February 2000 Edition - Access Press by Access Press

Reader Profile — Page 9

Inside New Resource Guides — p. 4

Volume 11, Number 2

SOURCES

February 10, 2000

“Whatever you are, be a good one.” — Abraham Lincoln

RESOURCES

February 10, 2000

AT THE CAPITOL Disability Organizations For 2000 Session by Charlie Smith, Editor

he Minnesota State legislature began their 2000 session on February 5th. Each year the Minnesota State Council on Disability sponsors their legislative roundtable a week before the session starts. This year the roundtable occurred on January 27. The purpose of this annual roundtable is to bring disability groups together to share their legislative priorities for the year.

Minnesota State Capitol

Commitment Bill Proposed by Linda Larson “‘Commitment’ is just a word, but for many of us that word has a powerful and intimate association. It’s a word that comes with an experience and a weight of the history of treatment of this disease [mental illness].” With that opening statement, Pete Feigal began a forum held on Friday, Jan. 21, sponsored by Hennepin County NAMI. The purpose was to introduce a new bill that was sponsored by Rep. Mindy Greiling and Sen. Don Betzold. As Sen. Betzold succinctly put it, the issue was that “the system is geared for waiting until a patient hits rock bottom.” The question the bill seeks to answer is how to best deliver services before individuals and their families endure a crisis. In 1997, a Supreme Court Task Force drafted an amendment known as the early intervention commitment process. This amendment addressed two

major concerns: Firstly, For persons with predictable patterns of deterioration, the amendment permitted hospitalization for the purpose of intercepting that deterioration; Secondly, the amendment also permitted hospitalization for persons who’s disturbed behavior or faulty perceptions significantly interfere with their ability to care for themselves but who would have chosen treatment if competent. The law is not well known and has scarcely had a chance to be implemented. There is a reluctance to use this under the assumption that will expand the number of court proceedings and drive up commitment costs (as discussed in an article written by Patricia M. Siebert, 12/19/99, MN Disability Law Center, to Rep. Greiling and Sen. Betzold). Here are the questions: Be-

fore creating yet another law, why not concentrate on funding for voluntary commitment? Why not work for expanded health coverage? Current health coverage only supports hospitalization of a week to 10 days. Why not address the Diagnostic Related Grouping which Medical Assistance relies on to determine fee for service (a catch-22 situation, causing a decrease in services)? What of the 75 percent commitment rate filed by hospitals that has caused a situation for persons needing care, in which they must endure the stress and humiliation of commitment? Where is individual autonomy and freedom? Lastly, can one truly have quality care if it involves coercion? This is an emotional issue for everyone involved—persons with mental illness, family member, and professionals Commitment - cont. on p. 9

This year the roundtable was telecast through an interactive videoconference to six cities in greater Minnesota — the first time this has ever been done. The cities were Duluth, St. Cloud, Brainerd, Moorhead, Rochester and Marshall. The videoconfer-ence was very well received and more cites may be added next year. The following is a summary of the priorities of various disability organizations for the session. For more information on the agendas outlined below, contact the specific organizations. ARC Minnesota The following are potential legislative issues affecting persons who have developmental disabilities: Family Support Grant: The Family Support Grant provides a monthly cash allowance of $250 or less for qualified families who have children with developmental disabilities. The limits have remained the same for years, while many counties are giving minimum awards. People can’t receive a Family Support Grant and the DD waiver. Potential options for improving the program could include removing the stipulation that people can’t receive a family support grant and be on the

DD waiver program, and providing a minimum grant amount. Public Guardianship: There are about 4,300 public wards in the state who have developmental disabilities. The Commissioner of the Department of Human Services delegates the guardianship duties to the Counties. Most often case managers then assume the guardianship role. The State should become more proactive in shifting individuals off of public guardianship. MR/RC Waiver (DD Waiver): Follow-up may be needed to Arc’s successful bill to Unlock the Waiting List. Work may need to be done on reserve amounts set by counties, unused funds and clarifying the request to the Federal government to allow legal representatives to be paid as providers in limited circumstances. Case Manager Choices: People receiving waivered services are supposed to have a choice of case managers. Clarifying language may be needed to enhance these choices by enabling people to choose case managers who are not employed by Counties. Capacity Building/Workforce Shortage: It is difficult for families and providers to find staff to deliver services. Many authorized services are going unused thus creating tremendous hardship for families and adults with disabilities. Arc is working with the Consortium of Citizens with Disabilities to develop many strategies to improve the situation. Group Residential Housing:

GRH is a funding stream used to pay room and board for people living in licensed facilities. During the 1999 Legislative session, management was shifted from the State to the Counties and funds were capped. Concerns exist about how people new to the residential system will access funds and how future costs of inflation will be financed. Consumer Control of Resources: Arc will look for opportunities which will expand the rights of consumers and their families to have greater control of financial resources used to provide support services. Senior Drug Program: Lowincome seniors over the age of 65 have the ability to get assistance in purchasing medications at a reduced cost. Lowincome person under age 65 who have disabilities do not have this option. Arc will support efforts to make this option available to people with disabilities. Maximizing Federal Funding: Arc will be working with various parties to explore ways of increasing the amount of Federal funding used to pay for services for people with developmental disabilities. Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) and Fetal Alcohol Effect (FAE): Funding for community clinics to diagnosis and set up treatment options for people with FAS/FAE were rescinded during the 1999 legislative session. There is an interest in developing a proposal that would recapture funding, so existing community clinics can continue to provide services. Federal funding may be available for this purpose. Capitol - cont. on p. 3

February 10, 2000

Charlie Smith Editor

ur lead story lists the legislative priorities for a number of disability organizations. Each of these priorities is aimed at improving the lives of people with disabilities and deserve our support. The state of Minnesota is looking at another budget surplus this year; it is time to spend that money wisely by funding programs that can improve people’s lives and keeps them as independent as possible in the community.

inception. There has never been a commitment by the Metropolitan Council, the governor, or legislators to fund Metro Mobility at levels comparable to main line transit. This is also of great concern in greater Minnesota, where under the Americans with Disabilities Act paratransit is supposed to be comparable to main line bus Metro Mobility has been woe- service. People with disabilifully under-funded since its ties should be able to use

paratransit to get to and from work, go shopping, or socialized with friends when they want to, not just when they can get a ride. People in the Metro area are well aware of the troubles we face with Metro Mobility. The situation in greater Minnesota is even more severe, and in many cases they have very little or no accessible transportation. This needs to be addressed at this year’s legislative session. It will require a large lobbying effort, so if you use paratransit and want to see it improved, your voice needs to be heard. I would suggest you contact the organizations that will be working on these issues and get involved. The personal care attendant program is facing a work force crisis due to the low wages and the difficulties finding people

Caucuses News P

recinct caucuses offer an opportunity for everybody to participate in the political process. This is your chance to select delegates that will represent you in choosing candidates for political offices. Unless you attend the caucuses, your delegates will not know the issues that concern you, so this is an important step in the process of making certain that your government

MINNESOTA STATE COUNCIL ON DISABILITY

March 9, 2000 from 9:30 a.m.-3 p.m. Midway Sheraton Hotel 400 Hamline Ave. N. St. Paul, MN For more information or reasonable accommodations please give us a call. 121 E. 7th Place • St. Paul, MN 55101 651-296-6785 V/TTY 1-800-945-8913 V/TTY; Fax: 651-296-5935 E-mail: council.disability@state.mn.us

**** Congressmen Bruce Vento just announced his retirement after serving 24 years in the House of Representatives representing St. Paul. I have known Mr. Vento for more than 20 years and have found him to be one of the most accessible Congressman. If you called his office to make an appointment, you could count on getting in to see him the next time he was in town. He would listen intently to what you had to say and would give you straight advice. If there was anything he could do, you could count on his support. Mr. Vento was a true friend of the disability community. He will be missed greatly. I wish him well with his battle with cancer.

**** This month we’re starting a series of reader profiles. In our last reader survey, a large number of people asked if we could do more profiles on people with disabilities living in our community. On page 9 you’ll find our first reader profile. Nicole Roberts had the opportunity to sit down with Tina Schroeder who is the cochair of Advocating Change Together (ACT). **** Max Sparber has joined Access Press as my editorial assistant/office manager. Max brings a wealth of experience as the past editor of The Reader in Omaha, Neb. I hope you will all welcome him.

Lobby Day at the Capitol: Monday, February 14, 2000 Sponsored by: Epilepsy Foundation; Metropolitan Center for Independent Living Courage Center; National Multiple Sclerosis Society 9:30-10 a.m. — Registration, Sheraton Midway, St. Paul 10 a.m.- 12:30 p.m. — Tips on meeting your legislators, Issues update, Lunch 12:30-130 p.m. — Shuttle to the Capitol 1:30-4.30 p.m. — Meetings with your legislators at the Capitol Issues we will be advocating for include: Transit — Fully fund accessible transportation services in Greater Minnesota and fully fund Metro Mobility. Personal Care Attendants — Provide at least a cost of living increase for PCA workers that will be passed on directly to the PCA. Prescription Drug Coverage — Include people with disabilities in the senior prescription drug program. For more information contact: Anne Keroff at (612) 335-7900 or (800) 582-5296 (v/tdd)

Mental Health Day on the Hill: February 24, 2000 10 a.m. — Briefing (Kelly Inn)

Fine Residential and 12 Noon — Rally (Capitol Rotunda) Commercial Painting and Afternoon — Schedule meetings with Legislators Wallcovering Installation Wm.A.Smith III, C.P.

Office: 612.331.1031 Digital Pager: 647.8021 Fax: 379-2730 National Guild of

roffessional aperhangers, Inc.

