The Real Story
Posted on August 30, 2010
By Chris Hilderbrant, Chief Operating Officer
The real story behind the muck-raking article that appeared in the D&C on Sunday August 29, 2010, began about six months ago. At that time, County Executive Maggie Brooks or someone in her administration decided to use the county’s payrolled investigators to try to dig up dirt on the Center for Disability Rights (CDR). The limited findings of those investigators have since been blown far out of proportion, misconstrued and lied about by county officials in an effort to end the Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program (CDPAP) of CDR. Read more
Filed Under CDR Programs, Chris Hilderbrant, Community-based services, Consumer Directed Personal Assistance | Leave a Comment
Maggie Brooks’ left and right hands haven’t met and other newsbits…
Posted on August 19, 2010
By Chris Hilderbrant, Chief Operating Officer
While Maggie Brooks has been busy alleging that CDR is the target of Medicaid Fraud investigations by the Attorney General, her own Probations department, which was part of the investigation, has issued a letter to CDR announcing the conviction of two attendants and indicating that CDR was the “victim” of the fraud, not the perpetrator. (See documents at www.cdrnys.org)
When faced with the reality that Maggie Brooks’ left hand has not met the right hand, Maggie’s spin doctors had to start getting creative. According to the Democrat and Chronicle: County spokesman Noah Lebowitz said even if CDR was victimized by the attendants, “it clearly shows they failed to properly screen and manage their employees. We hold them responsible for the action of those employees. They refuse to take responsibility for that.” Read more
Filed Under Advocacy, Americans with Disabilities Act, Attendant Services, CDR Programs, Chris Hilderbrant, Community-based services, Consumer Directed Personal Assistance, Home Care, Independence, Independent Living | 2 Comments
Monroe County’s Cancellation of CDR’s Contact is an Assault on a Hard Won Victory of the Disability Rights Movement to Establish the Right to Control Our Services and Our Lives.
Posted on July 29, 2010
By Diane Coleman, Director of Advocacy
I first became involved in advocacy for consumer directed services in 1982 in Los Angeles. Like many people with significant disabilities, I wanted to limit medical control and intrusion into my personal life. Nurses and social workers can really mess up your love life, and other freedoms most people take for granted.
By the 1990s, many policy makers began to see consumer controlled services as a best practice to be emulated. As the executive director of an Independent Living Center in Cook County, Illinois, I ran one of a dozen research and demonstration projects about consumer direction, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in the late 1990s. Support for the concept grew. More and more states adopted the model as an option for people with disabilities and seniors who could manage their own home care. Read more
Filed Under Advocacy, Americans with Disabilities Act, Attendant Services, Attitudes, CDR Programs, Community-based services, Consumer Directed Personal Assistance, Diane Coleman, Independence, Independent Living, Medicaid, Self Help, Take Action!, Voting | 3 Comments
America’s Future is ADAPT – A Message Delivered to Speaker Pelosi
Posted on June 15, 2010
By Stephanie Miller, Service Coordinator
Margaret Mead once wrote, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” I was reminded of this notion last Tuesday, June 8th, when twenty-five members of ADAPT interrupted a speech by Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi. For one brief moment, these two dozen activists held the eyes of the nation as they demanded Pelosi’s sponsorship of the Community Choice Act.
This was my first ADAPT action in over 15 years. For the first time in a very long time, I had the opportunity to witness grassroots civil rights advocacy directly from the front line. Read more
Filed Under ADAPT, Activism, Advocacy, Americans with Disabilities Act, Attitudes, CDR Programs, Community-based services, Consumer Directed Personal Assistance, Home Care, Independence, Independent Living, Institutions and Institutionalization, Stephanie Miller | 1 Comment
Advocates Object to Erroneous Statement by Ravitch
Posted on April 2, 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 2, 2010
Leah Farrell, Policy Analyst, 518-320-7100, lfarrell@cdrnys.org
Diane Coleman, Director of Advocacy, 585-546-7510, dcoleman@cdrnys.org
(Rochester, NY): Today Crain’s Health Pulse (Friday, April 2, 2010) noted that after the completion of the New York State budget, Lieutenant Governor Ravitch will turn his sights on reigning in Medicaid spending, particularly in the area of long term care. According to Crain’s, “As part of his study, he’ll look at spending on home care and personal care, the fastest-growing sector of Medicaid.”
“That’s just plain wrong,” said Bruce Darling, President and CEO of the Center for Disability Rights. According to the most recent data from Thomson Reuters (formerly Medstat), from 2007 to 2008, nursing facility spending in New York increased 7% or nearly $477 million. By comparison, personal care just grew by 2.4% or $69 million. When you look at the spending for “Total Home Care” according to the Thomson Reuters data, spending actually decreased by $211 million, dropping 2.4% from 2007 to 2008. Nursing facility spending far outpaced personal care and home care both in terms of percentage and overall dollars. Read more
Filed Under Advocacy, Attendant Services, Bruce Darling, Chris Hilderbrant, Community-based services, Consumer Directed Personal Assistance, Diane Coleman, Home Care, Independence, Independent Living, Institutions and Institutionalization, Leah Farrell, Medicaid | Leave a Comment
No Matter What You Call it…It’s Still a Cap!
