiatric disabilities, the hurricanes’ destruction resulted in “trauma that didn’t last 24 hours, then go away. ... It goes on and on.” Some of these challenges were unavoidable. As one government official said, “No one ever planned for ‘what happens when your social service infrastructure is completely wiped out.’” Nonetheless, many of the problems could have been avoided with proper planning. As N.C.D. predicted in its April 2005 report, Saving Lives: Including People with Disabilities in Disaster Planning, “if planning does not embrace the value that everyone should survive, they will not.” As a result of its research, N.C.D. found that much pre-Katrina disaster planning did not contemplate the needs of people with psychiatric disabilities, and as a result, many people died or unnecessarily suffered severely traumatic experiences. This paper includes the following major findings and recommendations, as well as various specific recommendations for emergency management officials and policymakers at the local, state and federal levels.
Many of these findings and recommendations align with N.C.D's 2005 report, Saving Lives: Including People with Disabilities in Disaster Planning, available on the web at [ http://www.ncd.gov/newsroom/publications/2005/saving_lives.htm ]. N.C.D. encourages policymakers, emergency planners and people with disabilities to carefully review that report. N.C.D. stands ready to provide guidance to those who are ready to make their emergency plans and services more accessible to people with disabilities. As emergency managers and policymakers create plans that seek to ensure that all people, regardless of disability, survive catastrophes such as Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, we will incorporate the principles of inclusion and non-discrimination into our national consciousness.
[The following is excerpted from the Executive Summary.]
The Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act of 1999 places particular importance on making Personal Assistance Services (P.A.S.) available for persons with disabilities who want to live independently and enter or re-join the workforce. The Act provides grants to states to develop state Medicaid infrastructures to support working individuals with disabilities. However, no state may receive a grant unless it makes personal assistance services available under their Medicaid State Plan. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (C.M.S.) has determined that a state is fully eligible to receive grant funds if it offers personal assistance services statewide, within and outside the home in an amount that allows a person to be engaged in full time competitive employment. This requirement can be met through the personal care Medicaid State Plan Option, Medicaid waivers, or a combination of the two.
As states look at the feasibility of adding or expanding the personal care option to their Medicaid program, a major consideration is the cost of such changes. Recently states have experienced significant growth in both the number of persons receiving Medicaid and the cost of services provided by the program. The personal care option is no exception. From 1998 through 2003, nationally, the program almost doubled in expenditures from $3.5 billion to $6.3 billion.
States have used a variety of mechanisms to control the cost of personal care. These include requiring prior authorization, targeting the service to particular conditions or diagnoses, or limiting the number of hours of service.
To make P.A.S. a viable support for employment and to satisfy the Medicaid Infrastructure Grant (MIG) requirements, some states like Utah and New Jersey have amended their current Personal Care State Plan Option to provide more hours of service both in and out of the home for person with disabilities who are working. California passed legislation to ensure their existing Personal Care State Plan Option program is available, not only in the home but also in the work place. Iowa is an example of a state that does not have a Personal Care Medicaid State Plan Option. They did an extensive study with recommendations to add the service but ultimately found the cost was too high.