October was an exciting month for the DD Ombuds Office! To cap off the second full year of meetings, the DD Ombuds Advisory Committee met in Spokane, where almost all of the members were able to attend. At the meeting, they started work on the second DD Ombuds Report Card and were visited by local
The DD Ombuds offers a number of fully accessible presentations for communities and groups of individuals with disabilities. A few examples include: Information about the DD Ombuds Office. Speaking up and self-advocacy. Safety on the internet. Communicating with your legislator. Even games to make learning about advocacy a fun and engaging experience! If you would
The DD Ombuds released our newest report titled “Improving Services for Youth with Intellectual/Developmental Disabilities in Foster Care”. The report identifies gaps that youth with developmental disabilities experience in the foster care system. The report explores ideas for further exploration on how to improve the foster care system for people with developmental disabilities. The report
Video advocacy is a way to tell your story and spread awareness about issues that face the developmental disability community. We partnered with the DO-IT Program and Rooted in Rights to teach high school students how to produce videos to talk about problems that people with disabilities experience. Below are three videos that the participants
In Washington people who receive services through Community First Choice (CFC) and other waiver services can access up to $500.00 per year to access assistive technology. People can request assistive technology that helps the person perform an activity of daily living. People can purchase equipment or programs that can help them in their life. There
On August 20, 2019, Allies in Advocacy named Betty Schwieterman, State Developmental Disabilities Ombuds, their “Ally of the Year.” Betty accepted the award and addressed the audience. “Thank you for naming me an ally – it means the world to me. I am so grateful to be recognized by such a powerful group of advocates.
The DD Ombuds staff can help resolve complaints about services. It is the goal of the DD Ombuds to work with people with developmental disabilities to resolve their complaints at the lowest possible level. All communications about complaints are confidential. You can make complaints to the DD Ombuds over the phone or online. More information
Informing Families, a resource provided by the Washington State Developmental Disabilities Council, offers trusted news and information to empower individuals and families to be active participants in planning and building a network of support and opportunities. The Office of Developmental Disabilities Ombuds recently did a livestream interview with Informing Families to tell people about our
The 2019 Community Summit in Washington State took place this past June. This year the Summit had a focus on art and entertainment. People discussed how to advocate through video, music, social media and other avenues. The keynote speaker Caelynn Lea kicked off the Summit by talking about being a musician with a disability and
2019 marks the DD Ombuds Office’s second year attending and participating in the Community Summit! This year, the Community Summit hosted a number of incredible tech demos that showed off the interesting and at times unexpected assistive uses for technology. Some devices included mechanical limbs, custom switches for use with computers and games, phones with
