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 II Issue 6
October/November 1997
Copyright 1997, Neighborhood Legal Services, Inc.
In this issue......
INTERNET AS A RESOURCE TOOL
Introduction
SPECIAL FEATURES:
What is the Internet? a Web Page?
AT Court Watch
Four Ways of Reaching Web Pages
Florida PAAT Challenges Medicaid
Typing a Known Web Address
Administrative Hearings
Searching by Key Words or Phrases
Pro Bono Attorneys
Using Bookmarks
Attorneys' Fees for Education Cases
Using Links
AT Conference - March 1997
Important Web Sites
Conclusion
THE INTERNET AS A RESEARCH
TOOL
FOR AT ADVOCATES: PART I
What do Toyota, Joshua Redman, the Buffalo Sabres, your local supermarket chain and the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) have in common? All of these entities have web pages. Through Internet browsing you can shop for a car, check up on your favorite saxophone player, find out if your favorite team is losing, plan your shopping list and check out NIDRR's links to many Internet sources of assistive technology (AT) information. The Internet also allows you to do legal research through a growing number of web sites which provide access to laws, regulations and many other documents in electronic format.
How do you use the Internet to find information that may be helpful without wasting valuable time? Unlike the volumes in a bookstore or library, the Internet library of web pages is not limited to those materials that have been pre-screened, edited and organized by professionals. Searching the "net" is not as simple as walking over to the biography section of your local library. Many web pages have promising titles and great graphics, but contain very little useful information. This can be part of the down side of the Internet.
Before you throw this article out and forget about using the Internet in your work, however, there is an up side to the Internet. Picture yourself ready to go into a hearing or just finishing your brief. A colleague mentions a new regulation posted in the federal register or a recent decision of the United States Court of Appeals for your region. If your office does not subscribe to the federal register or Westlaw, how do you quickly get your hands on the new regulation or decision? The good news is that you can readily obtain up-to-date information of this sort through established web pages.
This is Part I of a two-part series on using the Internet for
legal and advocacy-related research. In this issue, we will introduce you to web pages and
explain some typical ways to reach them. In particular, we summarize the time-saving use
of bookmarks and the links to useful web pages that have already been established through
the web pages of established legal back-up centers. Part II will appear in our
December-January newsletter and will provide some concrete examples of how one can do
research on the Internet. In that issue, we will also provide a more extensive set of web
page addresses that are useful for AT and disability advocates.
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WHAT IS THE INTERNET?
WHAT IS A WEB PAGE?
We will leave it to the computer books to explain the technical side of the Internet. We will explain the Internet and web pages from the practical standpoint of an attorney or advocate who specializes in disability law and hopes to use the Internet as a supplement to other research and library resources.
As a disability advocate, you have need for access to statutes, regulations, agency policies, case law, administrative decisions, legal treatises, manuals, articles and newsletters related to the issues you face on individual cases. Many of these resources may not be available within your office or, if they are, they may not contain current information. The web pages of various government and non-government entities can bring many of these needed resources to your computer screen without ever having to leave your office.
Advocates wanting information about a client's disability, AT
devices and/or services can access the web pages of disability organizations, university
departments, equipment vendors and others. These resources can educate the advocate who,
in turn, will educate the decision maker who will decide if a funding source should pay
for the special equipment or services in question. Many of us have accumulated bits and
pieces of information like this in file cabinets, attempting to file it in subject files
so that we can retrieve it years later when we need it again. Think of the Internet as an
opportunity to create the electronic equivalent of those file cabinets, file drawers and
manila folders that many of us currently use to enhance our practice.
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FOUR WAYS OF REACHING WEB PAGES
This article uses the term "web page" to describe what
you reach, for example, when you type "www.nls.org" and hit "enter"
through America Online's web browser to reach the web page of our parent organization,
Neighborhood Legal Services (NLS). We use the term "site" to describe a specific
location within a web page, like the August-September 1997 issue of AT Advocate,
one of many documents you can access when you come to the NLS web page. We will leave it
to the computer publications to teach you all the computer jargon you need to converse
with your web-savvy friends and colleagues. The four typical ways to reach a web page are
briefly discussed below.
