IDEA Fairness Restoration Act seeks funds for IEP experts

By Rick Colosimo / June 26, 2009 / Comments Off on IDEA Fairness Restoration Act seeks funds for IEP experts

The release below from COPAA describes new legislation introduced to allow for the recovery of expert witness fees in due process hearings and similar proceedings under IDEA. While parents who win at due process can often get reasonable attorney’s fees, and the law permits full recovery by a lawyer who charged a client less, expert…

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Long term planning for ASD adults

By Rick Colosimo / June 22, 2009 / Comments Off on Long term planning for ASD adults

The discussion about the treatment of the adults working at the turkey farm tied to ideas I’ve discussed before. As I tweeted earlier today, the population of developmentally disabled adults is growing, and the demographics show that we haven’t reached the knee of the curve yet, the point at which the rate of increase changes…

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Background on the turkey farm

By Rick Colosimo / June 22, 2009 /

(I started writing a reply to Tom’s comment on the Institution or Community post, but I got on a roll and decided my response was long enough to merit its own post.) There are news stories that describe prior confirmation that the turkey farm was cited previously for owing back wages to the “employees.” There…

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Institution or Community?

By Rick Colosimo / June 18, 2009 /

Dora Raymaker at Change.org often gets straight to the point when instances of mistreatment are revealed. This post about a turkey farm where developmentally disabled adults were paid $0.44 an hour generates her question about what separates an institution from a community. She writes that self-determination is the distinctive factor, the essence of community living.…

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