- Progress in the Buckeye State
The Center is working with the Ohio Department of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities (ODMRDD) to assist in the development and subsequently the implementation of an Independence Plus Waiver, and to assist Ohio in working with federal agencies on the system changes needed to implement self-determination.

The Center recently collaborated with the ODMRDD and with the Ohio Self-Determination Association to provide a Self-Determination Immersion Training in Akron. Evaluations indicate that 98% would recommend Center presenters and 93% found the written material helpful during the presentation and thought to be helpful upon return to work.

-We Want Freedom
"We want to pursue a life of our making; we want what you have. We want Freedom!" writes Mike Halligan in his E.D.’s Message of the Summer Issue of the Texas Mental Health Consumers (TMHC) Texas Network newsletter. The mission of Texas Mental Health Consumers is "to organize, encourage, and educate mental health consumers in Texas. TMHC supports and promotes the mental health recovery process through peer directed and operated services, advocacy, economic development, and participation in public mental health policy design."

I would like to bring the following quote from the recent press release from Cash & Counseling to everyone’s attention:

"Providing more choice and control to people who are capable of managing these very personal daily activities makes a tremendous difference in improving their quality of life,": said Kevin Mahoney, PhD, director of the national office of the Cash & Counseling program and a professor of social work at Boston College. "With 11 new states launching programs, we hope we're that much closer to the day when every state will make this voluntary option available to Medicaid beneficiaries who have disabilities."

Kevin’s words need to be understood in two dimensions. First, we need to applaud the work that has been done and will continue under the Cash and Counseling program. Second, we need to be wary of the great danger that this underlying philosophy may hold for those with intellectual, psychiatric and other disabilities including those who are elderly and experience loss of memory or intellectual ability. I specifically refer to the words that indicate that cash & counseling is for those "…who are capable of managing these very personal daily activities…"

From its inception self-determination has been predicated on the promise of freedom for every individual with a disability. The original demonstration very deliberately included both those with very significant intellectual disabilities as well as with multiple disabilities including those with acquired brain injury. One of the few things we got right from the beginning was recognition of the danger that only those who could articulate their desires in traditional ways would be eligible in the future to control the resources necessary for their supports. We were determined to eschew any “test” for self-determination. The original first principle "freedom" clearly expressed this sentiment by adding words that made it clear that freedom could be exercised with assistance.

I tried recently in Lost Lives to explicate some of the differences between self-determination and “self directed services” by contrasting the means (control of the dollars) with the end or goal of self-determination: the pursuit of a meaningful life deeply embedded in our communities and suffused with community and relationships. For us control of the money is a necessary means to a more important goal. Control of the resources still remains the primary goal of self directed services.

I happen to believe that Kevin Mahoney would not object at all to our interpretation of what we mean by self-determination. However, policy makers and elected and appointed officials may very well settle on an interpretation of this movement that gradually excludes those with very significant disabilities. We need to be vigilant.

"The right to vote...is the primary right by which other rights are protected"     – Thomas Paine