IN THIS ISSUE:

1. HCFA Issues Letter to State Medicaid Directors Implementing Olmstead

2. Nursing Home Information Online

3. Parity Became Effective in January, 2000

4. Seclusion & Restraints Reporting Legislation Pending

5. NAMI Study: Families on the Brink

6. National Mental Health Summit Continues

7. From Privileges to Rights: People Labeled with Psychiatric Disabilities

Speak for Themselves (NCD)

8. National Council on Disability Issues Report on Special Education Monitoring

9. A Real Threat: Supreme Court May Declare Title II of the ADA Unconstitutional

10. Landmark Mental Disability Suit Settled after 30 Years

The U. S. Department of Health and Human Services issued a letter to the directors of state Medicaid programs in all of the 50 states and territories in response to last year's Supreme Court decision that applied provisions in the Americans with Disabilities Act prohibiting segregation of people with disabilities to institutional services. The letter is signed by the director of the Office for Civil Rights in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and an official of the Health Care Finance Administration, which manages Medicaid. An enclosure follows the letter outlining specific steps states are asked to take in implementing the Olmsted decision. The letter and its enclosure may be located online at:

http://www.protectionandadvocacy.com/olmsteadsmdletter.htm

NURSING HOME INFORMATION ONLINE (http://www.medicare.gov)

This internet page contains a HFCA nursing home database. The primary purpose of this data base is to provide understandable information about the performance of every Medicare and Medicaid certified nursing home in the country. The database contains summary information about nursing homes during their last state inspection, along with other information that would be useful either to persons selecting a nursing home or to advocates. When you put "Oklahoma" in the state search feature, you receive an answer that allows you to search either by county or for the entire state. If you select the entire state feature, your answer is "Your search has returned 411 nursing homes." If you want to look at nursing homes in certain counties, you select one of the counties indicated on the window for this purpose. For example, if you select Oklahoma County, 50 nursing homes will appear on your screen. You may then select any individual one (placing a mark in the block), any group of homes as you mark them or all the homes. After making your selection, you will be given the chance to request information from one of the following categories: About the Nursing Home; About the Residents in the Nursing Home; About the Nursing Home Inspection Results. After selecting one of those choices, you will receive the information requested.

Insurance parity in Oklahoma became effective January 1, 2000. To read the statute, begin at:

http://oklegal.onenet.net/oklegal-cgi/get_statute?99/Title.36/36-6060.10.html Then, click the "next" button to read the next section until you are out of the sections related to parity. The statute has complicated inclusions and exclusions that you will need to become familiar with. Generally, the statute covers only six specific mental illnesses: schizophrenia, bipolar disorder (manic-depressive illness), major depressive disorder, panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, schizoaffective disorder. It covers only certain types of insurance policies set out in Section 6060.10. The general parity principle is set out in Section 6060.11: Benefits required by subsection A of this section shall be equal to benefits for treatment of and shall be subject to the same preauthorization and utilization review mechanisms and other terms and conditions as all other physical diseases and disorders. If your insurance policy treats the above identified mental illness diagnoses differently than other physical diseases and disorders, you will need to determine if your policy falls within the statute and a different result might now result.

The House Bill is H.R. 1313, The Patient Freedom from Restraint Act of 1999; the Senate Bill is S. 736, the Freedom from Restraint Act of 1999. Neither bill would provide freedom from restraint, but each represents definite progress in assisting institutionalized people, their families and advocates in demonstrating the enormous harm, injury and death that result from the use of restraints in residential facilities--harm that too often remains unpublicized, deaths that go unnoticed. The bills requires psychiatric facilities to report data on a national level that is currently not reported. H.R. 1313 would require psychiatric hospitals, ICFMRs and residential treatment facilities for children to report the number of times restraints were used, the type of restraint or seclusion used, the duration of use, the rationale for use, the less restrictive alternatives attempted or considered, and evidence of treatment planning to reduce the probability of future incidents leading to the use of restraint and seclusion to the State P&A, and to report the number of times restraints were used in the facility to the Secretary of HHS at least annually. In addition, the

