The Minnesota Governor's Council on Developmental Disabilities
mn.gov/disability-mn
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.

Media Forum

11. Story Coverage and the Issue of Abuse

[Shamus O'Meara - OLWK] Chris from the Star Tribune mentioned the Olmstead plan.

I don't believe that the Star Tribune or KSTP or KARE 11 or Channel 9 or anybody else out there would have picked up a story about the Olmstead plan unless it was predicated on a lawsuit involving abuse.

You know, the phone's not ringing, it's not getting picked up the right way. And I am probably jaded because I deal with these issues as a lawyer on behalf of families every day.

But we get phone call after phone call every single day by families who want some help. We do not have, in my view, an aggressive centralized lobby campaign, or a group or focus that's suggested by Paul about these issues.

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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 2401MNSCDD, 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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