PROTECTION & ADVOCACY FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES,
INC.
OCTOBER 2011-SEPTEMBER 2012 PRIORITIES
Adopted by Board of Directors
September 10, 2011
PROTECTION AND INDEPENDENCE (PI)1
PRIORITY 1: People with disabilities will be protected from abuse and neglect.
RATIONALE: For people confined in residential facilities, physical safety is a fundamental
right under our federal and state constitutions. In Youngberg v. Romeo, 457 US 307 (1982),
the United States Supreme Court recognized the right of individuals in facilities to adequate
treatment and physical safety. The original goal of both PAIDD and PAIMI federal laws is to
ensure that the right of safety for people with disabilities living in facilities is protected. P&A
intends to increase the safety of individuals from any form of abuse and or neglect.
Constituent calls and the P&A Advisory Councils support the need for advocacy on behalf of
people with disabilities alleging serious abuse or neglect in facilities. Therefore, P&A
involvement includes not only individual case representation, but monitoring juvenile justice
facilities, community residential care facilities, facilities operated and/or funded by DMH and
DDSN, and any other facility where an individual with a disability may be at a serious health
and safety risk.
OUTCOMES:
1 PI Case Selection Criteria: While presentation of a priority issue will be a major factor in deciding to accept a particular case,
other factors may also be considered:
• Legal merit and likelihood of success;
• Attractiveness to private attorneys or others who might provide representation;
• Whether the fact situation offers an opportunity to use media to educate the general public and people with disabilities
about disability rights and what can be done when rights are violated;
• Whether the client is willing to have the case used to educate and wants to be a part of this process; and
• Whether P&A has the resources necessary to provide high quality representation.
1.
P&A will protect or vindicate the rights of at least 130 individuals in abuse and
neglect cases selected for individual representation.
2. P&A will improve the safety of at least 4 individuals with disabilities in detention
centers by enforcing compliance with laws and standards for identifying, protecting,
treating and, if appropriate, transferring detainees.
3. P&A will inspect 100% of the 20 Community Residential Care Facilities designated
under the Department of Mental Health contract; reporting all legal violations to
regulatory entities for appropriate corrective action.
4. P&A will continue with litigation to gain access to records and information
concerning medical information of residents of CTHs in order to fully and properly
inspect CTHs (community training homes).
PRIORITY 2: People with disabilities will receive the services and supports they need to live
in the homes of their choice.
RATIONALE: People with disabilities continually encounter various forms of discrimination,
including intentional exclusion. In its 1999 opinion in the Olmstead case, the U.S. Supreme
Court recognized that the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) places an integration
mandate on the states as they provide care and treatment services. Although some progress
has been made, unnecessary institutionalization of people still occurs on a daily basis. This is
compounded by state agencies failing to routinely follow existing regulations, especially
those concerning the Early Periodic Screening, Diagnosis, and Treatment (EPSDT) Program
which is the child health component of Medicaid. Further, existing Medicaid Waiver
eligibility and service requirements are too narrow, thus limiting the number of people who
qualify for waivers or services. These actions by state agencies clearly violate the integration
mandate by preventing people with disabilities from receiving the services and supports
they are entitled to and that would allow them their home of choice.
OUTCOMES:
1. P&A will advocate for at least 35 individuals with disabilities to receive the services
and supports they need to live in the homes of their choice.
2.
P&A will advocate for at least 2 individuals with disabilities to receive the services
and supports they need under EPSDT2 to live in the homes of their choice.
PRIORITY 3: People with disabilities who are in the custody of the South Carolina
Department of Corrections will receive legally adequate mental health care.
2 The Early Periodic Screening, Diagnosis, and Treatment (EPSDT) Program is the child health component of Medicaid
RATIONALE: As mental health systems have deinstitutionalized patients without
implementing adequate community-based services, prisons have become the "new mental
health facilities" in our nation. The NDRN case docket includes many cases seeking systemic
reform for seriously inadequate mental health care in prisons. In recognition of this costly
and dangerous problem, Nelson Mullins a national law firm with headquarters in South
Carolina, filed a state court action against SCDC on behalf of P&A and certain individual
inmates. The action seeks adequate care for inmates suffering from serious mental illness.
OUTCOME:
1. P&A will obtain adequate mental health care for inmates at SCDC.
PRIORITY 4: P&A will consider individual case representation issues that are legally
compelling and not identified under other priorities.
