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DRM Celebrates the 31st Anniversary of the ADA

DRM Celebrates the 31st Anniversary of the ADA

Red and blue text on a white background that reads "ADA 31, Americans with Disabilities Act. Celebrate the ADA! July 26, 2021." The years 1990-2021 are in a circle of red stars.

On the 31st anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Disability Rights Maryland (DRM) salutes its community, partners, and friends who were instrumental in forging and implementing this landmark legislation for people with disabilities. DRM is singularly proud of its accomplishments over the past year to actualize the principles of the ADA in Maryland, which include:

  • Prevented proposed budget cuts that would have eliminated 25% of existing bus routes, jeopardizing paratransit services to critical destinations including dialysis centers, mental health programs, occupational and physical therapy providers for over 30,000 paratransit riders, in collaboration with Consumers for Accessible Ride Services (CARS) and other advocates.
  • Achieved changes in subsidized housing operations of a large public housing agency to fund the creation of accessible, affordable rental housing.
  • Brought legal action against a major municipal jurisdiction in Maryland to obtain compliance for substantial ADA violations in maintaining curb ramps and sidewalks, with co-counsel, the Civil Rights Education and Enforcement Center (CREEC), Disability Rights Advocates (DRA) and Goldstein, Borgen, Dardarian & Ho (GBDH).
  • Filed complaint with the Maryland Department of Education (MSDE), which found the rights of students had been violated by a Maryland school district, and ordered individual, school-wide, and system-wide relief to remedy violations, in partnership with the Public Justice Center (PJC) and the Office of the Public Defender (OPD).
  • Hosted 23 Facebook Live events for parents of students with disabilities about their special education rights and protections during virtual learning due to the COVID pandemic.
  • Led a cross-disability network of advocates whose efforts resulted in the state of Maryland prioritizing people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) and direct support professionals in the first phases of COVID vaccination distribution.
  • Advocated successfully for the Maryland Departments of Health (MDH) and Department of Disabilities (MDOD) to issue new guidance stating patients with disabilities needing in-person support, including those being treated for COVID, have the right to access support persons, and that support persons “are permitted to access restrooms, food, and drink while in the health care facility,” as part of a coalition of disability organizations.
  • Compelled psychiatric hospitals to develop technology enabling DRM to provide “Know Your Rights” presentations remotely during the COVID pandemic.
  • Investigated a large county’s public housing policies that only permitted individuals needing overnight care to have live-in aides, finding this policy conflicted with federal fair housing laws and other civil rights statutes for people with disabilities. As result, the county agreed to eliminate this overly-restrictive requirement.

Together, in partnership with you, DRM is committed to creating a world in which people with disabilities are fully included in the workplace, neighborhoods and all aspects of community life.

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DRM Leads Development of Alternatives to Guardianship

DRM Leads Development of Alternatives to Guardianship

Two women lounging on a green lawn. They are both smiling, and one has her hands on the shoulders of the other.

Too often people with disabilities are stripped of their rights to make everyday decisions that govern their lives and who they are including who they can partner with or marry, whether they can vote, where they can work, and what health care and services they receive. Disability Rights Maryland (DRM) has seen the detrimental impact that unnecessary guardianships have on our clients’ lives. It can fundamentally restrict a person’s liberty, lead to loss of association and even institutionalization. Seeking to bolster alternatives to guardianship, DRM has led the charge to establish supported decision-making (SDM) in the state of Maryland.

As the media focuses on the restriction of Britney Spears’ rights under guardianship, DRM knows that restrictive and unnecessary guardianships have long been and continue to be a critical and fundamental civil rights issue for people with disabilities. This issue is not new.

SDM provides a possible solution and an alternative to guardianship. SDM is a tool that offers support to people with disabilities in making important decisions about their lives without compromising their legal right to make these decisions. A person using SDM selects supporters, such as friends and family members, who they trust to help the them make choices and communicate those choices to others. It is fundamentally how all of us, with or without disabilities make decisions, but for people with disabilities, it can be a tool that eliminates or limits the need for guardianship.

