The Coalition for Community Choice
The Coalition for Community Choice is a new alliance of organizations, businesses, and housing professionals that strive to meet the housing and employment demand for an array of life options for those with intellectual/developmental disabilities (I/DD).The CCC adheres to the following principles:
- Supports and life opportunities for individuals with disabilities should be person-centered and based on their individually defined preferred settings, support needs, and meaningful life goals.
- Quality of support services should be based on the feedback, culture, and personal experiences from individuals being supported, and their families and caregivers, rather than specific physical characteristics of a setting.
- Individuals with disabilities have the human and civil right to choose from the broadest range of home, workplace, and community supports and settings. Policy should increase options and decrease barriers to affordable housing, meaningful work opportunities, and direct support service professionals.
- The development of home, community, and work opportunities should be driven by the individuals who are and will be receiving support services in those settings.
For question or more information, please contact the CCC National Coordinator, Desiree Kameka, DKameka@MadisonHouseAutism.org.
Links to News and Events
Delaware: Keep informed at Families Speaking Up - "We work to ensure that all voices are heard in the ID/DD debate...Just as one size cannot fit all, one perspective cannot know all, one voice does not tell all!"CCC : Guidance for States Implementing the Federal HCBS Rule
ACTION ALERT! Read about the legal implications of the Home and Community-Based Settings Rule and Act Now!
From the CCC Blog 2/26/16:
"Home and Community: An Individual Choice, Not An Ideological Debate"
"Access to affordable and supportive housing is becoming increasingly challenging, and funding for waiver supports and housing vouchers is not meeting the demand. It is concerning that professional, non-state resident advocates are writing letters to Medicaid authorities in Arizona and Florida urging the state to restrict individuals with disabilities from accessing supports in targeted settings they deem not “Home & Community-Based” on the basis of physical characteristics....read more
From The DD News Blog:
1 comment:
Sorry Can not find a way to get this to you This could be a beginning of a Hand book I have not heard anyone dealing with the RIGHTS We hear about what they claim are rights but ours are real to say the least Tom Spellman call me with questions 414 403 1341
RIGHTS OF ALL DISABLED INDIVIDUALS including those who work at Community Rehab Programs (CRP) (Sheltered Workshops).
It is up to each disabled individual to exercise any or none of these RIGHTS.
Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standard Act of 1938 as amended in 1986 grants all disabled individuals (6,000+ in Wisconsin) who work at CRP’s (Sheltered Workshops), the RIGHT to WORK for less than the minimum wage.
Section 14(c) also provides all disabled individuals with “the RIGHT to WORK itself” with two conditions 1) that their behavior is socially acceptable and 2) that there is an opening at the local CRP (workshop). As we know all working age individuals have the right to apply for any job that they want to. It is only if they are hired, that they will have a job and be able to work for at least the minimum wage. Whereas all disabled individuals who meet the 2 conditions listed above will be able to WORK.
All disabled individuals have the right of association. What is special about CRP’s (workshops) is that with time, true friendships develop with both the other workers as well as with the staff. What is critical to understand is that personal individual associations are part of what defines us as individual human beings. These relationships, in large part, will be with others much like ourselves. To shut down CRP’s (workshops) because Disability Rights Wisconsin claims that CRP’s are segregated denies disabled individuals this most basic human right of associating with whomever they choose to be with. Of the 50 individuals in Rosa’s workshop she has significant relationships with 4 or 5 of them and recognizes almost all of her co-workers and staff.
The fourth right. All disabled individuals have the right to a Person-Centered Service Plan as granted in SS 441.725. The Person-Centered Service Plan is a specific plan for each disabled individual that establishes what is least restrictive for that person and most beneficial for them as well. While the regulation is poorly written, and written as if some disabled individuals do not exist, it does provide all disabled individuals the right to a Service Plan that is specific to their needs and desires and dreams. Every disabled person has the right to a plan and that plan is all about them.
Although there may be others for the interest of this case these are the ones to focus on.
Disability Rights Wisconsin has a duty, and a responsibility, to represent the RIGHTS of those who work at CRP’s. As we know DRW is NOT doing that. On the contrary they are working against those disabled individuals who benefit from working by eliminating the RIGHT to work for less than the minimum wage.
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