WISCONSIN
The purpose of this checklist is to allow you to quickly assess whether or not your polling place has barriers for people with disabilities on Election Day. If you identify barriers, you should inform staff at the polling place or your municipal clerk so the barrier can be addressed as soon as possible. Many barriers can be easily addressed on Election Day.
Click here to read the rest of Voting Day Accessibility Checklist »
This guide offers ideas and strategies to support child care staff in developing childcare practices that consider the needs of individual children and promote an inclusive experience for families and children. Included in the guide are tools to be used by child care staff to encourage conversations between staff and parents, among staff, and between supervisors and staff. February 2008.
Click here to download Thinking Guide to Inclusive Child Care
Come back soon for updated information about Medicare Part D.
This paper presents DRW’s vision for the future under Wisconsin’s long-term care program, Family Care.
Click here to download Family Care Expansion: Envisioning a Positive Future
DRW, in collaboration with the National Disability Rights Network (NDRN), devised this Resource Guide for Protection & Advocacy agencies (P & As) across the country. It is designed to promote the necessity for and benefits to P & As joining with sexual assault and domestic violence programs to forge partnerships on issues of violence against women with disabilities. 2006
This voting information was gathered to be a reference for DRW staff, people with disabilities, advocates, providers, family members and others who have questions about the voting process in Wisconsin. The information focuses on the rules and regulations that impact the individual voter.
What is informed consent?
Informed consent means that a person willingly and knowingly agrees to undergo a particular treatment. It has three elements: voluntariness, knowledge, and mental capacity.
Voluntariness means that the person must be free from all coercion or threats. It also means that the person can withdraw consent at any time.
Knowledge means that the person has been given the following information about treatment with ECT: how the treatment will be administered, the expected benefits, the possible risks, alternative forms of treatment, and what may happen if ECT is not administered. You should be able to understand the information provided, have time to study it, and be able to ask hospital staff and your doctor questions.
Capacity means that you have the mental ability to understand the information given to you, to weight that information and to make a decision.
Click here to read the rest of Informed Consent for Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) »
What is a Representative Payee?
A representative payee is someone assigned by the Social Security Administration (SSA) to help a person who receives Social Security or SSI manage their money. This happens when a person with a mental or physical disability is determined to be incapable of handling their money in their best interests.
Who can be a payee?
A payee can be a social service agency, a relative, or another person who is approved by SSA. Under the Wisconsin patients’ rights law, an agency or facility can act as a payee only under certain circumstances: when the consumer or their guardian gives written informed consent for this service or when another suitable payee cannot be found.
Click here to read the rest of Financial Independence: What you can expect from Payeeships »
What are “Patient Rights”?
According to Wisconsin law, “patient rights” apply to any individual who is receiving services for mental illness, developmental disability, or alcohol or drug abuse. These rights cover people who are voluntary patients, involuntary patients, forensic patients, people who are in community treatment programs, people who are in hospitals or residential facilities, people who are private pay, meaning their own insurance is paying for their care, or people whose care is being paid for by a state or county agency. Patient rights come from Sec. 51.61 of the Wisconsin Statutes and Chapter HFS 94 of the Wisconsin Administrative Code.
Treatment rights include the right to prompt and adequate treatment in the least restrictive environment, the right to give informed consent for treatment and medication and the right to not be unduly subjected to seclusion or restraints.
Click here to read the rest of Patient Rights and the Grievance Procedure »
How is abuse and neglect defined?
Newly created legislation (1993 Act 445) makes it a crime for mental health service providers to intentionally or recklessly abuse or neglect a client or to knowingly permit another to abuse or neglect a client. Wisconsin statutes define the following terms to clarify the legislation.
Intentional abuse includes: a) an intentional act, omission or course of conduct that is not reasonably necessary for treatment or maintenance of order and discipline in a pr ogram or treatment facility that either results in bodily harm or great bodily harm or intimidates, humiliates, threatens, frightens or otherwise harasses a client, or b) the forcible administration of medication to or performance of psychosurgery, electroconvulsive therapy or experimental research on a client with the knowledge that no lawful authority exists for the administration or performance.