facilities would be required to report "sentinel events" to the P&A and to the Secretary of HHS. "Sentinel events" include death, burns, laceration, abrasion of the skin, fracture of any bone or any "unexpected occurrence involving a substantial impairment of the physical or psychological condition of a resident or patient." The Senate bill requires only the reporting of sentinel events to the Secretary, not the P&A, although providers are required to report any sentinel event resulting in death to the P&A. Each bill provides very mild restrictions on the use of restraints -- restrictions that have been part of recognized practice for over a decade -- although again H.R. 1313 has more substantive provisions For example, each bill provides that restraints may not be used punitively, may only be used on the written signature of a physician, unless it's an emergency, with emergency to be defined later by the Secretary of HHS. H.R. 1313 limits the physician to a two hour order of restraint.

Press Release -- http://www.nami.org/pressroom/990701.html

National Study -- http://www.nami.org/youth/brink.html

NAMI called for a national commitment and comprehensive policy agenda to ensure that children and adolescents with serious mental illnesses receive the treatment and services they desperately need. "As a nation, we must close the gaps in scientific understanding, screening and treatment, and remove unethical barriers to needed care and services," Flynn said. Families on the Brink: The Impact of Ignoring Children with Serious Mental Illness, Results of a National Survey of Parents and Other Caregivers, The National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, July 1999. The study was conducted for NAMI by the Commonwealth Institute for Child and Family Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University, Families on the Brink: The Impact of Ignoring Children With Serious Mental Illness documents a shameful pattern of neglect and complacency, with families barely surviving under the strain of early-onset mental illness. Families on the Brink is the first national survey to examine family views of the availability of treatments and services, as well as difficulties encountered in caring for children with severe mental illnesses. From October 1998 through February 1999, researchers received and reviewed mailed or electronic surveys completed by families or primary caregivers from all 50 states, representing the experience of 903 children and teenagers with serious mental illnesses. In May 1998, researchers conducted focus groups with families in Oklahoma City and Tulsa, Oklahoma; in Bethesda, Maryland; and in Portland and Eugene, Oregon.

Some of the findings indicate that more than one-third of survey respondents (36 percent) said their children were in the juvenile justice system because mental health services were unavailable. Even when their children received psychiatric treatment, they were treated inappropriately or abusively. Twenty-two percent of the families reported that their children were subjected to physical restraint or seclusion, and 13 percent to 15 percent were physically or sexually abused. Twenty-three percent of parents responding to the survey reported having been told that they would have to relinquish custody of their children to get needed services; 20 percent said that they did so to get care.

INFO ON THE SUMMIT: http://www.mhselfhelp.org./summit.html

SUBSCRIBE TO MAILING LIST: Click on links provided at: http://home.att.net/~k_c/nsp.htm

After you go to that page on the web, click on link of list you want to join, send the following message: subscribe listname firstname lastname. Use lower case letters. Links to the following lists are available on the web:

ccountability, Advocacy, Alternatives, Community, Financing, Force, Forensic, Multicultural, Organizing, Recovery, Research and Sigma. They have requested that everyone write a brief introduction to list, saying they opened the summit workshops that way to break the ice. They expressed a belief that it is easier to work when you know who you are working with and move forward together. However, it is entirely up to you if you want to write a intro. Take what you need/like and lose the rest. Kevin Childs is the list administrator. However, he says, "I want to administer the list, not you." If you encounter any problems with getting set up on the lists, contact him at: kcisfree@worldnet.att.net He has set up the lists in order to make it easier to work with each other and sends his greetings, "Happy planning to all. Thanks to everyone who has made and makes these lists a WE thing."

http://www.ncd.gov/publications/privileges.html

The National Council on Disability's (NCD) report From Privileges to Rights: People Labeled

with Psychiatric Disabilities Speak for Themselves, which is based on the testimony of people with psychiatric disabilities who testified at an NCD hearing in 1998, was transmitted to the President and Congressional leaders in January. All the recommendations in this report emphasize the basic principle that people with psychiatric disabilities are, first and foremost, citizens who have the right to expect that they will be treated according to the principles of law that apply to all other citizens. All laws and policies that restrict the rights of people with psychiatric disabilities simply because of their disabilities are inharmonious with basic principles of law and justice, as well as with such landmark civil rights laws as the Americans with Disabilities Act. The NCD called on the President and Congress to address the problems described in this report, particularly by ensuring that people with psychiatric disabilities themselves are involved in a major way in making the policy changes that will enable them to claim their full citizenship rights. The NCD stated that they looked forward to the day when the label of psychiatric disability has no more effect on people's rights than does the existence of any other disability label. Until that day, NCD believes that people with psychiatric disabilities will remain among the most underprivileged and disadvantaged of American citizens.

