DD Council submits 3-year state plan By MARIAN A. MARAYA

The Governor’s Developmental Disabilities Council recently completed its three-year state plan describing systems coordination or community education as its top priority.
According to a DD Council report, barriers to full inclusion of individuals with disabilities still exist in the community.

Aside from the pressing need to make the surrounding community fully compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act, the lack of family support legislation in areas such as respite care and personal assistance impede persons with disabilities to become independent, productive, and active in community activities.

The DD Council expressed concerns that policy makers are not adequately-educated on developmental disabilities, thus, making systems coordination and community education its state priority.

In this regard, the council has renewed efforts aimed at systems change, advocacy, and capacity building.

“Involvement by people with developmental disabilities and their families and those in a position to effect laws continue to be critical to improving our island community,” the council’s state plan emphasized.

Other priority areas outlined in the three-year state plan include employment and community living for persons with developmental disabilities.

According to the Office of Vocational Rehabilitation’s Fiscal Year 1999 annual report, employers’ attitudes remain the most challenging barrier to an impaired individual’s chances of securing a job.

Employers, over the years, have somehow grown accustomed to the notion that OVR clients are not dependable and skillful due to lack of preparation and training.

According to the annual report, VR clients in the past have not been properly prepared and screened to take on actual jobs.

To assure employer and client satisfaction, the council is requiring that all applicants must possess the necessary entry-level job skills and work ethics in order to attract potential employers.

Furthermore, service providers have been urged to provide job development, job coaching, extended support and lastly, vocational training opportunities must be made available.

GDDC also aims to advocate the philosophy of independent living among persons with disabilities in efforts to foster or promote their productivity and freedom to choose the types of services and supports available.

The council’s state plan also placed emphasis on strengthening of its self-determination, employment, housing, health, education, and community inclusion among persons with developmental disabilities.

The council’s blueprint of goals is a result of long hours of hard work put in by members of the state plan committee and staff, according to GDDC.

A draft of the plan was presented to the committee and the general membership for approval prior to public review.

Ideas collected and expressed in the state plan are built on the council’s belief in the principles of independence, productivity, integration, and inclusion.