AMA Video 3

Speakers: Talley Wells, Executive Director, North Carolina Council on Developmental Disabilities

Talley Wells: Hi everybody, this is Talley Wells. I'm the executive director of the North Carolina Council on developmental disabilities and I am once again answering questions for our, ask me anything for our social media. And today's question is how will the Olmstead Act changes impact day adult programming, housing and employment options. And what is the timeframe for any changes? Wow, this is an enormous question. And so there's not a simple answer. So I'm going to start an answer and then I think it's a conversation that I hope you will continue to be having with the North Carolina Council and Developmental Disabilities. I hope you will go to the Olmstead website at the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services. I hope you will attend our public policy meetings that you can find on our N C C. D. D. Calendar. We have public policy meetings once a month and we talk about these things. But first of all, what is the Olmstead act? Well, it's not an act, it's actually the Olmstead decision and the Olmstead decision is a United States Supreme Court decision from 1999 in which the United States Supreme Court uh ruled in favor of two women in Georgia who wanted to live in the community rather than in an institution because they had a dual diagnosis of developmental disabilities and mental health disabilities. And the United States Supreme Court said that under the americans with disabilities act, the state of Georgia um had to provide those services in the community when it was a reasonable accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act rather than in the institution because the Supreme Court said it's segregation if you require people to live with other people with a similar disability in a confined environment when they're able to live in the community. And so that case didn't just apply to Georgia applied to all 50 states and all of the territories of the United States because it was the United States Supreme Court making that decision. Well, North Carolina has um started to write its own Olmstead plans. Actually been writing plans off and on Since 1999, but it's making a very serious effort right now. And there is an Olmstead web page. If you google homestead O L M E, I'm sorry, O L M S T E A D and D H S in north Carolina, you'll find the Homestead page and you can read a pretty significant report about all the services for people with developmental disabilities in the state. It talks about housing, talks about a meaningful day, it talks about employment. Um And there's also been a very even more recent memorandum of understanding and agreement that north Carolina has entered into around employment. And you can find that by googling DHHS and competitive integrated employment. You can also google disability rights. North Carolina and competitive integrated employment and you'll find more information about that employment decision in terms of how quickly things are happening. Um There are a number of things happening right now. It's it's a time of enormous transformation in North Carolina. In fact, it's called Medicaid transformation and um you can also follow the information about that. Um there the state is moving towards tailored plans in December and that's going to have a significant impact. Um There will be additional services through Medicaid for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities that will include employment. It will include community living supports, which are not housing but are services that can essentially provide supports in someone's home. Um And um and then there will also be changes happening with employment over the next five years. So um one of the great places you can keep up with um some of this is um the North Caroline Council on Developmental Disabilities has monthly public policy meetings. Um and you can go to the web pages that I've suggested also followed the North Carolina Council on Developmental Disabilities newsletter. That's a great place to keep up with things as well. Thank you for the question