RATIONALE: P&A resources are primarily dedicated to our planned priorities; however,
other compelling issues may arise within a given year. Cases will be taken under this priority
only if resources are available and if there is a strong legal merit.
OUTCOME:
1.
P&A will advocate for at least 5 individuals with disabilities who have legally
compelling case issues that are not otherwise identified under other priorities.
EQUAL ACCESS (EA)3
PRIORITY 1: P&A will assist people with disabilities to overcome barriers to work.
RATIONALE: People with disabilities face barriers to work from a variety of sources—
employers deny needed reasonable accommodations and assistive technology; Vocational
3EA Case Selection Criteria: While presentation of a priority issue will be a major factor considered in deciding to accept a particular case,
other factors will also be considered:
• Legal merit and likelihood of success;
• Attractiveness to private bar or others who might provide representation;
• Whether the fact situation offers an opportunity to use media to educate the general public and people with disabilities about disability
rights and the remedies available when those rights are violated;
• Whether the client is willing to have the case used to educate people about disability rights;
• Whether P&A has sufficient resources available to provide high quality representation; and
• Capacity of the individual for self-advocacy.
Rehabilitation (VR) and the Commission for the Blind fail to provide needed supports; public
schools develop inadequate transition plans; post-secondary institutions deny necessary
educational accommodations and assistive technology; etc. Federal funding is available
under the Ticket to Work legislation to help beneficiaries of SSDI and SSI who are facing
such barriers. The purpose of this priority is to allow EA team to help people with disabilities
overcome these barriers to employment.
OUTCOMES:
1.
P&A will advocate for at least 5 individuals in employment discrimination cases.
2.
P&A will advocate for at least 8 individuals who have been notified of work-related
adverse actions by SSA.
3. P&A will advocate for at least 12 individuals in cases that involve barriers to work
created by Vocational Rehabilitation, Commission for the Blind, Department of
Disabilities & Special Needs, post-secondary educational institutions, and others
who are not employers.
4.
P&A will advocate for at least 5 students in public schools to have effective
transition plans and receive transition services that will prepare them for work in
integrated employment or for post-secondary education that will prepare them to
work in the private sector.
5. P&A will advocate for at least 3 individuals who need appropriate AT evaluations,
devices, and/or support services in order to succeed at work.
PRIORITY 2: Students with disabilities in the public school system will receive appropriate
educational services by being educated in the least restrictive environment (LRE), receiving
needed assistive technology, and not being secluded or inappropriately restrained.
RATIONALE: Previous case representation, surveys, and intakes indicate that the education
of students with disabilities continues to be a significant issue in South Carolina. This priority
specifically addresses three issues they face: being educated in the least restrictive
environment; being denied assistive technology; and being subjected to seclusion and
restraint. In addition, this priority makes clear that EA team will select for representation
(using EA Case Selection Criteria) a few other students in compelling cases involving
significant IDEA violations.
OUTCOMES:
1.
P&A will advocate for at least 14 students with disabilities in the public school
system who are not being placed in the least restrictive environment.4
2.
P&A will advocate for at least 7 public school students with disabilities regarding
seclusion or the inappropriate use of restraints.
3. P&A will advocate for at least 2 public school students with disabilities who need
appropriate AT evaluations, devices, and/or support services in order to succeed at
school.
4.
P&A will advocate for at least 5 public school students with disabilities in
compelling cases involving significant IDEA violations.
PRIORITY 3: People with disabilities will have legal representation in order to enforce their
rights to equal access to goods, services, places, and housing in the community.
RATIONALE: Few resources are available to provide legal representation to people with
disabilities when their rights are violated under civil rights laws. Callers regularly request our
help in a wide variety of issues not addressed by other priorities— housing discrimination,
architectural barriers, denial of needed accommodations (in non-employment cases), denial
of effective communication (including, but not limited to, denial of effective communication
by health care providers or the court system), discrimination based on the use of service
animals and denial of voting rights. An important function of a P&A is to provide a source of
legal representation for these callers. Rather than attempting to identify beforehand the
specific types of calls that will come in, P&A can better serve the disability community by
carefully screening calls using case selection criteria and providing legal representation in a
variety of important individual cases.
OUTCOME:
1. P&A will advocate for at least 47 individuals who need legal representation due to
the violation of their rights as people with disabilities.
PRIORITY 45: P&A will conduct inspections of organizations who serve as representative
payees of SSDI/SSI beneficiaries. The inspections will be performed according to criteria
developed by the Social Security Administration and the National Disability Rights
Network. This work is conducted pursuant to a contract between P&A and
NDRN. Depending on the type of representative payee assigned, the inspections may
include review of financial records and beneficiaries’ housing.
