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Position Statement on Day Training and Habilitation Services (DT&H)
and Program Alternatives

Policy Statement

Adults with intellectual and related developmental disabilities in Minnesota are legally entitled to day training and habilitation (DT&H) services under Minnesota Statutes Section 252.41. These services include “supervision, training, assistance and supported employment, work-related activities, or other community-integrated activities designed and implemented in accordance with the individual service and individual habilitation plans. . .to help an adult reach and maintain the highest possible level of independence, productivity, and integration into the community.” These mandated services must be preserved and enhanced to achieve the full potential for independence and self-sufficiency of these adults.

Issues

During difficult financial times, policymakers may be tempted to erode the entitlement for DT&H and related services which has existed for decades. These efforts must be rejected because of the negative impact on the long-term well being of adults with intellectual and related developmental disabilities. If these services are under funded or unavailable, these adults will never reach their highest possible level of independence, productivity and integration into the community. Funding for DT&H services generally comes from the MR/RC Waiver, ICF/MRs or from county funds. The setting of payment rates is highly regulated and it is a continuing concern that rules related to the funding source or payment structure limit the choice, flexibility and service options of adults with disabilities. Recently, the Consumer Directed Community Supports option of the MR/RC Waiver has been available to provide more individual choice in the day services used by persons with developmental disabilities but changes in that program threaten its ability to provide real consumer choice in DT&H and program alternatives. Another continuing concern is that, although integration into the community is a goal of DT&H programs, those individuals with the most severe disabilities often receive services in segregated settings with limited opportunities for inclusion. Still another concern is the need for more effective transition services as students move from school into adult services.

Position

  1. The entitlement to DT&H services for adults with intellectual and related developmental disabilities must be preserved and enhanced to promote their independence, self-sufficiency, productivity and inclusion in the community.

  2. The DT&H assessment process should result in funding that is based on individual needs as well as individual choices.

  3. Funding for DT&H services should be made more flexible, reliable and responsive to changes in the needs of individuals, such as changes due to aging, and responsive to the desires of individuals for a variety of working hours and days.

  4. Statutes, rules and funding streams related to DT&H must be updated to include the ability to design individualized supports based on consumer choice and to ensure that funding flows to where it is needed most by the consumer.

  5. Changes in the Consumer Directed Community Supports option must not provide insufficient program budgets which force consumers to give up consumer choice in order to have meaningful access to mandated DT&H and program alternatives.

  6. Meaningful inclusion in the life of the community must be the goal of all DT&H services regardless of the severity of the individual’s disability.

  7. Schools, providers and counties must work together to provide effective transition services needed to facilitate the movement of young adults with disabilities into adult life in the community.

Approved by The Arc of Minnesota Delegate Body at its annual business meeting on October 9, 2004

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This page last updated July 2007 to change the term "mental retardation" to "intellectual disabilities."