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1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2     WHEREAS, Disability is a natural part of the human
3 experience that does not diminish the right of individuals with
4 developmental disabilities to live independently, to exert
5 control and choice over their own lives, and to fully
6 participate in and contribute to their communities through full
7 inclusion and participation in the economic, political,
8 social, cultural, and educational mainstream of their chosen
9 community and United States society; and
 
10     WHEREAS, People who experience developmental disabilities,
11 and their families, ask quite little, given their challenges;
12 one thing that is critical to them is the confidence that, when
13 needed, they will have access to the supports and services that
14 will ameliorate a crisis or trauma and that will provide
15 long-term stability and quality of life for them; confidence at
16 this level requires a long-term public policy that guarantees
17 that needed opportunities for supports and services are
18 available each year; it also requires the confidence that the
19 supports and services that are available are responsive to the
20 needs of the individual; and
 
21     WHEREAS, Individuals with developmental disabilities
22 should be supported individually, and individual choices and
23 preferences should be the primary source of direction for
24 services and supports they receive; and
 
25     WHEREAS, Federal law and recent court cases have clearly
26 defined the State's responsibility to support each person's
27 choice to live in the community of his or her choice rather
28 than in an institutional facility; and
 
29     WHEREAS, The United States Supreme Court decision in
30 Olmstead ex rel. Zimring v. L.C., 119 S.Ct. 2176 (1999), held
31 that persons with disabilities have a right to receive

 

 

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1 State-funded services and programs in the most inclusive
2 setting appropriate to meet their needs and to participate in
3 community life to the fullest extent possible; and
 
4     WHEREAS, The State of Illinois, through the Department of
5 Human Services, intends to incur capital and operational costs
6 to develop and operate 4 10-bed intermediate care facilities
7 for the developmentally disabled on the grounds of the former
8 Lincoln Developmental Center, which is physically segregated
9 from the surrounding, mainstream community; and
 
10     WHEREAS, This Department development project is being
11 designed and negotiated without any direct involvement of the
12 40 people who experience developmental disabilities who may be
13 asked to live in that institutional facility complex; and
 
14     WHEREAS, The development of living environments and
15 program components in such facilities without the direct
16 involvement of the people who experience developmental
17 disabilities is in direct conflict with long-standing and
18 well-articulated Department policy on person-centered planning
19 and very clear and well-articulated national standards of best
20 practice for the development of supports and services for
21 people who experience developmental disabilities; and
 
22     WHEREAS, The aforementioned Department project perpetuates
23 the current supply-driven approach to services, which is not
24 based on what people who experience developmental disabilities
25 articulate as their need but which in actuality seeks to
26 redress the needs of other, non-disabled people or communities;
27 and
 
28     WHEREAS, The aforementioned Department project perpetuates
29 the over-reliance on State-operated developmental centers to
30 provide economic development rather than serve individuals
31 with developmental needs; and
 

 

 

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1     WHEREAS, The Illinois developmental disabilities system
2 has been demonstrated to have institutional and congregate
3 capacities that are significantly above the national norm and
4 inconsistent with consumer demand, which forces those same
5 individuals with developmental disabilities and their families
6 to choose services they don't need or don't want or to not be
7 able to access services at all; and
 
8     WHEREAS, Recent national experience demonstrates that
9 economies of scale assumed to be associated with large
10 institutional facilities do not exist or are not equal to
11 related reductions in costs that are offered by supporting the
12 choice of people who experience developmental disabilities to
13 access appropriate community care; and
 
14     WHEREAS, The supporting access to appropriate supports and
15 services in the community, developed and designed in response
16 to consumer choice, represents sound public policy because it
17 is the right thing to do for citizens who experience
18 developmental disabilities and are vulnerable and
19 disadvantaged and experience difficulties and because the
20 direct and indirect benefits to the community as a whole are
21 both positive and tangible; and
 
22     WHEREAS, The aforementioned consumer-driven approach would
23 be more effective and efficient and would support existing,
24 sound public policy and a cohesive policy and planning
25 structure; and
 
26     WHEREAS, Our nation and the State of Illinois must offer
27 the opportunity for and support all people who experience
28 developmental disabilities to realize their own vision for
29 their lives; to accomplish this, families, friends, allies,
30 communities, provider agencies, professionals, advocates, and
31 government alike must work in partnership to do whatever it

