Olmstead Consumer Taskforce 2007-2008 Priorities
adopted from the August 24, 2007
Report of Iowa’s Olmstead Policy Summit on Cross-Cutting State Policy Issues
Affecting Older Iowans and Iowans with Disabilities
The members of the Olmstead Consumer Taskforce have identified the following four priority areas from the complete recommendations of the August 2007 Olmstead Policy Summit as a focus for their advocacy efforts. The Olmstead Consumer Taskforce fully supports the goals and the complete recommendations of the Olmstead Policy Summit, “Community, Opportunity, Prosperity . . .”
- Engage Iowans with disabilities to teach advocacy skills to other people with disabilities.
- Modify income and asset standards and base eligibility criteria on what an individual needs to maintain a dignified life.
- Assure full inclusion of Iowans with disabilities and older Iowans in all segments of their communities.
- Raise the state SSI Supplemental rates to a level that supports moving out of poverty, while preserving all other services and benefits including those provided at the county level.
Olmstead Consumer Taskforce 2007-2008 Priorities
adopted from the August 24, 2007
Report of Iowa’s Olmstead Policy Summit on Cross-Cutting State Policy Issues
Affecting Older Iowans and Iowans with Disabilities
Priority One: Peer Advocacy Training and Support
ENGAGE IOWANS WITH DISABILITIES TO TEACH ADVOCACY SKILLS TO OTHER PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES.
Experience is an effective teacher. Persons with disabilities who have had employment, independent living, and other community experiences can serve as valuable resources to others, especially those who wish to transition from an institutional setting to community living. Programs that support peer to peer mentoring benefit both those who mentor and those who learn from their example.
Recommendations for Action:
- Encourage and support individuals with disabilities in taking the risks necessary to explore and realize their individual potential
- Fund aggressive cross-agency training for persons with disabilities to learn and improve effective self-advocacy skills.
- Increase opportunities for mentoring and peer support for people with disabilities
- Provide education for Iowans with disabilities who live in institutional settings about community living options and supports
- Connect Iowans with disabilities who wish to leave institutional settings to peers who have already made a successful transition to community life
Olmstead Consumer Taskforce 2007-2008 Priorities
adopted from the August 24, 2007
Report of Iowa’s Olmstead Policy Summit on Cross-Cutting State Policy Issues
Affecting Older Iowans and Iowans with Disabilities
Priority Two: Needs-Based Eligibility Criteria
MODIFY INCOME AND ASSET STANDARDS AND BASE ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA ON WHAT AN INDIVIDUAL NEEDS TO MAINTAIN A DIGNIFIED LIFE.
Recommendations for Action:
UNIFY THE SYSTEMS
- Adopt common eligibility standards across state agencies and systems
- Adopt a common definition of disability across state agencies and systems
- Establish universal criteria for counting income and assets
- Facilitate the transfer of documentation between state agencies
OFFER SERVICES WITHOUT IMPROVERISHING
- Offer access to services based on need, not solely on income so that people are not forced to live in poverty to receive needed assistance
- Focus on functional need, not resources
- Design eligibility policies that allow people with disabilities and older Iowans to “buy in” to services on a sliding scale rather than be disqualified due to arbitrary income cut-offs
- Enhance Medicaid for Employed Persons with Disabilities (MEPD) to provide incentives to increase earnings and independence
- Support asset accumulation to allow individuals to raise their own standard of living without sacrificing access to services
SUPPORT CHOICE AND INDEPENDENCE
- Separate service entitlement and eligibility from the setting where a person resides
- Support families by removing the “marriage penalty”
- Support increased consumer education efforts to enhance knowledge of the services systems and consumer choices
Olmstead Consumer Taskforce 2007-2008 Priorities
adopted from the August 24, 2007
Report of Iowa’s Olmstead Policy Summit on Cross-Cutting State Policy Issues
Affecting Older Iowans and Iowans with Disabilities
Priority Three: Full Community Inclusion
ASSURE FULL INCLUSION OF IOWANS WITH DISABILITIES AND OLDER IOWANS IN ALL SEGMENTS OF THEIR COMMUNITIES.
Recommendations for Action:
PROMOTE HIGHER EXPECTATIONS
- Review and modify all state policies to reflect high expectations of persons with disabilities to be fully participating and contributing members of the community
- Eliminate all archaic, disrespectful, and discriminatory language imbedded in the Iowa Code and administrative rules
- Reduce Iowa’s overall reliance on sheltered workshops by providing meaningful incentives for creating supported competitive employment opportunities
- Visibly reassert the state’s commitment to affirmative ADA compliance in access to public transportation, housing, public facilities, and recreational venues
LEAD THROUGH EXAMPLE AND TRAINING
- Position state agencies as models in offering and providing accommodations in the conduct of the state’s day-to-day work
- Embark on an aggressive statewide information campaign to educate all segments of the public about the benefits of including persons with disabilities in all aspect of community life
- Train state agency managers, service providers and private employers about reasonable accommodations, assistive technology, and the benefits of hiring persons with disabilities
- Provide information and training to private sector human resource managers on programs that provide support for employing persons with disabilities
- Establish financial disincentives for programs that segregate consumers of public services from the mainstream
Olmstead Consumer Taskforce 2007-2008 Priorities
adopted from the August 24, 2007
Report of Iowa’s Olmstead Policy Summit on Cross-Cutting State Policy Issues
Affecting Older Iowans and Iowans with Disabilities
Priority Four: Protect Access to Services While Supporting Financial Independence
RAISE THE STATE SSI SUPPLEMENTAL RATES TO A LEVEL THAT SUPPORTS MOVING OUT OF POVERTY, WHILE PRESERVING ALL OTHER SERVICES AND BENEFITS INCLUDING THOSE PROVIDED AT THE COUNTY LEVEL.
Iowa’s current system of public services in effect requires the impoverishment of persons with disabilities and older Iowans. When individuals cannot afford to privately pay for disability-related or long term care services they require, they must either go without services that are critical to their health and safety, or they must exhaust their income and assets until they are truly impoverished and meet the income eligibility standards.
The personal consequences are enormous. Without the ability to retain or accumulate resources, individuals are forced to rent in unsafe neighborhoods, rely on inadequate public transportation, and become increasingly dependent on the system. If they attempt to improve their standard of living through employment or self-employment they face complex rules and place themselves in jeopardy of losing their “safety net” of basic health care. Individuals who try to subsist on Social Security benefits alone are often unable to pay for a safe place to live and the other basic necessities of life.
Recommendations for Action:
ENCOURAGE INDEPENDENCE AND PRODUCTIVITY
- Eliminate polices that are a disincentive to independence and asset accumulation
- Address public policies that exacerbate poverty such as supervisor fees, room and board at Residential Care Facilities, etc.
- Infuse all public policies with the recognition that it is in the best interest of the public at large to encourage all Iowans to work and to fully participate in all aspects of community life
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