The promise of the ADA — for people with disabilities to be fully integrated into our community — is being realized in Milwaukee County with the closure of the Milwaukee County Mental Health Complex long-term care units.

Click here to read the Op-Ed on the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel website.

Donate today to celebrate the 25^th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act and keep the disability rights movement moving forward toward freedom and opportunity for all!

On Friday, December 18 several members of the Assembly Aging and Long-Term Care Committee issued a letter to the Department of Health Services outlining their suggestions for the redesign of the Family Care and IRIS systems that support individuals with disabilities and older adults. Family Care/IRIS 2.0 is scheduled to go live after January 2017.

The letter suggests various performance measures and other quality indicators for the Department of Health Services to consider. The letter was issued following a November 18 informational hearing in which committee members heard from various national and state-level experts.

You can read the full letter here: DHS Letter on FamilyCare-IRIS.

Click here to read the rest of Legislators Outline Next Steps in the Design of Family Care/IRIS 2.0 »

The Wisconsin legislature is considering legislation intended to improve the child abuse and neglect investigation process. Recently Disability Rights Wisconsin testified in the Capitol to create awareness of unique concerns for children with disabilities and their parents, as well as parents with disabilities.

Read our testimony here:

Disability Rights WI – SB 324 SB 326 – Child Abuse – 10-22-15

Disability Rights WI – AB 429 AB 431 – Child Abuse – 11-5-15

Disability Rights Wisconsin also commented in a November 12 FOX6 News investigation into alarming trends in Wisconsin involving abuse and neglect. Watch the story here: FOX6 News.

Disability Rights Wisconsin worked with legislators to organize a November 18 informational hearing in the Assembly Committee on Aging and Long-Term Care on the development of the new Family Care/IRIS 2.0 long-term care system for older adults and people with disabilities in Wisconsin. The state budget requires that Wisconsin implement a new integrated system including acute and primary care, behavioral health supports and long-term supports (including a new self-directed model) by January 1, 2017. These changes will impact more than 60,000 Wisconsinites who currently use Family Care and IRIS supports.

At the 11-18-15 hearing national experts on long-term care from Washington, DC and Tennessee joined Wisconsin aging and disability advocates to outline questions and make recommendations as Wisconsin develops this new system. Click here to read the rest of Disability Rights Wisconsin Supports Committee Hearing on Long-Term Care Issues »

Help shape our advocacy plans for the future.
Come and speak or just listen to what others in your
community have to say.

WHEN: Friday, December 4, 2015 from 4:30 to 6:30 PM

WHERE:
ACAP (Adaptive Community Approach Program)
Lower level of the First United Methodist Church
121 Wisconsin Ave., Waukesha, 53186

For details, click here.

For the flyer in Spanish, haga click.

Donate to Disability Rights Wisconsin’s Fund Our Voice campaign. We make sure the voices of people with disabilities are heard in Madison and Washington, D.C. – voices for equality, opportunity, and respect.

Legislation affecting people with disabilities is pending today in Congress and in Wisconsin’s Capitol.

Lobbyists will spend untold sums to influence legislation this election cycle. Who will fund your voice? Who will fund the voice of people with disabilities across Wisconsin?

Disability Rights Wisconsin alerts the public to disability issues, analyzes legislation, educates policy-makers, and trains advocates just like you!

Speak Out on Public Policy:

• $50 Letter to Legislators
• $100 Policy Education
• $500 Visit to Capitol Hill
• $1000 Disability Policy Training for a Self-Advocate

DRW seeks public comments on our proposed 2016 Goals and Priorities for our protection and advocacy for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. These goals and priorities will determine how DRW will allocate its resources on behalf of people with IDD during the next year. These goals and priorities were developed with input from the public obtained at DRW Board listening sessions and are also based on the intake and case experience at DRW. These goals and priorities will be finalized after all public comments are analyzed.

Click here to read the document.

Comments should be submitted to DRW’s PADD Coordinator Mitch Hagopian via email at:
mitchh@drwi.org

or via U.S. Mail at:
Disability Rights Wisconsin
Attention: Mitch
131 W. Wilson St. Suite 700
Madison, WI 53703

To assure consideration comments must be received by November 30, 2015.

Parents and students are often confused when they hear the word transition. Students make many transitions throughout their school career. They transition from early childhood to elementary, year after year transition to a new teacher, and some parents think of the transitions in a child’s day. This guide will help explain the transition that is required for all students receiving special education from the age of fourteen until they leave school. Click here to read The Key to Your Future: Understanding the Postsecondary Transition Plan.

“Severe brain injury spurs local woman to help others like her; she’s being honored for efforts. Audrey Nelson has learned to never say no after a life-altering traffic crash in 1981.”

Read the article here: http://www.leadertelegram.com/News/Region/2015/10/02/Never-saying-no.html.