ACCESS PRESS Co-Founder/Publisher (1990-1996) ................................................................... Wm. A. Smith, Jr. Editor/Publisher/Co-Founder ............................................................................. Charles F. Smith Cartoonist ..................................................................................................................... Scott Adams Production .......................................................................... Presentation Images, Ellen Houghton Editorial Assistant ....................................................................................................... Max Sparber ACCESS PRESS is a monthly tabloid newspaper published for persons with disabilities by Access Press, Ltd. Circulation is 11,000, distributed the 10th of each month through more than 200 locations statewide. Approximately 650 copies are mailed directly to political, business, institutional and civic leaders. Subscriptions are available for $15/yr. Editorial submissions and news releases on topics of interest to persons with disabilities, or persons serving those with disabilities, are welcomed. Paid advertising is available at rates ranging from $14 to $18/column inch, depending on size and frequency. Classified ads are $8.00, plus 35 cents/word over 20 words. Advertising and editorial deadlines are the 30th of the month preceding publication; special scheduling available for camera-ready art. Access Press is available on tape. Call MN State Services for the Blind, 651-642-0500 or 800-652-9000. Inquiries should be directed to: ACCESS PRESS • 1821 University Ave. W. • Suite 185N • St. Paul, Minnesota 55104 • (651) 644-2133 • Fax (651) 644-2136 • E-mail: access@wavetech.net.

Those are only two issues out of the legislative priorities listed on page 1. This is going to be a short session at the legislature; they are scheduled to end the session near the end of April. This means legislative action will be fast and furious, so it is important you look over the legislative priorities and give your support on the issues that are important to you. Please contact the organizations that are working on the issues you are also con-

cerned with and see how you can help.

Capitol Days

is working with your inter- Sunday, March 12. For more ests in mind. information call the DFL office at (651) 293-1200 or toll-free in Your participation is vital! greater Minnesota (800) 9997457. Information about meeting dates, times and locations is For information about the Reavailable from the offices of publican meetings, call their the various political parties, as office at (541) 222-0022 well as information about the agenda of the caucuses. For information about the Reform Party meetings, call their The DFL meetings wills take office at (507) 387-2657 place on Saturday, March 11 or

State Council Meeting Everyone is welcome!

willing to work in this field. This is another issue that strikes to the heart of keeping people with disabilities out of institutions and living in the community. The people who work in this field deserve a living wage and benefits. We must urge legislators to provide a cost of living increase for all direct care workers.

For more information contact: Mental Health Association (800) 862-1799 Alliance for the Mentally Ill of MN (651) 645-2948

Disability Advocates Day at the Capitol: Monday, February 28, 2000 Sponsors: Advocating Change Together (ACT), Arc Minnesota Coalition for Children with Disabilities, PACER, UCP of Minnesota 8:30-9 a.m. — Registration at Best Western, Kelly Inn St. Paul 9- 9:15 a.m. — Welcome 9:15 a.m.-12:15 p.m. — 2000 Legislative Priorities, Legislative Process 12:30-1:30 p.m. — Lunch 1:30- 3:30 p.m. — Visit With Legislators Issues we will be advocating for include: · Family Support Grant Program · Group Residential Housing · Public Guardianship · Safe Schools · Workforce Crisis Affecting Community Services For more information contact (651) 523-0823 or (800) 582-5256

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CAPITOL - Cont. from p. 1 To contact Arc Minnesota call (651) 523-0823 or 1-800-5855256 AARM AARM’s legislative agenda intends to shift control from government and providers to people with disabilities. To do this, providers need flexibility and qualified personnel— through stable and predictable rates—to insure that people with disabilities can choose the support they need. Minnesotans with developmental disabilities must make annual progress toward the realization of all the rights of full citizenship. To enjoy these rights, people with disabilities must have the ability to purchase their own support from providers who compete on the basis of consumer satisfaction, personal outcomes and value. To contact AARM call (651) 641-0297. Brain Injury Association of Minnesota The underlying premise the Brain Injury Association of Minnesota’s legislative agenda is that people with brain injury have the same basic civil rights as people without brain injuries. People with brain injury have a right to live and work in the community with the supports needed to accomplish this. The supports available to live in the community will be equitable and made available based on an individual’s functional needs. This agenda also includes the identification of people with brain injuries and move toward deinstitutionalization, the expansion of Medicaid benefits to include Targeted Case Management and crisis services. Also included in the agenda is legislation to enforce seatbelt usage and reducing the blood alcohol levels of a DUI/DWI to .8 (with the intention of reducing the rate of injury resulting in disabilities). To contact the Brain Injury Association of Minnesota call (612) 378-2742

people with low incomes who are insured through Medical Assistance, HMO’s and/or other health plans. Family Service, Inc. will also encourage legislation that increases the capacity of special educators to manage their workloads to effectively meet the needs of students, as well as other legTo contact CEND call (651) islation to ensure that students with challenges to learning re582-8365 ceive appropriate educational services. Courage Center sites that were recently dropped from funding and to work with key partners within Minnesota’s education and human services networks to lay the groundwork for adequate statewide Community Education Adults with Disabilities funding.

The Courage Center has a number of agendas for this legislative year. High priority goals include additional funding for Direct Service/Personal Care Attendants and an additional $1-2 million during the 2000 session to provide additional Metro Mobility service. The Courage Center also includes among its high priority goals the inclusion of people with disabilities under the age of 65 on Medicare in the current, means-tested Senior Prescription Drug Program. Medium priority goals include legislating appropriations for a Health Care Consumer Assistance, Advocacy & Information office whose budget has been line-item vetoed in the past, as well as successful planning and implementation of a new law allowing for external appeals of health plan decisions, which have traditionally been handled within the health plan.

To contact Family Service, Inc. call (612) 338-4947.

February 10, 2000

IN BRIEF . . . . ADA Grants A DA Minnesota has minigrants available for projects that increase public knowledge and understanding of Titles I (employment), 11 (public services) or III (public accommodations) of the Americans with Disabilities

Act (ADA). The proposed projects should increase and encourage the involvement of people with disabilities and provide opportunities to create collaborative partnerships. Grant awards range from $500 to $2000.

To request an application, contact Ann Roscoe, ADA Minnesota, (888) 845-4595 (toll free), (651) 603-2015 (Twin Cities), (651) 603-2001 (TTY) or (651) 603-2006 (fax).

MINED Public Readings MINED, a literary and arts jour- Livingston, 7-8 p.m., Feb. 22, If you are a published writer,

nal of, by, and for persons with Metropolitan Center for Inde- mental illness will have a series of public readings in February. pendent Living (MCIL) The public is invited. Feb. 17, The legislative priorities of Sumner Library, James MCIL are carried out in collaboration with the activities of The Minnesota Consortium For Citizens With Disabilities (MNCCD). MCIL’s priorities Arc Hennepin County and for the coming year include AccountAbility Minnesota are obtaining $4 million to increase offering a Taxpayer Assistance service of Metro Mobility, as Program for qualifying people well other initiatives designed with developmental disabilities to increase mobility for people and their family members. Volwith disabilities. unteer tax accountants will assist individuals and their Additionally, MCIL is working families by answering queswith MNCCD to ensure that an annual cost-of-living raise is included in legislation during the up-coming session, as well as monitoring legislation re- The National Arts and Disgarding the Prescription Drug ability Center invites performProgram For Seniors, with the ers, arts administrators and intent of encouraging the ad- educators to ArtsACCESS, an dition of people with disabili- online conference on the inties to this program. clusion of performers and au-

Downtown Library, Monaca Rowley , 7-8 p.m. Feb. 20, North Regional Library, Victoria Kelly, 2-3 p.m.

have experienced mental illness, and want to read, please call James Livingston at (612) 376-7779

Assistance With Tax Returns tions, offering help in completing tax forms and filing 1999 tax returns. To qualify people must have had an income at or below $22,000 in 1999-slightly more if married and/or with dependents. All participants are required to bring specific documents to assist tax volunteers.

This service is available Mondays-March 6, 20 & April 3-from 5:30-8:30 p.m. at the ARC Hennepin, Diamond Hill Center office. Appointments must be made in advance by calling Arc Hennepin at (612) 920-0855, or tty (612) 920-0977.

The NADC’s Online Conference

ing arts. The conference is open 24 hours a day and participants may visit as frequently as they want. Anyone can simply register for free at http://nadc.ucla.edu/ dience members with disabili- conference.html the first time To contact the Courage Center To contact MCIL call (651) 646- ties in the media and perform- they visit the site. The site 3842. call (612) 588-0811. Family Service, Inc.

Mental Health Legislative Network Agenda

The mission of Family Services, Inc. is to help improve the quality of individual, family and community life. As such, their legislative priorities include educating legislators and staff about the prevalence and impact of learning disabilities and illiteracy on employment and promote the enacting of family friendly policy as related to welfare reform legislation.

features transcripts from the presentations given at the Association for Theatre and Accessibility and Coalition Partners Conference, “Promoting Creative Power” held in Los Angeles in May 1999.

PACER Workshop

1. Increase the funding for Award-winning parenting auhousing, education, and voca- thor and lecturer Adele Faber tional services for adults and will present workshops to parents and educators in the Twin children. Cities. “How to Talk so Kids •Increase the funding for the Can Learn at Home and at Coordinated Employability School” will be Tuesday, Feb. Projects to meet the unmet 29, from 7 to 9 p.m. and Wednesday, March 1, from 9 a.m. to need. •Increase the funding for noon in St. Paul. Both days’ Bridges housing subsidies by sessions will be at Bandana Square in St. Paul. $1.5 million per biennium. •Improve the housing and supAdditional priorities include port options for persons with supporting efforts that enable serious mental illness who, uninterrupted and consistent without support options, will medical health treatment for Capitol - cont. on p. 8

Sponsored by PACER Center’s Minnesota Parent Center project, the workshop is free to parents of children with and without disabilities. For professionals, the Tuesday workshop is $10, the Wednesday workshop is $15, and for both days, the cost is $20.

by calling PACER Center at (612) 827-2966.

