Draft Survey for CLRD members

55 People participated in this survey

 

 

 

I am     _13_Attorney __0__Other legal staff          _13_Consumer Advocate    __28_Other:

*One did not answer

 

 

My areas of practice/interest are:

  • Serve as Executive Director of a disability services agency
  • Special Law Education
  • I am a Human Rights Coordinator for Western MA DMH.  My job is to provide training for provider HROs and to solve, as best I can, complains from consumers. I am also Chair of the Northampton Committee on Disabilities.  We seek to improve the accessibility
  • I am vocational rehabilitation counselor and currently work with the Transition aged (14-24) population and sometimes see a need for advocacy and refer to your agency as a resource for members.
  • Rights and service equity
  • Disability services, housing, clinical issues, case management and I&R
  • All which pertain to those with disabilities, physical or emotional.
  • Disability Person/Patient
  • Mental Health Law
  • Mental Health and Mental Disability Law
  • Children with Special Needs
  • Disability Law
  • Civil Rights, Housing, Systemic Advocacy
  • Disability Benefits, Private long term disability and Social Security disability
  • Mental health, Rogers guardianship; disability law
  • Rehabilitation, Employment, and Recovery
  • Children with Special Health Care Needs
  • I am an Advocate/Peer Counselor for the above named Independent Living Center.  I help people with issues including transportation, housing, financial benefits, assistive/adaptive equipment, education, reasonable accomodation issues, etc.
  • Advocate for brother
  • Transition
  • Disability advocacy and policy
  • Educational Advocate
  • Health Care Access
  • Special Education, Civil Rights for the intellectually disabled
  • grass-roots and state public policy advocacy
  • Employment, Unemployment
  • I am a special education teacher/consultant for 40 years. Current concern is for my adult son and his relationship with the legal system, having to face a 2nd OUI
  • ER rights, 5FR campaigns, work as peer specialist with Deaf persons with mental health/addictions issues at Advocates Inc.
  • Inclusion and Equity for people of color;
  • Commitment and Guardianship Defense
  • Children’s book author
  • Housing Services Coordinator; income maximization; access to justice
  • Juvenile Law (child welfare, delinquency & status offenses), education (special education & suspension/expulsion)
  • Social work and looking for information that could benefit my special needs daughter.
  • Housing, Elder Law
  • The mentally disabled
  • social security, education law, private disability insurance and employment discrimination
  • Mental Health and Disability Rights Law, and Elder Law, within legal services.
  • Medicare coverage for those who were covered by the brdt BCBS policy when I went on dis. and my children were young.  I could not afford to pay medicare plus bcbs family plan after loosing my job.  Now, I could really use medicare but I have to wait until
  • Five Funadamental Rights enforcement; fresh air access; peer respite and recovery-based, peer-run supports
  • Children’s Mental Health, Brain Injury
  • tenant representative AHA  and virtual world facilitator/consultant/developer
  • advocacy for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities for community services
  • Children with mental health issues
  • Parent - This should BE the 1st choice
  • anti-aversives; civil rights
  • wellness tools, recovery, teaching, self empowerment, advocacy, community, healing, food/nutrition, etc.
  • Medical transcription and rehabilitation counseling.

 

 

I attend CLRD meetings       __6__Regularly         _14_Sometimes       _34_Never

* One did not answer

 

 

If you do attend regularly or sometimes, recent topics of interest were:

  • Access to health care by people with disabilities; legislative priorities; pending litigation
  • Litigation updates, Legislative agenda, Litigation generally, Aversives, Fresh Air /5FR, Legal; services networking
  • Civil rights, housing
  • I have attended to do presentations on the Paid Sick Days bill, on the revisions to the Family Medical Leave Act, and on unemployment compensation.
  • I recently attended a DLC training on housing discrimination and R.A.
  • Guest speakers presenting about major litigation and legislative initiatives.
  • closure of institutions, aversive; time is an issue for attending meetings; i do like receiving and sharing information among disability advocates even if not attending meetings
  • Anti-aversive legislation; Five (six) fundamental rights; T access; online resources
  • Mental health focus

 

 

 

If you do not attend CLRD meetings regularly, please explain:

