Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Keeping The Lanterman Promise

There are so many things that I could write about today.

So many feelings that need to be processed, but just like any other part of my life, a more pressing matter takes presidence today.

I live in California and due to the state's dire financial situation, the government has decided to propose a cut to The Dept of Disability Services by 750 million.  In response to this cut, the regional centers in California are drafting up POS 'standards'.  Which sounds pretty benign until you understand that most of us are getting minimal help from our regional centers, help deemed a right by The Lanterman Act.  Due to the last set of "standards" that were passed, I fought for 16 months to get my son services through our regional center that are a CIVIL RIGHT, based on his autism diagnosis.  That is 16 months of ABA that could have been provided by a behaviorist.

Despite all of my reading and research I'm not a behaviorist.  But I played one and am still currently playing one until I finish a list of prerequisites required by the State of California DDS. 

In order to gain consumer 'input', the DDS has posted a survey on their website.

The questions are redundant and difficult to answer.

I'm sure that this isn't a coincidence.

Anyhow the folks over at Keeping The Lanterman Promisehave provided a guideline for answering the DDS survey questions. 

The survey is open until February 15th.

Please help us advocate for our children.

The link below is a KTLP blog entry that discusses what Gov. Brown's proposal might mean for our families in California.

It also provides the link to the survey and the guidelines as I mentioned above. 

Governor Brown's 2011 Budget Proposal and What it Means for CA Families

There is also a link to contact state legislators, it is very important that we let them know that we are nto going to stand for this.

Thank you for your help.

Shivon Carreno can be found over at My Brain Wants To Go Home

3 comments:

  1. I, too, live in California and tried, in vain, to do the survey a number of times. Talk about convoluted! It makes the Medi-Cal application look like a kindergarten worksheet! I don't understand what the hell is going on in this state and why these services -- for the old and the disabled -- are decimated in such a way. It's like asking for a belt to be tightened when there isn't a belt there.

    ReplyDelete
  2. good luck! keep up the good fight!!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. This post caught my eye because my child was served by Lanterman Regional Center for 3 years, until we left SoCal last summer. The state of affairs in California breaks my heart. My child would not be who he is today, a highly verbal, very engaged 5yo high functioning autistic, without some amazing people - most of whom we met through Lanterman. As much as we miss them all (we moved to British Columbia), I cannot imagine having to fight tooth and nail for the same services, and most likely not getting them. I can only hope the cuts, if made, aren't so deep that they sever the future for innocent children (and cut off careers of amazing professionals). Keep up the good fight.

    ReplyDelete