News

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) published an interim final rule (IFR) that seeks to simplify processes, remove barriers to entry, and increase eligibility for certain types of assistance under their Individual Assistance program. These changes will help make it easier for people to receive the assistance they need after a disaster, which is especially important for people with disabilities and older adults, who are disproportionately affected during and after disasters due to accessibility needs.

Among other things, the interim rule:

  • Increases eligibility for home repair assistance.
    • This includes allowing survivors with disabilities to use FEMA funding to make certain accessibility improvements to homes damaged by a declared disaster. This change helps survivors with disabilities improve their living conditions by making their homes even more accessible than they were pre-disaster.
  • Makes improvements to program registration requirements.
  • Simplifies the documentation requirements for continued temporary housing assistance.
  • Simplifies the appeals process.
  • Establishes additional eligible assistance for serious needs, displacement, disaster-damaged computing devices, and essential tools for self-employed individuals.

The IFR goes into effect on March 22. Comments can be submitted online until July 22. FEMA will then consider whether to make changes to the rule on the basis of comments received.

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Member Spotlight: Lindsey


By SD Network, 2024-02-28

IMG_7057.jpegMeet Lindsey. This talented author, illustrator, artist, and motivational speaker has proven many people wrong. She’s excited to be a keynote presenter at an upcoming conference. She believes that it’s Important for people understand that it’s ok to ask for help. We’re so fortunate to have her as a member of the Network!

What's your story?  Tell us a little bit about yourself.

Lindsey shares that she was diagnosed with autism when she was 28 months old. Her family had given little hope from others. She explains that they were told that she would never drive a car, get a job, go to college, or never live independently. She has proved them wrong over and over. She does drive a car, she graduated with an Associates Degree from UW-River Falls, she works full time at Target, and she’s a homeowner with her sister! She’s a co author, artist and illustrator, and a motivational speaker. She and her family wrote their story together to help other families living with autism. She’s also a coauthor with her aunt for the children book series entitled, Little Lindsey. “We both want everyone of all ages to learn and understand what it's like living with autism,” she says. She has been an artist since I was 13 years old and presents her work in art shows. She’s an illustrator for Koda the Fluff, Florida’s famous therapy dog, as well!

How are you involved with self-determination? Why did you join the SD Network?

Lindsey tells us that a couple years ago she heard about the Self-Determination Conference from her friend, Ashley Mathy. “She sent me information about it. Thanks to her, I was a keynote speaker in the fall of 2022,” she excitedly shares! She decided to join the SD network because she wants to share her story and help make a difference. 

Tell us some good news - what's the most exciting thing happening for you (or in Wisconsin) in terms of self-determination? 

Lindsey is excited that she will be a keynote speaker at the Employment First Conference this spring in Wisconsin Dells! 

What tip or resource would you like to share with people who want to be more self-determined?

Lindsey stresses that it’s okay to reach out for help. “You are never alone. You all matter. You are always welcome to share your story to help other people. Always be yourself. You have the capacity to be anything that you want to be,” she exclaims!

What are some of your hobbies?

In her spare time, Lindsey loves drawing, hanging out with friends and family, reading books, watching movies, traveling, and going out for walks.

***We love hearing the views and opinions of Network members. We need to mention that the views and opinions expressed on this site are those of the person who is sharing them. They do not necessarily reflect InControl Wisconsin or any of our supporters and funders.

Stepping off a sidewalk curb. Running down the stairs in your house. Cutting fruit for dinner. Crossing the street to get the mail. What do these things have in common? They all have a physical factor of caution. Obviously, most adults don’t think twice about doing any of these things. Simple tasks become second nature as children grow into adults. When was the last time you actually thought about being cautious when you were running down a staircase to do something? Unless there are obvious sign of danger, most people don’t even think about the hundreds of risks they take in a day. Albeit, very small in most cases, every single thing we do has some level of caution associated with it. Some people are known to be more cautious than others. It’s no different when it comes to people with disabilities—some of us are way more cautious than others.

In a journal entry about a year ago, entitled, Dignity of Risk, I talked about the big risks I’ve taken in life. I explained that the big risks I’ve taken have taken have led to opportunities I’ve never could have imagined and have really shaped my life. While that’s 100% true, there are several things that I have to do very cautiously every day.   Most things that I have to be careful are that most people wouldn’t have to even think about.  Things as simple as turning on my wheelchair after I’ve been sitting at my computer desk working all are things that I have to really careful while doing because if I hit my phone off the mount, I couldn’t contact anyone until my next worker came. This has happened a couple of times before, and it’s a scary feeling. As minute as this sounds, another example would be when I feed myself lunch, I have to be very careful not only that I don’t drop the food, but I also have to be very cautious that I don’t choke myself. Until recently, this wasn’t a huge concern; however, within the last month or two, I’ve noticed that eating has become a bit more difficult. So far, fortunately, I’ve been able to clear my throat on my own by coughing, but, when I feed myself lunch, nobody would be here to help me if I were to actually choke. I have to be very cautious when I eat by myself.

