News
LIFT THE CAPS CALL-IN DAYS! FEB 7, 8, 9
Help us create a Disability Drumbeat!
The Bills to Lift the Caps on Long-Term Care programs are in DANGER.
Wouldnt it be great if we blasted the Capitol in Madison with calls from people with disabilities, families and disability advocates all at the same time asking them to provide the supports people need in Wisconsin??? Then no one could ignore our call to lift the caps on Family Care, IRIS, PACE and Partnership and expand these important long-term supports to EVERYONE in Wisconsin who needs them!
If you have called before, call again! If you havent called, NOW IS THE TIME! It is easy!!!Lets Create a Drumbeat for People with Disabilities in Wisconsin!
Our friends at AARP are letting us use their simple legislative hotline. When you call this number, you will be greeted by AARP and then asked to type in your zip code. (The call is not recorded or used in any other manner.) The phone service will then dial your representative or senator and connect you directly with that office!
Call the AARP Legislative Hotline ANYTIME FROM FEB. 7,8,9: 1-800-844-2847
(You do not have to use this hotline, you can always call your rep directly on your own)
Why is this important?
The bills in the Capitol right now to lift the caps on Family Care/IRIS and expand the programs statewide are STALLED and may DIE in committee if legislators do not take action in the next couple weeks. The caps will not be lifted unless these bills pass! These bills need to move now! More than 8000 people statewide are waiting for critical daily supports!
What you can say:
People with disabilities and seniors in Wisconsin need long-term supports to live their lives! Family Care and IRIS are important programs! It is time to lift the caps and let people who live in counties without these programs have access to these supports ! Move these bills (Assembly Bill 477 and Senate Bill 380) now!
Need more information?: http://www.dawninfo.org/news4/post.cfm/take-action-to-end-the-waiting-lists
Thanks to our friends at BPDD and DRW for sharing this information with us.
The two lift the caps bills have now been formally introduced. We expect a hearing date to be announced soon and will need people who use IRIS/Family Care and want it to be available to others to come to Madison and testify. We'll send out that date as soon as we know what it is.
The biggest thing you can do now is document your stories so that legislators can hear from you.Please complete this survey to share your story:http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/SurveytoendtheRwordandliftthecaps
Here is the bill information:
http://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/2011/proposals/SB380" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">SB-380.Family Care(Moulton) Removes the cap on enrollment of Family Care and other long-term care programs.To Public Health, Human Services, and Revenue.
http://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/2011/proposals/AB477" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">AB-477.Family Care(Kaufert) Removes the cap on enrollment of Family Care and other long-term care programs.To Aging and Long-Term Care.
The Call to Action is:Call your legislator today!Tell them please Vote for Senate Bill 380 and Assembly Bill 477 which will lift the caps on long-term care programs like Family Care and IRIS in Wisconsin. People with disabilities require these supports to have good lives!
Find your legislator here:http://legis.wisconsin.gov/w3asp/waml/waml.aspx
Thanks to Lisa Pugh, Public Policy Coordinator for Disability Rights Wisconsin, for sharing this information with us.
Once more we say good-bye to an amazing advocate, parent and friend. On Jan. 22, the disability community in Wisconsin lost Lisa Young, following her long battle with cancer. Although she fought this battle longer than most people can imagine, Lisa never let it define her life or the lives of her children. Together with her husband, Brian, they provided a loving home for three wonderful children even while she struggled.
Lisa never sought the spotlight. Rather she led quietly, encouraging and supporting people with disabilities and other parents to be become leaders - through her work with Parents in Partnership, with WSPEI, with her everyday work. With her support, her son Patrick has also become a leader in the disability community, serving on the Wisconsin Board for People with Developmental Disabilities.
We will miss Lisa... Her grace, her laugh, her willingness to be there for others. May she rest in peace. We send our love and support to Brian, Patrick, Stephen,andRachel at this sad time.
Hello Everyone,
I have been a member of the WI Community of Practice on Transition's "Wisconsin Youth First" Practice Group for some time now and we are excited to announce that we were awarded one of the WI Board for People with Developmental Disabilities SPARKS grants to develop and market a "Going to Work" Video Series!
These videos will feature 5 youth from Wisconsin with disabilities who have obtained employment sharing their experiences with finding employment.
In our recruiting efforts I thought about how our SDS Network group members might be able to refer some students that we have worked with to be featured in these videos. We also want to include interviewing their employers for the videos.
