TOPEKA, KAN. – InterHab, Inc., the statewide association for developmental disability service providers, will host its annual Advocacy Day on Tuesday, Mar. 26, 2019. More than 600 Kansans with developmental disabilities, their friends and family, as well as disability advocates from across the state are registered to meet in the state capitol at 9:30 a.m.
The annual event is a day for attendees to call on the legislature to enact laws and policies that will improve and sustain services provided to more than 9,000 Kansans with developmental disabilities—services necessary for them to live independent and inclusive lives in their home communities.
"It's important for Kansans who care about services for persons with disabilities to speak up," said Matt Fletcher, Executive Director of InterHab. "This year is more important than ever before, as the community network of disability service providers is crumbling due to chronic underfunding and communities across the state will struggle to maintain these services in the near future unless the legislature acts to ensure adequate funding."
This year, Advocacy Day attendees will be reminding legislators:
- To support the Direct Support Professional Workforce
- Organizations that provide community-based services to Kansans with intellectual and developmental disabilities are facing a workforce crisis in their most vital positions – direct support professionals who provide critical care daily. Without legislative action, this crisis will grow to impact the I/DD network’s ability to provide services.
- To improve provider capacity
- Kansas I/DD service providers are struggling to maintain the capacity to serve the existing population of Kansans with I/DD who receive HCBS and case management services.
- To increase HCBS Reimbursement Rates
- Kansas I/DD service providers need continuing adjustments to their funding in order to catch up for decades of underfunding as well as keep pace with rising costs.
InterHab is the oldest and largest association of its kind in Kansas. For more than 50 years, it has collaborated with state and local government to ensure through advocacy and innovation that Kansans with developmental disabilities can live independent, inclusive lives.