The program offers practical, effective, communication methods for parents and professionals to use to make life with children easier and more rewarding. Workshop participants will learn 10 skills to reduce conflict, invite cooperaAll persons wishing to attend tion and encourage responsithe events are asked to register bility.

CEND(CommunityEducation Network on Disabilities) Community Education in Minnesota has a strong mission of inclusion and accessibility driven by local community needs. With its philosophy of lifelong learning, citizen involvement and community participation, Minnesota Community Education has sponsored programs that link people with disabilities to their community and has supported legislation to fund these programs. CEND’s legislative goals include restoring funding to four

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February 10, 2000

Hello Nicole:

New Resource Books T

he Brain Injury Association of Minnesota is proud to announce the publication of the first annual Consumer Guide to Brain Injury Resources, available for free to anyone who requests it. The 110-page, full-color guide includes detailed consumer information and lists hundreds of service providers throughout Minnesota.

information about brain injury support groups and other resources, call the Brain Injury Association of Minnesota at (800) 669-6442, or visit www. braininjurymn.org on the Internet.

A Field Guide for the SightImpaired Reader A Comprehensive Resource for Students, Teachers, and Librarians, By Andrew Leibs, The consumer guide exposes Foreword by Richard Scribner persons with brain injury to all areas of the disability commu- The first reference book writnity, addressing educational, ten for the sight-impaired stufinancial, housing, legal, medi- dent and those who serve their cal, psychological, recre- needs, A Field Guide for the ational, transportation and Sight-Impaired Reader exvocational concerns. Consum- plains how to locate, obtain ers and professionals can also and integrate all forms of aid to find information about support construct a world of reading groups, brain injury symptoms equal to that of the fully sighted and consequences, and the reader. It profiles the major Americans with Disabilities blind service organizations; Act (ADA). explores specialized formats such as Braille, large print and People that have survived electronic texts; and shows brain injury, like people with what technology readers reother disabilities, often face quire and where to find it. It considerable struggles trying provides comprehensive lists to rebuild their lives. The con- of audio and large print pubsumer guide offers them a cen- lishers, a state-by-state listing tralized information source of resource agencies for the they will be able to refer to blind and valuable internet rewhenever a new question sources to assist students and arises. their teachers and librarians in obtaining the texts they need “The consumer guide is a valu- to succeed in both academic able tool that consumers can and pleasure reading. use when making informed choices,” said Tom Gode, the Beginning with thorough covAssociation’s executive direc- erage of the national organizator. “It allows people to have tions in place for visually handieasy access to hundreds of capped readers and how they providers. . .” can assist both students and librarians, A Field Guide for Ten thousand copies of the the Sight-Impaired Reader guide have been printed. For a outlines the types of technolfree copy or more information, ogy available to readers and call the Association at (612) the companies that manufac378-2742 or (800) 669-6442. ture it. Available software, Braille resources, large print The Brain Injury Association resources and Internet Web of Minnesota is a nonprofit sites are all discussed in detail, community resource commit- with contact information. Also ted to meeting the support, included are reading strategies education and advocacy for a variety of academic subneeds of individuals living with ject areas, a detailed listing of all types of brain injury and state resources with addresses, their families. The Association phone numbers and Web sites, also participates in brain injury an exhaustive list of audio pubprevention efforts. For more lishers and a list of books com-

piled from recommended reading lists such as the American Library Association’s Outstanding Books for the College Bound. A discussion of the Americans with Disabilities Act and its impact on libraries is provided, as well as funding sources for librarians who want to provide more materials and technology for their sight-impaired patrons than their budgets might allow. With the encouragement and resources provided here, sight-impaired students who felt the world of reading was closed off to them can now create a reading life as rich as that of any fully sighted student. Assistive Technology Directory Reprinted The STAR program (System of Technology to Achieve Results) is pleased to announce the availability of the Directory of Funding Resources for Assistive Technology in Minnesota 2000.

Hello Nicole, I have read a lot of things about disability rights that say we aren’t supposed to want a cure. I’m glad to have discovered that there are people who have a disability and who are happy to live with personal assistants, power wheelchairs and everything else adapted. But I want to say it’s not a shame if someone hopes for a cure for his or her disability. I pray for a cure because it could allow my parents to live with more calm, without fears about my disability. It’s not right if we allow other children to be born with disabilities without trying to find a cure to help them. I think that we should fight for our rights as disabled people—but for the cure too. I would just like to go out without thinking if it was winter or summer. I would like just being able to breathe like healthy people or just to be able to dress myself on my own. Not necessarily walking. Not being a top model. I would like just a few simple things and sorry if it’s not what other disabled people think but I want a cure!

The directory contains information on funding resources for individuals with disabilities who need assistive technology to maximize their independence. The reprint of this directory was done because of Sincerely, The Odd One the numbers of requests from the public. You way obtain Dear Odd One, your free of charge copy by writing, calling or faxing the Of course you want a cure. It STAR program. isn’t odd that you wish your life were more comfortable, System of Technology to secure and independent. I Achieve Results (STAR) is a don’t think anyone would disprogram of the Governor’s agree that life sure would be Advisory Council on Technoleasier if we didn’t have disogy for People with Disabiliabilities! The idea of a cure is a ties, located within the Mincomplex question, not because nesota Department of Adminany of us wants to suffer but istration and funded by the because how we address the National Institute on Disabilsearch for a cure is directly ity and Rehabilitation Rerelated to how society thinks search under the Assistive of our disabilities—and how Technology Act of 1998 P. L. we think of ourselves. 105 394, with programming supported by a Minnesota I know there are people with General Fund Appropriation, disabilities who say that if a For more information contact Mary O’Hara Anderson at (651) 297-7517. Q

HOUSING AND PERSONAL CARE SERVICES Accessible Space, Inc. (ASI) offers subsidized one and two bedroom apartments for individuals with physical disabilities. We have housing in the Twin Cities metropolitan area, St. Cloud, Brainerd, Grand Rapids, Hibbing, Austin, Marshall, Willmar, and Duluth. The apartments are fully wheelchair accessible and each building has a central laundry room, large community room, secured entry and an on-site caretaker. ASI also offers shared personal care services 24 hours a day, at most locations, for adults with a physical disability and/or traumatic brain injury who qualify for Medical Assistance. For more information call (651) 645-7271 or (800) 466-7722. For services or housing call Lisa, for employment as a personal care attendant call Al or Kellie.

cure became available they would refuse treatment. To me that is a powerful, yet nebulous, sort of statement. It’s beautiful when we can be OK with our disabilities, when we can appreciate the lessons our disabilities are here to teach us and when we can see our disability as an opportunity —or even a gift—that we don’t want to “fix” or discard. On the other hand, how can we really know how we would react to the discovery of a cure—especially when our disabilities involve a lot of pain or sickness? Do we have to reject a cure in order to prove we accept our disability? Only recently, people with disabilities have begun to live in the mainstream of society. For most of history we were seen as hopeless, sick, defective or in-valid human beings, inca-

“Do we have to reject a cure in order to prove we accept our disability?” pable of living productive lives because of our overwhelming “medical condition.” We have been hidden in institutions, segregated from society, or simply left to die “for our own good.” What the disability rights movement teaches us is that our disabilities do not need to prevent us from having a full and meaningful life. Disability is just one aspect of our lives, not an unmanageable tragedy or a shame; we deserve the same freedom and opportunities in life anyone else has. Although our prospects have improved and it’s wonderful that we have laws such as the ADA, it’s sad that we must have these laws in order to assure our rights as equal human beings.

I agree that we should be able to fight for our rights as disabled people and hope for a cure. Unfortunately, in order for the search for a cure to be earnest we need first to be valued as people just the way we are. Once we are valued, it will be natural that barrier-free access, independent living services, employment support and even the search for a cure will become an honest priority. Nicole

Question? Complaint? Comment? Write to Nicole: % Access Press, 1821 University Ave. W, #185 N; St. Paul, MN 55104; The opposition to a cure is HelloNicoleAccess@yahoo.com

What do you think of ACCESS PRESS? Are we doing the job for you? Do we cover the issues you want covered? Fax, call, e-mail or write us at: ACCESS PRESS, 1821 University Ave W, #185N, St. Paul, MN 55104; 651/644-2133 Voice; 651/644-2136 Fax; access@wavetech.net

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really about the idea that our disabilities are problems that must be solved; that we are not acceptable the way we are—to society or ourselves. This kind of thinking destroys our selfesteem, and we can spend our entire lives waiting for a cure to make us OK. Another issue is the dishonesty of organizations that deny services to people with disabilities while funding questionable research and paying outrageous salaries to researchers and corporate executives. Further, organizations raising money for a cure often portray people with disabilities as pitiful, tragic, child-like sufferers who cannot possibly live a meaningful or positive life unless cured. This approach (while very successful in eliciting funds from the well-meaning public) degrades and oppresses people with disabilities. To overcome discrimination society needs to learn our value; they need to know we do not simply live lives of tragic suffering but rather we are powerful, wise, capable human beings worthy of love relations, employment and equal access.

