Developmental Disabilities Reform Act

Draft Review & Revision Meeting 3

May 7, 2009
Martin Luther King, Jr. Library, Room A-5

Meeting Notes

In attendance: Sandy Bernstein, University Legal Services; Tina Campanella, Quality

Trust; Karen Davis, QT Board; Thelma Green, Project ACTION!; Akiko Kageyma,
Georgetown University; Mat McCollough, Office of Disability Rights; Mary Lou
Meccariello, The Arc of DC; Clydie Smith, DDS; T.J. Sutcliffe, The Arc of DC; Bob
Williams, DDS; Weadé Wallace, Advocates for Justice and Education; Antoinette
Wiseman

Meeting notes:

1. Welcome, Introductions and Announcements

The group welcomed new participants.

Notes from Meeting 2 were distributed. Meeting 2 participants are asked to review the
meeting notes and contact T.J. Sutcliffe (tjsutcliffe@arcdc.net or 202-636-2963) with
any corrections. Meeting notes are not intended to be a transcript of the discussion, but
rather attempt to highlight key items discussed and the resolution of each item.

Calendar changes announced at Meeting 1 are still pending. These are:

a. The June 18th meeting will be rescheduled; and

b. To accommodate people who are unable to attend review and revision meetings
on Thursday afternoons, a Saturday meeting will be held on May 30th. Location is
to be determined. An announcement will go out soon.

T.J. has asked the 5 Expert Review Panel members to provide short biographies; 3 have
done so. She hopes to be able to provide biographies for all members of the Panel at the
next meeting.

2. Support and Service Planning

Support Coordination

The group discussed the “Support and Services” and “Support Coordination” sections of
the draft DDRA and agreed to change the sections in the following ways:

Clarify the requirement to describe a person’s financial and other resources in the
initial ISP (item (c)(3) on page 31, lines 12 to 13).

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Consistently use the term “outcomes” in describing the elements of the ISP (as
opposed to “goals”). Explore the idea of defining “outcomes.”

Clarify the discussion of supports and services that may be delivered in the future
(page 32, item (c)(A)(10), lines 14 to 15).

Regarding situations where a person asks for a new support coordinator and
situations where DDA changes a person’s support coordinator (for example, if the
support coordinator takes a new job):

o If a person asks for a new support coordinator, DDA will make the change
within 21 calendar days (use stronger language than “implement a
request”). If DDA cannot or does not want to make this change, the burden
will be on DDA to say why not.
o If DDA changes a person’s support coordinator, DDA must notify the
person within 1 business day – recognizing that this is a significant
disruption in the person’s life.
o DDA must establish a process for DDA and the person to work out
disagreements about changes in support coordination.

Add a definition of “support coordinator” to the draft.

DDS should define and discuss conflicts of interest related to support coordination
in regulation. For example, support coordination should not be provided by an
agency that also provides direct supports and services.

The Drafting Committee will look more closely at the language on waiting lists in
these sections and in several other places in the draft. In general, the bill should
clearly state that waiting lists are undesirable and should require DDS to issue
regulations for waiting lists to operate in an open manner based on urgency, with
clear guidelines for appeals.

The group also agreed to strengthen the draft by making it clear that people should
receive training and ongoing support so they can learn how to exercise greater choice
and control, particularly as it relates to support and service planning. This may go in
either the “Rights” section or the “Supports and Services” section.

3. Next meeting

The next meeting will be Thursday, May 14th from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. at The Arc of DC,
415 Michigan Avenue, NE. The topics for the next meeting will be “Supports and
Services” and “Family Supports.”

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