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Providing information, education, and training to build knowledge, develop skills, and change attitudes that will lead to increased independence, productivity, self determination, integration and inclusion (IPSII) for people with developmental disabilities and their families.

The Developmental Disabilities Assistance and Bill of Rights Act (DD Act)


Allan Bergman on the DD Act

Q8: What are the seven functional limitations?

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The seven functional limitations are – no they're not the seven deadly sins – self-care, receptive and expressive language, learning, mobility, self-direction, capacity for independent living, and economic sufficiency.

And there are scales to measure each of those. So a good assessment team can look at that, and today in the field, actually, there is a tool called the Supports Intensity Scale, which has been validated, normed, being used internationally now, that's a pretty good way to look at this on the flip side, which is not so much where are the deficits, what are the support needs as we’ve moved the paradigm.

But they really get at these issues and where does somebody need assistance or support, and some states are beginning to use this in their DD system for eligibility purposes and, actually for allocation of resources.

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The GCDD is funded under the provisions of P.L. 106-402. The federal law also provides funding to the Minnesota Disability Law Center, the state Protection and Advocacy System, and to the Institute on Community Integration, the state University Center for Excellence. The Minnesota network of programs works to increase the IPSII of people with developmental disabilities and families into community life.

This project was supported, in part by grant number 2001MNSCDD-03, from the U.S. Administration for Community Living, Department of Health and Human Services, Washington, D.C. 20201. Grantees undertaking projects with government sponsorship are encouraged to express freely their findings and conclusions. Points of view or opinions do not, therefore, necessarily represent official ACL policy.

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