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February 10, 2000

On Mental Illness

Religion And Disability

Keeping Our Eyes On The Prize

Bearing Fruit In Ministry Outreach To People With Developmental Disabilities

by Pete Feigal

by The Rev. Don Anderson

(Adapted from his opening remarks from the Hennepin NAMI meeting with Rep. Mindy Greiling and Sen. Don Betzold)

up to me.” And when you feel that judgment from society, when you have no credibility or voice, then any power or freedom you have becomes very dear to you, which is why … In my own 30 struggle with “commitment” was so frightthis disease, in the hospitals, ening to me. I wanted to hang halfway houses and day treat- onto whatever freedom I had. ment programs, I’ve seen and experienced a gamut of types But when I went for years withof treatment, quality of care out effective treatment, I and changes in attitudes from learned another terrible lesson: society, my family and friends Freedom to suffer is no freeand especially myself. dom. I learned that the disease was the real enemy; it was the In medieval times, prisoners illness that imprisoned my mind were shown instruments of and soul more than any hospitorture to compel them to talk, tal ever could. And when I including the rack, the Iron watched people close to me Maiden and the thumbscrews. suffer their entire lives without I have lived in a time when treatment, I learned another patients were show instru- terrible lesson: This disease is ments of torture: isolation not just a disease of individurooms, straitjackets, Electro als but of families. The agonies convulsive Therapy. These I endured watching my loved were meant to compel them not ones deteriorate in front of my to talk, not to emote. These eyes was much more painful One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s than my own decline. Nest times and places truly took the “fun” out of dysfunctional. I have twice experienced commitment or intervention. Once I have lived in a time when a 15- when I was 15, that almost killed year-old boy could be given a me, and once in ’92 that saved dozen electroshock treatments, my life and my soul. And I am not as part of any healing or happy to say that I’ve lived to therapy, but as punishment for see advancements in medical “not conforming to the thera- treatment, with refinements in peutic community.” This is the medicine and breakthroughs kind of thing that could give an in mapping and understandimpressionable young man like ing the brain. These treatments myself a distorted view of both are so effective that almost the medical profession and everyone can be helped in some Northern States Power. Life in way with at least part of their this place was so unbearable suffering alleviated. I have that to survive I slipped away lived to see increased sophisinto a dream world, of which tication in the cognitive/talk the Doc told me, “Pete, our therapies being offered. I have attempt here must be to wel- lived to see a change in atticome reality, to embrace real- tudes and sensitivities among ity.” To this I replied, “Why the mental health professionshould I do anything for real- als, and my former adversaries ity? It never done nothin’ for have become my closest supme.” I must tell you, ever since ports, and allies, and I’m proud those days I have been a little to say, my friends. I have lived bit confused about the godly to see the day when treatment nature of the human creature. works. I have lived in a time when many of my own family and friends, my church and school and hometown, pitied me, was ashamed of me, abandoned me, and even the medical profession seemed unable to forgive me for having a disease that baffled and subsequently shamed them. By dumb luck, I survived and avoided—by the skin of my teeth—the street, the penitentiary and the graveyard. I learned the most terrible cost of this disease: how it destroys your dreams and makes you feel damaged and worthless, without meaning or purpose. I lived so long in pain, that I actually forgot what it felt like to feel good or happy. Like Jim Morrison sang, “I’ve been down so long that it looks like

solid, and as more and more people come forward, come “out of the closet,” breaking the stigma and silence about this disease, attitudes and laws will change. History will remember how it changed. The focus must be to get help at the community level, with commitment always being the last resort. Webster’s Dictionary has a number of definitions for “commit” and “commitment.” In the past, these words usually meant an “official order to put someone in custody in a prison or mental hospital.” There is another definition of “commitment” and that is “to make a promise, a pledge, a vow” to do something. Too often in the past, those with this illness have experienced the first, but not the second. I don’t know what’s going to happen with this issue, either with Mindy and Don’s bill or in the future. I pray that when someone is ill and is suffering, that we promise to determine fairly, with wisdom and with love, whether they are able or not to make good, rational decisions about their own medical needs. I pray that if they are determined to be too ill to help themselves, and they must be given medical attention (even against their will), that we pledge not to do it out of fear, anger, frustration, or for any selfish personal reason. That we instead do it only out of love and a desire to end their terrible suffering. I pray that if we give ourselves the awesome and terrible power of taking away someone else’s liberty, that we vow to spare no expense or personal hardship to ensure that they gets the best medical treatment available. I pray that we will give them the love and respect they deserve; that we will do everything in our power to help them return to and rebuild their lives;

I have lived to see the changes The Prize - cont. on p. 9 in my family and friends, and they are no longer ashamed of me and enough years have gone by that in my old home town, I am no longer considered “crazy,” but “colorful!” Every day we still face stigma, both from society and our own “inner tyrants” and the injustices in insurance coverage. Inequities that stop us from getting the medical attention we desperately need or, as one mental health professional put it, “They come to us in flames, and we treat them for sunburn.” But the Star Tribune had as their headline recently the words “Consumers Win HMO Ruling.” A victory, small but

t has been a privilege for me personally during this past 25 years to be involved in Christian outreach to people with developmental disabilities. At first, this outreach was difficult because I felt some of the same fears and apprehensions that others in the mainstream church community experience: I was afraid of saying or doing the wrong things; I was afraid of being unintentionally hurtful, instead of helpful. I also had much to learn about what an effective ministry outreach to people in the disabled community should be like. I am so grateful to the Lord for His calling, for His patience and for the direction of His Holy Spirit as I sought to serve Him. By His grace, our ministry, Christ for People with Developmental Disabilities (founded in 1979), is making a difference in the lives of hundreds of disabled participants throughout the greater Twin City metropolitan area. From the beginning, our desire and commitment was to focus primarily on the spiritual care needs of people with developmental disabilities. Ministry priorities like evangelism, discipleship and genuine Christian fellowship quickly surfaced as our goals. We began by sponsoring an evening fellowship group at Wayzata Community Church on Tuesday evenings. Approximately 25 adult participants and volunteer helpers attended our first meeting. Since that time, we have been blessed with a fruitfulness that we could not have imagined. That is not meant to sound self-serving or prideful, but rather as a testimony to God’s faithfulness when His people respond to His call. Jesus said, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do

If you are a consumer or a provider and know health care can and must be done better, we need to hear from you.

nothing.” (John 15.5 NIV)

If you have felt the Lord’s leading to get involved with “Special Needs Ministry,” either in your church or community, we encourage you to take the first steps. Whatever talents or interests you have, they can be a contribution to any ministry endeavor. We also know that the Lord will honor your willingness to serve Him, and you will bear much fruit as you abide in Him. If the Lord should bring our ministry to mind when you pray, this would also be a special blessing for us! Q

Them is no question in my mind that the Church community should be the best example of love and acceptance, demonstrated by a willingness to interact with people regardless of their physical or intellectual abilities. I used to criticize churches for not doing more. Over the years I have learned that, for me, it works better to simply encourage these churches to follow the example of those who are ministering effectively—or, if nothing else, lend a hand of support Don Anderson is cofounder to those who are serving in this and Executive Director of “specialized” arm of ministry. Christ for People With Developmental Disabilities, 1727 How has God blessed us over 3rd Avenue South, Anoka MN the years? News of our minis- 55303. His background intry began to spread early on, cludes experience in Residenand the ministry mushroomed tial Services, Special Educaquickly. This was because resi- tion and Family Treatment dential facilities, families and Foster Care. For more inforchurches were all looking for mation, call (612) 422-1369 help in this area of Christian or (612) 272-5039. outreach. Today, we sponsor three fellowship groups and a Bible study outreach program serving group homes throughPlease patronize out the area. Nearly 25 houseyour Access holds take part in this outreach, with nearly 300 disabled chil- Press Advertisers dren and adults being served — and tell them overall. We have been blessed with many volunteer church where you heard workers, and through the about them. prayer and financial support of They bring you churches and friends we’ve your paper. been able to maintain a full-time outreach.

TCF Adv

A REVOLUTIONARY APPROACH FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES

651-641-0887

February 10, 2000

“Exploring The Language MN Work Incentives Of Managed Health Care” Connection On The Move T T Disability groups

sistance Program — mandatory managed care program for DD: Developmental Disabili- Medical Assistance recipients ties under age 65 who are not disabled and all Medical AssisMR/RC: Mental Retardation tance recipients older than 65, and Related Conditions which has been in place for over 15 years in Hennepin County. If you are a participant in the PD: Physical Disability public health care system, you Federal may have learned, or be in the SED: Severe Emotional Disturprocess of learning a new lan- bance — children under 18 ADA: Americans with Disabiliguage; the language of man- years ties Act—federal legislation aged health care. SPMI: Serious and Persistent passed in 1990 In over 40 consumer forums Mental Illness — almost alHCFA: (pronounced hik-fa) held in 1999, members of the ways an adult Health Care Financing Adminplanning team have heard conCounty Programs istration — federal agency that sumers say it is difficult to manages Medicare and Medunderstand the language, terminology and acronyms uti- EA: Economic Assistance — icaid financing and may grant lized in the managed health county offices where consum- waivers to states for demoncare field. The difficulties with ers apply for public financial stration and pilot projects. this language, particularly ac- assistance General ronyms, make it more challenging to navigate through an al- HCCS: Hennepin County Care Systems — Hennepin County FFS: Fee-For-Service — payready complex system. DPPD project ment system for services based on reimbursement to providWebster’s Dictionary defines State ers based on billing each seracronym as a “word formed vice rendered with separate from the initial letter/letters of each of the successive or ma- DHS: Department of Human charges, e.g. clinic visit, x-ray, jor parts of a compound term”. Services — responsible for lab test etc. These “shortened” words are planning and implementing the seen throughout health care DPPD legislation passed in HMO: Health Maintenance Organization — licensed enon informational flyers, signs 1995 tity providing or arranging for or application forms or spoken by various professionals and DPPD: Demonstration Project health services to a defined for People with Disabilities — population. caregivers. healthcare planning project for Listed below are some of the people with disabilities who MA: Medical Assistance — acronyms and short definitions receive Medical Assistance tate program providing health the planning team has used utilizing a managed care sys- care to eligible people using state and federal dollars, called when talking about the Dem- tem of health care. Medicaid at the federal level onstration Project for People PMAP: Prepaid Medical Aswith Disabilities (DPPD). he Hennepin County Care’s planning team continues to seek out Medical Assistance consumers and their representatives to help create a better health care delivery management system.