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The technical term for a web page address is the "uniform
resource locator" or URL. One of the better web pages you will want to check out is
that of National Clearinghouse for Legal Services, publishers of Clearinghouse Review.
Their web page address is www.nclsplp.org. If you like their web page, you will
want to bookmark it or add it to what America Online refers to as your
"favorites" list.
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Searching by Key Words or Phrases
This is where you can eat up time and obtain lots of irrelevant and poor quality information in your search for the good stuff. For example, assume you want to find information about Medicaid funding of power wheelchairs and, like most of us, you are not a skilled web searcher. Let's also assume you are using the popular search engine known as Alta Vista (their web address is altavista.digital.com). The results of the searches listed below will be different -- either better or worse -- if you use one of the other search engines, like Lycos (www.lycos.com) or Excite (www.excite.com).
You start by typing in the term wheelchair and hit enter (or "search") to search for relevant web pages. Your search turns up 21,929 documents (either web pages or sites within pages). Among the top 10 on the list is a page describing the rules for wheelchair racing and a poem entitled "Wheelchair Eddie." None of the top 20 documents listed contains helpful information. (Unless you have unlimited time, you generally will not go beyond the top 20 documents found through a word search.)
Next, you use the search terms wheelchair and Medicaid together. Now your search turns up 22,452 documents. Among the top 20 on the list are a web page from a medical transportation company which accepts Medicaid funding, web pages which discuss Medicaid legislation and many other interesting leads that are not directly relevant. Number 12 on the list is the vocational rehabilitation site on the NLS web page, something we prepared in connection with our state Protection and Advocacy for Assistive Technology (PAAT) project. Oddly enough, the search brought you to a part of our web page that does not deal with Medicaid directly. Number 20 identifies the Public Benefits site of the NLS web page. This provides direct access to state Medicaid regulations, but will not provide direct information about funding wheelchairs. (The Public Benefits Unit of NLS specializes in welfare advocacy.)
If you took some time looking at numbers 12 and 20, those sites would lead you back to the NLS "home page" or main menu page. There you would see that separate sites are set up for our National AT Advocacy Project and our New York State AT Advocacy Project. However, if you just spent the last two hours chasing down dead leads, you are likely to quickly conclude that numbers 12 and 20 contain irrelevant information.
For your third search, you use three terms -- wheelchair, Medicaid and power. Now your search turns up 52,833 documents, but your top 20 closely resembles the top 20 found through search number two, including the same two sites from the NLS web page. Here again, having chased down any number of previous leads to dead ends, it is likely the searcher will quickly rule out these sites as irrelevant.
Finally, you search using four terms -- wheelchair, Medicaid, power and funding. This turns up 55,626 documents and this time you hit pay dirt. Number four on this list references what we have titled the "Assistive Technology Funding Link" within the NLS web page, specifically zeroing in on the National AT Advocacy Project's sites. When you put the cursor on the highlighted language of number four and hit enter, you go directly to what we often call our National AT sub-page. Number seven on the list also references the AT Funding Link, this time zeroing in on our New York AT Advocacy Project's sites. When we see two very relevant sites come up in the top seven of 55,000 hits, we know that we have used good search terms. We also know that our web master has done a good job of choosing key words for registering our web page with the major search engines, like Alta Vista.
Our example may lead you to the mistaken conclusion that your
search for information is a simple matter of trial and error. The problem is that web
searching often takes hours, not minutes and sometimes you never hit pay dirt. If you are
going to do your own web searching, you should invest in a handbook or magazine that will
teach you some web searching tricks. You should also avail yourself of the help sections
and tutorials offered by your Internet service or the search engine you are using.
Finally, talk to others and learn from their experiences. When you do find a site that you
expect to use again, consider bookmarking it for future use.
