In This Issue:
- Focus on Stress Awareness and Reduction
- Celebrate Earth Day - Participate in Free Local Activities
- Case Management Redesign Town Halls in Jeffco: May 2 & 14
- Learn How CDHS Improves The Child Support System - Free Virtual Meeting
- Ensure Wheelchair Users Can Fly With Dignity
- DRMAC Getting There Travel Training
- Tell Congress - End Marriage Penalties Now
- See You At Coffee House Tomorrow
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April is Stress Awareness Month
“Rule number one is, don’t sweat the small stuff. Rule number two is, it’s all small stuff.”
—Robert Eliot
Many people - especially the caregivers among us - are facing challenges that can be stressful and overwhelming.
Learning to cope with stress in a healthy way may help ease tension and help lesson worry, according to the Center for Disease Control. Thinking about some ways to cope with stress before you are overwhelmed can help prepare for unexpected or unusual demands. Here are some ideas to help manage stress:
- Use guided meditation
- Practice deep breathing
- Maintain physical exercise
- Strive for good nutrition
- Journaling - expressively writing your thoughts and emotions
- Manage social media time
- Connect with others
Just about everyone deals with stress at one point or another.
From time to time, we all can use self-care techniques to help promote optimal health and wellbeing. For additional helpful tips on managing stress, click the button below.
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Easy and Impactful Ways to Celebrate Earth Day
Earth Day is this Monday. Every April 22 Earth Day is commemorated to honor the achievements of the environmental movement and raise awareness about the importance of protecting natural resources for future generations.
Here are some fun and easy ways to celebrate supporting the environment locally:
Go on a nature walk. Not only is spending time outside an ideal way to commemorate Earth Day, it’s also mentally and physically healthy to be outdoors. Check out some free local accessible places by clicking here.
Thrift shop and donate used items. Did you know that when you shop arcThrift, not only are you helping provide dollars to our chapter of The Arc as well as the other Colorado chapters – but you are also supporting one of our state’s largest recyclers by putting used goods to good use? One hundred million pounds of goods are diverted from Colorado’s landfills every year thanks to arcThrift. Find a store near you by clicking here.
Plant seeds. Environmental experts say gardening improves the quality of air and soil. Jefferson County Library has upcoming free plant swaps and seed exchanges. For details, click here.
Attend Lakewood’s Earth Day Celebration on April 27. Each year Lakewood hosts the Earth Day Celebration at Heritage Lakewood Belmar Park with music, entertainment, educational exhibits, food, drinks, and family fun. See event details by clicking here.
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Case Management Redesign Town Halls
Have Your Voice Heard: Meetings in Jeffco - May 2 & 14
Join a town hall discussion on the future of case management for Home and Community-Based Services hosted by the new Case Management Agency, Jefferson County Human Services, along with DDRC.
The purpose of the meetings is to make sure everyone understands the upcoming case management transition and feels comfortable asking any questions. The town hall is for you, so please come prepared with any questions or concerns you may have. Your feedback is important to make sure your needs are addressed.
The town hall will be held twice and each of the two sessions will generally cover the same topics. Both sessions will offer in-person and virtual attendance options, and the virtual link will be posted on DDRC Website’s prior to these meetings (for more details see “Case Management” blog on DDRC's homepage). Registration is not required but will assist in planning logistics. Please participate!
Take Action and Share Your Experiences
The dates, times and locations of the town halls are:
Thursday, May 2 from 4 to 5:00 p.m. at Jefferson County Courts & Admin Building, 100 Jefferson County Parkway, Golden.
Tuesday, May 14 from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. at DDRC, 11177 W. 8th Ave, Lakewood.
NOTE: For individuals and families in Summit and Gilpin Counties, DDRC will be providing additional information about case management transitions later this spring
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Learn How CDHS Improves The Child Support System
Virtual Meetings Held Montly
Did you know that Colorado does not have family law statutes to recognize any differences between a divorcing family with a child with support needs and typical children in child support calculations and parenting time calculations?