Make Your Ride Count! Are you having difficulty scheduling rides with Metro Mobility? Are you not able to arrange transportation when you need it? We need your help to accurately document the number of trip denials now occurring within the Metro Mobility transportation system. Our goal is to accurately document the current demand for Metro Mobility service.

he Minnesota Work In centives Connection is on the move in several ways. For those of you unfamiliar with it, the Minnesota Work Incentives Connection is funded by a grant from the Social Security Administration to assist people with disabilities in navigating the complex rules that affect their benefits when they go to work. In late December, the Minnesota Work Incentives Connection moved to new offices and is now sharing space with State Services for the Blind in the Midway area of St. Paul. New phone numbers are: Main number: (651) 632-5113 Toll free from Greater MN: (800) 976-6728 TTY: (651) 632-5110 or Minnesota Relay at (800) 627-3529 In addition, the Minnesota Work Incentives Connection is hosting another series of community meetings throughout Minnesota. Topics addressed will include updates on services available and time for open discussion on work incentives topics. Bring questions about how Social Security, Medical Assistance and other benefits are affected when you work. Time for case consultation may also be scheduled to discuss indi-

A number of efforts assisting consumers learn this language are evident in DPPD planning at both the state and county level. A state Consumer Education workgroup, which included consumers, identified 57 key acronyms — out of the hundreds used — for consumer use. At the county level, Hennepin County Cares supported three “Managed Care 101” workshops conducted by Kris Flaten and Pat Siebert; workshops were held July 27 & 30, October 4 & 6 and October 18 & 20. Consumer response was positive when learning this language within

vidual situations. Please call ahead to schedule case consultation time so we can bring necessary tools to answer your questions. Please register for community meetings as space is limited. To register, call (651) 632-5116 or (800) 976-6728 and ask for the registration hotline. Sessions are free of charge and the buildings are wheelchair accessible.

February 15. St. Cloud WorkForce Center (2nd Floor), 3333 W. Division St., St. Cloud. 10:30-11:30 a.m. or 1:30-2:30 p.m.

The planning team will continue to inform consumers and other stakeholders regarding the next planning phase by quarterly newsletter and other press releases. If you would like to receive this information, please call Bill Blom or Julie Wegscheid at (612) 348-2200 (voice) or (612) 596-6758 (TTY).

March 2 Burnsville WorkForce, 14551 Cty. Rd. 11, Burnsville Center. 10-11 a.m.

February 17 Hennepin Co. South WorkForce Center, 4220 W. Old Shakopee Rd., Bloomington. 10-11 a.m. Rehabilitation Services (DT Mpls), Century Plaza, 1111 3rd Accommodations: If you need Ave. S. Ste. 20. 2-3 p.m. an interpreter, materials in alternative format or other rea- February 18 sonable accommodations, Mankato WorkForce Center, please let us know at least 2 12 Civic Center Plaza, Ste. weeks prior to the session so 1600A, Mankato. 10:30-11:30 we can make the necessary a.m. or 12:30-1:30 p.m. arrangements. February 22 Weather Hotline: In case of Marshall WorkForce Cenbad weather, please call the ter (3rd Floor), Lyon County following hotline numbers on Courthouse, Marshall. 1-2 p.m. the day of the meeting to deter- or 2:30-3:30 p.m. mine if your session is being held: (651) 632-5117 or call (800) February 24 976-6728 and ask for the R o c h e s t e r W o r k F o r c e Weather Hotline. Center, 300 - 11th Avenue N W, Rochester. 10:30-11:30 a.m. By the time Access Press goes to print, meetings will already Southeastern MN Center have been held in West St. for Independent Living Paul, St. Paul Midway, Blaine, (SEMCIL), 1306 Seventh Brooklyn Park, Duluth, Bemidji, Street NW, Rochester. 1-2 p.m. Moorhead and East Grand Forks. Additional meetings will March 1 be held at: St. Paul WorkForce Center (DT St. Paul), Norwest Center, 55 E. 56th Street. the Managed Care system. 10:30-11:30 a.m.

This column is a paid insertion by the Hennepin County Demonstration Project for People with Disabilities.

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Transit Administration, a trip denial occurs in any of the following situations: • You request a ride and don’t receive it - even after being placed on standby. Example: You place a request at 6 a.m. four days prior to a doctor’s appointment but your requested time is not available. After being placed on standby, you are also told no ride is available. • You are able to schedule a ride to your requested destination but cannot get a return trip. Example: You are offered - and accept - a ride to your destination but are denied a return trip to your home when a standby ride is unavailable. Cancellation of the oneway trip should also be recorded as a denial. • You are not offered a ride within one hour before or after your requested ride time. Example: You request a pick-tip time of 1:00 PM. The provider must offer you a ride time between 12 noon and 2 PM. If not, this is considered to be a trip denial - even if YOU choose to accept the ride. You have a right to receive a ride within an hour of your requested pick-up time!

Make Your Ride Count!

Hennepin Co. South WorkForce Center, 4220 W. Old Shakopee Rd., Bloomington. 1:30-2:30 p.m. March 23 North St. Paul WorkForce Center, 2098 E. 11th St., No. St. Paul. 1:30-2:30 p.m. Q

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February 10, 2000

PCA To Defend Boomerang Title by Roger Fuller

tuart Jones is going to Australia next month to defend his title at the Boomerang World Cup in Melbourne during February 5-12. Jones, who works as a personal care attesndant in the Lowertown neighborhood of St. Paul, won the world competition for accuracy when the World Cup was held two years ago in Edwardsville, Ill., in suburban St. Louis. “In the accuracy competition, you stand in a circle with a radius of two meters and throw

the boomerang at least 20 meters,” said Jones. “If it comes back and falls within the circle you get a full 10 points,” he said. “I won with 44 points out of 50 in five throws.” Jones became interested in boomerangs when he came to Minnesota from Texas in the ’70s and purchased an old car. “I felt under the front seat and found a boomerang. There we’re instructions on it. It worked the first time I tried it.” Jones said the world title he won for accuracy two years ago was very pleasant. “I was 47 at the time,” he said. “This is a sport that it

dominated by the young. The winner of the overall competition in Edwardsville was a 25year-old German.” With two exceptions Jones has participated in every national boomerang championship since the early ’80s. He never finished in first place but often was among the top three out of a field of more than 150 competitors. Earlier this year Jones entered the Gateway Classic in

St. Louis and won the Austra- cently it hurt when whenever I lian Round, which includes threw the boomerang,” he said. distance, accuracy and catch. “Now it feels fine.” Jones said the trip to Australia is imporAt the national championships tant to him because he did not in Virginia Beach VA, last sum- go in 1981 when he won a place mer, he failed to place. Until on the American team for the November Jones did not know Challenge Round held in Ausif he would be going to Austra- tralia that year. “I couldn’t aflia. “Last spring I injured my ford to go that time, but this shoulder when I fell and re- year I can.” injured it again at the nationals in Virginia Beach … Until re- The Boomerang World Cup

will be held in Australia several months before the summer Olympics in Sydney. “The boomerang will not be a sport at the Olympics, he said, but it will be recognized: “A boomerang is featured in the official logo of the Sydney 2000 games and also appears on a postage stamp commemorating the Games.” Q

Minnesota Will Add Two New Area Codes E

ffective February 27, 2000, the Minneapolis metropolitan region now served by the 612 area code will be split into three different area codes: 612, 763 and 952. The 612 area code will be kept by Minneapolis, Richfield, St. Anthony and the Fort Snelling area. The boundary line separating the 763 area code from the 952 area code approximately follows Interstate 394. For the most part, communities located north of 1-394 and to the north and northwest of Minneapolis will have the new 763 area code. Communities south of 1-394 and to the south and southwest of Minneapolis will have the 952 area code. With the area code change, it will be necessary to dial ten digits — the three-digit area code plus the seven-digit telephone number — to place a local call between area codes. You may be familiar with this local dialing pattern since it is

the same way local calls are made today between the 612 and 651 area codes. Do not dial a “l” before the number. Long distance charges do not apply on ten-digit dialed local phone calls. During a transition period, callers will be able to use either the new or old area code to complete a call. Mandatory use of the new area codes and ten-digit dialing on local calls between area codes in the Twin Cities area will begin on January 14, 2001. If you have one of the new area codes, use the transition period to notify friends and family, make any necessary changes to printed materials (such as stationery or check blanks) and reprogram special calling features, such as speed calling. You may also need to reprogram your computer modem, home fax machine or other devices. Q

ACT adv

February 10, 2000

CAPITOL - Cont. from p. 3 have difficulty living in the is actually spent on mental community. health and chemical depen•Increase housing stock and dency services, reporting support for homeless and very separately for the two populow-income persons with lation groups and using stanmental illness as a priority dard procedure codes. population. •Permit an authorized pre•Direct the commissioners and scriber to prescribe an alterlocal authorities to revise their native medication, without Consolidated State Plans to administrative delay, when implement the housing mis- the prescriber determines that sion statement in chapter 245. a drug formulary does not adequately address the needs 1. Improve the funding of men- of the patient. tal health services and public •Define medical loss ratio and health insurance plans. require its disclosure by health plans. •Expand the MinnesotaCare •Establish a mechanism for the program to better address is- credentialing of community sues of affordability, access, mental health programs and and quality. clinics by managed care orga•Increase the fee-for-service nizations and set reasonable Medical Assistance rates for time limits for the credentialing mental health services. of staff. •Establish pay equity among •Insure court-ordered services state, county, and commu- covered by a health plan will nity service providers. be deemed medically neces•Provide an automatic cost of sary and paid for by the plan. living adjustment (COLA) to community mental health ser- 1. Protect the rights of people vices. with mental illness. •Continue the effort to fully •Remove statutory obstacles fund the Children’s Mental for persons with mental illHealth Act of 1989. ness seeking to enforce their •Increase the funding for out- rights through the courts. reach services to homeless •Clarify that the local mental persons with mental illness. health authority is financially •Support permanent state responsible for the Jarvis profunding of services for per- cess. sons with mental illness who •Establish appropriate care are also deaf. and treatment in correctional facilities for people with men1. Strengthen the cultural com- tal illness. petence, access, sensitivity, •License day treatment proand diversity of the service grams for children. system. •Support a review, by the Legislative Auditor, on the im2. Improve the access, account- pact of the 1997 Civil Commitability and consumer, protec- ment Act. tions in managed care. •Maintain population specific •Support consumer protec- capacity and expertise in state tions that provide the right to appointed client advocacy recover damages, regulation programs. of financial incentives, im- •Maintain parity. proved access to specialists, •Maintain equal treatment and and continuity of care. coverage for mental health • Require capitated public pro- services as stipulated in the grams to identify annually the Minnesota Law on Parity portion of the capitation that (Minnesota Statutes, 62Q 47)

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Letters To The Editor . . .