On January 25th, the National Council on Disability (NCD), an independent agency that makes recommendations to the president and Congress, released its report on the enforcement of the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). The report, "Back to School on Civil Rights -- Advancing the Federal Commitment to Leave No Child Behind," is the second in a series of independent analyses by NCD. It looks at more than two decades of federal monitoring and enforcement of compliance with Part B of IDEA.

The report clearly documents that noncompliance with the provisions in IDEA is widespread and, as a result, many children with disabilities are receiving substandard schooling. The report recognizes that there are islands of excellence and countless hardworking educators, while noting that the widespread lack of implementation of the provisions in IDEA prevents thousands of students with disabilities from receiving the education they need to learn and become productive members of society. According to the report, Federal officials are not forcing compliance and, as a result, parents often must sue to enforce the law. In too many cases, children with disabilities are taught in separate classrooms. In addition, schools are not following other regulations meant to protect these students from discrimination.

Although the Secretary of Education, Richard W. Riley, has reportedly been more aggressive in seeking to improve monitoring and enforcement than the combined efforts of all his predecessors, the statistics on compliance are disturbing. From 1994 through 1998, 36 states failed to ensure that children with disabilities are not segregated from regular classrooms, 44 states failed to follow rules requiring schools to help students find jobs or continue their education, and 45 states failed to ensure that local school authorities adhered to nondiscrimination laws.

Nearly 6 million American children receive special education instruction and services at a cost of almost $40 billion, about $5.7 billion of which is federal money. IDEA was passed in an effort to end discrimination against children with disabilities. Many of these children had been excluded from public schools, institutionalized or placed in programs that provided little or no learning. Under the law, which was strengthened in 1997, local education authorities that receive federal money answer to state agencies, which in turn answer to the federal Department of Education. The Department's monitoring division has 35 employees and budget of about $2.7 million. Although the Department has the authority to withhold money from states that do not follow the

provisions in IDEA and its governing regulations, only one state (Virginia) has been threatened with such withholding of funds. However, Federal courts reversed that decision.

For a complete copy of this 300+ page report (with the first 20 pages providing an Executive Summary), go to: http://www.ncd.gov/publications/backtoschool_1.html

The Supreme Court has decided to hear two disability discrimination cases -- Florida Department of Corrections v. Dickson and Alsbrook v. City of Maumelle -- which call into question the constitutionality of Title II of the ADA. Oral arguments will occur in April, and the Court should issue its decision in late June. At issue is whether Congress had the constitutional authority under the Fourteenth Amendment to enact the ADA. If the Supreme Court says Congress did not, individuals may no longer be able to enforce the ADA against the states. More importantly, a negative ruling could call into question altogether the constitutionality of Title II of the ADA, as well as other disability rights statutes. Dickson and Alsbrook are the latest in a series of cases in which states have challenged Congress' power to enact legislation regulating state conduct. Most recently, the Supreme Court held in Kimel v. Florida Board of Regents that Congress did not have the authority to apply the Age Discrimination in Employment Act to the states. In Dickson and Alsbrook, states will be urging the Supreme Court to reach the same conclusion about the ADA What does this mean for people with disabilities? It means that, as early as June of this year, states may no longer be subject to the ADA's requirements. Depending on the scope of the Supreme Court's ruling:

-- States may no longer have to comply with the ADA's integration mandate. People who are unneccessarily institutionalized in state hospitals, nursing homes, and other state institutions may no longer have recourse under the ADA.

-- States may no longer have to make their buildings and services accessible. State capitols, state courts, and state universities, among others, may no longer have to have wheelchair ramps, provide interpreter services, or provide written materials in accessible formats.

