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GOALS

2005 - 2006

(for Goals from previous years, click 2004-2005, 2003-2004, 2002-2003)

The Advocacy Center for Persons with Disabilities

Approved by the Board of Directors, Friday, December 5, 2005

Mission Statement

The mission of the Advocacy Center for Persons with Disabilities, Inc., is to advance the dignity, equality, self-determination, and expressed choices of individuals with disabilities. The Center promotes, expands, protects and seeks to ensure the human and legal rights of individuals through the provision of information and advocacy. The Center will carry out this mission in partnership with individuals with disabilities.

Service may be delivered through a variety of means including investigation, negotiation or mediation on the individual's behalf, and administrative and legislative advocacy. When determined to be appropriate by the Executive Director, individuals may also receive legal services, including advice, counseling, and individual legal representation. A decision to provide class representation may be provided only with the consent of the Board of Directors. However, prior to the use of litigation as a strategy, the Center will seek first to use alternative means of dispute resolution.

Focus Areas and Goals

The Board of Director's adopted Goals will constitute the primary factor in deciding whether or not to provide more than information and referral; however, other elements may also be considered. These elements include: (a) the relative likelihood of success; (b) the urgency of a particular matter and likely consequences for the individual; (c) the resources required to provide high quality representation, balanced with the resources available to the Center; (d) the availability of alternative advocacy resources in the community, including the capacity of the individual for self-advocacy; and (e) the impact that resolution of a particular matter will have upon the eligible community.

This statement of goals will provide guidance in the acceptance of requests for services and the allocation of Center resources. This statement, however, should not be regarded as inflexible. Each individual's request must be evaluated based upon its own unique circumstances. New issues affecting the lives of individuals with disabilities often arise and must be evaluated in the context of existing priorities. The goals include flexibility to respond to individuals with disabilities other stakeholders throughout the fiscal year, based upon need and availability of program resources.

The Goals for the Advocacy Center for 2005-2006 are organized into the following focus areas, which are not listed in order of priority. Individual programs within the Advocacy Center, however, do set priorities withinthese goals, in accordance with their own federal mandates and the needs of their constituents. Special emphasis will be placed on requests for services that present an opportunity for systemic reform. The focus areas and goals are developed annually after taking public input through oral and written testimony, holding focus groups, a public hearing, input from Advocacy Center programs’ staff, and through a committee of our Board of Directors, Advocacy Center management staff and PAIMI Advisory Council. The focus areas and goals are also designed to comply with each of the eight federally funded programs’ specific federal guidelines.

  1. Conditions in Institutional Facilities
  2. Access to Publicly-Funded Services and Community Supports
  3. Education
  4. Employment
  5. Self-Determination
  6. Outreach, Education, Information and Referral

 

Focus Area #1: Conditions in Institutional Facilities

  1. Improving quality assurance programs and health and safety protection programs as they relate to individuals with disabilities and their rights to be free from abuse and neglect.
  2. Improving safety and welfare including healthcare, services, supports, and access to discharge for individuals with disabilities residing in institutional settings, with special focus on individuals’ Olmstead rights.
  3. Increasing and improving access to meaningful dispute resolution forums, including complaint resolution, mediation, and due process systems for individuals with disabilities alleging violations of civil, legal, or human rights.
  4. Reducing and eventually eliminating the use of seclusion and restraint of individuals with disabilities.
  5. Expanding the rights and protections for children in state custody relating to the consent and administration of psychotropic medications.
  6. Ensuring compliance with the settlement agreement in Brown v. Bush (educational programs, improved discharge planning, increased placements of individuals to the community, and plans for the closure of the Gulf Coast Center).
  7. Expanding voter registration, voter education and the exercise of full voting rights by individuals living in institutional facilities.

Focus Area #2: Access to Publicly Funded Services and Community Supports

  1. Protecting and advocating for the rights of the individuals with disabilities impacted by implementation of Florida’s Medicaid Reform § 1115 Research and Demonstration Waiver.
  2. Increasing and improving access to Medicaid funded healthcare, mental health services, prescription drugs, positive behavioral supports, dentistry, transportation, assistive technology, training and support services, and other essential home and community-based services and supports that are or should be provided by Florida's Medicaid, Medicare, Children's Medical Services (CMS), Early, Periodic, Screening, Diagnosis and Treatment (EPSDT), Durable Medical Equipment (DME), Brain and Spinal Cord Injury Programs (BSCIP), Foster Care programs, Children’s Mental Health (CMH) programs, and other Medicaid or publicly funded programs.
  3. Expanding the range of options for safe, affordable, and accessible housing and ensuring compliance with the Fair Housing Act and Americans with Disabilities Act in the area of housing.
  4. Increasing physical and programmatic (under Title II & III ADA, section 504 Rehab Act, and Older American’s Act) access to publicly funded services, with special focus on transportation services, universal design, information and assistive technologies and compliance with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act.
  5. Ensuring the effectiveness of the Consumer-Directed Care Plus (CDC+) Program and the Florida Freedom Initiative (FFI). The CDC + is a limited demonstration program that allows individuals with disabilities to direct their own services and the FFI is a limited demonstration project that allows SSI recipients to maintain SSI and Medicaid benefits with higher earnings and assets.
  6. Ensuring Social Security beneficiaries receive information and advocacy regarding access to prescription medications under the Medicare Part D.
  7. Ensuring that election officials in the State of Florida comply with provisions of the Help America Vote Act and other laws related to providing access to voting for individuals with disabilities.
  8. Increasing and improving access to meaningful dispute resolution forums, including complaint resolution, mediation, and due process systems for individuals to vindicate various rights violations concerns in various areas such as: vocational rehabilitation, housing, medical benefits, health insurance, managed care, financial reimbursements, or entitlements; denial of information about rights or legal assistance; denial of privacy; denial of recreational opportunities; access to visits/visitors; guardianship issues; denial of access to records/correction of records; breaches of confidentiality; failure to obtain informed consent (may overlap w/ involuntary treatment); problems with Advance Directives/Health Care Surrogates; denial of parental/family rights; problems with consumer finance issues; problems with immigration; problems with criminal justice issues (that are not abuse or neglect); and denial of community habilitation services.

