At AbilityMaine we are developing a special page for events, committee meetings, board meetings, etc. that are of interest to people with disabilities. The calendar link will still be on our site, but this special page will be specifically for disability related meetings and events. If you have items to add to this page, if you are a committee member who can provide dates for your meetings,or if you are planning an event, send items to Mainefun40@hotmail.com with CALENDAR in the subject line.

We're always looking for news and information at Abilitymaine. If you have items you think we can use, send them to Mainefun40@hotmail.com with NEWS in the subject line.

NewsBriefs
March 4, 2007

PORTLAND MedAccess, funded by grants from the Maine Health Access Foundation and MaineHealth, uses a computer program to find free medications for Mainers who make too much to qualify for Medicaid (MaineCare) and too little to afford health insurance with prescription drug coverage.

The free medications are available through pharmaceutical companies' Prescription Assistance Programs. Even moderate-income Mainers, such as a family of four that makes $60,000 a year, might qualify for no-cost prescription drugs. MedAccess caseworkers, using special software, help patients find the right Prescription Assistance Program and assist them with the application process.

When patients need prescription drugs they can't afford, they can call the MedAccess toll free phone number, 877-275-1787, extension 3, and describe the drugs their doctors have prescribed.

When a patient calls MedAccess, a caseworker fills out the application and sends it to the patient to sign and attach proof of income. This program is available no matter how many medications a patient requires.

MedAccess is supported by a $98,108 grant from the Maine Access Health Foundation and $23,000 in funding from MaineHealth, parent organization of Maine Medical Center. The program is administered by CarePartners, located at 241 Oxford St., Portland.

The United Healthcare Children's Foundation currently is offering support to meet the needs of children nationwide with assistance grants for medical services not fully covered by health insurance.

Parents and caretakers across the country will be eligible to apply for grants of up to $5,000 for health care services that will help improve their children's health and quality of life. Examples of the types of medical services covered by UHCCF grants include: speech therapy; physical therapy and psychotherapy sessions; medical equipment such as wheelchairs, braces, hearing aids and eyeglasses; and orthodontia and dental treatments.

To be eligible for UHCCF grants, children must be 16 years of age or younger. Families must meet economic guidelines, reside in the United States and be covered by a commercial health insurance plan.

The United Healthcare Children's Foundation is a public charity that operates independently from United Healthcare with its own board of directors.

The United Healthcare Children's Foundation is a nonprofit organization that strives to enhance clinical conditions along with the quality of life of children who have health care needs not covered by commercial insurance. The foundation provides grants of up to $5,000 for costs associated with medical services and equipment.

To learn more, visit
http://www.uhccf.org

Maine’s Choices CEO project releases January 07 update:
Here's the latest edition of their newsletter.
“Working Together News”
From Maine’s “Choices CEO Project”

http://choices.muskie.usm.maine.edu/Newsletters/Jan07Newsletter.html

If you would like a print copy or an alternate format, please let them know. Here’s contact information;

Diversity World: Entertainers, Performers and Speakers - Let’s Get Creative! This month’s issue of Diversity World is about "the important work that is being done by the many people with disabilities who are out there making a living as entertainers, performers and speakers".
http://www.diversityworld.com/Disability/DN07/DN0701.htm

Victimization of Persons with Traumatic Brain Injury or Other Disabilities Two fact sheets from the Centers for Disease Control, one for Friends and Family, and one for Professionals:
http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/tbi/FactSheets/TBI_Fact_Sheets.htm

Year 2006 Tax Benefits for Parents of Children with Learning and Other Disabilities SchwabLearning.org has an article by Attorney Michael O’Connor with helpful tax information
http://www.schwablearning.org/articles.asp?r=1130

Justice Advocacy Guide from the Arc
An Advocate’s Guide on Assisting Victims and Suspects/Defendants nwith Intellectual Disabilities: (note that this is a PDF document)
http://www.thearc.org/AAdvocacyGuide.pdf

Medicaid for New Attorneys
Training materials from the National Health Law Program, (leads to link for PDF documents) Dec 06
http://www.healthlaw.org/library.cfm?fa=detailItem&fromFa=detail&id=1
27776&folderID=97576&appView=folder&r=id~~97576,fa~~
detail,appview~~folder,rootfolder~~23177