•Insure that the new insurance product established with federal children’s health care funds includes parity for men- Nicole, tal health services. Thank you so very much for National Multiple Sclerosis how you responded to “Dear Society, Minnesota Chapter Nicole” in the Jan. 10 issue, discussing the issue of abortThe legislative priorities for the ing a fetus that has a high National Multiple Sclerosis probability of being born with Society focus on making new a disability. drug treatment programs accessible to people on Medi- This is such a hard issue, and care, which currently does not one that I feel strongly about. pay for prescription drugs. My daughter is 4 years old and was born with Spina Bifida. To contact the Minnesota Although SB is thought to have Chapter of the National Mul- come from unknown causes, tiple Sclerosis Society call (612) some doctors have said that 335-7900 or 1-800-582-5296 they suspect that it may be genetic in her case. I think of The Coalition for Children this issue a lot. I don’t think I with Disabilities would ever abort a baby due to

disability, but I do think about whether or not to ever have another child. I wonder if I want to have two children with disabilities. I think about what I would do if I spent twice as much time in the hospital as I do now. Although I don’t really think I will ever want to have another child anyway, it is something I think about. I’m so glad you addressed how a person with a disability feels about having a disability and how their life is valued compared to others. People bring this issue up to me all the time and I try to explain that although Raven (my daughter) goes through a ton of medical stuff, I still honestly do not

believe that she “suffers.” She is the most amazing child. Everyone everywhere is drawn to her. I don’t believe for a minute that she even thinks about why she doesn’t walk or anything else. It’s everyone else who thinks she must feel so awful and “different.” I just wanted to thank you. I know this spoke to many people about the value of their lives or their children’s lives. I’m cutting this out and will be using this as a resource when other people have questions or negative things to say. Thank you, Judy Moe, Mpls MN

The Coalition for Children with Disabilities’ legislative priories include ensuring adequate funding for Special Education, making certain that schools develop appropriate programs for addressing school violence, and addressing Minnesota’s shortage of adequately trained special education teachers. To contact The Coalition for Children with Disabilities call (612) 827-2966 Minnesota State Council on Disability (MSCOD) MSCOD has topics of major concern tat they plan on following/monitoring during legislative sessions. These include continuing to support affordable and accessible housing, an increased focus on issues of concern to seniors with disabilities, supporting fast transit systems and other proow-income wage earners grams that increase mobility can accumulate assets for for people with disabilities. housing, education or small business investment through MSDOC will also focus on the new Family Assets for working with non-profits to I n dependence Minnesota increase the availability of Per- (FAIM) program. Participants sonal Care Attendants, and may deposit up to $30 of earned issues related to education, income per month, and their building codes and employ- deposit is matched by equal ment. contributions from federal, state and private foundation To contact MSCOD call (651) 296-6785 or 1-800-945-8913. Q

New Program Quadruples Savers’ Assets

sources swelling their monthly deposit to $120. With accrued interest, in four years a participant’s $30 matched monthly deposit will equal $5,760 to be used for home buying or remodeling, education or small business investment. FAIM participants may complete the program early or continue after four years according to their personal goals. If a participant chooses to withdraw their funds from the program for uses outside the stated goals, they will receive the amount they contributed with interest but without matching funds. To be eligible for FAIM an applicant must meet household income eligibility, have earned income and attend 28

hours of instruction on economic literacy and on the asset areas (housing, education and small business investment). The FAIM guidelines are based on household size and change depending on the number of children in the household. For example, one person with no children would need an annual income of $10,200 or less to be eligible for this program, while a family of four with two children would need an annual income of $30,580 or less. These guidelines are available from the FAIM office, along with information regarding the program. Community Action of Minneapolis administers FAIM for Minneapolis residents. For further information, please call Leah at 612-348-8858, Ex. 45. Q

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Reader Profile

Tina Schroeder n a reader survey taken last summer, readers said they would like to hear more personal accounts of how other people with disabilities are doing in the community. In response, we bring you this first in a series of profiles. It is our hope that by sharing our personal stories we may be a source of strength to one another. Let us know what you think or if you know someone you would like us to interview! In this profile, I talked with Tina Schroeder. Tina is 33 years old and has learning disabilities and mental illness. Throughout the interview I was struck by Tina’s independent and persevering spirit. She is currently happy living on her own in a HUD-subsidized apartment in Minneapolis. Tina grew up in Minneapolis and Rochester, MN, and attended regular schools. She was recently elected vice chair of ACT (Advocating Change Together). I started our interview with some questions about ACT: AP: Will you talk a little about ACT? What exactly does ACT do? TS: Act is an organization by and for people with disabilities. Our goal is closing down institutions and helping people live on their own. ACT is very broad. We work with all different kinds of issues and with all types of disabilities. We help anyone with a disability that is having problems—housing problems are common, but we can help with almost any kind of problem. ACT works with small causes. ACT is also politically active. We give people of all disabilities a voice in the political arena. ACT’s message is: We have a voice, we are human. AP: What sparked your interest and involvement with ACT? TS: I want to do it for my family. I want to show that anyone with a disability can live on their own—and there is ACT out there that can help them. When I was three years old my dad was put in an institution for the mentally ill. Every time I’d see him he wouldn’t recognize me or know my name. This was because of the medication and the electric shock treatments. He couldn’t do anything about it. It was very sad. AP: Do you think these treatments were done against his will? TS: Against his will. Yes. AP: Was the institutionalization against his will?

TS: No. My mom put him in there because when he would get on or off certain kinds of medication he would get violent. So she did that for the protection of me and my brother. She thought that was the best thing for him.

COMMITMENT Cont. from p. 1

by Nicole Roberts

February 10, 2000

Tina Schroeder

there for me to fight back on. I AP: What did you think? don’t know if you want to write that—it’s kind of explicit but I TS: I didn’t think so. Mental want to be honest with you. illness is a chemical imbalance and needs to be treated, but AP: You mean you think some the way institutions treat people see you as a vulnerable people with mental illness target because of your disabilmakes them worse. I know that ity? back when my dad was put in an institution, family members TS: Right. There are a lot of didn’t think they had choices. people with disabilities that get People were told by doctors to taken advantage of because put their family members in in- we are viewed in a different stitutions. My grandmother spectrum than regular people. had to put my uncle in a blind We’re viewed like we’re not institution when he was in his full human beings and so people teens because the doctor told think they can take advantage them that there was no other of us. It can be money-wise, hope. I think there’s hope and consumer-wise, healthcarealternatives to sticking a per- wise, relationships, especially son in an institution. I just wish in relationships. I think most there had been an alternative people with disabilities have for my dad and uncle. been taken advantage of at one time or another. That’s AP: If my questions are too why I’m trying to get ACT personal just tell me. involved with issues other than just the institutions. ACT can TS: That’s ok. Some of them do a lot on issues that are small are personal questions but I and help people with everyday want my story told because I problems. That’s my goal is for want people to know about the the board in 2000. lives of people with disabilities. We all have the same prob- AP: How does your disability lem just different versions of it. effect your life most? AP: What happened to your TS: The label the doctors put dad? on me is borderline retarded. That’s with my learning disTS: My dad is still around. He ability. I take things slower than got out of the institution a while other people. It’s hard for me to ago. He still can’t hold down a understand things. When job. He’s on a whole bunch of people talk to me they have to medicine. He’s in real bad take it slow. They have to exshape. plain it to me more than if I were the average person. I don’t AP: At what age did your dis- have a job. It’s hard for me to fill ability really start to effect your out an application and I have a life? Was there a moment or lack of skills. I have no compretime frame when your disabil- hension of directions—like ity and all it’s implications sud- what bus to get on. Some days denly dawned on you? it effects me more than others. If I have to go out I bring someTS: Well, my whole life wasn’t body with me. the greatest. My mom didn’t treat me like an equal person. I’d say the way my disability The other kids didn’t treat me most effects my life is in perright either, they treated me sonal relationships. That’s different. Everyone kept tell- why I live alone. I’ve never ing me I wasn’t going to amount been married or had a longto nothing. Then it stuck out term relationship. But I like liveven more in high school; that’s ing alone. Maybe if circumwhen people started playing stances come it would be nice on my disability. to have a long-term relationship someday. I’m open to AP: What do you mean? change. I’m open to everything. TS: People would take advantage of me because of my dis- AP: Sounds like it’s a real chalability. I just got out of a rela- lenge sometimes. tionship where this guy took me almost for everything I had. TS: Yes, but I don’t let anyPartly, the reason he did what thing stop me. If I want to do he did was because of my dis- something and someone tells ability. He thought that I had me I can’t I go ahead and do it no forces to fight back; he anyway. I try. I try things that thought there’s nothing out are new. I get mad when people

tell me I can’t do something because of my disability. Some people look and all they see is the disability. I can look at a person with a disability and I don’t see that person as a person with a disability. I see the person as a person. That’s the way I want to be treated. But there are always people out there that aren’t going to treat me like that. When people don’t treat me right, I stand up and say I’m a human being! If I’m broke, don’t fix me! That’s a motto we have.

alike. As Pete Feigal said in his opening statement, “this disease is not just a disease of an individual but of families.” There is also an urgent need to do something positive. Feigal put it succinctly; “the freedom to suffer is no freedom.” (Look to page 5 of this issue for a reprint of the text of Feigal’s opening comments.)