Another thing that I have to be very careful about is moving around my apartment by myself. Yes, my apartment is accessible, but if a tire on my wheelchair would get caught on a doorway or something, I would literally be stuck until someone came to help me. Yes, I would have my phone so I could text people for help; however, depending on the situation, I could be stuck in the same spot for hours. Being stuck isn’t the only thing I have to worry about. A power wheelchair is like an automobile—things wear out and the you experience mechanical problems from time to time. This is what I’ve been experiencing recently. As luck would have it, the day before I was supposed to come back to my apartment after the holidays, an error message started flashing on my joystick. We called the wheelchair place, and they had us try a couple different things; none of which got rid of the error. They said as long as it was working OK, I should be fine to go back. It continued to flash, so a couple weeks later, I had a doctor’s appointment in Fondy and we arranged for my wheelchair to be dropped off at the shop so they could determine what was wrong with it. They thought it was the joystick, so a new one was ordered. Well, it finally came in and my wheelchair guy came to my apartment to replace it. Unfortunately, the error message popped up on the new joystick, so it wasn’t what they thought. Knock-on-wood, the chair is still working fine, but I find myself being even more cautious when I’m alone. I’m so afraid of getting stranded.

Other unique things that I find myself being overly cautious about are things that seem miniscule to most people. A simple task like restarting my computer can be risky to do when I’m alone. I have so many pieces of adaptive equipment that plug into my computer that when I have to restart, it’s always a gamble whether or not everything is going to work. If a piece of equipment isn’t working, I have to wait until someone is here to unplug it and plug it back in.

There are several things like that where if I attempt to do it myself, I risk the chance of doing more harm than good. In other words, if I attempt to do something myself, I risk messing it up. I’m constantly trying to balance being cautiously independent and risking messing whatever it is up to the point where I can’t proceed without assistance from another person. At times, it can be mentally wearing trying to be as independent as possible; yet, having to use an abundance of caution at the same time.

While most people likely don’t realize it, every single person uses some level of caution on a daily basis. Caution is a human instinct. People have a wide variety of caution. Some people are overly cautious; while others are riskier. Being a cautious person comes with pros and cons. On one hand, you may miss out on opportunities because you like to play it safe, but, on the other hand, playing it safe gives you assurance. Each of us has to find a balance of caution that she/he feels comfortable with. There is no such thing as a right level of caution. It’s an individual choice. I challenge you to test your level every once in a while—by doing so, it could lead to something you’d never dream of!

***The views expressed here are strictly those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of InControl Wisconsin, the Network or any of our sponsors.

The number of people with disabilities across the country who are employed is at its highest level since federal officials started keeping track. According to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, 22.5% of people with disabilities had jobs in 2023. That’s an increase of 1.2 percentage points from the year before.

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New TA Opportunities and Resources To Address the Dire Shortage of Direct Care Professionals


Today, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced several new initiatives and resources from ACL’s Direct Care Workforce Strategies Center to address the dire shortage of professionals who provide the services many older adults and people with disabilities need to live in the community. These include two technical assistance opportunities to help states strengthen their systems for recruiting, retaining, and developing direct care workers; an online hub to connect states, stakeholders, and communities to best practices and other resources related to the direct care workforce; and a webinar series for states and stakeholders focused on a range of direct care workforce topics.

This press release was posted earlier today on HHS.gov

HHS Announces a Multi-Pronged Effort to Strengthen Direct Care Workforce


DCW Strategies Center offers technical assistance opportunities and online resource hub
 

Today, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through the Administration for Community Living (ACL), announced several new initiatives and resources from ACL’s Direct Care Workforce (DCW) Strategies Center to address the dire shortage of professionals who provide the services many older adults and people with disabilities need to live in the community. These include two technical assistance opportunities to help states strengthen their systems for recruiting, retaining, and developing direct care workers; a national hub to connect states, stakeholders and communities to best practices and other resources related to the direct care workforce; and a webinar series for states and stakeholders focused on a range of direct care workforce topics. These initiatives will help sustain the impact of the $37 billion in American Rescue Plan funding invested to date by states in home and community-based services, and support the comprehensive set of actions and investments included in the President’s executive order to improve care.