 

 

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1 takes to enable each individual to realize her or his unique
2 vision, and this will happen only when public policy decisions
3 are organized first and foremost around the choice and needs of
4 individual citizens who experience developmental disabilities;
5 and
 
6     WHEREAS, The State has a fundamental responsibility to
7 allow people with developmental disabilities now residing in
8 communities and State-operated facilities to determine where
9 they want to live based upon sound principles of
10 person-centered planning; therefore, be it
 
11     RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
12 NINETY-THIRD GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we
13 strongly urge the Governor, the executive and legislative
14 branches of State government, and the Illinois Department of
15 Human Services to do the following:
16         (1) Take the immediate actions necessary to redirect
17     and utilize existing appropriations in the capital and
18     operating budgets and the proposed FY 05 executive budgets
19     of the Capital Development Board and the Illinois
20     Department of Human Services that are earmarked for the
21     Lincoln Developmental Center to support 40 individuals
22     with developmental disabilities;
23         (2) Develop a model approach consistent with national
24     best practice for person-centered and consumer-directed
25     planning and service delivery to identify and develop the
26     living environments, supports, and services for the 40
27     identified individuals;
28         (3) Consult with a nationally recognized expert in the
29     field of developmental disabilities, person-centered and
30     consumer-directed service planning and service delivery,
31     and the community-based systems of services to assist the
32     State in formulating the model approach and to oversee the
33     development of person-centered and consumer-directed
34     individualized support plans and appropriate funding

 

 

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1     allocations, using the following principles:
2             (a) People and families must participate as valued
3         and empowered partners in all decision-making;
4         opinions of individuals and families are continuously
5         sought to inform policy making and system improvement;
6             (b) Family members, friends, and members of the
7         community can play an important role in enhancing the
8         lives of individuals with developmental disabilities,
9         especially when the family members, friends, and
10         community members are provided with the necessary
11         community services, individualized supports, and other
12         forms of assistance;
13             (c) Each person shall have the authority to define
14         and pursue his or her own vision; individuals with
15         developmental disabilities and family members feel
16         welcome to express their ideas, needs, and
17         preferences, as well as lead and direct the development
18         of their support plans with assistance, as needed, from
19         service coordinators, guardians, and other similar
20         persons;
21             (d) Self-determination or consumer-direction is
22         the organizing principle for service planning and
23         delivery; people and families are entitled to freedom,
24         authority, and support to control, direct, and manage
25         their own services, supports, and funding; individuals
26         have the capacity and the right to choose where and
27         with whom they live;
28             (e) Personal relationships and community
29         membership are valued; people have support to take part
30         in social, spiritual, recreational, and community
31         activities of their choice;
32             (f) All networks and systems of support must
33         collaborate in support of the person's vision; people
34         have one plan that pulls together all sources of paid,
35         generic, and natural supports in pursuit of their
36         personal vision; and

 

 

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1             (g) There must be resolute, continuous commitment
2         to achieve excellence in all dimensions of supporting
3         individuals and families;
4         (4) Demonstrate to individuals with developmental
5     disabilities and their families that there is a commitment
6     to long-range public policy goals that do not have an
7     institutional bias, and that this commitment offers as a
8     goal appropriate, quality, cost-effective supports and
9     services in sufficient quality to meet their needs, is
10     based solely on the direct articulation of needs and choice
11     by consumers, and results in a demand-driven system of
12     services and supports;
13         (5) Demonstrate the State's commitment to make related
14     public policy decisions that are consistent with
15     long-range strategic goals for people who experience
16     developmental disabilities that are developed in
17     partnership with people with developmental disabilities;
18     and
19         (6) File a report consistent with this Resolution and
20     paragraphs (1) through (5) with the House of
21     Representatives on or before December 31, 2004; and be it
22     further
 
23     RESOLVED, That we urge the Department of Human Services and
24 the Administration to cooperate in taking the actions set forth
25 in this Resolution; and be it further
 
26     RESOLVED, That copies of this Resolution be sent to the
27 Office of the Governor, the Secretary of the Department of
28 Human Services, the Director of the Office of Management and
29 Budget, and the Secretary of the Senate.