CT Council Seeks Public Input on 2009 Priorities
The Connecticut Council on Developmental Disabilities Seeks Public Input on 2009 Priorities
The Connecticut Council on Developmental Disabilities is considering 2009 Amendments to its 2007-2011 State Plan. These amendments will guide future funded initiatives and staff activities.
The Council wants to know what the public thinks about the proposed amendments.
Please review the proposed amendments below and submit your comments below or by mail, fax or e-mail to:
Ed Preneta, Director
CT Council on Developmental Disabilities
460 Capitol Avenue
Hartford, CT 06106-1308
Ed.Preneta@ct.gov
(860)418-6003 FAX
Comments are due by August 1, 2008
Proposed 2009 Amendments
1. Support Youth in ADAPT for a second year through the Disability Resource Network.
2. Continue support for the start-up of a Mothers From Hell organization to particularly promote legislation and practice regarding alternatives to aversives, restraint and seclusion.
3. Explore the establishment of short, intensive, subsidized parent training designed to influence systems change instead of just individual issues.
4. Support for a second year a part-time staff person for the Connecticut Family Support Council to maintain the interests of families on various boards, committees, councils, hearings, task forces and workshops while the Family Support Council pursues permanent funding.
5. Select certain, specific public services and supports and publish and distribute a document that describes how they really work.
6. Support a collaboration of public and private entities to hold “A Day of Respect” to promote the use of “respectful language” when referring to or communicating with people with disabilities and other populations.
A. Hold a legislative forum on “respectful language”.
B. Meetings with editorial boards to promote “respectful language”.
C. Sponsor a poster contest in public middle schools on the topic of “respect”.
D. Support an initiative on inclusion in faith communities, including a workshop with Rev. Bill Gaventa, Director of Community and Congregational Supports, New Jersey.
7. Support a coalition to explore establishing Georgia’s Easy Living Home program to increase the number of visitable new homes incorporating universal design and the Carneige Mellon Institute’s SmartHome concepts.
8. Support for a third year the Trinity College Robotics competition but modify the competition to focus on in-home robots in conjunction with the Easy Living Home and SmartHome and promote the robotics competition nationally.
9. Change ConnDOT’s culture to recognize people with disabilities as transit users:
A. Promote the use of Section 5310 vehicles in cooperative transportation
B. Promote the establishment of wheelchair accessible independent transportation networks
C. Promote government-wide coordination.
10. Explore the establishment in Connecticut of a back-up personal assistant service modeled after Easy Does It Services in California or Houseworks Services in Massachusetts.
11. Explore an initiative to start-up a not-for-profit home health care agency, modeled after Family Lives in Worcester, Massachusetts, to provide professional, reliable, competent and compassionate services in the home to children and adults who have severe cognitive and complex health care challenges.
12. Sponsor a 7 day workshop for a selected number of state, regional, national and international participants from the field of human services on “How To Function Morally, Coherently and Adaptively in a Disfunctional Human Service World”.
13. In conjunction with Connecticut’s Connect-Ability initiative, explore creating a coalition to promote clear policy regarding real work for real wages and benefits in real places of work.
14. Explore the establishment in Connecticut of the Massachusetts Medical Safeguards Project – a group of physicians, nurses, other medical practitioners and advocates to protect the health and lives of people with developmental disabilities who are hospitalized.