“Today’s announcement reflects the Biden-Harris Administration’s steadfast commitment to strengthen the caregiving infrastructure and increase the availability of home and community-based services for older adults and people with disabilities,” said HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra. “Like our efforts to support the development of clinicians and grow the behavioral health workforce, the Direct Care Workforce Strategies Center is an important component of our Health Workforce Initiative.”

“Urgent action is needed to address the shortage of direct care professionals, which is threatening to reverse decades of progress in community living,” said Alison Barkoff, who leads the Administration for Community Living. “The DCW Strategies Center was created to strengthen collaboration across state agencies, direct care professionals, people receiving services, and other stakeholders in order to improve recruitment, retention, and development of this critical workforce. The initiatives announced today are an exciting step forward toward this goal.”

Two technical assistance opportunities are available to states:
  • DCW Intensive Technical Assistance, which will facilitate collaboration among state agencies – including Medicaid, aging, disability, labor and workforce development systems – and with stakeholders to improve recruitment, retention, training, and professional development of the direct care workforce. It will include a focus on strategies to help states sustain direct care workforce initiatives funded through the American Rescue Plan. The DCW Strategies Center will provide up to 250 hours of individualized technical assistance on a variety of issues for up to six cross-agency state teams. Each team will be assigned a coach and have access to subject matter experts to support them in addressing their state’s unique needs. Each team will include representatives from the state’s Medicaid, aging, disability, and workforce development agencies, in addition to other stakeholders. The support provided through this initiative will be coordinated by a consortium led by ADvancing States, in partnership with the National Association of State Directors of Developmental Disability Services and the National Association of State Medicaid Directors.
  • DCW Peer-Learning Collaboratives, which will bring together four to six states in a working group focused on a particular topic. There will be up to three learning collaboratives available to states. The DCW Strategies Center will host monthly virtual meetings focused on group learning to facilitate information sharing on best practices, innovative strategies and demonstrated models for growing the direct care workforce. In addition, each participating state will receive up to 70 hours of individual technical assistance on a topic or issue important to the state. Each participating state will be expected to accomplish one policy or program-related milestone within the parameters of the topic of focus as a result of participation in one of the collaboratives.
On Friday, March 8, at 2 p.m. EST, the DCW Strategies Center will host an informational call to provide more information about these technical assistance opportunities. Advance registration is required. Complete details about these opportunities, including application instructions, also can be found in the call for applications.

Today also marks the official launch of the DCW Strategies Center website. The website serves as the national hub for resources including information about best practices, promising strategies, upcoming events, webinars and technical assistance opportunities, and more to support states, stakeholders and communities in strengthening and expanding their local direct care workforce. The library features resources from federal agencies, as well as resources published by partners from all levels of government, research and advocacy organizations, non-profits and industry, and other stakeholders.

Finally, on Thursday, March 7, at 10:30 a.m. EST, the DCW Strategies Center will kick off a technical assistance webinar series. The series will address a variety of topics related to strengthening and supporting the direct care workforce. In the first session, participants will learn about the DCW Strategies Center and hear from senior leaders from the White House and from across the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Department of Labor, who will share some of the work being done by federal agencies to strengthen the nation’s capacity to support community living by improving recruitment, retention, and training of this vital workforce.

About the direct care workforce crisis


The direct care workforce is an integral part of the care infrastructure, and includes people with various job titles, including personal care attendants, home health aides, direct support professionals, direct service workers and more, who help support older adults and people with disabilities to live in their own homes and communities. Their services also provide respite for, and complement the support provided by, families caregivers.

Low wages, lack of benefits, limited opportunities for career growth, and other factors have resulted in a long-standing shortage of these critical professionals. That shortage reached crisis levels during the COVID-19 pandemic and continues today, with more than three-quarters of service providers declining new participants and more than half cutting services.

As a result of the workforce shortage, people who need assistance often have no option except to move to a nursing home or other institution; people who want to leave these facilities cannot; and the health and safety of those who live in the community are put at risk.

As the populations of older adults and people with disabilities grow, so does the demand for home and community-based services. Without urgent action, the problem will only continue to get worse.

About the DCW Strategies Center


Part of the HHS Health Workforce Initiative, ACL’s DCW Strategies Center builds upon ongoing collaboration between ACL, the U.S. Department of Labor, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid, and the HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation. It is operated by the National Council on Aging, in partnership with more than a dozen organizations representing the aging and disability networks, service providers, direct care professionals and the people they serve, and other key stakeholders.

