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Work Group for Community-Based Living
The Work Group for Community-Based Living is a cross-disability consumer advisory task force that was convened in 2000 to develop a single coherent vision across departments for achieving community integration and Maine’s response to the Olmstead decision. The Work Group identified core values and principles, assessed services and infrastructure needs, and established planning priorities as a foundation for the Roadmap for Change, Maine’s Response to the Olmstead Decision (October 2003). Many of the projects described on this website build on the ideas and recommendations in the Roadmap.
Mission and Core Values Guiding the Work Group
The Work Group was formed to develop a coherent plan, across department
and programs, to make certain that the State is providing services to people
with disabilities in the most integrated setting appropriate to the needs and
preferences of each individual.
Central to our ability to achieve our mission is the common understanding of the core values and agreement as to how those values operate in real life situations. Our values are the standard against which we will measure the Olmstead plan we develop.
Our core values:
1. We believe in honoring the dignity, equality and value of each individual.
Honoring individual dignity means listening to and respecting each person’s dreams and aspirations and respecting each person’s right to make choices. It also means supporting each person in finding their voice, speaking for themselves, and attaining their full potential in all aspects of their lives. Every person is unique in personality, abilities, needs and aspirations and is imbued with personal power and responsibility.Family and friends are the most valuable resource we have in supporting persons with disabilities. The contribution they make should be honored and their needs addressed.
2. We believe that true choice can only be exercised if people are given information and opportunities.
The right to make choices means the right to choose where and how to live, and with whom. We believe that true choice can only be exercised if people are given information and opportunities. Our government has a responsibility to open the door to choice by providing the services and information that make informed choice possible.3. We believe in services that meet people’s needs.
Services must be accessible, affordable, and available. They should be flexible enough to meet the changing needs of each individual as their needs change. Barriers to services should be eliminated. Services should promote equal dignity and rights and equal opportunity for a happy and fulfilling life in the community. Services should be offered in a way that not only permits but encourages people to maintain control over their lives, including maximizing the use of voluntary services. Each person’s voice must be heard and all decisions and planning must reflect what is most important to the individual, and, when appropriate, supportive family and friends. Caregivers are an integral part of quality services.4. We believe that people with disabilities have a right and a need to organize as and within groups so that their
voice may be heard in the public process.
Every day there are policy decisions made that have an impact on our lives. Yet people with disabilities have historically been excluded from the political process through architectural and communication barriers, stigma, other limitations. In addition, they have been unable to leave institutions and their homes to go to the places where voting, debates, educational or other political events occurred. By joining in groups, people with disabilities will gain the information, education, and confidence to assume their rightful place in protecting their rights and these values.5. We believe that community integration for individuals with disabilities is achievable.
Community integration requires attention not just to services, but to attitudes as well. The responsibility for achieving this goal falls not just on government, but on our society as a whole…each one of us.
Members
- Advocates for people who have disabilities
- Brain Injury Association of Maine
- Consumers
- Developmental Disabilities Council
- Disability Rights Center
- Maine Administrators of Services for Children with Disabilities
- Maine Alliance for Addiction Recovery
- MaineCITE
- Maine Center on Deafness
- Maine Department of Behavioral and Developmental Services
- Maine Department of Corrections
- Maine Department of Education
- Maine Department of Human Services' Bureau of Elder and Adult Services
- Maine Department of Human Services' Bureau of Medical Services
- Maine Department of Labor
- Maine Department of Transportation
- Maine Parent Federation
- NAMI Maine
- Oversight Committee for Children's Mental Health Services
- Parents of Children with Disabilities
- Speaking Up For Us
- State Rehabilitation Council for the Blind and Visually Impaired
- U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
Meeting Materials
- Year 2000 Meeting Minutes
- Year 2001 Meeting Minutes
- Year 2002 Meeting Minutes
- Year 2003 Meeting Minutes
- Year 2004 Meeting Minutes
- Year 2005 Meeting Minutes
Reports & Products
- Roadmap for Change: Maine's Response to the Olmstead Decision (October 2003)
- Toward
a Single Coherent Vision: Sustaining Interdepartmental Collaboration
to Support Community Integration for Persons with Disabilities (December
2002)
- Roadmap
for Data System Integration (November 2001)
- Living
in the Community: Stakeholders Speak (November 2001)
- Living
in the Community: Voices of Maine Consumers (September 2001)
- Direct
Care Workforce Challenges: Improving the Recruitment and Retention
of Workers Who Provide Direct Support to Persons with Disabilities (December 2000)
If you would prefer receiving the reports in an alternative format (for example, Braille), please contact Danny Westcott.
Project Contact
Danny Westcott
V oice: 207-228-8038 or 800-800-4876, ext. 8038
TTY: 207-780-5646 or 866-783-6461
Fax: 207-780-4953
Email: westcott@usm.maine.edu