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WPAS Updates:
News from the Washington Protection and Advocacy System
September 25, 2002
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Protection & Advocacy for people with Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI)
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Protection & Advocacy for women with disabilities who have been sexually assaulted
WPAS is branching out! The Washington Protection and Advocacy System is embarking on several new projects this fall. Some of these projects are made possible because of grants from federal government agencies, others because there is a need for advocacy. Below are some of the projects that WPAS is working on.
Protection & Advocacy for people with Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI)
WPAS recently received approval from the federal government to start working on a proposal to improve access to services for individuals who have experienced a brain injury.
In recent months, WPAS staff have been attending meetings of the state’s TBI Advisory Group. This group is made up of people with brain injuries, advocates, DSHS officials, and service providers. This Advisory Group describes their purpose as follows:
Brain injury and its ramifications are devastating to the individual who survives the injury as well as family members, who often become overextended financially and emotionally. There are few services tailored to the specific needs of people with brain injuries in Washington State, and those services that exist are scattered, fragmented, and often prohibitively expensive. People with brain injuries often end up in the corrections system, the mental health system, or other crisis-oriented systems, where they do not receive services which could help them to live independently and to be productive citizens.
The Advisory Group has developed an action plan, which includes the following goals:
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Enhance collaboration among state agencies who administer services for individuals with TBI and their families |
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Ensure sustainable funding for TBI programs and activities |
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Build upon current needs assessment by specifically surveying aging, institutionalized, children, and minority populations |
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Create a strong statewide information and referral system |
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Increase public awareness of TBI |
WPAS plans to continue to participate in the Advisory Group’s meetings and to find ways to collaborate with that group so that people with brain injuries will have better access to services, and will receive services that are appropriate to their needs. If you want to know more about the new TBI project at WPAS, contact Phil Jordan.
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Protection and Advocacy for Women with Disabilities who have been Sexually Assaulted
Last spring, WPAS was contacted by the Washington Coalition of Sexual Assault Programs (WCSAP) about participating in a project to provide women with disabilities information and supportive materials regarding the dynamics of sexual violence and to increase the skill and expertise of advocates regarding sexual violence in the disabilities community.
Earlier this month, WCSAP reported that the grant proposal had been approved and the project will begin in the next few weeks. For information about the project, contact Phil Jordan at WPAS.
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WPAS 2003 Legislative Agenda
WPAS is finalizing their list of issues that we will be following in the Washington State Legislature this winter. Some of these issues WPAS has been working on for several years now, for example:
| Creating an Independent Mental Health Ombuds program |
| Legislation to keep Medicaid accessible for low income families and individuals |
| Advocating for Mental Health Insurance Parity |
And other issues on the 2003 Legislative Agenda are new this year:
| Creating an Office of Public Advocacy |
| Tracking discrimination complaints against state agencies |
| Issues related to the re-organization of the Division of Developmental Disabilities |
The 2003 WPAS Legislative Agenda will be posted on the WPAS web site. Be sure to check the WPAS web site often and click on the 2003 Legislative Agenda to keep up-to-date with these and other issues that WPAS will we working on this year. The Legislative Agenda page will include explanations of each issue, how it is progressing through the Legislature (beginning in January) and let you know when it is important to contact your Legislators. If you want to know more about these issues, you can also sign up for WPAS Email Updates to get news about disability-rights issues by email.
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Resource Advocates help callers to WPAS find the help they need
The Resource Advocate at WPAS keep on answering the phones and helping people with disabilities find the resources they need. Here are a few examples of the calls that were taken recently. For a more in-depth article about what the Resource Advocates do, see the article from a previous Envoy On-Line issue titled Resource Advocates: On the Front Lines at WPAS.
A patient at the Center for Forensic Services (CFS) at Western State Hospital was assaulted by another patient. The assaulted patient contacted WPAS to express his concerns that he was not being protected adequately from these kinds of assaults. A Resource Advocate contacted the CFS Director who looked into the situation. Soon after, the patient was moved to a different ward, away from the patient who assaulted him. Also, the assaulting patient will have his case reviewed by a specialized multi-disciplinary team that will re-assess how to better serve him and other patients.
A veteran who received physical and mental health services from the Veterans Administration wanted to be able to choose who his mental health provider would be. He was initially told that if he changed mental health providers, he would lose his other healthcare services. A Resource Advocate provided the veteran with self-advocacy strategies about how to request his preferred service, how to go through the chain of command, and utilize his supporters. The next month, he was allowed to change his mental health provider without threatening his other healthcare services.
A sister of a woman with a disability who lives in California was confused about a letter she had received from the Social Security Administration (SSA) and contacted WPAS. The Resource Advocate described the Ticket to Work legislation and how the SSA counts her sister's income and how that income might affect her benefits. The Resource Advocate helped the caller understand the letter from SSA and sent information about how to contact local resources.
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