From calls to prayer… to reciting scripture… to church hymns… much of religious practice is centered around sound and the spoken word.But people who can’t hear may feel cut off from fully accessing their religious communities.One organization is trying to make it easier for Deaf members of the Twin Cities’ growing Muslim community to participate in religious activities. Global Deaf Muslim was started in Rochester, NY, in 2005 to work for the inclusion and awareness of Deaf Muslim issues. Continue Reading
CORRECTION 7/31/2012 – All it is for now is a faculty member’s dream. Lynn Stansberry-Brusnahan, a special education professor at St. Thomas whose son has autism, wants to start a program at the university tailored for students with autism. She would set up structured social time for students whose disability makes them struggle to find a place among their peers. She would offer supportive housing, nested within mainstream dorms. And advisors would help students with the time management caveats that tend to trip up students with autism. Continue Reading
Around this time last year, Minnesota’s disability advocates were bracing for a series of devastating state cuts to health and human services programs. By July, we had a great deal of damage to repair from the 2011 legislative session.In order to have a successful 2012 session, we immediately went to work and have repaired some of the damage—at least temporarily. This victory happened because citizens got active and made their voices heard.The 2011 cuts to supports for people with disabilities were extensive. More than 6,000 personal care attendants received a 20% pay cut. 2,600 Minnesotans with disabilities received a 10% cut in the funding for their services. On top of these cuts, providers of disability supports also received funding slashes.Fewer community services were available for the 3,600 individuals and families who wait for them, making their wait longer. Continue Reading
School staff with specific training may physically restrain out-of-control students with special needs. The technique, called “prone restraints,” involves holding a student face-down until the situation becomes manageable.The House passed HF2293/ SF1917* March 28, which would extend the authorization to do so through the next school year. Sponsored by Rep. Jim Davnie (DFL-Mpls) and Sen. Pam Wolf (R-Spring Lake Park), it would also require that the Department of Education gather data on prone restraints, with the intent of eventually replacing the practice with a safe alternative.Following the 116-16 vote, the bill now awaits action by Gov. Mark Dayton. The Senate passed it 65-0 March 15.In Minnesota, prone restraints may only be used with the minimum amount of time and the force it takes to ensure the student or another person will not be injured. Davnie said that intermediate schools in the Twin Cities metropolitan area brought the issue to his attention because they feel some students may pose a danger if the restraint authorization is allowed to expire.Without prone restraints, Davnie cautioned that some special needs students could instead be confined to their homes, costing them opportunities they have in school. Continue Reading
Children who are deaf, deaf blind or hard-of-hearing and who need mental health treatment would be allowed to reside in facilities outside of Minnesota borders under a bill passed 131-0 by the House.To qualify for Medical Assistance funding, the facilities must be located in a state that is a member of the Interstate Compact on Mental Health. Clients would include children who use American Sign Language as their first language.Currently, children with these special needs don’t have access to 24-hour residential care in Minnesota, resulting in more expensive in-patient placements, according to Rep. Kathy Lohmer (R-Lake Elmo), the sponsor of HF2253.An estimated 2-4 Minnesota children annually require the specialized mental health services for people who are deaf, deaf blind or hard-of-hearing.The bill could save public assistance programs thousands of dollars a day by negotiating less expensive rates at facilities in other states, Lohmer said.The bill now moves to the Senate, where Sen. Michelle Benson (R-Ham Lake) is the sponsor. Continue Reading
People who willingly neglect a vulnerable adult could face a more serious criminal charge. So could those who mistreat a child.Sponsored by Rep. Steve Gottwalt (R-St. Cloud) and Sen. Warren Limmer (R-Maple Grove), HF1945/ SF1586* would create a new felony crime for intentional deprivation of a vulnerable adult, such as with food, clothing, shelter or health care, when the caregiver “is reasonably able to make the necessary provisions.”