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A bookmark is typically a descriptive listing of a web page or a site within a web page that you store on your computer for future access. For example, you may want to create the bookmark, "National AT Project." Then, when you go to your bookmark list, you can easily get to our web page without the necessity of remembering our web address and re-typing it each time. You can also bookmark it so that you go right to our AT-related sites rather than starting at the home page or main menu.
Let's use the analogy of the library or bookstore again. If you use the library or bookstore often, you instinctively go to the section that contains your favorites, such as biographies, sports books or the works of Hemingway. In your own mind, you have bookmarked that section of the library and will keep coming back to it. Similarly, in the law library you regularly use, you know where to find the reliable resources, like West's Federal Digest, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Law Reports or the AT Advocate.
As you use the Internet, you should strive to create your own customized bookmarking system. Using what Windows 95 calls "folders," you can create any number of subject-matter folders or sections within your list of bookmarks and then file your bookmarks under the respective folders so that you can easily keep coming back to the web pages and specific sites within web pages that you find most useful. Over time, you may create additional folders and delete some bookmarks as you add others, just as you might add and delete materials from your office file cabinet.
Here is how you might customize your bookmarks list. Two categories (or folders) a disability advocate might want to create would be Legal Back Up and Legal Research. Under your Legal Back Up folder, you decide to set up bookmarks to the web pages of :
Here is what that folder might look like:
0 LEGAL BACK UP
/ Nat AT Project
/ Sr Citizens Law Project
/ Nat Health Law Project
/ NOSSCR
/ Clearinghouse
For your Legal Research folder, you decide you want to start out with bookmarks that will take you to the United States Code, the Code of Federal Regulations and the Federal Register. (See box, p. 84.) Now you are going to name your bookmarks by the category of information they take you to, rather than by the web page they take you to.
Here is what your folder might look like:
0 LEGAL RESEARCH
/ U.S. Code
/ Code of Federal Regulations
/ Federal Register
As you find additional web pages that allow you access to state
laws, state regulations or case law, you will want to consider bookmarking them and
listing them within this folder. If you get too many of them, you may want to either
delete some or reorganize your folders and bookmarks. As you really get into this, you may
wish to add folders titled DISABILITY ORGANIZATIONS and ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY. Then you
must decide which folder the national United Cerebral Palsy Associations bookmark (www.ucpa.org)
should go into.
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Using the
Links Already Created
on Web Pages
Always take maximum advantage of the work that others have done to make the Internet a tool you can use. Many organizations have devoted hundreds of hours to searching the Internet to find the best resources available for specific purposes. Take advantage of the work they have done and don't spend endless hours redoing it.
Back to the library analogy. Whether you know it or not, when you set foot in a library you are taking advantage of the work others have done to make the library a tool you can easily use. Somebody created an indexing system, somebody reviews potential books and decides which ones go into circulation, and somebody periodically evaluates when to purge old volumes to make room for new ones. Just as you would not attempt to re-do the work of the library staff, you should not attempt to re-do the work of others in creating a personalized Internet resource library.
The National Clearinghouse web page contains many good links to legal information. On their home page or main menu, you will find a listing for "Research Links of Interest to Poverty Law Advocates." When you move your mouse to that listing and hit enter, you are taken to a separate site within the Clearinghouse Page containing 34 different categories of links. Among those that the AT or disability advocate may find helpful are the disability, education, health and statutes/regulations links. When you go to any one of these categories and hit enter, you are then taken to a listing of relevant web pages and links that allow you to go directly to those web pages.
You may want to borrow some of Clearinghouse's links for your own bookmarking system, but most likely you will simply create the bookmark on your computer to allow you to go quickly to the Clearinghouse page where you can take advantage of the many hours they have invested to make life easy for the rest of us. If you find that the links provided by Clearinghouse or another agency's web page meet your needs, you will want to come back to it again and again as a starting off point for your Internet-related research.