Representative Greiling shared with the audience her journey with her son through the process of diagnosis and obtaining services. Greiling— like too many others—tells of having no choice but to arrest her son in order to obtain the help he needed. Others at the forum also expressed their concerns that too many are in jail due to intervention that is too late. Too often, crisis also puts the person with a mental illness at risk of violence. One father spoke of the need to AP: What do you do for fun? have law officers armed with nonlethal weapons for such TS: Collect horror and action interventions. movies. I’m a horror buff. One psychologist added anAP: Tell me about the most other perspective. It disturbed inspiring or admirable person him that hitting rock bottom is you’ve ever met in your life. only true for those who refuse treatment. Where is access? TS: The one person that I ad- Is there some way of mandatmire most is my uncle that’s ing access within 24 hours, blind because he is living his through such methods as aclife as actively as possible. He creditation? survived the institution. He is now the head of People First of Many at the forum repeated Red Wing. That’s his courage to me. I admire people that can go through all those odds and survive and keep on living. to assist them in the long proThe other person that I look up cess of recovery that is necesto is Gloria. She founded ACT. sary to truly heal from this most She helped pass laws so that if terrible of diseases. I pray that people are found mistreating we always commit ourselves patients in an institution or to concentrate on “care” rather anywhere they will be arrested. than “commitment.” I wish I had the strength that Gloria has. She’s helped me During the Civil Rights movement, the phrase the activists along really a lot. used again and again was “keep AP: What are your hopes or your eyes on the prize.” Among activists, there were disagreegoals for the future? ments on certain issues, differTS: There’s a lot I want to do ence of opinion on tactics and but I’m not sure yet how to go strategy, personality clashes about them. One of my main and the frustrations of banggoals is to get a job. I am working on doors of racism and ing on that very hard. Also, I stigma so large and entrenched want to go on more trainings that it seemed that they would and speak more on a lot of never budge. Despite this, the issues for people with disabili- activists still had the wisdom ties. I want to fill everybody in to keep focused on their ultion ACT. I want to teach people mate goal of equality, and to that they can live on their own. keep their eyes on the prize. I want to give hope and en- Our cause is not unlike theirs, couragement to anyone who and this is we must also do to wants to get out of an institu- succeed. tion. The issue of commitment—of AP: If somebody wanted to forcing treatment on someget involved with ACT what one—is one of the toughest, murkiest and most potentially should they do? polarizing issues that the menTS: Call the ACT office (651) tal health community will face. It is a complex and uncomfort641-0297 able subject dealing with civil AP: Do you have any closing liberties, equality in health care, resources, education, and our words of wisdom to share? old enemy of stigma, both from society at large, but also from TS: Just keep trying. Q

that it is routine for persons with mental illness and their families to face a system that is, as one mother put it, “set up to serve the bureaucracy not the client.” Add to that a system that intimidates and it is no wonder people stop trying to seek help. Studies have not shown that early intervention commitment works. However, studies have proven that when more services are provided to individuals, these additional services work. Therefore we must ask ourselves: What can realistically be accomplished in order to provide more service? At what point does this become intrusive? There are no easy answers. What I do know is that Rep. Greiling has acted out of her own experience to better a situation. I believe that Sen. Betzold has also acted out of his own experience as a lawyer involved in commitment cases for 20 years, and also wants to better this situation. Pete Feigal is blessed with the gift of being able to create a space and time where all voices can be heard. He is also blessed with the gift of setting a tone where we all can work towards a common good. Q Linda Larson is a disability advocate and mom of an adult child with an eating disorder

THE PRIZE - Cont. from p. 5 our own “inner tyrants.” Beliefs and emotions are strong, and dissension is a reality. But we all agree that—at the core of this issue—the focus of our cause is healing and recovery from suffering for those with the disease and their families. I am worried about the possibility of this issue breaking apart the bridges of co-operation and trust for which we all have been working so hard. But I also know the kindness and depth of character of the people I work with around this cause. That gives me confidence that—even though we may disagree on particulars—we will still stay united and committed to the larger picture. We will “keep our eyes on the prize” of finding the cures to eliminate brain disorders completely, of educating the world and ourselves to eliminate the shame and stigma that transcends this disease into a different hell, and of offering hope and comfort for those suffering until those dreamsmare realities. Q

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February 10, 2000

The Internet: Five Webpages for People With Disabilities by Max Sparber into a mixture of reference tool and communications device. Webpages that deal with disabilities rank in the thousands, and new ones crop of every day. Some of these are moving personal accounts, such as a Webage by a young woman who suffered a severe aneurysm as a child. Her account begins, simply, “My brain burst.” Others detail little-discussed aspects of the experiences of those with disabilities, such as sexuality. “If sex and disability are discussed,” points out one site, “it is very much in terms of capacity, technique, and fertility—in particular, male capacity and technique and female fertility— with no reference to sexual feelings. This approach ignores other aspects of sexuality, such as touching, affection, and emotions.”

ven as the Internet becomes as commonplace as television, it still feels like something torn from the pages of a science fiction novel. The flickering screen of our computer monitor becomes a picture window that allows us into a huge, spreading world; those of you who have already spent some time on the Web know how strange that world can be. People build Webpages as monuments to their private passions and their most intimate experiences, and sometimes surfing the Web can feel like finding scraps of somebody’s private journal in the streets. The Internet remains one of the most democratic mediums ever invented; if you can connect to the Internet, there are sites that will give you your own space, and you can make of it whatever you want. As a result, many voices that previously went unheard have found a place on the Web. People with disabilities, for example, have turned the Web

For a young medium, the Internet has made astonishing strides in addressing subjects that, similarly, have been unfairly ignored. No doubt this is due to the Internet’s demo-

cratic nature. If you are interested in a subject and nobody on the Web is talking about it yet, then just wait a few weeks and watch as hundreds of new Webpages on that topic suddenly appear. If you are adventurous enough, you can even start one of those Webpages. But for now, Access Press offers this brief introduction to five Webpages that are good starting pages for those interested in exploring what the Web has to offer for people with disabilties. We Media (http://www. wemedia.com): “We Media believes that the Internet is the ultimate prosthetic,” this Site declares, adding that the Web is “a tool that can open the door for a population that has been under-served and largely ignored.” With this complex mission in mind, We Media has set out to design the ultimate multimedia company for people with disabilities. They began with a magazine that is as slick as it is informative, including everything from ad-

vocacy news to essays in art history, and have expanded to include a free email service, updates about health issues, career and financial advice, and a forthcoming online mall for all your shopping needs. International Disability News Ticker (http://www.ability info.com/ticker.html): While this site is infrequently updated, where else can you find news clippings about disability issues from as diverse locations as Sri Lanka and Pakistan? This site can be an exercise in frustration, as a link to an interesting-looking site will often take you to an error message instead, but this is forgivable. Like many Webpages, the International Disability News Ticker is undoubtedly a labor of love, and with few resources and even fewer finances it is logistically impossible to constantly update a site like this. Frustrations aside, this News Ticker is an excellent reminder that we live in a small world— one that grows smaller every day—and people everywhere

are struggling with the same the ring, a round-robin apissues about disabilities that proach to the Internet that surwe face in the United States. prises as often as it delights. The Disability Rights Activist (http://www.teleport.com/ ~abarhydt): For anyone who has ever said “something should be done about this,” The Disability Rights Activist Webpage tells you not just what can be done, but how to do it. Proudly quoting Gandhi, who said “Whatever you do may seem insignificant, but it is most important that you do it,” this site offers everything a person might need in order to fix a wrong. The Complete Disability Network (http://members.aol.com/ disablenet/Main/Disable Net.html): Offering over 5,000 links, The Complete Disability Network may be the most complete introduction to disability and the Internet. This site will also connect you with the Disabilities Webring, a small joy for those who love surfing the net. Just click a button and you will be taken to the next site in

National Arts and Disability Center (http://nadc.ucla.edu): The National Arts and Disability Center, as its Webpage explains, “is dedicated to promoting the full inclusion of children and adults with disabilities into the visual-, performing-, media, and literaryarts communities.” They offer multiple resources, the most readily available of which is their vast collection of links to everything from an online gallery presented by the Association of Foot and Mouth Painting Artists to a Screen Actors Guild pamphlet explaining “everything You Wanted to Know About Working with Performers with Disabilities but Were Afraid to Ask.” This Webpage is an excellent jumping off point for anyone interested in participating in—or even simply in being an audience for—the complete range of fine and performing arts.