In Maryland, DRM has led an initiative to recognize SDM as an alternative to guardianship. With initial assistance through a small grant from our Developmental Disabilities (DD) Council, DRM established and chairs Maryland’s Cross-Disability SDM Coalition, a network of over 27 state partners, advocacy agencies, and self-advocates with representation from the developmental disabilities, mental health, traumatic brain injury, and aging communities. The Coalition was tasked with creating and implementing an action plan to recognize SDM in Maryland and received technical assistance from the National Resource Center for Supported Decision-Making on this project. Megan Rusciano, Co-Managing Attorney of DRM’s Developmental Disabilities, Health Care, and Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) team serves as project lead for this program, and continues to support the coalition in implementing its action plan to make supported-decision making a viable legal alternative in Maryland.

DRM’s work with the Coalition is rooted in our 40+ years of expertise and experience working alongside people with disabilities to preserve and advance their rights to self-determination.

The Coalition’s work is ongoing, and includes:

  • Developing educational materials on SDM and providing training across the state to a myriad of different audiences
  • Conducting outreach to communities and critical partners who should learn more about supported decision-making
  • Advocating for guardianship reform initiatives and broader recognition of SDM
  • Collecting data on the use of SDM in Maryland

For more information about DRM and to keep up-to-date with our work with SDM and other projects, sign up for our mailing list below.

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Dr. Harolyn Belcher Recipient of 2022 Distinguished Public Service in Healthcare Award

Dr. Harolyn Belcher Recipient of 2022 Distinguished Public Service in Healthcare Award

Baltimore, MDDr. Harolyn Belcher, Chief Diversity Officer and Vice President at Kennedy Krieger Institute, has been named the recipient of the 2022 Distinguished Public Service in Healthcare Award, which will be presented to her at Disability Rights Maryland’s (DRM) Breaking Barriers Awards Gala on Thursday, May 12, 2022.

The award honors members of the medical community who have made significant contributions in research and healthcare for people with disabilities. Throughout her noteworthy tenure at the Kennedy Krieger Institute, Dr. Belcher designed and developed innovative ways to provide equitable healthcare to people with disabilities. 

Since 2015, when Dr. Belcher joined the Kennedy Krieger Institute’s Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities (LEND) as Associate Director, she has provided groundbreaking research and solutions to complex healthcare challenges for people with disabilities. 

A portrait of Dr. Harolyn Belcher.

Working with and training a generation of health professionals, Dr. Belcher has been a trailblazer in revolutionizing the quality of healthcare delivery systems to children with disabilities.

In her tireless and fruitful efforts, Dr. Belcher has substantially advanced LEND’s goal to train interdisciplinary health professionals in all aspects of neurodevelopmental and related disabilities: social environments, cultural competency, social determinants of health, systems of care delivery, and more. This work continues to create healthcare environments that can provide necessary and life-changing care for people with disabilities.

Please join us at the 2022 Breaking Barriers Awards Gala on Thursday, May 12 in honoring Dr. Belcher’s extraordinary accomplishments and contributions to the medical care of people with disabilities. Subscribe to our newsletter below to receive updates as the other awardees are announced, and to reserve tickets.

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Alice Wong, Gregg Beratan & Andrew Pulrang are the 2022 Gayle Hafner Grassroots Leadership Awardees

Alice Wong, Gregg Beratan & Andrew Pulrang are the 2022 Gayle Hafner Grassroots Leadership Awardees

Triptych_AliceRed

Baltimore, MDDisability rights activists Alice Wong, Gregg Beratan, and Andrew Pulrang are the 2022 recipients of the Gayle Hafner Grassroots Leadership Award which will be presented to them at Disability Rights Maryland’s (DRM) Breaking Barriers Awards Gala on Thursday, May 12, 2022.

The award’s namesake, Gayle Hafner, was a trailblazer DRM civil rights attorney whose zealous advocacy for full inclusion in every aspect of community life improved the quality of life for people with disabilities.

