Webinar Part I: Supported Decision-Making and Youth in Transition
Date: April 16, 2015 | 1:00 – 2:30pm ET
Presenters:
Pamela Downing-Hosten, Office of Specialized Instruction,
District of Columbia Public Schools
Jonathan Martinis, Legal Director, Quality Trust for Individuals with Disabilities
More Information and Webinar 1 Materials
Special Education Transition Services are designed to facilitate the movement of the child from school to post-school activities based on the individual child’s needs, taking into account the child’s strengths, preferences and interests.
20 USC 140(34)
The individualized transition plan is an opportunity to not only focus on development of employment and independent living skills but also to build and practice self-determination. Why then are so many parents being told to consider guardianship and deny their child’s right to fully participate in the IEP development?
Webinar Part II: Supported Decision-Making and Medicaid, Home and Community Based Services Settings Final Rule
Date: May 14, 2015 | 1:00pm-2:30pm ET
Presenters:
Barbara Brent, Director of State Policy, NASDDDS
Samantha Crane, Director of Public Policy, ASAN
Jonathan Martinis, Legal Director, Quality Trust for Individuals with Disabilities
More Information and Webinar 2 Materials
“The setting is selected by the individual from among setting options including non-disability specific settings… are based on individual needs and preferences.”
“The setting is integrated in and supports full access of individuals receiving Medicaid HCBS to the greater community, including opportunities to seek employment and work in competitive, integrated settings and engage in community life…”
“How can individuals with disabilities be more involved in the decisions about settings that enhance engagement in community life? How would supported decision-making help to make decisions about setting options that are based on individual needs and preferences?”
January 16, 2014
CMS Final Rule on Home and Community Based Settings
Webinar Part III: Supported Decision-Making and the ABLE Act, “Achieving Better Life Experience”
Date: June 17, 2015 | 1:00pm-2:30pm
Presenters:
Lisa Mills, Public Policy Chair, TASH
Allison Wohl, Executive Director of the Association of People Supporting EmploymentFirst (APSE)
Jonathan Martinis, Legal Director, Quality Trust for Individuals with Disabilities
More Information and Webinar 3 Materials
Presenters
Lisa Mills, Public Policy Chair, TASH
Allison Wohl, Executive Director of the Association of People Supporting EmploymentFirst (APSE)
Jonathan Martinis, Legal Director, Quality Trust for Individuals with Disabilities
Description
The Achieving Better Life Experience (ABLE) Act breaks new ground in exploring opportunities for eligible individuals with significant disabilities to rethink their future goals regarding work, income saving and investment, and community participation. The beneficiary of an ABLE account is also the owner of the account. Over 25 states are now considering legislation to set a framework for the establishment and administration of ABLE Accounts. Who will make decisions about savings goals and disbursements from ABLE accounts? Are there less restrictive options for account owners than guardianship and the removal of decision-making authority?
Presenter Bios
Lisa A. Mills Ph.D., the Public Policy Chair at TASH; is currently a consultant on disability employment policy and systems change working in fourteen states under various contracts with state government agencies and federally funded initiatives. She has 25 years of experience in the field of disabilities with a primary focus on people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Prior to becoming involved in the area of employment, Lisa worked on self-determination, self-advocacy and supported decision-making through a Robert Wood Johnson grant in Wisconsin. She assisted self-advocacy leaders in Wisconsin to establish People First Wisconsin, a statewide, independent non-profit organization and acted as their administrator for six years. She also worked as a consultant in Dane County, Wisconsin on the roll out of self-directed services, including development of self-advocacy and self-determination training resources and supported decision-making resources.
Allison Wohl, the Executive Director of the Association of People Supporting EmploymentFirst (APSE), a national membership organization that promotes the full inclusion of people with disabilities in the workplace and community. After fifteen years in corporate America, having worked in the federal practices of several “Big Four” consulting firms, as well as at GE, Allison knew it was time to leave her busy life as a consultant for the even busier, but more rewarding world of disability advocacy, after the birth of her youngest son Julian in 2009, who was diagnosed with Down syndrome. Allison received her MBA from the College of William and Mary and her undergraduate degree from SUNY Binghamton. In addition to Julian she is the mom of two other boys.
Jonathan Martinis, Legal Director, Quality Trust for Individuals with Disabilities and Project Director, National Resource Center for Supported Decision-Making. Jonathan Martinis has over 20 years’ experience representing people with disabilities in cases under the Americans with Disabilities Act, The Rehabilitation Act of 1973, The Social Security Act and other civil rights laws. In 2013, he represented Margaret “Jenny” Hatch in the “Justice for Jenny” case, which held that Ms. Hatch has a right to use Supported Decision-Making instead of being subjected to a permanent, plenary guardianship. He also represented the plaintiffs in Brinn, et al. v. Tidewater Regional Transportation District, the first case to hold that people with disabilities have a right to paratransit transportation on a next-day basis, and Winborne, et al. v. Virginia Lottery, which held that the Lottery must ensure that premises selling Lottery tickets, including private businesses, are accessible to people with disabilities.
Moderator
Michael Morris, the Excecutive Director of Burton Blatt Institute and Executive Director of National Disability Institute (NDI) has over 25 years of experience in research, knowledge translation, and system change activities advancing community participation and economic self-sufficiency for individuals across the full spectrum of disabilities. Morris’s undergraduate degree, political science with honors, is from Case Western University, and his law degree is from Emory University School of Law in Atlanta, GA. In 1981, Morris was named the first Joseph P. Kennedy Fellow in Public Policy and worked for Connecticut Senator Lowell Weicker as legal counsel to the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on the Handicapped. He next served as counsel to the U.S. Senate Small Business Committee. Morris then worked at United Cerebral Palsy Associations as Director of Government Relations, then Director of Community Services, and finally National Executive Director. During his 14-year tenure, his leadership put focus on assistive technology’s role in employment, education, communications and daily living. Morris’ proposal for policy development led to passage by Congress of the Assistive Technology Act. Read more.