Seclusion and Restraint: Concerns and Solutions Teleconference

February 8, 2010: Seclusion and Restraint: Concerns and Solutions. Teleconference discussion from 12:00 to 12:45 PM (ET) Presented by: Lise Fox (Florida Center for Inclusive Communities), Sylvia Smith (Advocacy Center for Persons with Disabilities), Margaret Hooper (FloridaDevelopmental Disabilities Council), and F. Daniel Armstrong (Mailman Center for Child Development).

Register:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/SeclusionWebinar

Description: Families, educators, advocates and students are becoming increasingly concerned about the use of seclusion and restraint in school settings. In Florida, there are documented cases where seclusion and restraint has been used with disastrous and tragic consequences. This panel will discuss the concerns related to the use of seclusion and restraint; provide information on its use within Florida Schools, and present current efforts for ensuring how schools can provide effective and safe behavior intervention procedures including proposed state legislation, resources and training opportunities.

This web and teleconference event includes a recorded on-line presentation and a live teleconference discussion during which participants will have the opportunity to ask presenters questions about the topic. Space is limited and registrations will no longer be accepted once capacity is reached. Please note that the presentation, a recording of the teleconference, and all supporting materials will be available to the public on www.flcic.org ,www.advocacycenter.org , and www.fddc.org within two weeks of the event.

Join Thousands of Advocates Demanding Action!

Call your Senators and Representatives toll-free:

1-800-828-0498 (thanks to Families USA!).

Tuesday, January 26, has been selected as a National Call-In Day for people with disabilities and older adults to contact their Members of Congress and tell them that healthcare reform should be passed as soon as possible. Members of Congress need to hear from you now about the need to pass real healthcare reform that includes the CLASS Act and Community First Choice Option.

Use the toll-free number above or call the Capitol switchboard at (202-224-3121) to reach the Washington office of your Representative and two Senators. NCIL also recommends that you call their local district offices. Find your Senators and Representative. Every Representative and Senator, of both parties, must hear this message:

“The time is NOW for Congress to pass meaningful healthcare reform that includes the CLASS Act and improvements in Medicaid home and community based services. All Americans deserve meaningful reforms in healthcare and long-term care that are within reach.”

Healthcare reform has taken a dramatic turn over the course of the last week. This is a chance for the grassroots disability community to flex some muscle and tell Congress that reform is still possible and must be achieved. Be a part of the wave that brings reform back and moves Congress to get this done!

Action Alert- Paratransit routes will be cut at the end of January without additional funding

ClasTran provides over 110,000 trips each year - 55,000 trips for seniors to area nutrition centers, 1,700 life saving trips to dialysis centers and 3, 500 trips to work and school.

Your letters, calls and emails are urgently needed, today. Ask commissioners to identify new funding to continue this service.

Jefferson County Commission
Jefferson County Courthouse
716 Richard Arrington Jr Blvd North
Birmingham, AL 35203

Bettye Fine Collins - President (District 4) collinsbfine@jccal.org 325-5070

William A. Bell, Sr. (District 1) bellwa@jccal.org 325-5504

Jim Carns (District 5) carnsj@jccal.org 325-5503

Bobby Humphryes (District 3) humphryesb@jccal.org 325-5555

Shelia Smoot (District 2) smoots@jccal.org 325-5074

Affected riders are encouraged to submit letters, faxes and e-mail to the Birmingham News. Letters should be about 200 words and must include the writer's name, address and daytime telephone number. (The address and phone number will not be published.) Letters may be edited for grammar, spelling and brevity. For questions about submitting a “Letter to the Editor”, call Marvera Goymer at (205) 325-3252 or e-mail her at epage@bhamnews.com.

For other questions or if you need more information call Judy Roy at 251-2223 ext. 102.

This flyer was developed and disseminated by grassroots transportation advocates.

Please share this alert with your network.

Rules on Travel with Emotional Support Animals are Discriminatory

On May 13, 2009, the Department of Transportation's (DOT) Air Carrier Access Act revised regulations went into effect. These rules for the first time applied U.S. nondiscrimination provisions on foreign air carriers with flights the originate in the U.S.

However, another provision of the regulations requires a uniquely high level of documentation from individuals who seek to board aircraft with psychiatric service animals or emotional support dogs.

These rules demand written documentation, such as a note from a mental health professional testifying to the need for the animal to accompany the passenger, 48 hours in advance for both psychiatric service animals and emotional support animals to be allowed on an aircraft. This is not required for service animals of people with disabilities that are not psychiatric in nature.

