Intellectual Disabilities Updates

[Cheryl Felak]

Dear Advocates,

Mark Stroh, Executive Director of Disability Rights Washington, often reminds me of this quote from the late Daniel Moynihan -

"People are entitled to their own opinions but not their own facts." 

What I find so interesting is that I try to share facts but Mr. Stroh believes they are opinion and will not allow them to be published on any Disability Rights Washington social media sites.  These are facts which have been researched from the original sources and are all cited. Even if they were my opinion, why not let others read and decide for themselves?  Mr. Stroh is not even allowing folks to have access to the information so that they may decide for themselves.  

We all need to know what we advocate for.   My goal is for a continuum of care which is safe, stable, sustainable, and cost effective and one which provides quality care.  We need to look at the individual and respect the choice which each person, together with their family/guardian, makes in deciding what is the least restrictive environment for them.  This is what the US DD Act and the 1999 US Supreme Court Decision Olmstead  require too.  We need to hold our advocates accountable to these.  



Disability Rights Washington is not the only advocacy group in our state or country which censors the facts to align with the issues which they advocate for.  The Arc chapters, the Developmental Disabilities Council and even the Division of Developmental Disabilities publishes "research" which is so flawed it is frightening.  The case in point would be the oft quoted and referenced report "Assessment Findings for Persons with Developmental Disabilities Served in Residential Habilitation Centers and Community Settings"  The Key Findings do not even reflect what the research was about.  For information about this report which more accurately looks at the data (actually, if one just read the report itself, you could see the Key Findings were inaccurate), the graphs on this link illustrate the differences in the support needs of the residents assessed in the report.  

Other facts which Mark Stroh will not accept are the data collected from the Certified Residential Care Provider Cost Reports which each supported living agency must submit annually to DDD.  These reports are very helpful in determining what the cost of care for clients of various support nees are and seeing the actual DDD reimbursements that each agency receives.  I do not know why this data had not been used for budget issues since it is extremely helpful in comparing "apples to apples."  

I am hearing more and more from people are realizing that they have not been fully informed of the issues or who feel betrayed or "tricked" by those in the major advocacy groups.  People who I have never met have written to me to say that they saw me speak at the King County Legislative Forum - either in person or on TVW - and apologized for how I was treated by the announcer.  Actually, I didn't notice him being rude - maybe it was because I had my son with me and I was focusing on trying to keep his energy contained and his voice down.  

This is good news though - to me it means that we are becoming more united in our advocacy to provide safe, quality and cost-effective care to our most vulnerable citizens.  Only good can come from being united.  

Which brings me to other good news.  Our Shoreline Community Lifelong Learning PTA has scheduled our first meeting.  It will be on Saturday July 28, 2012 from 3-5PM at the Shoreline Library.  This PTA will be focusing on High School and our lifelong learners into adulthood.  We are looking at building community supports and providing meaningful opportunities for those who have high support needs.  

The PTA is not just for kids, teachers and parents - it's for COMMUNITY!

Community means

Belonging - Participating - Contributing