Every November, National Family Caregivers Month (NFCM) recognizes and honors family caregivers across the country. Led by Caregiver Action Network, it is also an opportunity to raise awareness of caregiving issues, educate communities, and increase support for caregivers.

ACL is a proud observer of NFCM, but works year-round through programs and councils to engage, support, and empower caregivers. For NFCM 2020, ACL created a special materials page to help you join us as we #RAISEcaregiving next month.

The election is less than a week away. Many people with disabilities face additional challenges when voting. From absentee ballots not being accessible, to polling places not being accommodating, to issues filling out the ballot... The list goes on and on. There is hope from disability organizations that the Wisconsin Legislature will soon improve voting accessibility! 

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HHS's Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) has a new online training on older adults and disasters that is designed to improve public health and emergency medical responders’ capability to address the access and functional needs of community-dwelling older adults in disasters.

This new training complements ASPR's previously-released Access and Functional Needs (AFN) web-based training defines the concept and requirements for addressing the AFN of at-risk individuals, and provides tools and resources to help you address the AFN of at-risk individuals in your community during disaster preparedness, response, and recovery activities.

The trainings are at-your-own-pace and free, although participants will need to create an account in the TRAIN system to access training. 

We want to congratulate this year's Diehard Award winners who were recognized at the Self-Determination Conference. These individuals received a Diehard Award for going above and beyond in supporting the lives of people with disabilities. Please help us congratulate and thank these people for their outstanding advocacy efforts:

• Pam Runge Malin
• Erica Andres
• Pam Jenson
• Monica and Francisco Javier Lopez Sr,
• Ashley Mathy
• Philip Temme
• Cindy Bentley
  

Parents of children with disabilities are facing difficult decisions about how to keep their children safe and learning. To help, Stanford University has developed a Back-to-Safe Communities of Learning (SCOL) Decision Guide in English and Spanish. The tool was designed with and for parents of children with special healthcare needs based on input from public-health experts, parents, and health providers. It is meant to serve as a conversation starter and to guide discussion between a parent and a trusted advisor, such as a pediatric health provider.

The Social Security Administration recently announced that there will be a 1.3% increase in Supplement Social Security Income and other Social Security benefits in 2021. The increase is a result of the annual cost-of-living adjustment due to inflation. It's slightly lower than last year's increase.  

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Wisconsin Assistive Technology Council launches new YouTube channel

The channel will offer videos of past WisTech trainings.

Wisconsin’s Assistive Technology Advisory Council (AT Council) has launched a YouTube channel in order to share videos of WisTech assistive technology trainings. All of our past trainings, dating back to 2017, are available to watch, and new videos will be added as trainings occur.

We encourage you to use these trainings as on-demand learning opportunities. Please feel free to share and subscribe to the AT Council YouTube Channel to learn about various topics and to be notified when new content is added.

The Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) has developed several dashboards to provide information regarding how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting members and participants in the following adult long-term care programs: Family Care, Family Care Partnership, IRIS (Include, Respect, I Self-Direct), and PACE (Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly). DHS is collecting the information from managed care organizations and IRIS consultant agencies and will be updating the dashboards each Wednesday by 2 p.m.

View dashboards

For many people with disabilities, finding accessible housing is very challenging. There is a significant shortage of accessible housing in Wisconsin. One lady in Merill has been given notice that her place she's renting from is going up for sale, so she has to find somewhere else to live. She is having a very hard time finding an accessible place. She doesn't want to be in an assisted living place, so she is taking matters into her own hands. She is trying to fundraise to be able buy an accessible house.

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The quality of life of persons living with all types of disabilities is closely tied to the services they receive in home- and community-based settings. Among these services are residential supports, personal care services, and community living supports. Despite its importance, the quality of home and community-based services (HCBS) has historically been difficult to define and even more difficult to measure. 

By working with researchers, measure developers, policymakers, and advocates, the NIDILRR-funded Rehabilitation Research and Training Center (RRTC) on HCBS Outcome Measurement is committed to:

• Validating and refining a national framework of HCBS outcomes for persons with disabilities (National Quality Forum); and
• Implementing the framework to refine and develop measures to assess the impact of HCBS on the lives of people with disabilities in the community.

In order to assist stakeholders in understanding key aspects of quality measure development, the RRTC on HCBS Outcomes has developed the following issue briefs:

• Brief 1: Involving Stakeholders to Address Challenges in HCBS Measure Development: Toward Person-Centered Measurement
• Brief 2: HCBS Outcome Measurement Tools and Current State Approaches to Measurement
• Brief 3: Development of HCBS Outcome Measures

Forthcoming briefs will focus on:

• The psychometrics of HCBS outcome measurement;
• Developing HCBS measures that are responsive racial, ethnic, and cultural diversity;
• Person-centered measurement;
• Measurement in HCBS: Best practice versus current implementation;
• Functions and uses of RTC/OM HCBS Outcome Measurement Instrument databases; and
• Use of HCBS outcome data for policy-making decisions.

RRTC on HCBS Outcome Measurement staff from the University of Minnesota are collaborating with Temple University, the Ohio State University, the University of California - San Francisco, and  Brandeis University’s Lurie Institute for Disability Policy, as well as other partners, supporters and stakeholders from around the country to study and support development of HCBS quality measures. The RRTC also offers technical assistance and consultation to organizations serving people with disabilities around the country to assist with selection and application of measures in different contexts.

For additional information please email rtcom@umn.edu.