The DCW Strategies Center provides technical assistance to states and service providers and facilitates collaboration with stakeholders to improve the recruitment, retention, training, and professional development of members of the direct care workforce.

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Development and Leadership Opportunities Open for Youth with I/DD


Applications due Friday, March 8, 2024


The Center for Transition to Adult Health Care for Youth with Disabilities, an ACL grantee, is recruiting youth and young adults ages 12-26 with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) to participate in development and leadership opportunities. These opportunities will allow members to grow, build relationships, and impact national work while receiving a stipend for their time and work. There are two opportunities available:
  • Youth Steering Committee (YSC) Member: The YSC is a group of youth ages 17-26 who guide the center's design and operation. The YSC guides the work plan, develops resources, and supports evaluation efforts. YSC members receive ongoing support and education to build their knowledge about health care transition and leadership skills.
  • Youth Development Initiative (YDI) Committee Member: The YDI is a group of youth ages 12-17 with I/DD who will receive training and mentoring by young adult leaders also with I/DD. This initiative will help them understand health care transition, advocacy, and self-determination. These skills support youth in their own transition and prepare them for potential leadership opportunities.
For more information or to apply, visit the SPAN Parent Advocacy Network website. Contact rshandler@spanadvocacy.org with any questions.
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Volunteers Needed for a Research Study for People with Spinal Cord Injury (SCI)

The study will test a health promotion program for people aging with SCI.

You may be eligible if you:

  • Have had a traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI) 
  • Are at least 45 years of age OR have had your injury for at least 15 years
  • Have access to a smartphone, tablet or computer with internet connection
  • Are able to communicate in an online group in English
  • Live in the U.S

The 8-week Living Longer and Stronger with SCI program (LLS for short) is a group health promotion program offered online in Zoom.  

Eligible participants will be randomized (like flipping a coin) to either the LLS program or a control group.

All participants will complete online questionnaires on three occasions. Participants will receive a small payment for their time.

Contact the study staff to find out if you are eligible by phone: 713-797-7572 and by email: TIRR.LLSstudy@uth.tmc.edu.

The study is funded by the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR). The study is conducted by TIRR-Memorial Hermann’s Spinal Cord Injury and Disability Research Center in Houston, Texas in collaboration with investigators affiliated with the University of Texas Houston Health Science Center, and the University of Montana.

Apply Now for AAPD's 2024 Fall Internship Program

The 2024 AAPD Fall Internship Program Application is now open! AAPD’s Internship Program places students and recent graduates with disabilities in paid internships. Interns build leadership skills, explore career opportunities, and connect with the disability community.
The 2024 AAPD Fall Internship Program will be fully virtual. Ten interns will be selected to complete remote internships at placement sites. Interns will work part-time for 15 hours a week, and be paid $18/hour. The program will run for 14 weeks from September 3 to December 6, 2024.
Interns will:

  • Attend a virtual kickoff call in June.

  • Attend an in-person gathering in Washington D.C. from Wednesday, July 24, 2024 to Saturday, July 27, 2024.

  • Participate in a virtual orientation on Sunday, August 25 from 12-4pm ET with breaks.

  • Take a disability advocacy class every 2 weeks, currently planned for Fridays between 12-3pm ET.

  • Connect with a virtual mentor

  • Join virtual community events throughout the fall

Apply Here by March 13 at 5pm ET
Interested potential applicants can join a virtual information session on Monday, March 4 from 4:00pm - 5:00pm ET to learn more about the program and the application process and get your questions answered. CART and ASL will be provided. The session will be recorded and available on the AAPD website. 
Register for the Information Session
For additional information, please visit our Fall Internship Program webpage. If you have any questions, please email internships@aapd.com or call 202-975-0241.

New Research Funding Opportunity for RERC on Information and Communication Technologies Access


Proposals due Monday, April 15, 2024


ACL's National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR) is announcing a new funding opportunity for a Rehabilitation Engineering Research Centers (RERC) program on information and communication technologies access.
 
The purpose of the RERC program is to improve the effectiveness of services authorized under the Rehabilitation Act by conducting advanced engineering research and development of innovative technologies designed to solve particular rehabilitation problems or remove environmental barriers. 

The RERC on Information and Communication Technologies Access will conduct research and development toward innovative technologies and strategies that will make information and communication technologies optimally accessible and usable for people with disabilities. 
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According to the World Economic Forum, of the 90% of companies that claim to make diversity a priority, only 4% are inclusive of people with disabilities. Companies can take steps to improve efforts by focusing on a key area of business: communications and events. This article explains  some effective ways a company can ensure it is making efforts when it comes to disability, inclusion and accessibility in its communications and special events.

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