“Many cases have come to our attention … detailing some of the instances where people have been literally left to rot in their own filth, horrible stories of abuse of vulnerable adults, and up until now we’ve only been able to charge these people with gross misdemeanors,” Gottwalt said.The bill was successfully amended on the House floor March 27 by Rep. Jeanne Poppe (DFL-Austin) to add HF2220, which would reduce the level of harm required for a felony offense for child mistreatment by replacing “substantial bodily harm” in statute with “demonstrable bodily harm.”As amended, the bill was passed 128-4, It now returns to the Senate where the initial bill was passed 64-0 March 19. Gottwalt said the bill is a bipartisan collaboration of many interested parties, including the provider community, law enforcement and prosecutors.The bill provides for three affirmative defenses:the person employed by a facility is unable to “reasonably make the necessary provisions due to inadequate staffing levels, inadequate supervision, or institutional policies”;the defendant operates or manages a facility and did not knowingly or intentionally permit an employee to permit the criminal act; andwhere the caregiver “was acting reasonably and necessarily to provide care to another identified vulnerable adult.”The Poppe-sponsored bill, which stalled in the House Public Safety and Crime Prevention Policy and Finance Committee, is based on a 2011 Mower County case where a 5-year-old child was chained to the slats of his crib every evening. The parents could only be charged with a gross misdemeanor.Because there wasn’t substantial bodily harm, only demonstrable bodily harm — any harm that can be observed by another person — could be used in the charging.“This young boy had bruising, swelling and even a rust stain on his leg,” Poppe said. “What he didn’t have was a broken bone. Continue Reading
Individuals under guardianship could face changes to their voter eligibility status.Rep. Mary Kiffmeyer (R-Big Lake) sponsors HF2188 that would clarify voting rights with regard to those under guardianship. She said the goal is to ensure that individuals who are not competent to vote are denied eligibility, while competent individuals aren’t denied.The impetus for the bill stems from a 2010 incident in Crow Wing County in which a group of mentally disabled adults were allegedly manipulated into voting by their caregivers. The father of one of the affected individuals claims in an affidavit that his son is not mentally competent to vote and thus should have been denied.Under a 2003 law, individuals under guardianship are presumed to be eligible to vote unless a court declares them otherwise. Kiffmeyer’s bill would reverse this by delineating between individuals under “limited guardianship,” who would be presumed to be eligible, and those under regular guardianship, who would be presumed to be ineligible.The House Government Operations and Elections Committee approved the bill and referred it to the House Judiciary Policy and Finance Committee. Sen. Paul Gazelka (R-Brainerd) sponsors the companion, SF1753, which awaits action by the Senate Local Government and Elections Committee.Kiffmeyer said the bill is needed to clarify current law and to protect vulnerable adults from those who would use them to commit voter fraud. Continue Reading
The Association of Residential Resources in Minnesota, an association of 150 providers supporting people with disabilities, is suggesting several legislative changes to the adult foster care program and services for persons with disabilities.ARRM’s recommendations are part of its “Blueprint for Reform” and can be found in HF1979, sponsored by Rep. Joe Schomacker (R-Luverne). The House Health and Human Services Reform Committee approved the bill as amended and referred it to the House Government Operations and Elections Committee.Provisions include:developing an optional certification for adult foster care homes that serve persons with mental illness;establishing a task force to review and make recommendations on pilot projects for home and community-based services for people with disabilities; andallowing foster care homes to care for clients temporarily in “respite care” when regular clients are away from the home for a period of time.Rep. Kim Norton (DFL-Rochester) said she plans to amend the bill in the next committee to allow the Department of Human Services to issue an autism care certification, similar to the proposed certification for adult foster care for persons with mental illness.Julie Ring, policy analyst for the Association of Minnesota Counties, said the AMC supports the concept of a task force but would like to see more county representation, such as one metropolitan and one rural representative.Alice Hulbert, the parent of an adult with disabilities who lives in a group home she owns and leases to a provider, opposed several of the proposed provisions. She said some of the reforms would loosen licensing regulations and may result in a lower quality of care.Sen. Scott Nienow (R-Cambridge) sponsors SF1699, a companion bill that awaits action by the Senate Health and Human Services Committee. Continue Reading
What if all the residents in your city faced unnecessary requirements that prevented them from exercising their right to vote? What if all citizens in your entire county faced hurdles that kept them from getting to the polls on Election Day? Proposals being debated this session to amend the constitution and require a photo ID for Minnesotans to vote could create just such a barrier for thousands of our citizens.Last year, the Minnesota Legislature passed legislation to require every voter to present a state-approved photo ID before casting a ballot. Gov. Dayton vetoed this bill, so voter ID proponents are adopting a new strategy — amending the Minnesota Constitution. Bills introduced so far to do that are HF 1597 and HF 1662 (both authored by Rep. Mary Kiffmeyer), SF 1577 (authored by Sen. Scott Newman), SF 1578 (authored by Sen. Al DeKruif), and SF 1659 (authored by Sen. Joe Gimse). Continue Reading