This means Family Law attorneys and judges often do not recognize the uneven financial and parenting burden of a custodial parent for their child/adult child with chronic care support needs, including all the bureaucratic paperwork associated with the accessing and maintaining necessary care, according to JFK Partners.
In child support calculations, “Difficulty of Care” income, the only income for many custodial parents, is treated the same as income from employment for a parent with a typical child who can work outside the home.
Because there are no statutes protecting children with disabilities and their custodial parents, judges may choose to believe and put forward that SSA income is sufficient income for a quality life; thus eliminating the need for child support.
If you are a parent or caregiver with a past or present child support order as a payor or payee who would like to help improve the system, consider joining a meeting of the Children with Disabilities Commission of the Child Support Commission, CDHS.
The Children with Disabilities Commission meets virtually on the first Thursday of every month from 12 - 1 p.m. For more information and the meeting link, click here.
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Ensuring Wheelchair Users Can Fly With Dignity
Share Your Input
The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) is seeking public comments on a new proposed rule designed to ensure airline passengers who use wheelchairs can travel safely and with dignity.
An estimated 5.5 million Americans use a wheelchair, and many encounter barriers when it comes to air travel. In 2023, 11,527 wheelchairs and scooters were mishandled by carriers required to report data to DOT.
The proposed rule would set new standards for prompt, safe, and dignified assistance; require enhanced training for airline employees and contractors who physically assist passengers with disabilities and handle passengers’ wheelchairs; and specify actions that airlines must take to protect passengers when a wheelchair is damaged during transport.
Notably, the proposed rule would require airlines to provide passengers with two options to repair or replace their wheelchairs if mishandled by the airline. The two options are:
- The carrier handles the repair or replacement of the wheelchair with one that has equivalent or greater function and safety within a reasonable timeframe and pays the associated cost.
- The passenger arranges the repair or replacement of the wheelchair with one that has equivalent or greater function and safety through their preferred vendor and the airline pays the associated costs.
In addition, the proposed rule would make it easier for DOT to hold airlines accountable when they damage or delay the return of a wheelchair to its owner by making it an automatic violation of the Air Carrier Access Act to mishandle wheelchairs.
As part of the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, DOT is also requesting input on two topics not currently included in the proposal: lavatory size on twin-aisle aircrafts and reimbursement of the fare difference between a flight someone could've taken if their wheelchair fit in the aircraft and the more expensive flight they had to take instead.
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DRMAC Free Travel
Training
Denver Regional Mobility & Access Council offers free Getting There Travel Training courses.
Learn some of the many transportation options and tools offered in nine counties of the Denver Metro area. Courses are offered virtually via Zoom and topics include:
- Overview of Transit Resources
- Lyft & Uber Basics
- RTD Basics
For more information and to sign up for virtual travel training courses, click here.
If you have questions of are interested in setting up in-person training courses, email info@drmac-co.org.
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Tell Congress - End Marriage Penalties for People with Disabilities - Now!
Everyone should have the right to marry the person they love—but for many people with disabilities, getting legally married can mean losing access to critical services.
Marriage penalties are unfair rules that cut off or reduce benefits and limit savings for married people with disabilities who rely on Supplemental Security Income (SSI) or other Social Security benefits. Because many people with disabilities rely on SSI or Social Security for access to health care, benefits like home and community-based services can also be cut off.
We MUST change this!
Tell Congress that NO ONE should have to decide between marriage and getting the support they need to live in their community.
Show your support in helping end marriage penalties for people with disabilities. Send an email to your officials by clicking the button below.
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See You at Coffee House Tomorrow!
Join us at our monthly social gathering. Coffee House is an occasion where everyone is welcome.
Come and make new friends, mingle with people of all abilities, and promote inclusion in our community.
Join in on the fun. Everyone is welcome! We hope to see you there.
Thursday, April 18
5:30 - 7:00 p.m.
Panera Bread -- 650 S. Wadsworth Blvd, Lakewood (Southeast corner of Wadsworth & Center Ave).
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