Ideally, we're looking for a diverse mix of disabilities and youth who have transitioned to competitive employment, but we would consider good candidates who are in college or high school and also working. Participants of the videos will be provided a gift card to thank them for their participation.
The series will consist of 5 videos: Meet the Characters, Understanding your Disability and Self Advocacy, Disclosing your Disability, Job Interviewing Skills and Asking for Accommodations on the Job.
Would you be able to assist us in this effort either through referring students, and/or working with us on the project, and/or connecting us with others who may also have referrals?
I will be happy to provide you with additional information to answer any questions you may have. You can reach me at schiltz.cheryl@gmail.com.
Thank you for your time and we look forward to hearing from you.
Have a glorious day!
Cheryl
Amanda Bell is one of three nominees for National Organizer of the Year!
Please go tohttp://www.facebook.com/grassrootssolutions and cast your vote for Amanda right now.
Really, this vote is for Living Our Visions and the families and people with disabilities who built LOV from the ground up and continue to build it every day. It's also a deserving high-five to asset-based, relational community organizing. A positive approach in some darker times.
Anyone, anywhere, can vote. Really? Yup. Borders don't exist in Facebook.
If your friends want to know why they should vote for her, read the below nomination note.
Don't have Facebook? It's super simple and will take two-minutes to set up. Just go to Facebook.com, set up an account and then go to http://www.facebook.com/grassrootssolutions and cast your vote!
And please encourage your friends or family members that care about community, inclusion, and the power of assets, to do the same.
Amanda Bell picked up the phone and developed a taste for coffee. She spent two years in coffee shops listening deeply to those that didn't hang up on her. She empowered those families to "use what they have to get what they don't have", mobilizing their gifts and relationships and those of the greater community to create meaningful lives brimming with friends, contributions and choices. Knowing the service system and government funding are forever stressed, Amanda asked families, "What would the good life look like for your child? We'll go from there." Families who know isolation answered a "community-centered life." For them that included creating a community building non-profit they named Living Our Visions-Dane (LOV). These families have created a web of relational support and family-designed projects they pool their own money to fund, to meet needs.
Knowing that people with disabilities have limited access to genuine relationships in community groups, Amanda and LOV imagined and created a Citizen Connector group to act as a bridge. Citizen Connectors are well connected, community folk who open their rolodexes to support LOV's vision and meet regularly for coffee. Need a horse, astrologist, free baked goods and a meeting with a government official in two days? Citizen Connectors will likely make that happen in 10 minutes or less. And they'll be smiling. That's organizing done right.
LOV members are also spearheading a "Get Your Vote On" project that includes leaders with cognitive disabilities reaching out to their peers around Wisconsin's new Voter ID law.
Amanda listens deeply and focuses on assets versus deficits at both a global and individual level. The eight families that started LOV-Dane in a living room, have built themselves into a 30-family strong organization. It's not easy or clean, but it is the roots of grass and sustainable if I've ever smelled it.
On Monday, December 19, 2011, Wisconsin's disability community lost one of our dearest friends. Jayn Wittemyer, of Mt. Horeb, passed away at the age of 74. We are all saddened by this great loss.
Everyone who met Jayn soon knew what a dynamo she was - a straight-talking, energetic advocate for people with disabilities. Her belief in every human being was unshakeable and her passion for the rights and inclusion of people with disabilities was boundless.
Jayn worked as the executive director of the Wisconsin Council on Developmental Disabilities (now the Board for People with Developmental Disabilities) for 21 years. She could (and would!) talk with anyone in her efforts to promote her message - state and federal legislators of both parties, heads of state agencies, families, university students - while still making time for her family, including her beloved Amy.
We are a better state because of Jayn Wittenmyer. And I am a better person for having known her.
To find out more about Jayn, go toKnow Your MadisonianorJayn Wittenmyer. Feel free to share your thoughts about Jayn below.
LOV-Dane (Living Our Visions) is hiring for a part-time Community Connector!
By Stefanie Primm, 2011-12-07
LOV-Dane Bridge Builder Position
Do you have a passion for building a strong and inclusive community? Do you enjoy bringing people together?
LOV-Dane (Living Our Visions, Inc.) is a grassroots group of community members including individuals with disabilities and their families who are working together to find the good life. We are looking for an energetic, creative person to increase the civic engagement of a group of individuals with disabilities by assisting them to join community groups and associations. The right candidate will be active in the Dane County community, be a deep listener, and be comfortable talking to just about anyone!