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February 10, 2000

Accessible Arts Performances Accessible Theater and Dance Performances

Thur., 3/16, 7:30 p.m., On the Verge, Jungle Theater, 2951 Lyndale Ave. S., Minneapolis, (612) 822-7063

Sat., 2/26, 8:00 p.m., Rez Road 2000, Great American History Theatre, 30 E. 10th St., St. Paul, (651) 292-4323

* Fri., 2/18, 7:30 p.m., The Island of Anyplace AnokaRamsey Community College, Coon Rapids, (612) 422-3459

Sat., 3/11, 7:00 p.m., Benefit Cabaret for BECAUSE, Spirit of the Lakes Church, 2930 13th Ave. S., Minneapolis, (612) 3789552

* Sun., 2/27, 2:00 p.m., Seed: Awesome Vessel of Power, In the Heart of the Beast Puppet & Mask Theatre, 1500 E. Lake St., Minneapolis, (612) 721-2535

Sat., 2/19, 2:00 p.m., Jack & the Giant Beanstalk, Rochester Civic Theatre, 220 E. Center St., (507) 282-8481

* Sat., 3/11, 8:00 p.m., Diary of Anne Frank, Park Square Theater, 20 W. 7th Place, St. Paul, (651) 291-7005

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Sat., 2/19, 8:00 p.m., Rez Road 2000, Great American History Theatre, 30 E. 10th St., St. Paul, (651) 292-4323 * 2/20, Sun., 2:00 p.m., Most Valuable Player: The Jackie Robinson Story Youth Performance Co., 1900 Nicollet Ave., Minneapolis, (612) 623-9080 Sun., 2/20, 2:00 p.m., Art, State Theatre, 807 Hennepin Ave., Minneapolis, (612) 373-5650 or (612) 989-5151 Sun., 2/20, 2:00 p.m., Ruby, SteppingStone Theatre, at Landmark Center, 75 W. 5th St., St. Paul, (651) 225-9265 Fri., 2/25, 7:30 p.m., Lake Hollywood, Guthrie Lab, 700 N. First St., Mpls, (612) 377-2224, (800) 848-4912, TTY (612) 3776626 Sun., 2/27, 7:30 p.m., A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Guthrie Theatre touring co. at Paramount Theatre, 913 W. St. Germain, St. Cloud, (320) 2595463 * Sun., 2/27, 2:00 p.m., Seed: Awesome Vessel of Power, In the Heart of the Beast Puppet & Mask Theatre, 1500 E. Lake St., Minneapolis, (612) 7212535

Mon., 2/28, noon, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Guthrie Theatre touring co. at Paramount Theatre, 913 W. St. Germain, St. Cloud, (320) 259Sat., 3/11, 8:00, & Sun., 3/12, 5463 3:00 p.m., Sweet Honey & the Rock, O’Shaughnessy Audi- Sun., 3/5, 2:00 p.m., The Crutorium, College of St. Catherine, cible, Theatre in the Round, St. Paul, (612) 673-9230 245 Cedar Ave., Minneapolis, (612) 333-3010 Sun., 3/12, 2:00 p.m., A Holocaust Mosaic Stages Theatre Thur., 3/9, 7:30 p.m., On the Co., 1111 Mainstreet, Hopkins, Verge, Jungle Theater, 2951 (612) 979-1111 Lyndale Ave. S., Minneapolis, (612) 822-7063 Audio Description Services Sat., 3/11, 7:00 p.m., Benefit Cabaret for BECAUSE, Spirit Sun., 2/13, 5:00 p.m., Peking of the Lakes Church, 2930 13th Acrobats, Ordway Music Ave. S., Minneapolis, (612) 378Theatre, 345 Washington St., 9552 St. Paul, (651) 224-4222 Sun., 3/12, 2:00 p.m., A HoloSun., 2/20, 2:00 p.m., Art, State caust Mosaic Stages Theatre Theatre, 807 Hennepin Ave., Co., 1111 Mainstreet, Hopkins, Minneapolis, (612) 373-5650 or (612) 979-1111 (612) 989-5151 Thur., 3/16, 12:30 p.m., A HoloSat., 2/26, 3:00 p.m., (sensory caust Mosaic Stages Theatre tour at 1:00) Lake Hollywood, Co., 1111 Mainstreet, Hopkins, Guthrie Lab, 700 N. First St., (612) 979-1111 Mpls, (612) 377-2224, 800-8484912, TTY (612) 377-6626 * Selected performances are eligible for Reduced AdmisSat., 2/26, 2:00 p.m., Ruby, sion Prices. For more inforSteppingStone Theatre, at mation, contact VSA Arts of Landmark Center, 75 W. 5th St., Minnesota, (612) 332-3888 St. Paul, (651) 225-9265 (voice/TTY).

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------------------------------------- BASIC SPONSOR ------------------------------------------------------------------------- BRONZE SPONSOR ------------------------------------Beverly Ammons Margaret Beier M. Cotcamp Sue Abderholden Susan Asplund Jeff Bangsberg Jerry Dempsey Patricia Guerrero Beth Jensen Jill Bedow Janet Berndt Tom Brick Ericka Johnson Rosanne Kramnicz Steven McKeever Rick Cardenas Michael and Janice Chevrette Margot Imdieke Cross Kathleen M. Miller Cindy Moore Jane & Albert Olson Stephanie Cunningham Chris Duff M. Therese Gockenbach Carla Reichenberg Ramona Sherer Paul W. Taylor Luther Granquist Robert Gregory Diane Greig Kelli N-E Wysocki Lori Guzman Judy Haaversen Roger A. Hoffman David and Susan Houghton James R. House Dianna Krogstad ------------------------------------- FRIEND SPONSOR ------------------------------------Lolly Lijewski Ronna Linroth Matt Liveringhouse Lynda Adams Cheryl A. Anderson Paul & Corrine McNamara Christopher Meyer Joline Gitis & Steven Miles Mary Andresen David Baldwin Kathy Ball Bill Niederloh Manley & Ann Olson Louise Pattridge Don & Maggie Bania Marisa Bennett Patrick Bilbrey Mary & Henry Pattridge Catherine Reid & Liddy Rich Rick & Debbie Ryan Mike & Karen Bjorgan Susan Blaylock Bill Blom John Smith Peter & Pamela Stanfiel Mary Jane Steinhagen Maynard Bostrom Anita Boucher Bob Brick Erica Stern Eric and Caroline Stevens J. Quinn Tierney Wendy Brower Susan Bulger Deah Cain Julie Wegscheid Linda Wolford Jerrold Wood Cathy Carlson Lynne Corneli Marty Cushing Joe & JoAnn Zwack LeRoy deBoom Neil Doughty Christine N. Drew AC Transportation Bridgeton Healthways Co. Mel Duncan Craig Dunn Lee Ann Erickson Dept. of Occupat’l Therapy-U of M Div. MN Rehab. Assoc Job Placement & Dvlpmt Tom & Mimi Fogarty Dr. Robert A. Ganz Candace/David Gislason Merrick Companies Pat Siebert, MN Dis. Law Ctr. Tom Gode Robert Gregory Nadine & Andy Groven National Results Council Jimmie Hanson Ken Hennessey Anne Henry Ellen & Skip Houghton Judy Hunt Beth Jensen ------------------------------------- SILVER SPONSOR ------------------------------------Cindy & Gregory Johnson Ericka Johnson Linnea Johnson Hoff Scott Beers Robert E. Buuck Catherine Eilers Barb Kane Corbin Kidder Janet and Bill King David Grosvenor Martha Hage Dean Doering & Lisa Scribner Beth Knutson-Kolodzne Ann Kranz Sherry Lampman Arc Hennepin County Courage Center Sue Lasoff David Larson Linda Larson Help Yourself Job Placement and Development Division, MN Rehab Assn Linda Lattin LoRene Leikind Donna Liveringhouse Mental Health Consumer/Survivor Network Mpls. Advisory Committee Dorothy McCoy Tim McMillan Senator John Marty Multiple Sclerosis Society Sister Kenny Institute Cliff Miller Kathy Moran William O’Dowd Twin City Transportation Vinland Center Amy Olmscheid Dwight & Chris Porter Barbara Proehl Virginia Puzak Julee Quarvee Peterson Mary Rapson ------------------------------------- GOLD SPONSOR ------------------------------------Kim Rezek Stuart Rosen Ginger Rudberg Shirley Larson MATRIX Advocare Network Margaret Perryman Mary E. Rupert Patricia Rydeen Art Sauter Elizabeth Smith Adele Spavin Diane Sprague ------------------------------------- DIAMOND SPONSOR ------------------------------------Helen Thompson Gerry and Barb Tollakson Cathleen Urbain Chris Berndt North Memorial Health Care Rapit Print Caryl Wattman Mary Frank-Wawokiyawin Teri Welcher Curt Wiehle David Wood Beth Wright ------------------------------------- BENEFACTOR SPONSOR ------------------------------------Accord Health Care Services All Temporaries, Inc Alliance for the Mentally Ill of MN Handicabs Arc of Anoka/Ramsey Cty Arc Suburban Arc Minnesota Deluxe Corporation Best Care Brain Injury Assn. of MN ------------------------------------- IN HONOR ------------------------------------Consumer Council of The Alliance for the Mentally Ill Disabled Dealer Kyle by Joe & JoAnn Zwack Duluth Consumer & Family Regional Resource Ctr East Suburban Resources Anne Henry by Karen Adamson Equity Services-St. Paul Franciscan Sisters of St. Paul U of M Occupational Therapy Education Program by Erica Stern Forensic Alliance of Mentally Ill Fraser Community Services Work Incentive lawby LeAnne & Larry Dahl Goodwill/Easter Seals Rochester Equipment Loan Home Health Care Kaposia ------------------------------------- IN MEMORY------------------------------------Mankato Consumer & Family Reg. Resource Ctr MBW Company Troy Fahlenkamp and Valerie Birosh by David Dreier Bill & Renee Smith by Helen Thompson Mental Health Assoc. of MN Mental Health Consumer Survivor Network of MN Bill & Renee Smith by Becky J. Bugbee-Tong Mabel Heuer by Dawn Doering Metro Mobility Service Center Staff MN Bio Brain Association Michael Graf by E. Alexandra Gray Bill Smith by Joe & Peg Figliuzzi MN Developmental Achievement Center Assoc. (MnDACA) New Dimensions Bill Smith by Kathy & Paul West New Ways Northeast Contemporary Services Rise Park Rapids Consumer & Family Reg. Resource Ctr ------------------------------------- FOUNDATION SPONSOR ------------------------------------Resource S.M.I.L.E.S. The Medtronic Foundation St. Cloud Consumer/Family Reg. Resource Ctr United Cerebral Palsy of MN