Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Senator Calls For Expansion Of Community-Based Services

Senator Calls For Expansion Of Community-Based Services

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A new proposal in the U.S. Senate would eliminate a government bias toward placing people with disabilities in institutional rather than community-based settings.
U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, said Tuesday he is introducing a bill that would put an end to what’s known as the “institutional bias.”
Current law requires Medicaid to provide nursing home services to people with disabilities, but does not mandate that home and community-based options be offered. As a result, many states have long waiting lists for individuals wishing to obtain services in the community and a Senate report last year found that over 200,000 working-age Americans remain segregated in nursing homes.
Harkin’s proposal dubbed the Community Integration Act would change things by requiring that states deem all individuals who are considered eligible for institutional care to also be eligible for supports in home and community-based settings. What’s more, the bill would prohibit states from making people ineligible for services in the community based on their particular disability.

Read more at:  http://www.disabilityscoop.com/2014/06/24/senator-expansion-community/19470/ 

Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Congress To ‘Combat’ Autism No More

In a win for self-advocates, lawmakers said this week that they will no longer seek to include the term “combating” in the title of the nation’s primary autism legislation.

A bill to reauthorize hundreds of millions of dollars in federal spending for prevalence tracking, research, early identification efforts and other autism initiatives will move forward under a new name — the Autism Collaboration, Accountability, Research, Education and Support Act, or Autism CARES.


The new name emerged earlier this week in a U.S. Senate proposal to renew the law previously known as the Combating Autism Act. A committee in the U.S. House of Representatives quickly followed suit by attaching the new title to its version of the bill and voting to move the measure on for consideration by the full House.

To read more, please visit this site:

http://www.disabilityscoop.com/2014/06/12/congress-combat-autism-no/19436/ 


Thursday, June 5, 2014

2014 Mid-South Autism Conference

2014 Mid-South Autism Conference 

Date:  June 19 - 21, 2014
Where:  University of Memphis, Fogelman Executive Conference Center

Participants & Features:   
  • Speakers including Temple Grandin, autism experts, and more
  • Breakout sessions
  • Lunch all three days
  • Vendors from all over the Mid-South
For more information, please visit the website at http://www.midsouthautismconference.com/ or call (901) 231-1931.   This event is being sponsored by Transformations Autism Treatment Center.