4 This Outcome does not include changes in placement resulting from suspension or expulsion. Suspension or expulsion issues may be
considered under Outcome 4.
5 This project is conducted independently of the Equal Access (EA) Team, but is included with EA priorities as it is an adjunct of the
Protection and Advocacy for Beneficiaries of Social Security (PABSS) program.
RATIONALE: In early 2009 Congress and SSA became aware of exploitation of individuals
with developmental disabilities by an employer/representative payee. This payee had been
accused of serious labor law violations and of housing beneficiaries in substandard housing.
In response, SSA initiated a project to learn more about a sample of organizational
employer-payees whom SSA had not reviewed recently and who are not subject to periodic
monitoring by SSA. SSA contracted with the National Disability Rights Network (NDRN) to
subcontract with individual P&As to conduct these inspections. During 2011 SSA expanded
the scope of the reviews from only employer representative payees to a sample of small
organizational representative payees.
OUTCOME:
1. P&A will conduct 100% of inspections designated by NDRN under its SSA contract
and submit reports in a timely manner. (PABSS—Representative Payee Project)
OUTREACH, INFORMATION & REFERRAL
PRIORITY 1: P&A will provide quality outreach, information and referral services.
RATIONALE: Within P&A’s mission statement, commitment to self-advocacy is a primary
goal. P&A wants to ensure that people with disabilities have access to resources so that they
can serve as effective self-advocates. An on-going goal of OIR is to inform people with
disabilities of their rights and to provide information how they can access goods and
services. Accurate and timely information and referral services are crucial for effective selfadvocacy. The current economic climate will impact I&R and case services. The reduction in
state services to people with disabilities is expected to increase overall requests for P&A
assistance, yet our reduced funding for case services will require reliance on OIR services.
Given the expense associated with travel for outreach, P&A is limiting its outreach focus to
military families, disaster preparedness and voting rights. Public input validates use of P&A’s
time in these areas. P&A will continue to work through our Minority and Rural Outreach
Advisory Council to ensure that traditionally underrepresented individuals in South Carolina
are aware of P&A services. P&A will also focus attention on the rights of individuals who
have a disability to use an assistance animal in situations involving public accommodation,
fair housing, and public transportation.
OUTCOMES:
1. Provide information and referral services to at least 1506 South Carolinians with
disabilities.
2.
Military personnel with disabilities and their family members with disabilities will
be informed of P&A’s programs, services, and effective self-advocacy tools through
a minimum of 6 trainings or presentations.
3. P&A staff will continue to monitor state and local emergency preparedness plans
for people with disabilities residing in South Carolina by participating in emergency
preparedness meetings. In addition, P&A will work to ensure that people with
disabilities who require the assistance of an assistance animal to perform major life
functions are included in emergency preparedness plans by both official emergency
support personnel as well as personal emergency preparedness plans. This will be
accomplished by participation in 12 meetings, and provision of written information
for self-advocacy.
4.
P&A staff will provide information concerning the use of assistance animals in
places of public accommodation, fair housing situations, and public transportation.
This will be done through the creation of a Fact Sheet describing the rights of an
individual under federal and/or state law to use an assistance animal when needed.
In addition, outreach directed to groups of private individuals and public entities
will be conducted on this issue, to include a minimum of 3 trainings or
presentations.
PRIORITY 2: People with disabilities will be able to fully participate in the voting process.
RATIONALE: People with disabilities face discrimination in the voting process. Our work in
previous years under the PAVA grant has indicated problems with inaccessible polling places
in many parts of the state. Mental health consumers also have identified discrimination in
the registration process. People who have hearing or vision impairments have indicated
that lack of effective communication is a barrier to their participation in the voting process.
Federal funding is available under the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) to address these
problems. P&A has consistently received fewer than 10 individual inquiries a year related to
individual voting issues. Therefore, P&A’s focus continues on community awareness and
engaging people with disabilities on voting accessibility at a group level.
OUTCOMES:
1.
Provide a minimum of six presentations to individuals with disabilities about their
voting rights In order to increase awareness.
2.
Improve the State and County Election Commissions’ compliance with the Help
America Vote Act and other laws that protect the rights of people with disabilities
in the voting process.
3.
Advise at least 1500 individuals with disabilities who receive information and
referral services about their right to register and vote.