  • Travel time to Boston is excessive for me given I am running my organization without support staff
  • I have wanted to attend some meetings but have been unable to attend due to unable to work with my work schedule.
  • The meetings are too far away from my job, much further than I would like to travel.
  • The discussion of successful law suits is interesting.  I'd like to see more brainstorming around u=issues leading to creative problem solving strategies.
  • Was not available
  • I have other Doctor Appointment on day of meeting.
  • I have not found the meetings relevant to my work.
  • new to the group, not yet had the opportunity
  • Did not know that as a non-professional i could.  Also, I do not know when/where meetings are held.
  • I began attending years ago but found that CLRD was very narrow in their focus which seemed to center primarily around institutional/mental health issues which do not affect the people we represent so I stopped attending. It did not seem the right fit
  • I have not been aware of meetings of CLRD prior to this interaction.
  • Not aware of agency meetings and standard agenda
  • Recently moved to another state
  • It is difficult to attend meetings, due to location, time and expense issues.
  • I can't drive that amount of distance; I live with constant pain and have had 36 operations since age 8.
  • Agenda Setting
  • Other commitments have prevented my attendance in recent years.
  • I want to but i am disabled and between the distance and early time periods it's kind of difficult for me and a friend who want to attend.
  • I am unable to attend meetings as I do not have babysitting help
  • State House meeting, Turning 22

 

 

 

I read the CLRD newsletter  _5_Regularly _28_Sometimes_18_Never

*Four people did not respond

 

 

I value the following in CLRD meetings:

_29_Announcements of upcoming events/pending issues

_29_Legal issues discussion

_21_Speakers

_25_Connecting with other advocates

_28_Legislative discussion

__-_All of the above

__-_None of the above

 

I would like CLRD to address the following issues as they affect people with disabilities:

_23_ADA/Olmstead

_16_Institutional Rights

_34_Rights in the community

_14_Physical Access

_15_Police Training

_18_Guardianship

_18_Income Supports

_31_Disability discrimination

_20_Workplace Discrimination

_23_Health care eligibility

_26_Health care access to services

_19_Insurance coverage

_26_Housing

_19_Transportation

_20_State Agency Services and Practices

_15_State Budget

_24_Legislation

_26_Education/Special education

_22_Vocational training/employment

_15_Child welfare/youth issues

_15_Criminal justice issues/Prison issues

_10_Juvenile justice

_13_Restraint

_18_Treatment rights/treatment developments

__9_Family law issues

__8_Other (specify):

 

 

I would be _34_interested _15_not interested in participating in a workgroup on one or more issues.

* Six people did not specify

 

I would be _36_interested _12_not interested in participating in a listserv on disability issues.

* Seven people did not specify

 

I would prefer to schedule CLRD meetings

__6_Every month

_18_Every other month

_10_Alternating with work group meetings every other month

*The rest did not disclose a specific time

 

I _23_would _21_ would not be interested in attending meetings outside the Boston area.

*Eleven people did not respond to this question

 

 

I _41_ would  _9_ would not be interested in participating in meetings by phone or other technology.

* Five people did not specify

 

I _15_would _29_would not be interested in helping to plan future CLRD meeting agendas.

*Eleven people did not respond to this question

 

 

The one thing that CLRD could do that would be most helpful to my advocacy is:

·         Adopt compliance with special education law as a priorty area

·         Educating the school administrators on what an IEP is and what is supposed to illustrate and do for each student.  Actually having the IEPs read by higher ups to ensure the IEPs are done correctly.

·         how to on legal disability rights

·         keep me posted on cases that I should refer- housing issues, eviction issues and divorce

·         Not aware at this time

·         Continue to advocate in a formal way with the legislature and the executive branches on disability rights issues

·         Provide an advocate that specializes in an area of law that my client needs help with that I am unable to do because I may only do work for CPCS

·         Connect Mass. Disability rights attorneys together through meetings, conference calls, etc.

·         More community organizing

·         Legislative advocacy

·         Continue to develop its legal capabilities for the mentally disabled

·         Having teleconference access to meetings

·         Represent mentally ill and mentally retarded inmates who have been civilly committed as sexually dangerous

·         Social security disability payment issued

·         Organize class action lawsuits against school districts behaving in an egregious manner

·         Provide witnesses to testify about the need for sick days, and help inform my advocacy to ensure that the unemployment system is accessible to individuals with disabilities

·         Provide access and outreach to "our community" on specific issues for organizing.  Also, unify the DA community - we need to work together more and not as separate consumer groups each only focused on "our issues"

·         A simple easy item may be to have CLRD be a presenter at the Juvenile judges trainings (twice per year). All 44 judges attend & the opportunity to educate on children's disabilities would be extraordinary.

