Dear Stakeholders:

I am writing to invite you and your colleagues to participate in the District of Columbia Olmstead Planning Council.  This Council will help to shape the course of the District’s efforts to serve people with disabilities in their communities, rather than in institutions.

In 1999, the United States Supreme Court issued its decision in Olmstead v. L.C. indicating states could not legally require people with disabilities to remain institutionalized in order to receive health care services. The Court ruled that this unjustified isolation is discrimination based on disability. Following that ruling, each state must address the issue of assuring home and community-based care for individuals.

The District of Columbia Office of Disability Rights (ODR) is responsible for the development of the Districts Olmstead Plan and is in the process of developing a framework that will ensure a successful and comprehensive planning process. Our initial task is to convene an Olmstead Planning Council comprised of consumers, parents, guardians and other caregivers, government officials, advocates and representatives from the provider community. We are looking for people who understand the need for, and the value of, a system of self-directed, individualized supports for people with disabilities. The Olmstead Planning Council will develop a plan that embraces the following guiding principles for people with disabilities:

• The right to live in the most integrated community setting appropriate to the needs of people with disabilities;
• The right of people to leave institutions and receive home and community-based services;
• An individual, client directed support plan written and updated regularly;
• Access to, and purchase of, self-directed care providers and selection of community supports;
• Identification, assessment and prioritization of the need for services from the spectrum of people with disabilities presently residing in institutions;
• Training for consumers, families, advocates, community support networks and other identified stakeholders. 

To that end, the Office of Disability Rights is extending this invitation for participation on the Olmstead Planning Council, and your assistance in the recruitment of Council members (i.e.: posting this invitation on an agency/group website, bulletin board or newsletter; announcement and discussion at local organization meetings; etc.). Our initial meeting is scheduled for: 

Wednesday, May 7th 2008

1 pm – 3 pm

441 4th Street, NW

Judiciary Square

Conference Room 1117 (11th Floor, North)

Participation on the Olmstead Planning Council will be voluntary and require attendance at regularly scheduled meetings and events.

Interested candidates should contact Derek K. Orr, Deputy Director - Office of Disability Rights at (202) 727-8005 or email derek.orr@dc.gov.

To learn more about the Office of Disability Rights, please visit our website at http://odr.dc.gov.

Thank you for your consideration of this invitation and we look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Eve Hill, Director

Office of Disability Rights