-- State employers may no longer have to comply with the ADA's mandate against employment discrimination. State employers may be able to refuse to hire and/or fire people with disabilities at will, and may no longer have to provide employees with disabilities reasonable accommodations in the workplace.

News article: http://legalnews.findlaw.com/News/s/20000121/ussc11thamada.html

http://news.excite.com/news/ap/000121/15/news-scotus-disabilities-law

The Kimel opinion may be found online at:

To read the US Department of Justice Brief in Alsbrook v. City of Maumelle:

http://www.usdoj.gov/osg/briefs/1999/0responses/99-0423.resp.html

The class-action lawsuit that first established a constitutional right to treatment for people in mental institutions is over, pending a judge's approval, 30 years after being filed in federal court in Alabama.

http://www.onarollradio.com

In observance of African American History Awareness Month, a syndicated radio talk show host has established a new e-mail discussion group targeted to African Americans with disabilities. "The objective of this group is to give African Americans with disabilities an electronic forum to discuss unique issues we face," says Greg Smith, host of On A Roll - Talk Radio on Life & Disability. His weekly radio program airs on 15 radio stations across the country and the Internet live. Smith has muscular dystrophy and is of African American descent.

"I'm very excited about the quality of the dialogue that is taking place on the list. Being both African American and disabled is a lot to have in common, and we're probing into what we have all experienced but never had a forum to discuss openly," says Smith. He hopes the list can facilitate more involvement of blacks with disabilities in the disability movement and promote an understanding of disability culture the African American community.

Smith hopes that the discussion will probe into how cultural influences may be impacting the lives of African Americans with disabilities. "I've faced discrimination as part of the 'double whammy' that comes from being both black and disabled," says Smith. "But the most painful aspect of it is discrimination in the form of 'able-ism' from within my own race."

Tracee Garner, 23, a student at Northern Virginia Community College sees the list as the start of an important interactive community. "It is an outlet and place to come together with like peers were my views are taken into account, shared and heard, thus helping me to find a place where I can identify, express and receive positive empowerment," she says. "I also think its cool that there are non-African Americans on the list who care enough to not only observe the discussion but participate in it as well." Garner has Spinal Muscular Atrophy and uses a wheelchair. Other list members are visually impaired, deaf and mobility impaired.

The Dept. of Health and Human Services' Office of Minority Health and a special work group have proposed a first draft of national standards for culturally and linguistically appropriate services (CLAS) based on a review of key laws, regulations, contracts and standards in use by federal and state agencies and other national organizations. After public comment and review by an advisory committee, these standards will be recommended to health accreditation and professional organizations, health providers and agencies. The public comment process is from Jan. 2000 - April 2000. The full report/recommendations and the means for computer comment can be found on the web site: http://www.omhrc.gov/clas

by Scott Marshall, Vice President, Governmental Relations, American Foundation for the Blind and Barbara Jackson LeMoine, Legislative Assistant, American Foundation for the Blind

The [1]Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) of the [2]World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) released the final draft of it's [3]Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines (ATAG) on February 3, 2000. The following announcement is a plain text image of the hypertext document located at: http://www.hicom.net/~oedipus/vicug/atag.html

If you have access to the web, you are strongly encouraged to use the hypertextualized version of this document, so as to take advantage of the hyperlinks to related resources and background materials embedded therein. This plain text notice was generated using Lynx, which was set to report hyperlinks as numbers. A list of hyperlink references follows the body of the document.

This document is separated into three parts:

Part 1. What Are the Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines?

Part 2. What is a W3C Recommendation?

Part 3. Supplemental Resources about ATAG, WAI, and W3C

The IBM Accessibility Center (formerly IBM Special Needs Systems) has developed a set of IBM Accessibility Guidelines, one each for software, the Web, Lotus Notes, hardware and Java.

See also: http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG20000121S0027

Starts at: http://oklegal.onenet.net/oklegal-cgi/get_statute?99/Title.15/15-910.1.html

Keep clicking the "next" button until you get to the end of the statute.

