AT ADVOCATE
Newsletter of the National
Assistive Technology Advocacy Project
A Project of Neighborhood Legal Services, Inc.
295 Main Street, Ste. 495 · Buffalo, New York 14203 · (716) 847-0650
(716) 847-0227 FAX · (716) 847-1322 TDD · e-mail: nls01@sprynet.com ·
Web Page: http://www.nls.org
Supported by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation
Research,
U.S. Department of Education, Through a Subcontract with United Cerebral Palsy
Associations.
Volume I Issue 1 July 1996
NEIGHBORHOOD
LEGAL SERVICES AWARDED CONTRACT
TO PROVIDE TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE TO
PROTECTION AND ADVOCACY NETWORK
Copyright 1996, Neighborhood Legal Services, Inc.
WELCOME TO OUR READERS
This is the first issue of the AT ADVOCATE, a newsletter dedicated to assistive technology (AT) and how to advocate for it. This issue will tell you about a contract awarded to Neighborhood Legal Services in Buffalo; the services we will make available to state Protection and Advocacy for Assistive Technology (PAAT) attorneys and advocates under this contract; the services available to other attorneys and advocates through state PAAT projects; and how our newsletter will educate readers about funding for AT devices and services. For readers not familiar with the term, we will explain what is meant by AT. We will also explain what the Protection and Advocacy network is and the role of the state PAAT programs in advocating for AT.
NEIGHBORHOOD LEGAL SERVICES
AWARDED NATIONAL AT ADVOCACY GRANT
Neighborhood Legal Services (NLS) has received a contract, through the national United Cerebral Palsy Associations, to provide technical assistance to attorneys and advocates from state PAAT projects. We will function primarily as a support and technical assistance center, equipping attorneys and other advocates with the tools to successfully advocate for AT.
The National AT Advocacy Project will be staffed by a full-time paralegal, two part-time attorneys and a part-time secretary. Project attorneys, Jim Sheldon and Jim Morrissey, are both experts in disability law with years of experience advocating for AT. Project paralegal, Teresa Amspacher, is an expert in public benefits law and has handled AT cases involving Medicaid.
NLS has a 15-year history of successful AT advocacy. Our AT litigation has involved Medicaid, Medicare, our state vocational rehabilitation agencies, private insurance and a state-funded program for children with physical disabilities. We have a long history of special education litigation and have successfully advocated for AT through the special education system. NLS is a national leader in using SSI's Plan for Achieving Self Support (PASS) to fund items like special computers and modified vehicles. We have also been involved in Americans With Disabilities Act enforcement activities, including litigation seeking structural changes, including the use of AT, to make a either the public schools or college campuses accessible to persons with disabilities.
WHAT IS ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY?
Assistive technology helps people with disabilities make use of their abilities. An AT device is any item or piece of equipment used to maintain or improve a person's functional capabilities. AT services include evaluations to determine the need for AT and training on how to use the device.
Other terminology is often used to describe AT. Medicaid, Medicare and some insurance policies refer to "durable medical equipment" to describe items such as wheelchairs. Insurance policies may use terms like "prosthetic equipment" or "orthopedic appliances" to describe items meeting the AT definition. In vocational rehabilitation the term "rehabilitation technology" is often used. You may also hear terms like adaptive equipment, accessibility modifications and similar language. AT should be interpreted broadly to include all of these categories.
Many persons with disabilities can benefit greatly from AT, including those with physical, visual and hearing impairments. AT devices include:
Motorized and custom-made wheelchairs
Augmentative communication equipment
Vehicle modifications, including wheelchair lifts and hand controls
Computer equipment and adaptations, including Braille printers, voice output, touch screens and switches which allow computer access through voluntary movements such as eye blinks or head movements
Assistive listening devices, including hearing aids and personal FM units
Home modifications, including ramps, lifts and stair glides
Work site modifications, including adapted office equipment and environmental control devices
Classroom modifications, including adaptive seating systems.
While many low-tech AT interventions may cost under $50, the core of our advocacy work will involve more expensive items. For example, one court case filed by NLS in the mid 1980s involved a package of equipment for a blind computer programmer with a price tag exceeding $25,000. Many of the wheelchairs we have obtained through Medicaid or private insurance cost in excess of $10,000.
For those who are new to AT work, it is just as critical to develop an understanding of the various devices in the marketplace as it is to become familiar with the criteria followed by funding sources. Contact some of the equipment vendors, public schools, private agencies and others involved in assessing the need for AT. Travel to their facilities and get a view the various AT devices as used by persons with disabilities. You should understand how a device or adaptation works before you can convince decision makers of your client's need for the item.