Posted on March 12, 2010
By Anita Cameron, Systems Advocate
Disabled Activists Travel to Albany to Protest Proposed Budget Cap on Personal Care
38 activists from the Center for Disability Rights joined over 50 other people with disabilities from around the state, converging on Albany on Wednesday, March 10, 2010, to protest Governor Paterson’s proposed budget caps on personal care for people needing more than 12 hours of care per day.
Upon arrival, we broke up into teams of 10 – 15 people and visited the office of every member of the state legislature. Decked out in bright orange t-shirts and baseball caps that read, “No Matter What You Call it…It’s Still a Cap”, we were very noticeable as we scoured the Legislative Office Building. Armed with fliers and baseball caps, our members spoke to staffers and sometimes, the legislators, themselves, putting a human face on the issue by telling how these caps on personal care will send us into costly institutions. Read more
Filed Under Advocacy, Anita Cameron, Attendant Services, Attitudes, CDR Programs, Community-based services, Consumer Directed Personal Assistance, Home Care, Independence, Independent Living, Medicaid, Take Action! | 1 Comment
Advocates decry Executive budget proposal that determines some are “too disabled” for community living.
Posted on January 20, 2010
by Diane Coleman, Assistant Director of Advocacy
It’s all over the news: Governor Paterson’s 2010-11 Executive Budget for New York State was released on Tuesday, January 19, 2010.
There’s plenty of criticism from many vested interests and industries, but disability concerns are not yet on the public radar screen. As usual, CDR will work to change that.
The proposed budget includes a proposal that would set disability policy back thirty years. The Governor proposes that seniors and people with disabilities who need more than 12 hours of personal care services a day will be required to switch to another program, and all of the proposed programs don’t allow consumer direction of services and, moreover, don’t work for people with significant personal care needs. Read more in CDR’s first Media Release on the topic. Read more
Filed Under Advocacy, Attendant Services, CDR Programs, Community-based services, Consumer Directed Personal Assistance, Diane Coleman, Home Care, Independence, Independent Living, Medicaid | 3 Comments
Budget Cuts Brought to You by the Pathologically Vicious
Posted on October 22, 2009
By Chris Hilderbrant, Director of Advocacy
*Update* Center for Disabilities response to the Executive’s proposed Defecit Reduction Plan (DRP)
We’re all getting used to budget cuts. It used to only happen around budget season, but with the state and national economies in the tank, Governor Paterson has realized that the only thing he can do to boost his plummeting ratings is to talk tough about ‘making hard decisions’ and ‘cutting spending.’
Ok, I get all that. Money is tight and states should not make a habit of spending more than is needed. We’ve been suggesting areas where the state could reduce its spending for years, but none of the political “leaders” would make those tough decisions because the economy was solid and the leaders could keep spending on pet projects to keep their donors happy. Read more
Filed Under Advocacy, Chris Hilderbrant, Community-based services, Consumer Directed Personal Assistance, Home Care, Independence, Independent Living, Medicaid | 4 Comments
Albany County Long Term Care Plan: Imagine this
Posted on October 2, 2009
By Leah Farrell, Policy Analyst
Imagine this:
> A world where elected officials hear the cries of people who want to remain in their homes.
> A world where thoughtful long term care planning does not include institutions.
> A world where local governments close down nursing facilities to invest in community-based services.
Sound too good to be true?
Well, it is happening in Albany County, but here is what you couldn’t have imagined:
> The Albany County Legislature is fighting back and demanding the county build a new nursing home! Read more
Filed Under Advocacy, Americans with Disabilities Act, Attitudes, Community-based services, Consumer Directed Personal Assistance, Home Care, Independence, Independent Living, Institutions and Institutionalization, Leah Farrell | 5 Comments
PASS THE COMMUNITY FIRST CHOICE AMENDMENT!
Posted on September 21, 2009
By Diane Coleman, Assistant Director of Advocacy
This is huge news! This past Friday, New York Senator Schumer introduced the Community First Choice amendment to the Senate Finance Committee’s health care reform!
This is the closest we’ve ever been to getting the language of the Community Choice Act into federal law. It’s not the “whole enchilada,” because it wouldn’t make it the law of the land, but it would give every state a financial incentive to try community first, consumer directed services and supports based on functional need, not age or diagnosis. This is a very big deal!
The next step is to urge the Senate Finance Committee to pass the amendment. We need every Senator on the Committee to hear from constituents in their state, urging them to support the Community First Choice Amendment. Read more