URGENT: CONTACT YOUR US HOUSE REPS NOW

For clarity, I have paraphrased an urgent plea from VOR.  See my message below it.

March 16, 2016
Dear Friends and VOR Members,

We urge you to act immediately.

Pursuing an  agenda to  limit residential service for people with Intellectual Developmental Disabilities  (IDD) to service in community-at-large homes  which are provided by subsidized businesses, Protection and Advocacy Agencies (P and A) and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) file mass actions with the purpose of closing Intermediate Care and Nursing  Facilities* for People with Intellectual Developmental  Disabilities (ICFs/NFs-IDD).

It is unjust to require parties who oppose an action to be party to it.  However, typically, the P and A agencies and DOJ  file their class  actions without consultation with the parents and/or  guardians of the residents who would be displaced from their homes.  Consistently, the parents and  guardians   have opposed such actions. 

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Supreme Court Olmstead decision compels the government to respect each person's right of choice between institutional and community-at-large residential placements.

The following is the not paraphrased.  
Please email your representative in the U.S. House of Representatives immediately and request that he or she contact the House Appropriations Committee by March 23, 2016 and ask the Committee to include language in two appropriations bills which will protect the rights of individuals with I/DD who require and choose an ICF/IID level of care. 
Taking action is easy.  Please click on the link below to be taken to a ready-to-send email to your U.S. House Representative.  You can edit it, if you wish, before sending.
Thank you for your attention to this important matter.
Please feel free to forward this alert to others who would like to help.
Gratefully,
Hugo Dwyer


Here  is the message I am using:   Feel free to appropriate and/or modify it.
Honorable_________:

Thank you for your service.

By March 23, 2016,  please ask the House Appropriations Committee to include  in two appropriations bills  language which will  protect the rights  of choice by people with intellectual developmental disabilities  who need  and choose Intermediate Care or Nursing Facility care.    Please ask that the language  prohibit class action  lawsuits against ICF's/NFs/IDD  unless they are filed following consultation with  and consent for  inclusion in the lawsuit  by each of  the parents and guardians of the facilities' residents.

Background:
Pursuing an  agenda to  limit residential service for people with Intellectual Developmental Disabilities to service in community-at-large homes which are  provided by subsidized businesses, Protection and Advocacy Agencies (P and A) and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) file mass actions with the purpose of closing Intermediate Care and Nursing  Facilities for People with  Intellectual Developmental  Disabilities (ICFs/NFs-IDD).

It is important to understand that ICFs/NFs-IDD are not the isolating  institutions   of  scores of years ago.  On the contrary, while they  vary in style, they are modern, full service, therapeutic communities.  Often, they are  campus-based.  Like all neighborhoods,  they  function interactively with their larger,  surrounding communities.   Also, due to higher federal standards and auditing, they typically are the safer option for especially vulnerable persons.

It is unjust to require parties who oppose an action to be party to it.  However, typically, the P and A agencies and DOJ  file their class  actions without consultation with the parents and/or  guardians of the residents who would be displaced from their homes.  Consistently, the parents and  guardians   have opposed such actions.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Supreme Court Olmstead decision compels the government to respect each person's right of choice between institutional and community-at-large residential placements.

Repeating my request:
By March 23, 2016,  please ask the House Appropriations Committee to include  in two appropriations bills  language which will  protect the rights of  choice by people with intellectual developmental disabilities  who need  and choose Intermediate Care or Nursing Facility care for people with IDD.   Please ask that the language  prohibit class action lawsuits unless they are filed following consultation with  and consent for  inclusion in the lawsuit  by each of  the parents and guardians of the facilities' residents.

Sincerely,
Saskia Davis, RN, Family Guardian


*Please note that I have changed all references to ICFs to include NFs (nursing facilities).  In WA and some other states, state operated facilities may be solely ICF or NF or may be a combination of them.  The people in both settings need and deserve the same protections.  (20 or more years ago, ICFs were the only choice, and so nationally, the language was used in place of "institution".  Now, we need to remember not to exclude the residents whose conditions require more intensive nursing care and so have been assigned to those facilities rather than ICFs.)


http://salsa4.salsalabs.com/o/50829/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=17918