·         Keep me updated on issues in the ADA arena

·         Trainings and guest speakers on cutting edge legal issues.

·         Get medicare to enable people who have been on disability for over 20 + years have the option to get Med B if they need it now.

·         Keep supporting it!

·         Is have meetings more accessible, why don' t you check out Second Life, www.secondlife.com it's being used by many colleges, Harvard was one of the first to get on board with this new innovative technology. It's free to try it out

·         for my purposes, two meetings a year would be great, where we could break up into groups and then come together to discuss two to three issues that cut across disability areas; secondly, a quarterly update from all of us on what we're working on and prior

·         Parent and Caregiver support

·         I live off Cape- There is no easy way for me to attend meetings

·         Have a dedicated lobbyist for anti-aversives who is well-acquainted with the issue

·         supply a list of members in printed form with contact info and areas of interest, projects working on, help they need, etc., things they want to do..

·         Get the brutally assaultive police out of the picture.

 

 

The one thing that I’d like to see CLRD do/do more of/continue to do:

·         I appreciate your willingness to participate in trainings and discussions on issues that have been of momentous concern for the disability community.

·         I would like to CLRD to be more accessible to people in Worcester.

·         We need to maintain some element of continuity with the mental health community issues.   However, as an advocate for a broader CLRD, I think we have to make room for other priorities.

·         Keep moving forward and staying on top of the issues.

·         Disability Law Advocacy

·         work on banning aversives and limiting the use of restraint

·         Amicus briefs

·         Administrative advocacy (signatory to letters to agencies)

·         Everything that it is doing

·         Legislative advocacy

·         Have a variety of topics and speakers.  Keep us apprised of legislation.

·         Bringing together a range of advocates and consumers.

·         Don’t know. Continue providing legal support!

·         State budget and legislative advocacy; amicus briefs in support of key litigation; advocacy on policy issues with state agencies.

·         Keep up the good works

·         Bringing together a varied group of advocates statewide

·         Promote and coordinate collaborative legal strategies and policy initiatives among disability organizations

·         the good work they are doing already, bless you all

·         Outreach, Transition Planning, Vocational opportunities, Housing

·         provide supports for people with disabilities who are advocating for legislative redress of their grievances.

·         Communicating, providing network opportunities, allowing all members to make announcements and put a hat in the ring…

·         continue to provide top of the line care and advocacy for people with disabilities.

 

 

 

Other comments:

·         Your mission statement: "puruses law reform by adopting position statements, advocating...", shouldn't that be "pursues"?

·         Thanks for asking.

·         Poor Information given by Massachusetts Rehab. Commission. On Employment to lie about your Disability when notify any new Employer for Employment.

·         I believe that it is time for People with disabilities to take a cross disability approach to all advocacy.  We have to organize and get people active.

·         I would have liked to have more options than just a yes or no.

·         I have not had the chance/opportunity to view this website as of yet due to numerous things going on in my life.  I am very interested, however, in supporting people with disabilities and learning more about the subjects to which I checked off above.

·         I did not answer some of the questions above becauase unless CLRD's emphasis changes I will not be attending meetings or particpating.

·         It is always a pleasure working with CLRD and the terrific staff at DLC and MHLAC.

·         More accessibility for those who can't attend in person. Also, continuing the great work on mental health advocacy whilst expanding the scope to include other disability areas.

·         virtual worlds are the wave of the future and afford communication and functionality for disabled people , feel free to ask me for a free tour and more information about non profit uses of virtual worlds for the benefits of disabled citizens

·         Meetings on specific month/days [first Tuesday (anydy) each month ] would make keeping track easier. We shuuld not be wedded to Tuesdays unless Scaddon Arps is.

·         i would like the notes you supply to your website or dlc to be sent by email also to interested particiants or provided in printed form at the next meeting, along with attendance list of who was present for that meeting

·         I had to go to our state senator to report multiple accounts of police brutality on my person as well as their destruction of my owned property. There is also abuse going on by staff and patients in hospital settings, as well as theft, disrespect

 

Please return by September 4th to Emily Banta (Disability Law Center) at ebanta@dlc-ma.org. or mail to Emily Banta, Disability Law Center, 11 Beacon Street #925, Boston, Ma  02108