The National AT Advocacy Project plans to develop its own set of
links over the next three months so that AT advocates, nationwide, can turn to our web
page as a favorite starting off place for Internet research. If you have some favorite web
pages that you like to use, share them with either Bill Mastroleo or Jim Sheldon at the AT
Advocacy Project.
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The Internet and its availability as a legal research tool remains a mystery to the majority of advocates who work at Protection and Advocacy, Legal Services and Legal Aid offices. We hope this article will provide a starting point for aiding in your understanding of this new resource and how you can tap into it, primarily by taking advantage of the many hours of work that have been done by others to tame this unwieldy source of information.
Part II of this two-part series will provide some concrete
examples of how you can use web pages to address the issues which arise in your own
caseloads. Specifically, we will show you how to use the National AT Advocacy Project's
web page and the links within it to identify the Internet resources you will need to
better serve your clients.
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Important Web Sites
these links are active
United States Code: www.gpo.ucop.edu:80/search/uscode.html
Code of Federal Regulations: www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/cfr-table-search.html/
Federal Register: www.gpo.ucop.edu:80/search/fedfld.html
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New York Court Approves Medicaid Funding for Power Wheelchair
In Matter of Starkweather v. Wing (N.Y. App. Div. 4th Dept., 9/30/97), the court approved Medicaid funding for a customized power wheelchair for a 14 year old boy who lived with his grandparents. The court reasoned that the power wheelchair "is needed to increase the independence and functional ability of the petitioner's infant, especially in emergency situations, and to prevent the development of 'learned helplessness'." Kudos to PAAT attorney, Bill Mastroleo, who has won four wheelchair cases from the same appellate court since the first of the year.
Copies of the decision and Bill's brief are
available through the AT Advocacy Project.
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Florida
PAAT Challenges Medicaid's
$582 Limit for Wheelchairs
Attorneys Julie Lippman and Ellen Saideman recently filed a federal court lawsuit, Estaban v. Cook, on behalf of a statewide class of plaintiffs. They are challenging a Medicaid policy which limits coverage for wheelchairs, for adults, to $582. The result of this policy is that adult Medicaid recipients cannot obtain customized wheelchairs, power wheelchairs or power scooters. Children, who are covered by Florida's Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnosis and Treatment (EPSDT) program, can obtain Medicaid funding for the more expensive equipment. The complaint, which is available through the AT Advocacy Project, states claims under the federal Medicaid law, the Americans with Disabilities Act, section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.
The Florida PAAT is very interested in data from
other states concerning Medicaid approval of power wheelchairs. They would like to hear
from you with the following information to supplement what we have made available to them:
any law or regulation governing the approval of power wheelchairs, any fair hearing
decision or court decision approving a power wheelchair, and any statistical data on the
number of Medicaid-funded power wheelchairs in your state each year. Please call either
Ellen Saideman or paralegal, Elaine Hill at 954-967-1493 if you have information that
might help.
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Please send a separate copy
of any material to
the National AT Advocacy Project
Maine's Medicaid Program Must Pay For Ceiling Track Lift System
Attorney Bill Furber of the Maine P&A successfully represented a 36 year old man who weighed 250 pounds and was dependent on assistance from others for most of his needs. Medicaid denied funding for a ceiling mounted, motor/track lifting system claiming, among other things, that it did not meet the definition of durable medical equipment because it was not primarily used to serve a medical purpose and that it would not pay for an "aesthetic or deluxe" system. The system costs $7,900, installed. The hearing decision rejected both of these reasons, finding that the system was used almost exclusively for medical purposes and finding that other lifting devices, such as the Hoyer lift and wall-mounted lifts, would not be appropriate.
For a copy of this decision, please refer to
NLS FH # 0308.