Seeing the regulations as discriminatory to people with mental illnesses, the Psychiatric Service Dog Society attempted to stop the rule a few months before it went into effect, but was not successful.

However, on September 18, 2009, the Department issued a new request for comments, based on the Psychiatric Service Dog Society's letters urging repeal on the rules.

DOT is seeking comments from the public on whether it should begin a new rulemaking on this practice. They are particularly seeking comments from the public on how the rule, which has been in effect since May 13, 2009, is working or not working.

The deadline for comments is December 17, 2009.

The make your voice heard, visit DOT's special input page to view and comment on the rules:

http://www.regulations.gov/search/Regs/home.html#documentDetail?R=0900006480a2662c

President signs hate crimes bill into law

President Barack Obama signed an expanded hate crimes bill into law Wednesday making it a federal offense to commit a crime against a person based on their disability. The law entitled the Matthew Shepard-James Byrd Hate Crimes Prevention Act, expands current hate crimes law to include violence based on gender, sexual orientation, gender identity and disability. The law is named after two murder victims from 1998 who were targeted for attack because of bigotry. Federal law already includes protections for crimes committed based on race, color, religion or national origin.

President Obama Stated, “No one in America should ever be afraid to walk down the street holding the hands of the person they love. No one in America should be forced to look over their shoulder because of who they are or because they live with a disability. At root, this isn't just about our laws; this is about who we are as a people. This is about whether we value one another -- whether we embrace our differences, rather than allowing them to become a source of animus.”

Quoting President Johnson from when he signed civil rights legislation into law in 1968, Obama said that "the bells of freedom ring out a little louder," when he signed the Act into law.

“You understood that we must stand against crimes that are meant not only to break bones, but to break spirits -- not only to inflict harm, but to instill fear,” Mr. Obama said, “You understand that the rights afforded every citizen under our Constitution mean nothing if we do not protect those rights -- both from unjust laws and violent acts. And you understand how necessary this law continues to be. “

People with disabilities are 50 percent more likely to experience nonfatal violent crime than those without disabilities, according to a Justice Department study released in early October. The study found that about one in five crime victims with disabilities believe their disability was the reason they were targeted.

You Tube Video on Healthcare

Heather Graham stars as the Public Option in this funny ad, showing how she'll force the lazy, bloated private insurance companies to get back in the game and compete.

After all, competition is as American as apple pie.

Featuring actor Peter Coyote as the narrator

Go here to view the video.

Act Now to Ensure the CFC Option and CLASS ACT Remain in Healthcare Reform!

Call Sen. Shelby and Sen. Sessions, today, and ask for their support!

You may call toll-free (thanks to Families USA): 1-800-828-0498 or use the
Capitol switchboard: 202-224-3121.

Message

I am calling to urge Senator _________ to ensure that both the CLASS Act and
the Community First Choice Option are included in the final healthcare
reform bill in the Senate. People with disabilities who need long term
services and supports now or in the future should be:

1. a part of the solution;
2. able self-determine the services and supports that they really want;
3. able to have the freedom to choose where they want to live.

Background Information

This week the Senate Finance and the Senate Health, Education, Labor and
Pensions (HELP) Committees are merging their separate healthcare reform
bills into one single bill that will go to the Senate floor to be debated as
early as next week. Two critical provisions that change the way long term
services are delivered and funded for people with disabilities are included.
These two provisions complement one another and must be a part of the final
Senate bill!

The Finance Committee bill includes the Community First Choice (CFC)
Medicaid Option. This state option will allow the states to offer broadly
defined attendant services and supports in one's home or community setting
to individuals eligible for nursing home, ICFs/MR, and other institutional
level care. To encourage the states to implement the CFC Option, the state
will receive a 6 percent increase in its federal medical assistance
percentage (FMAP) match for services provided under this option. The CFC
moves us one step closer to ending the institutional bias in Medicaid!

The Health Education Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee's bill includes the
Community Living Assistance Services and Supports Act (CLASS) Act. The CLASS
Act would create a solvent, affordable, premium-based, national insurance
program providing a cash benefit that can be used for assistance with the
activities of daily living. This helps state Medicaid budgets because many
people will have a way to avoid becoming impoverished by spending down to
Medicaid eligibility levels. The CLASS Act complements the CFC Option and
Medicaid, Medicare, and private long term care insurance.