The LaTonya Reeves Freedom Act appears to follow in the footsteps of the Disability Integration Act and other legislation, dating back to the original MiCASA Act, introduced by Newt Gingrich in 1997. The intention of these bills and the organizations that have composed and sponsored them has always been to end the ICF system.
Click here for VOR's position paper on the importance of CHOICE in relation to the ideals proposed within the LaTonya Reeves Freedom Act.
Two states have come to the realization that their state Protection and Advocacy Agencies (P&As) have not been acting in the interests of all people with I/DD and autism. Instead, they have been following their own agenda of closing Intermediate care facilities while promoting Home and Community-Based Services. In short, not protecting, only advocating for their own agenda.
Ohio and now North Carolina have passed laws to hold them to account to their state legislators.
In May, a collaborative of self-advocates, disability "rights" organizations, the National Disabilty Rights Network, and others wrote a letter to the Department of Labor calling for the elimination of 14(c) programs and sheltered workshops for people with I/DD and autism. The people who submitted the all appear to work in competitive employment, professional- or university-based advocacy organizations, or are senior management at agencies that receive federal funding. None were among the cohort of individuals who work in, and benefit from, the opportunities offered by sheltered workshops.
In response, VOR submitted a letter in support of these programs, asking that the DOL clear up the misrepresentations about them and actively support funding them and increasing the number of 14(c) certificates it issues.
