For organiztions which provide long-term support services, you should be addressing your working relationships with some or all of the six ICOs (Intermediate Care Organizations) at any time. They are all preparing for evaluations of their readiness to be ICOs by CMS (Center on Medicare/Medicaid Services) and MassHealth.     

See the timeline here. MassHealth also announced another stakeholder open meeting for January 22 at 10am. See information on that meeting at the timeline link.

The 35th Annual Legislative Reception will be heldWednesday, March 6, 2013 from 10:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.  Click here for more details.

The National Council on Disability (NCD) recently released “Rocking the Cradle: Ensuring the Rights of Parents with Disabilities and Their Children” -- a groundbreaking policy study, infused with real life stories of parents with disabilities, to provide a comprehensive overview of factors that support and obstruct Americans with all kinds of disabilities from exercising their fundamental right to begin and maintain families.

Featured in the report is the “Positive Parenting” Program of The Arc United (Pioneer Valley) on pages 280-281. The report explores the pervasive prejudices faced by parents with disabilities by exposing the disparate treatment often encountered by parents. There are 6.1 million children in the U.S. who have parents with disabilities – Nearly 1 in 10, almost 10% of the population.

The report offers draft models of laws and policies to obtain better practices.

Click here to read more.

Try to understand the challenges that I face
I would like to be accepted as a human in all places
Where I will end up in life I don’t know
But I hope to be successful wherever I go
I would like to expand my social skills in life
Making new friends would be very nice

Click here to read more