WHAT IS THE P&A NETWORK?
Although our technical assistance services are only available to PAAT programs, this newsletter will reach a far wider audience. Our mailing list includes all Protection and Advocacy (P&A) programs, all Client Assistance Programs and all legal services offices nationwide. Since many readers may not be familiar with either AT or the P&A network, we will describe both.
Congress allocates funding for several P&A programs and the Client Assistance Program (CAP). The P&A programs include:
PADD - Protection and Advocacy for
the Developmentally Disabled
PAIMI - Protection and Advocacy for
Individuals Who Are Mentally Ill
PAIR - Protection and Advocacy for
Individual Rights
PAAT - Protection and Advocacy for
Assistive Technology .
The P&A or CAP programs may be free-standing agencies, may be part of a legal services or legal aid program, may be part of a Center for Independent Living, or may be part of a state agency. NLS provides advocacy services under all of these grant programs. Our PAAT project serves all of New York State.
During the 1980s, most of the successful AT advocacy came out of the PADD and CAP programs. When PAIR became a nationwide program in the early 1990s, it became a new source of AT advocacy for those persons who did not meet the developmentally disabled definition (PADD clients) and who were not seeking funding from the vocational rehabilitation system (CAP clients).
PAAT is the newest program in the P&A/CAP family and the one with the lowest level of funding. However, it is also the program with the most targeted mandate -- to advocate for AT through legal and other advocacy strategies. Since PAATs cannot represent everyone who approaches you, we believe that some of your limited resources should be devoted to recruiting attorneys and advocates from the other P&As (i.e., PADD & PAIR), CAPs, legal service/legal aid programs, the private bar, pro bono projects and various not-for-profit agencies. The PAAT projects will be the experts on how to advocate for AT and can offer back-up technical assistance to these other advocates.
THE AT ADVOCACY PROJECT WILL
ENHANCE THE WORK OF P&A ADVOCATES
Overall, we see three main tasks for the Project:
1) To help PAAT advocates "connect" with other P&A agencies with a view towards helping forge a strong vision on how best to advocate nationally, regionally and locally on behalf of our clients. We believe that communication may be one of the keys and will work hard to make it easier to communicate with each other. We will explore means through which we may be able to communicate simply and easily using emerging technologies like computer bulletin board systems.
2) The gathering and disseminating of information relevant to AT. We will gather and annotate administrative fair hearing decisions and court decisions. We will compile a pleadings bank. We will gather and annotate training materials and secondary reference materials on AT. We will make these materials available to you.
3) Providing technical assistance to advocates in the PAAT network. These advocates can request our help by telephone, in writing, or through E-Mail using Handsnet. Our Handsnet number is HN0627. We will also organize and provide at least two training events per year at conferences where P&A staff are likely to attend.
Ultimately, we want to design our Project in a manner that will best meet the needs of PAAT projects. To that end, we have convened a six-attorney Advisory Board drawn from each region of the country to ensure that we are responsive to your concerns.
PURPOSE OF FUTURE NEWSLETTERS
The AT ADVOCATE will serve a primary readership of PAAT advocates and advocates from the P&A and CAP network who spend either all of their time or significant time advocating for AT. Our secondary readership includes other advocates who serve persons with disabilities, but who have little if any experience advocating for AT.
Presently, few advocates outside the P&A programs handle AT cases because many advocates lack the expertise to do so. We will publish this newsletter for distribution nationwide to "get out the word" on AT. Future issues will cover:
Special education
Medicaid
including Medicaid waivers,
section 1619(b) Medicaid
other special Medicaid provisions
Medicare
State vocational rehabilitation agencies
SSI's Plan for Achieving Self Support
Private insurance
Veteran's Administration benefits
Charities and other funding sources
The newsletter will be published monthly for the next five months and every two months thereafter.
The AT ADVOCATE will serve several purposes. First, our newsletters will be designed as a curriculum on AT and advocacy to be stored in a three-ring binder. Starting with the next issue, each issue will contain a lead article dedicated to a substantive topic. We will include relevant citations to law, regulation and case law.
Second, we will use the newsletter to inform readers about key national developments in law, regulation, policy and case law. To a more limited extent, we will report on similar developments on the state level. If you become aware of developments which relate to AT, please send the information to us, care of Teresa Amspacher.
Third, we will use the newsletter to let you know what others are doing in the P&A network. To that end, we encourage you to send your hearing and court decisions to us. We will actively solicit these documents from PAAT advocates.
Finally, the newsletter will be a forum to describe the ongoing work of the National AT Advocacy Project and the services available to the PAAT network.