Check out our website for more information: www.lovdane.org
I recently heard about a documentary that will be coming out soon; hopefully on Wisconsin Public Television. The storyline of "This is My Sister" reads as follows:
"This Is My Sister" is a journey of Love, Strength and Commitment, all taught by example, by Earl & Marion Fischer to their three daughters. In 1957, when nearly all babies born with developmental disabilities were institutionalized, Earl & Marion said, "No, not Mary," even as the doctors said Mary would not even know their name or may even harm their family. The sisters take Earl & Marion's example of what unconditional love is, redefining it evermore. "This Is My Sister" is a rare, life-affirming journey from those who have been in the shadows, doing the hard work of everyday living. They are the eternal flame of dignity and grace. They ask for nothing and give everything without pause.
Written by Frank G. Caruso
To stay up to date with what's happening with the Movie you can follow"This is My Sister" on Facebook.(or just click on "This is My Sister")
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 1, 2011
Contact: Lawrence Carter-Long, Public Affairs Specialist
Phone: 202-272-2112
Email: LCarterLong@ncd.gov
Statement by the National Council on Disability on the 19th Observance of International Day of Persons with Disabilities, December 3, 2011
WASHINGTON, D.C. The National Council on Disability today released the following statement on the occasion of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, December 3, 2011:
NCD observes the 19th International Day of Disabled Persons, first recognized by the United Nations General Assembly in 1992. The theme of this years observance is Together for a better world for all: Including persons with disabilities in development.
Why is meaningful involvement by persons with disabilities in international development important? The United States invests billions of taxpayer dollars into foreign assistance programs that foster international diplomacy and development annually, aimed at improving the quality of life for people around the world. These programs develop economies, promote democracy and governance, provide humanitarian assistance, build new infrastructure, and advance and protect human rights. Given that 15 percent of the world population is made up of people with disabilities, and growing, the United States cannot effectively accomplish the goals of foreign assistance programs unless it ensures programs are accessible to and inclusive of people with disabilities.
Conservative estimates by the World Health Organization suggest more than one billion people, an estimated 15 percent of the worlds population, have a disability. 80 percent of these individuals live in developing nations. Although people with disabilities make up a large segment of the global population, they continue to face worldwide discrimination and segregation at alarming levels. Moreover, numbers are likely gravely underestimated because people with disabilities are typically shunned, hidden from public view by their families, and commonly excluded from community activities.
Exclusion from the built environment prevents use of necessary services and resources that non-disabled populations take for granted. These barriers have a negative, spiraling effect. Physical barriers also keep people with disabilities from using voting centers, polling places, courthouses, administrative agencies, schools, and embassies.
Those who arent hidden by families or communities of origin are often left to languish in institutions further removing them from civic and social engagement. Conflict and poverty continue to increase the incidence rates of disability in less developed and industrialized economies alike. Already significant numbers are rising due to a variety of factors including aging, poverty, armed conflict, as well as improved data collection.
Overseas economic development will not be successful unless people with disabilities are included. If development is not inclusive, the significant numbers of people with disabilities in developing countries will hinder the very economic growth the U.S. seeks to facilitate. NCD recommends both micro-level solutions to spark income generation in coordination with large scale interventions to create the kinds of legal and regulatory structures to better serve and benefit from the contributions of people with disabilities.
As the world observes the 19th International Day of Persons with Disabilities, NCD welcomes the opportunity to focus greater attention to workable solutions to concerns faced by people with disabilities, their families and the diverse communities people live in around the globe.
About NCD: Founded in 1978, the National Council on Disability is a small, independent federal agency comprised of 15 Presidentially-appointed, Senate-confirmed Council Members and a small staff, who advise the President, Congress and other Federal agencies on disability policy, programs and services.
More information on NCD's website at: http://www.ncd.gov
In April 2010 we launched the Peer Specialist Employment Initiative website www.wicps.org
The total hits for 2010 were 4,255.
As of today, November 30, 2011 the 2011 website hits are 20,464!
This means the site is used often and the pages that receive the most hits are Employment, Career and
Links/Resources. I update the site once a week or more depending on how many job postings we receive and updates on PS trainings. The site is fresh, accurate and informative and remains an important information source for the WI Peer Specialist Program.
Thank you,
Alice F. Pauser, CPS
WI Peer Specialist Program Coordinator
Access to Independence, Inc.
3810 Milwaukee Street
Madison, WI 53714
608-242-8484 ext 224