ARC of California action alert–Help Save Lanterman Act Services for People With Disabilities

If you live in California you likely know that the state is under a huge budget crunch. If you are reading this blog you may also know that the state has implemented some drastic changes in the Lanterman Actthe law that set up the regional centers and governs much of how the developmentally disabled are supported.

Here is the action alert from the ARC of California . If you live in California, consider going to that site and sending the email to the legislature . The ARC’s message is below:

Help Save Lanterman Act Services for People With Disabilities

Dear Friends,

I’m asking you to take 45 seconds to make sure that no one is cut off from services funded through a regional center without a chance to participate in the decision.

The Arc’s bill to stop that horrible practice is going to face a hearing and vote soon in the Senate Human Services Committee. Please click on the blue “Take Action” line in the upper right and follow the simple instructions about how to send a pre-written support e-mail.

About 700 people sent these e-mails to the Assembly Human Services Committee in April, which is one reason why our bill passed that committee 5-1 and then the full Assembly 65-7. Can we reach 1,000 this time?

Under the Lanterman Act, everyone with intellectual and other developmental disabilities and their family members is supposed to able to participate in the decisions that affect their own lives through the individual program plan or individual family support plan process.

But, especially in the last year, in hasn’t always worked that way. In the chaos caused by the drastic 2009 budget cuts and the sometimes confusing new laws that the Legislature and Governor Schwarzenegger passed along with the cuts, some regional center staff members have mistakenly simply cut people off.

Assembly Bill 2702, introduced by Assembly Member Wesley Chesbro and sponsored by The Arc, will it make it clear that the Lanterman Act hasn’t changed – it still gives decision-making power to the planning teams, which include the people with intellectual and other developmental disabilities and their parents or other advocates.

Please forward this Action Alert far and wide to anybody you know in California who might be willing to send an email to help our community.

Thank you for your advocacy.

Greg