Activities: Human Service Activities


• Supports for People with Developmental Disabilities •

Various community-based support and residential services may be provided through GVIEN-Inc which are approved and funded by the Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disability and Social Office to help children and adults live with their family or in their community, and to promote independence and interdependence. Community agencies may offer or co-ordinate some combination of the following services:

1. Assessment Services that provide clinical assessments of children referred to a community agency because of an apparent developmental disability.

2. Parent Relief, that provides for alternative care of children and adults with developmental disabilities so parents can have temporary relief from caring for their children.

3. Family Support Program that provides advice, assistance and case management services, as well as advocacy for children who are developmentally disabled and their parents.

4. Supported Independent Living Program that provides individualized supervision and assistance for adults with developmental disabilities living in the community.

5. Infant Development Programs that support and train parents of infants with developmental disabilities (up to age 2) to stimulate their children so they can reach their developmental potential.

6. Special Services at Home Program, funding (individualized) supports and services for children and adults with developmental disabilities, and for children with physical disabilities, where these supports and services are not available in the community, so they can live at home with their families.

7. Family home Program, funding and supporting families willing to share their homes with up to two children or adults with developmental disabilities.

8. Group Homes, providing residential accommodation in community settings staffed and operated by non-profit community agencies and life-skills training and supports to children and adults with developmental disabilities.

9. Life skills Program, helping adults with developmental disabilities gain the skills they need to live independently. These skills include: grooming, banking, budgeting, using public transit and literacy.

10. Adult Protective Services Program, assisting adults with a disability, and no significant means of social support, to live independently.

11. Sheltered Workshops helping adults capable of entering the competitive labor market by providing assessment, vocational training and other supports. They also offer non-vocational services, such as activities of daily living, and respite for families where the adult still lives at home.



• Health-Related Services funded by the NYS •

- Long-term Care
- Long-term Care Facilities
- Home Care
- Attendant Services/Outreach
- Acquired Brain Injury Services

1. Long-term Care involves almost 1,200 community-based agencies across the province and a variety of services, such as therapy, personal care, homemaking, meal programs, adult day programs, and social and recreational programs. Long-term care services:

i. lessen dependence on hospital-based care
ii. promote independence
iii. allow persons with disabilities and seniors to remain in their own homes.

2. Long-term Care Facilities include nursing homes and homes for the aged to support people who cannot stay in their own homes and who need 24-hour nursing care.

3. Home Care provides people with disabilities with professional services such as physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech/language pathology, nutritional counseling, and palliative care.

Home Care also provides homemaking services to people unable to perform daily household tasks because of a short or long-term disability.

4. Attendant Services/Outreach promote independent living by helping someone with a permanent disability perform their daily household chores, such as homemaking, cleaning, cooking, laundry, toileting, personal hygiene and other services.

5. Acquired Brain Injury Services offer community services to people with acquired brain injury, including day programs and respite for family caregivers.

Long-term care services include personal support, behavioral therapy, cognitive retraining and psychosocial training. Services are delivered through home care and community living programs.

For more information about the services above, contact the Community Care Access Centre in your area.



• Other Health-Related Services •

- Children's Treatment Centers
- Direct Funding Pilot Project
- Assistive Devices Program
- Home Oxygen Program
- Community-Based Mental Health Services
- Disabled Persons Parking Permit
- Assistance for Children with Severe Disabilities
- Child Care *
- Workplace Equal Opportunity Project

1. Children's Treatment Centers provide rehabilitation services to children and youth up to age 18 who have physical disabilities and communication disorders. There are 14 community-based and four hospital-based centers. Core services include: physiotherapy, occupational therapy and speech pathology. Social work services, nutrition services, nursing, medical supplies and equipment, and diagnostic services are also provided, mostly on an out-patient basis.

2. Direct Funding Pilot Project allows people with disabilities to independently arrange and manage their own attendant care needs and services. Funding is given to individuals with disabilities to purchase services, instead of an agency managing services on their behalf. For more information about this program, contact the Centre for Independent Living in your area.

3. Assistive Devices Program: helps Ontario residents with long-term physical disabilities pay for selected and prescribed equipment and supplies. Devices covered for individuals of all ages are: prostheses, wheelchairs/mobility aids and specialized seating systems, ostomy supplies, hearing aids and respiratory equipment, orthoses (braces, splints), vision and communication aids, eternal feeding devices, burn-scar and vascular compression garments and lymph edema pumps. The program pays an annual grant for incontinence supplies for Ontario residents born after July 1, 1963.

