Developmental Disabilities Reform Act

Draft Review & Revision Meeting 3

May 7, 2009
Martin Luther King, Jr. Library, Room A-5

Meeting Notes

In attendance: Sandy Bernstein, University Legal

Services; Tina Campanella, Quality Trust; Karen Davis,
QT Board; Thelma Green, Project ACTION!; Akiko
Kageyma, Georgetown University; Mat McCollough,
Office of Disability Rights; Mary Lou Meccariello, The
Arc of DC; Clydie Smith, DDS; T.J. Sutcliffe, The Arc of
DC; Bob Williams, DDS; Weadé Wallace, Advocates for
Justice and Education; Antoinette Wiseman

Meeting notes:

1. Welcome, Introductions and Announcements

The group welcomed new participants.

Notes from Meeting 2 were distributed. Meeting 2

participants are asked to review the meeting notes and

Page 1 of 5
contact T.J. Sutcliffe (tjsutcliffe@arcdc.net or 202-636-
2963) with any corrections. Meeting notes are not
intended to be a transcript of the discussion, but rather
attempt to highlight key items discussed and the
resolution of each item.

Calendar changes announced at Meeting 1 are still

pending. These are:

a. The June 18th meeting will be rescheduled; and

b. To accommodate people who are unable to attend
review and revision meetings on Thursday afternoons,
a Saturday meeting will be held on May 30th. Location
is to be determined. An announcement will go out
soon.

T.J. has asked the 5 Expert Review Panel members to

provide short biographies; 3 have done so. She hopes to
be able to provide biographies for all members of the
Panel at the next meeting.

2. Support and Service Planning

Support Coordination

Page 2 of 5
The group discussed the “Support and Services” and
“Support Coordination” sections of the draft DDRA and
agreed to change the sections in the following ways:

Clarify the requirement to describe a person’s

financial and other resources in the initial ISP (item
(c)(3) on page 31, lines 12 to 13).

Consistently use the term “outcomes” in describing

the elements of the ISP (as opposed to “goals”).
Explore the idea of defining “outcomes.”

Clarify the discussion of supports and services that

may be delivered in the future (page 32, item
(c)(A)(10), lines 14 to 15).

Regarding situations where a person asks for a new

support coordinator and situations where DDA
changes a person’s support coordinator (for
example, if the support coordinator takes a new job):

o If a person asks for a new support coordinator,

DDA will make the change within 21 calendar
days (use stronger language than “implement a
request”). If DDA cannot or does not want to

Page 3 of 5
 make this change, the burden will be on DDA to
say why not.
o If DDA changes a person’s support coordinator,
DDA must notify the person within 1 business
day – recognizing that this is a significant
disruption in the person’s life.
o DDA must establish a process for DDA and the
person to work out disagreements about
changes in support coordination.

Add a definition of “support coordinator” to the

draft.

DDS should define and discuss conflicts of interest

related to support coordination in regulation. For
example, support coordination should not be
provided by an agency that also provides direct
supports and services.

The Drafting Committee will look more closely at the

language on waiting lists in these sections and in
several other places in the draft. In general, the bill
should clearly state that waiting lists are undesirable
and should require DDS to issue regulations for

Page 4 of 5
 waiting lists to operate in an open manner based on
urgency, with clear guidelines for appeals.

The group also agreed to strengthen the draft by

making it clear that people should receive training and
ongoing support so they can learn how to exercise
greater choice and control, particularly as it relates to
support and service planning. This may go in either the
“Rights” section or the “Supports and Services” section.

3. Next meeting

The next meeting will be Thursday, May 14th from 3:00

to 5:00 p.m. at The Arc of DC, 415 Michigan Avenue,
NE. The topics for the next meeting will be “Supports
and Services” and “Family Supports.”

Page 5 of 5