Disability Pride Month – July 2023
What Are You Proud Of? By Kimberly Gatewood I’m Kim Harris Gatewood. I am a black woman with disabilities. I work for my state’s council on developmental disabilities. I would like to talk with you today about Disability Pride because July is Disability Pride Month. Let me take you back a few years, before I knew […]
2023 Legislative Session – Week 1
HB 1046: “A Small Step” By Jon Taylor The Governor’s Council on Developmental Disabilities draws from the values identified in the federal Developmental Disabilities Assistance and Bill of Rights Act in evaluating and responding to current and future policy and funding issues that might affect the developmental disabilities community. The council supports legislation that advances the […]
National Disability Employment Awareness Month 2022
A Fair Day’s Wage for a Fair Day’s Work by Jon Taylor Yesterday we shared an article about Section 14 (c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) of 1938. If you happened to miss it, it’s on the GCDD Facebook page. Or click the following link to read it: The Subminimum Wage for Workers With […]
October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month
Disability Employment – An Unbalanced Equation by Jon Taylor National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM) is celebrated annually in October. This year’s NDEAM theme is “Disability: Part of the Equity Equation”. “A strong workforce is the sum of many parts, and disability has always been a key part of the equation,” said Assistant Secretary for […]
ABLE to Save for Today and Tomorrow
A Flexible Way to Meet Today’s and Tomorrow’s Needs By Dennis Milligan Everyday life has become more expensive, placing an additional challenge on people with disabilities to meet today’s needs while planning for the future. Many of these families have been burdened with trying to keep their assets under $2,000 to avoid losing federal benefits. This […]
July is Disability Pride Month
Show Your Pride By Kimberly Gatewood My name is Kimberly Gatewood and today, July 7th, 2022, is my first-time hearing about Disability Pride Month. I would like to learn more about how to get involved in disability pride events. If other groups have made a positive impact with pride events to support their communities, then the […]
Olmstead Lawsuit Anniversary
Twenty-Seven Years Ago Today By Jon Taylor Twenty-Seven years ago today, Sue Jamieson, an attorney with the Atlanta Legal Aid Society, filed a lawsuit on behalf of Lois Curtis (and later added Elaine Wilson). Both Lois and Elaine possessed an intellectual disability and a mental health diagnosis, and at the time of the lawsuit, were trapped […]
Funding Opportunity Announced During DDAM 2022
How Organizations Can Help GCDD Reach Its Goals By Jon Taylor Every other year, the Governor’s Council on Developmental Disabilities develops and distributes Requests for Proposals (RFPs) for its Competitive Grant Program. Any RFPs must be specifically designed to achieve the goals and objectives of the Council’s Five-Year State Plan. The Plan has three goals: The […]
March is Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month
DDAM 2022 By Jon Taylor March is Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month. DDAM 2022’s theme is Worlds Imagined. My initial thoughts around Worlds Imagined were “What Ifs…” What if every person who had a disability: I could go on. You could too. But the longer I asked myself, “What If?”, I realized I was asking the […]
Arkansas Managed Care System – Meet the New PASSE
CareSource PASSE CareSource PASSE is a Provider-Led Arkansas Shared Savings Entity (PASSE) Program and is a new option for Arkansans with complex behavioral health and individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities starting January 1, 2022. CareSource PASSE’s office is in Little Rock and employs local, community-based care coordinators statewide. Five leading Arkansas health care organizations […]