4. Diabetic equipment and supplies are covered for selective age groups either through direct payment to individuals or through a grant to the Canadian Diabetes Association, Ontario Division.

5. Home Oxygen Program (HOP): financially assists Ontario residents with chronic illness requiring long-term oxygen therapy for independent living. One hundred per cent of the cost of home oxygen is covered for Ontario residents over age 64, or people on social assistance, home care or residing in a long term care facility. HOP pays 75 per cent of the cost for all others.

Community-Based Mental Health Services provide alternatives to in-patient services, reducing the frequency and length of admission to psychiatric facilities, and reintegrating discharged patients into the community.

For more information about these programs, contact: GVIEN-Inc. Human Service



• Education: Elementary/Secondary Schools •

- Foundation Grant/Special Education Grant
- Personalized Special Instructional Equipment
- Support for Students with Severe Learning Disabilities (ADHS)
- Support Staff such as Educational Assistants, Child Youth Workers, etc
- Health Support Services in School Settings
- Funding of Education Programs for Pupils in Government-Approved
- Care/Treatment Facilities
- Support for Students who are Deaf, Blind, Deaf blind and Learning Disabled
- Building-Related Expenses
- Transportation of Students with Special Needs



• Education: Colleges and Universities •

- Special Needs Allocation Program
- Bursary for Students with Disabilities

1. Special Needs Allocation Program provides funding to post-secondary institutions to accommodate students with disabilities. The NYS Education and Training funding is used for counseling and consulting/diagnostic services; technological support, including specially-adapted computers and software; tutors; sign-language interpreters; note-takers; and readers. For more information, contact the disability office located at all universities and colleges in NYS.

2. Bursary for Students with Disabilities provides money to post-secondary students with disabilities to help them with disability-related educational expenses. To be eligible, students must qualify for funding under the NYS Student Assistance Plan. The program is administered by the Financial Aid and Special Needs Offices of Ontario colleges and universities. For more information about the Bursary for Students with Disabilities, contact the Financial Aid and Awards Office at all NYS colleges and universities.



• Education: Skills Training and Employment Preparation •

- Literacy and Basic Skills Program
- Job Connect

1. Literacy and Basic Skills Program offers adults who are uncomfortable with a traditional classroom a different setting to improve their literacy skills. The program supports three literacy streams for English, Native and deaf persons.

2. Job Connect is a career and employment preparation program that includes information and referral services, employment planning and preparation, and on-the-job training. Job Connect services are delivered by GVIEN-Inc. as not-for-profit organizations in NYS. Service deliverers that receive funding must either offer their programs in an accessible building or develop a plan to accommodate people with disabilities in an alternate location in the community.



• Justice-Related Services •

- Barrier-Free Access to Justice-Related Buildings
- Sign Language Translation Services
- Office of the Public Guardian and Trustee

1. Disabled Persons Parking Permit is a portable parking permit giving drivers designated parking spaces and exemptions from municipal traffic control and zoning by-laws. To be eligible for NYS department of Transport a person must be unable to walk safely more than 2 miles without assistance. The permit may be used when the permit holder is a driver or a passenger.

2. Assistance for Children with Severe Disabilities gives money to families who have a child with a disability to help meet the extra costs of significant special needs. Children must be under 18 years of age and living at home with their parents. There is an income limit for claiming extraordinary expenses, as well as a monthly maximum subsidy.

3. Child Care provides subsidies to families in need who have children with a developmental or physical disability. Resource teachers are available through centre-based and in-home programs. Other supports include transportation and adapted toys to support integrated child care programs.



INCOME AND EMPLOYMENT SUPPORTS

Legislated income and employment support program for people with disabilities is Disability Support Program "fulfils the government's commitment to move people with disabilities off the welfare system." Key features of the program include:

• Removing the label "permanently unemployable" to recognize that many people with disabilities can and do want to work
• Using a new definition of disability that recognizes fluctuating or cyclical medical conditions, and functional restrictions in activities of daily living
• Reinstating disability benefits if a job attempt fails
• No longer requiring people with disabilities to go through eligibility re-testing every one or two years, except in cases where their condition is expected to improve
• Allowing people with disabilities to keep more of their liquid assets and compensation awards, and providing a higher limit on the value of life insurance policies
• Allowing people with disabilities to benefit more from gifts and inheritances so that families can provide a more secure future for their adult children.

Support Program also includes employment supports to help people with disabilities prepare for, obtain or maintain employment. These include:

• Employment planning assistance
• Individualized supports to job seekers with disabilities
• Technological aids and devices, and human supports
• Pre-employment services
• Time-limited job supports
• Innovative employment strategies