Preparing Your Comments for the June 18 DDS Hearing
We hope you are preparing to take part in the public hearing for the draft regulations from the Department of Developmental Services on self-direction under the Real Lives law. You can provide testimony via Zoom or submit comments via email. Details on the June 18 meeting are here.
If you’re struggling with what to say – or whether to say anything at all – that’s understandable. We’ve all worked on this issue for a long time, and the stakes are high. But families of adults with developmental disabilities made the Real Lives law happen, and your story and input are very important in this phase too.
Our friends at the Massachusetts Alliance for 21st Century Disability Rights created a brief document outlining some advice to help you develop your testimony or email comments. It gives you some ideas on what to include in your personal story and on key improvements that should be made to the regulations before they are finalized.
Check out the advice from MA21.
We strongly believe that the draft regulations need changed to:
More clearly define how the concept of “safety” is treated by DDS staff.
Increase transparency around how budget allocations are determined to be “equivalent to traditional cost of services.”
Explicitly include broad budget authority to pay for services from community-based organizations, not just traditional state-contracted services or one-to-one services.
Clarify how independent facilitators will be treated in budget allocations and how they will be trained to ensure competency.
Even if you only have a few minutes, please submit your public input on the Real Lives law regulations by June 18. Every story matters. Every comment that urges improvements to the draft regulations is valuable.