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Attorneys' Fees Available in Education Cases for
Administrative Complaints
Under the Complaint Resolution Procedure
An association filed an administrative complaint with the Vermont Commissioner of Education under the Complaint Resolution Procedure (CRP), alleging that a school district was not complying with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), 20 U.S.C. §§ 1400, et seq. The CRP was previously referred to as the EDGAR complaint process because, until 1992, the process was set out in the Education Division General Administrative Regulations (EDGAR) at 34 C.F.R. §§ 76.1 - 76.902. The CRP is now under IDEA Part B regulations at 34 C.F.R. §§ 300.670 - 300.672.
An investigatory team determined that the district was out of compliance. The association then filed a federal action seeking attorneys' fees for bringing the CRP complaint. The court determined that the CRP was an administrative proceeding for which attorneys' fees are available under 20 U.S.C. § 1415(e)(4)(B). Upper Valley Association for Handicapped Citizens v. Blue Mountain Union School District No. 21, 973 F. Supp. 429 (D. Vt. 1997). The Court's reasoning is consistent with cases which have required the exhaustion of the EDGAR (now CRP) process before bringing a court action under IDEA for systemic violations. See Hoeft v. Tucson Unified School Dist., 967 F.2d 1298 (9th Cir. 1992); Emma C. v. Eastin, No. C 96-4179 TEH, 26 IDELR 544 (N.D. Cal. July 10, 1997).
The case is significant for two reasons. First, it underscores
the positive benefits of bringing this type of complaint, particularly for systemic
violations. Second, if attorneys are involved in developing the CRP complaint, their time
can be compensated. For states which have not developed a CRP process, at least one
Circuit has held that attorneys' fees are available when seeking to compel the state to
develop an effective CRP process. Beth V. by Yvonne V. v. Carroll, 87 F.3d 80 (3d
Cir. 1996).
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Does Your P&A Agency use Pro Bono Attorneys
as a Referral Source?
During the next several months, the National AT Advocacy Project will be investigating the use of pro bono attorneys as a referral source for assistive technology cases. Our PAAT program in Buffalo has a fairly successful pro bono project and we have been in communication with a few other P&As who have used pro bono attorneys as a referral source for no-cost representation on AT cases.
If you have any experience with this, we would like to hear about it. Call Jim Sheldon or Ron Hager at the AT Advocacy Project. 716 847-0650
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t Regency · Austin, Texas
Assistive
Technology Conference for
Protection and Advocacy Advocates
Presented by the
National AT Advocacy Project
a project of Neighborhood Legal Services, Inc. · Buffalo, New York
A Conference Planning Committee is already working to identify topics and speakers for the conference.
If you have ideas
for a session,
please contact Jim Sheldon at the
AT Advocacy Project
. . . Network with Other AT Advocates
Tentative Conference Cost of $395
includes:
3 Nights in Hotel, Double Occupancy [March 26,27,28 1997]
Two Full Conference Days [Friday and Saturday]
Conference Lunches, Refreshments
Session Handouts
Texas-style Entertainment Planned
Attention Newer AT
Advocates &emdash;
"Intro to AT Advocacy"
will be held Thursday, March 26,
for a slight fee
Details to follow
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The National Assistive Technology Resource Library
We have designed a word-searchable digest, using computer technology, to store and retrieve hearing decisions, pleadings, briefs and other documents from our resource library. Please send us your hearing decisions, briefs and other documents involving AT.
Please send information to: TEL: (716)
847-0650 Handsnet: HN0627 Attn.: Vivian Cosentino FAX: (716) 847-0227 e-mail: nls01@sprynet.com
Neighborhood Legal Services, Inc. TDD: (716) 847-1322
Ellicott Square Building Web Page: http://www.nls.org
295 Main Street, Rm 495
Buffalo, NY 14203
The AT Advocacy Project will provide nationwide services to PAAT projects including technical assistance to advocates wanting to access funding for assistive technology for individuals with disabilities.
In future issues.....
- The Internet as a Research Tool: Part II
- Private Insurance Funding of AT
- Medicaid Funding of AT in Nursing Homes
NOTE: The AT Advocate is now issued bi-monthly