Established in 2015, the award honors those who have successfully brought about substantial positive change through grassroots activism for people with disabilities. Gayle’s extensive knowledge of Medicaid law enabled her to offer hope and tangible assistance to a significant number of people with disabilities so they could reside independently outside of nursing homes increasing their opportunities to live with self-determination.

In honoring Alice Wong, Gregg Beratan, and Andrew Pulrang, DRM applauds and acknowledges their lifelong commitment to building communities of care at a grassroots level to advance the rights of people with disabilities. Through their joint digital campaign, #CripTheVote, they have designed an impressive and ever-expansive network of voters and provided them with a platform to share their experiences and needs on a national political level. Their creative and innovative ideas, work, and commitment to amplifying the voices, faces, and individual narratives of people with disabilities have brought depth, dimension, and digital proximity to the disability rights revolution.

Please join us at the 2022 Breaking Barriers Awards Gala on Thursday, May 12, in honoring Alice Wong, Gregg Beratan and Andrew Pulrang for their extraordinary and groundbreaking service to people with disabilities. Subscribe to our newsletter below to receive updates as the other awardees are announced, and to reserve tickets.

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DRM Attorney Leslie Seid Margolis Featured on NPR

DRM Attorney Leslie Seid Margolis Featured on NPR

Young Black child in a wheelchair using a tablet for school

Leslie Seid Margolis, J.D., Managing Attorney of DRM’s Education Team, was recently interviewed in an NPR feature titled “After Months Of Special Education Turmoil, Families Say Schools Owe Them.” The article highlights the challenges facing students and families whose access to special education services was delayed or denied as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

As distance learning became the norm, many school districts did not offer critical services, guaranteed by the Individuals with Disabilities Education (IDEA) Act. As a result not only were children with disabilities deprived of educational services for up to a year or more, but the lives of the students and families who utilize these services were significantly disrupted. For many families, the article asserted “…this disruption wasn’t just difficult. It was devastating.”

The NPR feature profiled several parents and students who have been affected, including two DRM clients, and referenced the complaint DRM recently filed with the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE). DRM filed the complaint on behalf of 31 students in school districts throughout Maryland who were unable to access or participate effectively in their special education services when those services were provided remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic. DRM filed the complaint in response to MSDE’s indication that it would limit the remedy period for denials of compensatory services to one year instead of ordering relief for the actual time period services were denied, beginning in March 2020 when school buildings closed.

Leslie and her team addressed the struggles families were facing as schools shifted to distance learning by taking additional individual cases and by quickly developing new ways to provide support and written resources directly to parents in the form of brief parent guides. These materials are provided in both English and Spanish whenever possible and include the Education Team’s Facebook Live Q&As. The guides are published on our website and cover a variety of topics ranging from pandemic-related issues to extended school year and what parents can do if they believe their child is not making progress.

As a result not only were children with disabilities deprived of educational services for up to a year or more, but the lives of the students and families who utilize these services were significantly disrupted. For many families, the article asserted “…this disruption wasn’t just difficult. It was devastating.”

The NPR feature profiled several parents and students who have been affected, including two DRM clients, and referenced the complaint DRM recently filed with the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE). DRM filed the complaint on behalf of 31 students in school districts throughout Maryland who were unable to access or participate effectively in their special education services when those services were provided remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic. DRM filed the complaint in response to MSDE’s indication that it would limit the remedy period for denials of compensatory services to one year instead of ordering relief for the actual time period services were denied, beginning in March 2020 when school buildings closed.

Leslie and her team addressed the struggles families were facing as schools shifted to distance learning by taking additional individual cases and by quickly developing new ways to provide support and written resources directly to parents in the form of brief parent guides. These materials are provided in both English and Spanish whenever possible and include the Education Team’s Facebook Live Q&As. The guides are published on our website and cover a variety of topics ranging from pandemic-related issues to extended school year and what parents can do if they believe their child is not making progress.

To join DRM’s Education Team at their Facebook Live Q&As held every other Wednesday evening from 6:30 to 7:30pm, follow DRM on Facebook and keep an eye out for the next announcement.

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