It ends at: http://oklegal.onenet.net/oklegal-cgi/get_statute?99/Title.15/15-910.5.html

http://www.freedomclearinghouse.org/

Some of the people and national groups who have given their blessings to the Clearinghouse:

Justin Dart, Jr., National Council on Independent Living, Support Coalition International, SABE, Self Advocates Becoming Empowered, ADAPT, TASH, MadNation, Not Dead Yet, The Arc of the United States

by posting your event to http://www.sedbtac.org/ada_in_action/submit_event.cfm

Over 500 cities have already made the commitment. The SE DBTAC in support of Initiative 2000 is compiling a list of events occurring around the nation to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the ADA. Events will be collected and posted to their web site throughout the year.

http://www.initiative2000.org/

Filing ADA Title II complaints: http://www.madnation.org/freedom/ocrcomplaints.htm

In order to facilitate communication and professional development among ADA-504 coordinators, ODLC established an internet communication group. ADA-504 coordinators for public bodies are encouraged to join, along with anyone else that is interested in this subject area.

Group Description: For ADA-504 Coordinators

Group email addresses:

Post Message ada-504@egroups.com

Subscribe ada-504-subscribe@egroups.com

Unsubscribe ada-504-unsubscribe@egroups.com

The Oklahoma Parent eNetwork is for families of children with disabilities located throughout the state. Purpose of the list is to provide information & support, relevant to Oklahoma. Parents of adult dependents who are disabled are also welcome to join. New subscribers to the Oklahoma Parent eNetwork list will now receive the following information automatically upon approval of their subscription: Member Directory; Information on the Oklahoma Home of Your Own Program; Article XIII: Special Education for Exceptional Children; EPSDT Information Sheet; State Department of Education Phone List; Waivered Services information sheet and information on upcoming conferences in the state related to disability issues. If you're the parent of a child with a disability or an advocate for the disabled and a resident of Oklahoma, you're invited to join our email list. You can subscribe by sending a blank email to: okla-parent-network-subscrib-@onelist.com. You will then receive further information about how to subscribe, which you must respond to in order to have your subscription processed.

Carol Parker, Oklahoma Parent eNetwork, PO Box 55733, OKC 73155, okla-parent-network-owner@onelist.com

http://clix.to/open

23rd Annual Conference

June 21-24, 2000

Washington, D.C.

http://www.protectionandadvocacy.com

"Turning Promise Into Practice," NAMI's 2000 Annual Convention

June 14-18, 2000

San Diego, California

Preliminary Schedule and Program Highlights at:

http://www.apollonian.com/nami_convention/

August 1-3, 2000

Seattle, Washington

For further information:

http://www.aauap.org/Meetings/Annual2000/announcement.html

or contact Oklahoma's UAP director, valerie-william-@ouhsc.edu

September 17-19, 2000

Richmond, VA

For more information contact Oklahoma's DD Council director, Ann

http://www.sfsu.edu/~hrdpu/chron.htm

You can find it at the SSA website: http://www.ssa.gov/work/whatsnew.htm It includes the recently increased Substantial Gainful Activity amounts for SSA's categories of Blind and Non-Blind beneficiaries/recipients. There is also a fact sheet on the Work Incentives Improvement Act of 1999.

Voting is one of the most fundamental rights in a democratic society. In order to promote the exercise of this right, the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) was enacted in 1993. Section 7 of NVRA specifies that each state shall designate, as voter registration agencies, all offices in the state that provide state-funded programs primarily engaged in providing services to persons with disabilities.

Register to Vote Online at http://www.fec.gov/votregis/vr.htm

Contact the Director Online: kbower1@flash.net

2915 Classen Blvd., Suite 300

Oklahoma City, OK 73106

(405) 525-7755 (v/tdd)

(800) 880-7755 (v/tdd)

FAX: 405-525-7759

2828 East 51st Street, Suite 302

Tulsa, OK 74105

(918) 743-6220 (v/tdd)

(800) 226-5883 (v/tdd)

FAX: 918-743-7157

PADD Priorities and Objectives Online at: http://home.flash.net/~odlcokc/2000padd.html

PAIMI Priorities and Objectives Online at: http://home.flash.net/~odlcokc/2000paimi.html

PAIR Priorities and Objectives Online at: http://home.flash.net/~odlcokc/2000pair.html