Core Services
It has been said that most Americans are only two paychecks away from homelessness. Many people with disabilities have no paycheck and no home to lose. Many live on subsistence incomes from government sources,
underemployment, or the benevolence of their families. Any change in their carefully calculated lifestyle can lead to an overwhelming loss of independence. A change in Social Security benefits, a lost or delayed check, a serious illness, the loss of a family member, or an increase in rent can mean the difference in community living and institutionalization.
Our advisers often work with people in despair – only to find that their despair has less to do with circumstance than with the frustration of not knowing what to do or how to do it. CPWD advisers are catalysts; helping people with disabilities clear the path to independence and locate the tools they need to get there.
CPWD’s Core Services are vital to all people: housing, employment, transportation, support services, and confronting discrimination. We are also committed to helping people move from nursing homes into the community where they will need most or all of our other services.
Confronting Discrimination
Although people with disabilities are protected by law from discrimination, it is still part of our lives. Whether in the subtleties of being turned down for a job or the more obvious non-compliance with the Fair Housing Act or the ADA many people are unaware of their right to fight back. CPWD advisers work alongside residents with disabilities to settle disputes with healthcare providers, housing services, employers, retail stores, and other service providers that have an influence on their ability to live independently. Core Services also works with government, social service agencies, housing providers, and others to enhance accessibility to goods and services within the city. Advisers help consumers file complaints and see them through the process from complaint to resolution.
Housing
Locating affordable, accessible and integrated housing is not an easy task in the Boulder Area. People with disabilities are often unaware of the resources available to them. Our advisers inform consumers of options in public housing, transitional housing, and when necessary homeless shelters. They establish relationships with apartment managers, private landlords, and local housing authorities in order to have up to date information to pass along to consumers.
For people with physical disabilities who have accessibility needs, our program can facilitate the home modification process through Medicaid, local CDBG funds, or donations. Once low-income housing is located and modified, the tenant typically remains in the housing for a long time. To assure more affordable, accessible housing for the city, CPWD staff negotiates with landlords to leave modifications in place if a tenant moves away or dies.
Advisers also recognizing the importance of landlord/tenant relationships, consumers can learn about their rights and responsibilities and are taught self-advocacy skills in both individual and group settings.
Advisers also have the skills to negotiate with mortgage companies or landlords when a consumer is in danger of losing suitable housing due to a financial setback. This type of situation often arises when a person acquires a disability after years of successful community living. Advocates also have access to grants and financial assistance that cannot be pursued by individuals.
CPWD currently administers 75 HUD Mainstream Section 8 vouchers. Although all of these have been issued, they occasionally become available as people’s housing needs change.
Employment
Unemployment rates for people with significant disabilities remain above 60%. Reliance on Social Security benefits is inadequate to cover the financial needs of most people. In addition, many people with disabilities express the desire to be employed, but don’t have reliable information about their rights or about maintaining their benefits. The ability and opportunity to obtain meaningful employment has eluded most people with disabilities in our country.
The Center is currently working toward a major collaboration with the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation to provide, through our Core Services program, comprehensive employment services. Our advisers use their knowledge of federal work incentive programs, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Job Accommodation Network to educate individuals and groups about workplace rights and programs to gain or maintain employment.
As part of the Advocacy Program, outreach is done with local employers to teach them about low cost accessibility modifications, low cost job accommodations, and federal incentives that help keep people with disabilities in the workplace. Dispelling myths about people with disabilities often allays the fears employers have about hiring.
Nearly as important as developing jobs and helping people search for work, is the job readiness element of employment services. Many of our consumers are viewed as starting from much farther down the ladder than others. They need assistance with a number of basic skills that are taken for granted. Our advisers help consumers identify the kind of work they want, identify the steps needed to get there, and identify the resources they can accesses to improve their chances for meaningful employment.
Knowing their rights can benefit a person with a disability during the interviewing and hiring phase. Knowing when to ask for reasonable accommodations and where resources can be found can make a big difference in maintaining a job. Others need help in communication techniques, appropriate workplace behavior, understanding the benefits process, finding resources for resumes, or even how to use employment services or classified advertisements. Our advisers are available to work with individuals on these and other job readiness skills, and to teach the self-advocacy skills that will help them in the future.
Transportation
Reliable, accessible public transportation plays an important role in a disabled person’s ability to function in the community. Getting to work, to medical appointments, to social and recreational activities all depend on accessing transportation services. On a system-wide basis our advisers work to improve local transportation and educate providers about the rights of people with disabilities. Working with individuals, our advisers assist consumers with applications for Access-a-Ride and Special Transit, acquiring bus passes, receiving travel training, and understanding how the transportation system works.
Support Services
Our advisers work with individuals to identify barriers to independent living and to set goals toward their independence. Many times consumers have tangible needs that are not available to them through their existing programs and service. For instance, durable medical equipment, assistive technology, or dental services may not be provided by Medicaid or Medicare, or not adequately funded. Private funds are often available only through a third party. Our advisers stay informed of financial resources and assist consumers in acquiring goods or services necessary to their independence.
Core Services also assists in obtaining financial benefits through Aid to Needy Disabled, Social Security, and the Veteran’s Administration. Determining how employment options might affect current benefits is another support service offered. Money management skills are taught to consumers who desire them. This includes budgeting, bill paying, and shopping skills.
Additionally, the Core Services staff is primarily made up of people with disabilities who can offer peer support. Working with a peer allows the consumer to identify with the adviser and perceive the adviser as a role model – a person with a disability who is employed, self-reliant, and participating in the community.
Outreach
CPWD can provide disability sensitivity training to service providers to promote understanding of how to work with people with disabilities. Advisers are available to conduct accessibility surveys upon request. The Center maintains contacts with agencies providing qualified sign language interpreters and works with providers of healthcare and other essential services to obtain these interpreters as needed.
Nursing Home Transition
As part of our mission to fully integrate people with disabilities into the community, CPWD Core Services takes the lead in helping people who live in institutions transition to community living. Based on the ADA and the Supreme Court Olmstead Decision, people with disabilities have the right to live in the most integrated setting, and those who are in institutions have the right to information about other choices. The Advisers do outreach to nursing homes and identify people who want to make the transition. Then, the adviser works alongside the nursing home resident to plan a successful transition, which must include housing, attendant services, and the full array of services offered by CPWD Core Services.
A 37-year-old former truck driver spent seven years in a nursing home after being diagnosed with a degenerative illness that impaired his ability to walk. After he became adjusted to his disability, the nursing home staff failed to tell him that he could receive services in the community. CPWD helped him with his transition to community life. He is currently becoming certified as a computer technician, and he has become an outspoken disability rights advocate.
All people with disabilities neither want nor need the same things. Nor do they use the same methods to access or process information. Our advisers must maintain both general and specific knowledge of the functional limitations of various disabilities. They must network with other community organizations and form collaborations that benefit our consumers. Advisers must possess the interpersonal skills necessary to help a consumer identify barriers, and without judgment, work together on a plan to eliminate them and move toward greater independence. Our advisers bring their personal experiences with disabilities to the table, and they learn something new from each consumer that will benefit someone else.
As a Center for Independent Living, all of CPWD’s programs and services are consumer oriented and consumer directed. Consumers are involved in the process of creating programs through focus groups, surveys, feedback at workshops, and by feedback asked of individuals by advisers. Only our consumers can define their needs, and we work together to determine the best service delivery.
