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PAWL Video

A movie about people and families on the PA Waiting List.

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link PA Waiting List

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A New National Listserv for the Waiting List - "NOEWAIT" - The National Organization to End the Waitlist through Advocacy, Information and Transformation

Dedicated to ending national waitlists for services for adults with Developmental Disabilities through ADVOCACY within the political system, the sharing of INFORMATION from all sources, and the TRANSFORMATION of the laws, leading to all individuals with Developmental Disabilities receiving appropriate services of their choice within the community. Waitlists for services for adults with developmental disabilities are a national disgrace. Some states have over 100,000 adults with extreme needs waiting for services. A few states have passed legislation to end the waitlists. Yet, individuals in most states are fighting for services on a person-by-person, state-by-state basis. There seems to be no national awareness nor coordination, yet this is truly a national issue. The moderator, Denver C. Fox, Ed.D., is a parent of two adult children with profound disabilities. He is the moderator of the Colorado listserv, Parents of Adults with Disabilities. Dr. Fox and PAD-CO participants have been very active in the Colorado attempt to reduce the waitlists for about 7,000 adults with developmental disabilities in the Colorado system. This listserv is open to all parents, friends, professionals, politicians and others, and is designed to gather information about the extent of the waitlist in each state, to find out what attempts are being made to solve that problem within each state (and their success), and to develop a national agenda regarding ending the disgraceful waitlists.

For more information: NOEWAIT

PLEASE LET OTHERS KNOW!


A L E R T

EDUCATION OF YOUTH IN RESIDENTIAL TREATMENT FACILITIES

A Residential Treatment Facility (RTF) is a place where children and adolescents go to live an receive mental health treatment. There has been some confusion about the education and special education rights of children and adolescents living at RTFs and about what happens when they return to their home school districts.

The Disability Rights Network of Pennsylvania and the Education Law Center of Pennsylvania are interested in helping families make sure that their children in RTFs get the education services they need.

Keep in mind:


•  Children who have not graduated from high school have a right to continue to receive a public education while living at an RTF.

• Children who need special education services have a right to those services while living in an RTF, and have a right to receive the services in the least restrictive environment appropriate to their needs.

•  If it is right for the child, and no court has prohibited it, the school district where the RTF is located must allow a child living in the RTF to attend the school district’s public schools.

• Some RTFs have their own schools on their grounds. An RTF cannot require a child to attend its on-grounds school. If the child has an Individualized Education Program (IEP), the IEP team should decide where the child attends school.

• A parent has a right to continue to help develop his or her child’s IEP or Service Agreement and to make educational decisions while the child is in the RTF.

Please call the DRN Education Help-line at 1 (800) 692-7443 if your child is in an RTF and you need help getting him or her needed education or special education services while at the RTF, or if you are concerned about your child's educational placement when he or she returns home.


Premise Alert System
 

On April 7th of 2008, The Premise Alert System was presented to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania by the Honorable Chris Ross, Representative from Chester County in a ceremony at the Rotunda in our state capitol building. The Premise Alert System is a safety program that supports individuals living with disabilities as well as Police Officers responding to calls at a specific address.

For more information: CLICK HERE


Adult Protective Services

Please communicate with your State Senator and Representative this week about the need to include start-up funds for Adult Protective Services in next year’s budget.  We need to build a groundswell of support to be noticed in this busy budget season.

For more information: CLICK HERE

Letter from Senators and Representatives to Caucus Leadership

Adult Protective Services Coalition


Stretching Hearts and Hands across the Miles to Costa Rica

Several months ago Susan Tachau, Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Assistive Technology Foundation reached out to Vision for EQuality asking us to help sponsor the trip of a young Costa Rican special education teacher, Connie, to America. Vision was pleased to step up to the plate.

Connie arrived in March during Easter time, full of enthusiasm and anxious to learn more about services for people with disabilities and parent supports in the United States, the nature of our philosophy on independent living and our use of assistive technology. Connie spent almost two full weeks in Philadelphia and much of that time was with some of Vision’s staff. Thanks to Vision, Maureen Devaney, Ana and Emilio Pacheco and Sharon Harper-Young, she received a warm reception in the City of Brotherly Love and was able to learn a lot about people with disabilities in our fair City. 

During her short visit here Connie was accompanied around Philadelphia by a number of Vision’s staff to places such as Temple, a charter school, and a Spanish church. She had dinner with the Pacheco’s and learned more about what life is like in America, especially for a child with a disability. She was escorted by the Pacheco’s to St Christopher’s Hospital where she was able to see the entire facility,  meet with some of their staff, and watch a hearing screening as well as learn about other medical services for children with disabilities. The Pacheco’s generously offered a wheelchair their son no longer needed, and it was shipped to Costa Rica. Here at Vision she was introduced to a renowned leader in the field of “gentle teaching”.

Sharon Harper-Young stepped up to the plate and presented Connie with the opportunity to visit her son’s school, the First Philadelphia Charter School for Literacy, where children with disabilities are fully included. There she was warmly received by the principal, Ms. Stacy Clarke and the students. During her visit the members of the school learned of the dire circumstances of many children with disabilities in Costa Rica, where Connie is one of only 5 special education teachers in all of the country.  After hearing Connie’s story and with a little urging from Sharon, the principal and members of the school decided that day to adopt Connie’s class and to send help in the year ahead so they can have things like books and other school supplies.

Connie put in a full two weeks in Philadelphia, spending every waking hour immersed in learning all she could.  She has returned to Costa Rica full of inspiration, richer for the experience, and with a desire to continue to lead the charge, bringing a message of hope to the families, children and teachers in her small country by sharing the wealth of information she found here in America and offering a vision of what they can work towards and do to effect change and the future of people with disabilities in Costa Rica.

Thanks to Vision for Equality, Maureen Devaney, Ana and Emilio Pacheco and Sharon Harper-Young, Susan Tachau and others who made Connie’s time in Philadelphia such a success.

 

 


 

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