Call for Presenters for the 2025 Self-Determination Conference 

Are you interested in presenting at the 2025 Self-Determination Conference?  The Wisconsin Board for People with Developmental Disabilities is seeking session proposals for Tuesday, October 21st and Wednesday, October 22nd, 2025. This year’s theme: Self-Determination by Design: Your Life, Your Way will help people with disabilities lead more Self-Determined lives by offering tools to plan the life they want to live in the communities they choose! Proposals are due May 9th. Learn more and submit a proposal!

Keep Talking with your Legislators about Medicaid 

Members of Congress will be back in their districts the week of March 15th. It’s a great opportunity to connect with federal lawmakers about and how important the help you get from Medicaid is to you and your family.

On February 25th, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a Budget Resolution that committee to $2 Trillion in cuts, with at least $880 Billion in cuts assigned to committee that covers Medicaid. On March 5th, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office confirmed major cuts to Medicaid are the only way to reach the level of cuts required by the Budget Resolution. 

• Can House Republicans Cut $880 Billion without slashing Medicaid? It’s Likely Impossible (Kaiser Health News)

Since January, Congress has been thinking about ways it could cut Medicaid to get money for other priorities. The public process that will let people know which Medicaid cut ideas and what the details of those ideas are has not started yet. However, the list of ideas on how to cut Medicaid has stayed the same, with some members of Congress publicly supporting certain ideas.

This week the President's nominee for the administrator for the Centers of Medicaid Services--the federal agency in charge of Medicaid--would not commit to opposing Medicaid cuts. This week the President indicated he was supportive of changes that would make it harder for people to get in or stay in Medicaid, and changes that could make it harder for health and long term care businesses to get paid in a timely way.  

Now is a great time to tell lawmakers what Medicaid helps you do, and what it would mean if you got any less help that you have now.

The Board for People with Developmental Disabilities is holding webinars every Friday at 9 AM unless cancelled. You can find recordings of these webinars at the BPDD Youtube Channel.

ACTION STEPS for this week.

Congress will be home this week.

1. Go with a small group (no more than 3-4) of constituents to in-district offices to talk about Medicaid.
2. Bring a written copy of your Medicaid story to leave behind.
3. In-district office closed?
4. Leave a note. Bring a written copy of your Medicaid story to leave behind.
5. Take a picture of yourself and note at the in-district office and share it.
6. Make sure the local press gets a copy of your story and picture at the in-district office too.

Upcoming Important Election 

On April 1^st the statewide Spring Election will be held in Wisconsin.  Every ballot in Wisconsin will include races for the Wisconsin Supreme Court, the Wisconsin State Superintendent, and a Constitutional Amendment question. There will also be local races on many ballots which might include school board, mayor, city council, alderpersons, and circuit court judges.  If you would like to see what is on your ballot, whether you are registered to vote, where you need to go on election day to cast your ballot, and more go myvote.wi.gov.  If you would like more information about the candidates, visit Personalized Ballot | VOTE411, enter your address, and scroll down to research each candidate and the constitutional amendment on your ballot.

Voting is essential to upholding our democracy.  Voting gives you the opportunity to express your opinion on important issues that affect you.  If you don’t vote, other people get to choose who will represent you.  If people with disabilities voted at the same rate of those without disabilities, there would be about 1.75 million more votes cast nationwide.  25% of eligible voters have one or more disabilities.  People with disabilities are a powerful voting block that can impact the outcome of our elections. 

The Self-Determination Network includes some very talented members and we want to help you to get to know each other a little better. Member Spotlight is a great way for us to get to know each other better.

For March, we're shining the spotlight on Lauren. This resilient author found her happy place at camp when she was a kid. She graduated from college, worked in nonprofit marketing for years, and now is a camp coordinator for a weeklong summer camp and weekend camps for adults with neuromuscular diseases. Stop by this month's Member Spotlight to get to know Lauren.    

Who should we shine the spotlight on next?

Stacy’s Journal