Focus Area #3: Education

  1. Ensuring rights of students are protected during IDEA 2004 implementation.
  2. Increasing physical and programmatic (under Title II & III ADA and section 504 Rehab Act) access to educational services.
  3. Increasing and improving access to a free and appropriate public education (FAPE) in the least restrictive environment (LRE).
  4. Increasing and improving the access to communication-related services provided to public school students.
  5. Increasing and improving access to universal/information/assistive technologies, training and support services.
  6. Reducing or eliminating incidents of seclusion, restraint, bullying, inappropriate discipline, suspension, expulsion, and arrest of students in public school settings, as well as increasing and improving access to the positive behavior support process.
  7. Ensuring access to accommodations during assessments such as the FCAT and to alternate assessments leading to a standard diploma.
  8. Increasing and improving access to transition plans, services and service coordination, including but not limited to meaningful careers, higher education planning, benefits planning, vocational rehabilitation, voter registration and rights education.
  9. Increasing and improving access to post-secondary educational services.
  10. Ensuring that the educational rights of students with disabilities in juvenile justice facilities are protected.
  11. Increasing and improving student and parent access to meaningful dispute resolution forums including Florida's complaint resolution, mediation, and due process systems, particularly with regard to the substantive issues listed above.

Focus Area #4: Employment

  1. Increasing and improving access to employment opportunities and services, including, but not limited to, competitive full-time employment, part-time employment, telecommuting, supported employment, self-employment, micro-enterprises and small business opportunities.
  2. Increasing access to assistive technology, training and support services and worksite modifications to assist individuals to prepare for and/or engage in employment.
  3. Increasing the quality and effectiveness of services to Social Security beneficiaries by any service provider or other entity involved in the beneficiaries return to work efforts.
  4. Increasing the number of Social Security eligible individuals being served by the Employment Networks (including the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation and the Division of Blind Services) under the Ticket to Work program and related work incentives.
  5. Increasing employment opportunities for individuals with psychiatric disabilities, to include promoting the creation / expansion of Peer-Run service initiatives in the public behavioral health care system.
  6. Improving the quality of the DVR/DBS State Plan, policy making, and operation of Vocational Rehabilitation services.
  7. Increasing and improving access to meaningful dispute resolution forums, including complaint resolution, mediation, and due process systems for individuals to vindicate rights violations in Vocational Rehabilitation.

Focus Area #5: Self-Determination

  1. Expanding opportunities for self-empowerment for individuals on Social Security regarding their options and rights, with special focus on the services provided by Florida's Benefits Planning, Assistance and Outreach (BPAO) organizations.
  2. Ensuring the development and expansion of asset development initiatives for individuals with disabilities.
  3. Increasing access to person centered planning, self-determination, and alternatives to guardianship and guardian advocacy.
  4. Ensuring that adequate legal protections are afforded to individuals during and after the appointment of a guardian or guardian advocate.
  5. Increasing access to publicly funded guardianship services for individuals determined by the courts to need of a guardian.
  6. Expanding opportunities for individual and systemic self-advocacy among adults with psychiatric diagnoses.
  7. Expanding opportunities for self-empowerment for individuals with disabilities regarding their rights under the Help America Vote Act and other laws and increase voting registration and voting among individuals with disabilities.
  8. Restoring the voting rights of convicted felons with disabilities upon completion of sentence.

Focus Area #6: Outreach, Education, Information and Referral

  1. Increasing the number of individuals served by the Advocacy Center from under-served or previously unserved populations through ADA accessible and culturally sensitive outreach activities about the Advocacy Center's programs, services, and legal authority.
  2. Ensuring effective and appropriate policies are established for individuals with disabilities.
  3. Increasing public awareness of the mission, goals and work of the Advocacy Center, the needs of individuals with disabilities, important disability issues and options, and other key information.
  4. Expanding ADA accessible and culturally sensitive information, fact sheets and referrals to individuals requesting assistance, with particular focus on the needs of individuals who are not eligible for Advocacy Center services or who have concerns that are not currently Advocacy Center priorities (including but not limited to ADA Title I information as provided by CAP).