2017 Public Forums on the Concerns of People with Disabilities and their Families Concerns and Recommendations ................................................................................................................................ 1 Civil Rights ................................................................................................................................................................ 1 Education ................................................................................................................................................................. 1 Employment ............................................................................................................................................................. 2 Healthcare ................................................................................................................................................................ 2 Housing..................................................................................................................................................................... 2 Human Services ........................................................................................................................................................ 3 Independent Living ................................................................................................................................................... 3 Transportation ......................................................................................................................................................... 3 Public Forum Transcripts .............................................................................................................................................. 5 Bristol Public Forum July 24, 2017 ........................................................................................................................... 5 Warwick Public Forum July 25, 2017 ....................................................................................................................... 9 Cumberland Forum July 26, 2017 .......................................................................................................................... 24 Peacedale Public Forum July 26, 2017 ................................................................................................................... 39 Middletown Public Forum July 27, 2017 ................................................................................................................ 54 Providence Public Forum July 28, 2017 ................................................................................................................. 55 Index ........................................................................................................................................................................... 82 Concerns and Recommendations Civil Rights Concern: Parents with disabilities losing their child due to the termination of custody, pages 4 and 7 Recommendation: Concern: Lack of restrooms that allow caregiver and person with a disability of the opposite sex to use, pages 12 and 78 Recommendation: Concern: The lack of automatic doors in healthcare facilities, pages 29 and 52 Recommendation: Concern: Finding a directory of accessible restaurants, etc. page 76 Recommendation: Concern: Interactions with Police, who don’t realize the person has a disability, pages 66, 66, and 68 Recommendation: Concern: Lack of awareness of the need for universal design, page 31 Recommendation: Education Concern: Lack of training on the use of adaptive communication devices, pages 4, 7, and 54 Recommendation: Concern: Inclusion of students with disabilities without creating sensitivity on the part of students without disabilities, page 31 Recommendation: 1 2017 Public Forums on the Concerns of People with Disabilities and their Families Concern: Lack of accessible text books and on-line course material to studntss with vision impairments, page 7 Recommendation: Employment Concern: The consent decree’s requirement for competitive employment is a “one size doesn’t fits all” solution, page 54 Recommendation: Concern: Will competitive employment increase socialization, page 54 Recommendation: Concern: The lack of job placement resources, pages 7, 19, 26, 32, and 79 Recommendation: Concern: The fear of losing Social Security Disability if attempting to work, pages 37, 71, and 73 Recommendation: Concern: The need to provide financial support to businesses that hire people with disabilities, page 80 Recommendation: Concern: Behavioral healthcare providers are not assisting clients return to work, page 74 Recommendation: Concern: People are being placed into “temporary” and “internships” that never become permanent jobs, page 54 Recommendation: Healthcare Concern: There are not enough behavioral healthcare support groups, page 74 Recommendation: Concern: The state is not implementing the home and community based wavier, pages 13, 50, and 69 Recommendation: Concern: The difficulting getting respiratory supplies from the durable medical equipment providers, page 11 Recommendation: Concern: Funding cuts to Medicaid, page 34 Recommendation: Concern: The lack of knowledge of Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal Infections PANDIS, pages 65 and 66 Recommendation: Concern: The lack of traumatic brain injury transitional housing, page 32, 39, 40, 45, and 68 Recommendation: Concern: The lack of protection against sports related brain injuries, 61 and 62 Recommendation: Concern: The lack of proper training for Certified Nursing Assistants regarding people with rare diseases, page 52 Recommendation: Housing Concern: There are very few accessible apartments, pages 12 and 71 Recommendation: 2 2017 Public Forums on the Concerns of People with Disabilities and their Families Concern: There isn’t enough affordable housing, pages 10, 16, 68, and 71 Recommendation: Concern: Housing modifications can be expensive, page 17 Recommendation: Concern: Apartment managers don’t enforce environmental irritant free policies, pages 54 and 71 Recommendation: Concern: Public housing for persons with a substance use disorder, page 73 Recommendation: Concern: Shared Living Arrangements (SLA) do not work for everyone, page 55 Recommendation: Human Services Concern: The process for applying for benefits can be overwhelming, pages 38 and 64 Recommendation: Concern: Periodic evaluations are incredibly daunting, pages 22, 23, and 33 Recommendation: Concern: Family income restrictions for child care assistance do not take into account the additional expenses of raising a family with children with disabilities., page 12 Recommendation: Concern: It is difficult to find out what resources/services are available, pages 17 and 47 Recommendation: Concern: Low wages for providers’ employees and in self-directed services lead to high turnover and inconsistent quality of services, page Recommendation: Independent Living Concern: There isn’t enough assistance for family financial planning, page 23 Recommendation: Concern: Peer support groups should receive financial support from the state, pages 57 and 59 Recommendation: Concern: Are there peer support groups for victims of violent crime, page 48 Recommendation: Concern: Is government funding of personal care assistance being cut, page 20 Recommendation: Concern: Changes of the level of support services are not communicated to families in a timely manner, page 22 Recommendation: Concern: Transitional assistance is hard to find and needed at every change of ability and need, pages 11, 27, 32, 40, 42, 55, and 63 Recommendation: Transportation Concern: Local automobile excise tax, does not exempt the adaptive equipment, page 29 Recommendation: Concern: LogistiCare service lacks “trustworthiness”, pages 24 and 55 Recommendation: 3 2017 Public Forums on the Concerns of People with Disabilities and their Families Concern: Many drivers park in the van access aisle, page 27 and 28 Recommendation: Concern: There aren’t always directional signage to disability parking 59 Recommendation: Concern: Drivers do not look out or stop for pedestrians crossing the street, page 10, Recommendation: Concern: Many crosswalks do not have curb cuts at both sides of the road, page 12 Recommendation: Concern: Curb cuts are not built to the access code, pages 13 and 14 Recommendation: Concern: There aren’t sidewalks on roads in many communities, page 30 Recommendation: Concern: RIde vans are often up to a half hour later than the scheduled pick up, pages 7 and 58 Recommendation: Concern: RIde para-transit service areas do not include most of RI, pages 8, 9, 26, and 59 Recommendation: Concern: Travelers using RIde should be able to pay the fare by swipe card, page 60 Recommendation: Concern: There are not RIPTA bus shelters at most stops, page 8 Recommendation: Concern: There should be RIPTA bus stops at every elderly/disabled housing, page 31 Recommendation: Concern: Uber and Lyft do not have accessible vehicles, 29 Recommendation: Concern: Travel Training should be taught to students with disabilities, 27 Recommendation: 4 2017 Public Forums on the Concerns of People with Disabilities and their Families 1 Public Forum Transcripts 2 Bristol Public Forum July 24, 2017 3 Panel Members: 4 1. Rick Costa – The National Federation of the Blind of RI 5 2. Faye Zuckerman – Brain Injury Association of RI 6 3. Kristen Livesey – Office of Rehabilitation Services 7 4. Judi Drew – RI Governor’s