DISABILITY
ISSUES
INFORMATION
FOR
JOURNALISTS
ABOUT
THE CENTER
Upcoming webcasts discuss implementing the Olmstead decision
Note to readers: links to news articles may not work after a few weeks, as news media remove current stories to their archives. The link may take you to the archives section, where, for a fee, you can view the article.
Sept. 17, 2002 -- Although the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in its 1999 Olmstead decision that states have an obligation to provide services in the "most integrated setting," the effort to ensure that people can live in their communities rather than in institutions is still getting underway. A series of free webcasts from ILRU online aims at educating advocates in this area.
Next Wednesday, Sept. 25, ILRU Online offers "Community First! Getting/Keeping People with Disabilities Out of Nursing Homes and Other Institutions,' with ADAPT's Bob Kafka. The webcast airs at 2 p.m. Central Time. For instructions on how to get the webcast, go to http://www.ilru.org/online/instructions.html. (Please visit this site a few days prior to the webcast to test your computer and software.) ILRU would like to know how many people plan to attend the webcast; if you do, please e-mail them at webcast@ilru.org with the words "Sept. 25" in the subject line.
Other webcasts in the series will run throughout the fall. "Leveraging Olmstead in a Difficult Budget Environment," with Allan Bergman and Tony Records will air Mon., Oct. 7, 2002 at 2:00 p.m. Central Time. "Housing Options: Community Living and Assisted Living," with Jay Klein airs Wed., Oct. 9 at 2 p.m. Central Time, and "State Legislatures and Olmstead: What the States are Up To," with Jo Donlin and Wendy Fox-Grage airs Wed., Nov. 6 at 2 p.m. Central Time.
For more about what is happening with states in implementing the Olmstead decision, go to http://www.ncsl.org/programs/health/forum/olmsreport.htm -- for background on the decision, go to http://www.accessiblesociety.org/topics/ada/olmsteadoverview.htm
Bob Kafka is a national organizer with ADAPT and co-director of the Institute for Disability Access in Austin, Texas; he currently serves on the Board of the National Association of Protection and Advocacy Systems. Allan Bergman is President/CEO of the Brain Injury Association of America; Tony Records is a consultant with an extensive background in litigation on community living; for more information on these presenters, go to http://www.ilru.org/online/handouts/2002/Bergman/about.html.
Oct. 7's presenter, Jay Klein, is with at the Center for Housing and New Community Economics (CHANCE) and the National Home of Your Own Alliance at the Institute on Disability (IOD) at the University of New Hampshire; more on Jay Klein can be found at http://www.ilru.org/online/handouts/2002/Klein/about.html
Nov. 6's presenters, Johanna M. Donlin and Wendy Fox-Grage, are with the National Conference of State Legislatures. For more information on them, go to http://www.ilru.org/online/handouts/2002/Donlin2/index.html
Other resources on Olmstead available from ILRU can be found at http://www.ilru.org/olmstead/index.html