EPSDT – Early Periodic Screening, Diagnosis, and Treatment
Q & A on EPSDT Wraparound Services, from the National Health Law Program:
(leads to link for PDF documents)
http://www.healthlaw.org/library.cfm?fa=detailItem&from
Fa=detail&id=119368&folderID=105451&appView=folder&r=fa~~
detail,appview~~folder,id~~105451,rootfolder~~23177

Google? Isn't it the only way to search the web? Well, maybe it isn't always the best. What are you looking for, movies? Direct feeds? Or just information in some special category or displayed differently?
There's a page entitled The Top 100 alternative Search Engines, and they’re updating regularly, heading for the top 100 of 2007 to be released December 31, 2007. Check it out now, check it out often at
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/top_100_alternative_search_engines.php

Smart Assistive Technologies, LLC, located in Milton, New Hampshire, has been designated as the authorized dealer of Freedom Scientific products for the blind and those with low vision in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. Through the association, the organizations are working together to provide solutions and to increase services to individuals, agencies that serve the visually impaired, and employers who hire the visually impaired in the three-state area.

For more information contact

The Disabled and Elderly Health Programs Group in The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services invites you to access our group’s 2007 Strategic Action Plan.

To do so, please visit
http://www.cms.hhs.gov/NewFreedomInitiative/02_WhatsNew.asp.
This document reiterates our commitment to achieving a person-centered long term support system that respects choice, accountability, and State flexibility through seven goals and related objectives.

EMOTION PICTURES – Documentary and Disability 1st International Festival, Athens 2007 – Call for Entrie (from the Disable People’s International web site)s:
http://v1.dpi.org/lang-en/resources/details.php?page=828

The Fourth International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility will take place May 7 – 8, 2007 in Banff, Alberta, Canada.
It will address the accessibility of interactive Web 2.0 sites such as Flicker, YouTube, MySpace, Google Maps, etc., as well as the semantic web. More detailed information on the conference and its call for submissions is now posted on their website --
http://www.w4a.info/.

DESIGN FOR EVERYONE IN ST. LOUIS
In January, the New York Times featured an article about the 6 North housing development in St. Louis, Missouri. Designed by Andrew Trivers, it is a mixed-use, and mixed-income, environment for people with disabilities and able-bodied people. To learn more about this achievement in universal design, you can read the article posted to 6 North’s website at
http://www.urbanstlouis.com/6north.html

Transforming Housing for People with Psychiatric Disabilities This report just out from SAMHSA, (note that this is a PDF file) prepared by the Bazelon Center:
http://download.ncadi.samhsa.gov/ken/pdf/SMA06-4173/Housing_booklet.pdf

Need a hearing aid and can’t afford one?
Maybe you’ll find help at The Hear Now Program of the Starkey Hearing Foundation. The program provides hearing aids to people who can’t otherwise afford them. For more information, call 1-800-328-8602 ext. 2358.
http://www.sotheworldmayhear.org/

Parents, teachers, and administrators have new assessment toolkits from the US Department of Education

Tool Kit on Teaching and Assessing Students With Disabilities
http://www.osepideasthatwork.org/toolkit/index.asp

Tool Kit on Teaching and Assessing Students With Disabilities: Parents' Material
http://www.osepideasthatwork.org/parentkit/index.asp

The Parent Tool Kit compiles materials identified to augment the previously released CD, Tool Kit on Teaching and Assessing Students with Disabilities, and offers a collection of resources on the same substantive areas addressed, including assessment, instructional practices, behavior and accommodations.

These new documents were written specifically for parents and include information they need as they work with schools to ensure that their children are receiving a quality education. Materials included in the new Parent Tool Kit provide information that will help them become active and informed participants in IEP discussions and other decision-making meetings that support students with disabilities and their families.

To encourage broad dissemination of these materials, we have launched a new Web site,
http://www.osepideasthatwork.org/index.asp
which includes the materials in the Parent Tool Kit. The website will continue to be updated with additional materials as they become available.

Environmental Health Initiative
AAIDD (the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities) has a website devoted to environmental health. There are regular teleconferences on environmental health topics, including one coming up in April on Environmental Health Risks in Community Based Residential Settings.
http://www.ehinitiative.org/About/ehi.htm