Date: Thursday, May 22, 2014
Supported Decision Making Webinar Series – Part Three
During this webinar a panel of experts discuss policy development options to accelerate systems change at a local, state, and federal level. The following questions guide the webinar presentation: What are the implications of the Jenny Hatch decision for future Olmstead litigation and settlement agreements? Should SDM and the development of decision-making capacity be a part of Special Education transition planning? Should guardianship laws be changed to identify or embrace SDM as a less restrictive option?
Materials
May 22, 2014 Webinar Audio Recording
May 22, 2014 Webinar Transcript
Presenters:
- Sharon Lewis, Principal Deputy Administrator of the Administration for Community Living and Senior Advisor to the HHS Secretary on Disability Policy
- Allison Wohl, Executive Director of the Collaboration to Promote Self-Determination (CPSD)
- Barbara Brent, Director of State Policy for National Association of State Directors of Developmental Disabilities Services (NASDDDS)
- Sue Swenson, Deputy Assistant Secretary, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative ServicesUS Department of Education
Sharon Lewis was appointed Principal Deputy Administrator of the Administration for Community Living and Senior Advisor to the HHS Secretary on Disability Policy in November 2013. Prior to this Sharon was the Commissioner of the Administration on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities beginning in March 2010. Well known as an effective advocate, Sharon has a proven track record in championing disability issues. She has been particularly focused upon ensuring that the perspective of people with disabilities and their families are central to program and policy efforts. Sharon has worked in disability policy for more than 15 years at local, state, and national levels. She originally came to Washington, D.C. to serve as a Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. Foundation Public Policy Fellow, working for Senator Chris Dodd’s HELP subcommittee on Children and Families. In 2007, she joined Chairman George Miller’s Education & Labor Committee staff as Senior Disability Policy Advisor, where she advised members of the Committee on disability concerns related to education, employment and healthcare. Sharon is the recipient of numerous awards, including the 2010 Distinguished Leadership in National Disability Policy Award and the Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities. She is a parent to three daughters, including one with disability. She is a native of Michigan and a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis.
Allison Wohl is the Executive Director of the Collaboration to Promote Self-Determination (CPSD), a coalition of twenty-one national disability groups that advocates for the kind of comprehensive, innovative public policy reform that presumes the competence of all citizens with disabilities. She received her MBA from the College of William and Mary. After sixteen years in corporate America, working at big 4 consulting firms in their federal practices and at GE, she decided that it was time to take her experience to the public sector. Allison writes about systemic barriers to Americans with significant disabilities for various blogs as well as her own; she has been featured in blogs in the New York Times and the Washington Post. Allison is actively involved in the Down syndrome advocacy community on the local and national levels. She is the mom of three boys, the youngest of whom has Down syndrome.
Barbara Brent is the Director of State Policy for National Association of State Directors of Developmental Disabilities Services (NASDDDS) and has more than 34 years of experience in publically funded systems for children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. She has worked in state and county government, as well as in the private sector. Before joining NASDDDS in 2012, Barbara was the state director for the Arizona Division of Developmental Disability Services, supporting more than 30,000 children and adults with developmental disabilities, along with their families. She oversaw Arizona’s acute/medical and long-term care service and support systems designed to help people live successful lives in their Arizona communities through a unique managed care system, and over 500 home and community-based service providers. With continuous focus on developing and enhancing in home and community supports and services, listening to the individual and family voice, and recognizing the importance of all members of the community, more than 87 percent of all people with I/DD in Arizona lived in the family home or homes of their own during her tenure. Barbara also served as the deputy director of the Arizona Division of Developmental Disabilities where she focused on community capacity building, the design and implementation of quality improvement, autism supports, and stakeholder engagement initiatives. Previously, Barbara served as Tennessee’s deputy commissioner for the Division of Developmental Disabilities, director of the Oregon Supported Employment Initiative, and as community services director for the city and county of Denver.
Sue Swenson currently serves the Obama administration in the office of special education and rehabilitative services. She has served two U.S. presidents as commissioner for developmental disabilities. Sue was a Kennedy fellow in 1996 and has held various leadership positions in the nonprofit sector. She worked with two of her sons, Will and Charlie, and Charlie’s assistant Zach to deliver testimony on legal capacity to the disability caucus that was working to draft the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
Reactor
Ari Ne’eman is the President and co-founder of the Autistic Self Advocacy Network, an advocacy organization run by and for Autistic adults seeking to increase the representation of Autistic people across society. He is an Autistic adult and a leading advocate in the neurodiversity and self-advocacy movements. In 2009, President Obama nominated Ari to the National Council on Disability. He worked to shut down the New York University Child Study Center’s “Ransom Notes” campaign and also led other successful disability community responses to offensive advertisements, including the response to the Autism Speaks “I am Autism” fundraising video. Ari serves as a member of the Institute of Medicine’s Forum on Aging, Disability and Independence, and as a board member of TASH. He previously served as a public member to the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee, Vice Chair of the New Jersey Adults with Autism Task Force, a member of the New Jersey Special Education Review Commission, and was the first ever Patricia Morrissey Disability Policy Fellow at the Institute for Educational Leadership. Ari has received the HSC Foundation “Advocates in Disability” Award, and the Expanding Horizons Award from United Cerebral Palsy. In his policy work, Ari has worked on a wide variety of disability rights related legislation relating to education, transition, employment, rights protection and other areas.
Hosted by: National Resource Center for Supported Decision-Making
Citation: Lewis, S., Wohl , A., Brent, B., Swenson, S., Ne’eman , A., & Campanella, T. (2014, May 22). Supported Decision-Making: The Next Level of Policy Development. In Supported Decision-Making Three Part Webinar Series. Sponsored by Quality Trust for Individuals with Disabilities, the Burton Blatt Institute at Syracuse University, and and Autistic Self Advocacy Network