SERVICE PRIORITIES
NDALC sets annual service priorities based on input from individuals with disabilities. In August of every year, NDALC collects input and public comments about our current and future service priorities. If you would like to give your input, please email your request to survey@ndalc.org.
NDALC may assist individuals who meet the statutory eligibility criteria for its protection and advocacy programs and whose complaints or problems fall under NDALC’s current service priorities.
Case Selection Criteria
- The applicant must meet the program eligibility guidelines and the legal problems must fall within an objective or priority for services.
- Services will be provided only to persons whose legal problems are related to their status as an individual with a disability, whose legal problems are susceptible to resolution by NDALC staff and whose claims have legal merit.
- Services will generally only be provided to individuals whose problems cannot be solved through self-advocacy or by other individuals, agencies, attorneys or organizations.
- While NDALC will provide direct legal representation to individual clients, legal issues that are systemic in nature will receive priority.
- The demand for NDALC services exceeds the available resources, and the agency must plan its activities in a strategic manner to effectively utilize its limited resources. Therefore, NDALC may decline to provide direct advocacy assistance even in situations where a case may be within the priorities and meet case acceptance criteria.
- NDALC resolves disputes whenever possible through non-adversarial means such as negotiation, mediation, conciliation, and exhaustion of administrative remedies, where appropriate, prior to initiating legal action in a Federal or State court.
2012 Service Priorities
FY2012 NDALC Service Priorities: English & Spanish (coming soon)
Abuse & Neglect
Medicaid
Disability Discrimination
Education
Community Integration
Employment
Individual Rights
PAIMI Advisory Council
Outreach
Abuse & Neglect
People with disabilities will live free from abuse and neglect.
Investigate ten (10) cases of alleged serious abuse or neglect in public and private facilities, including schools.
Review and/or investigate all reported deaths in public and private facilities.
Conduct site visits of select facilities, group homes and supervised living arrangements.
Medicaid
Persons with disabilities will have increased access to Medicaid Services.
Address systemic issues in Medicaid program that decrease access to services.
Accept twenty-five (25) cases when a Medicaid recipient with a disability has been wrongfully denied services.
Disability Discrimination
Public entities and places of public accommodation will not discriminate on the basis of disability in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act.
Identify and address five (5) instances of alleged illegal discrimination by a place of public accommodation.
Identify and address five (5) instances of alleged illegal discrimination by a state or local government entity.
Education
Students with disabilities in Nevada will have improved access to quality special education with a primary emphasis on matters involving: abuse, neglect, or harassment; restraint or seclusion; removal of students from the educational environment; and transition services.
Accept cases of students with disabilities where issues relate to behavior, including but not limited to suspensions, expulsions, and/or Interim Alternative Educational Placements (IAES).
Accept cases of students with disabilities where eligibility, programming, and/or placement issues seriously threaten the provision of a free appropriate public education (FAPE).
Students with disabilities in Nevada will receive appropriate assistive technology devices and services from school districts.
Community Integration
People with disabilities will live in the community of their choice with the supports they need for successful integration.
Assist people with disabilities to remain in the least restrictive environment possible.
Assist people with disabilities to move from an institutional placement to living in the community.
Infants and toddlers will receive appropriate and timely early intervention and transition services.
Provide assistance in obtaining appropriate and timely early intervention services.
Accept cases of individual families and children placed on waiting lists for early intervention services and/or facing denials of compensatory services or reimbursement.
Nevada will provide access to adequate community-based treatment and services for people with disabilities.
Educate policy makers to improve the quality of and increase access to community based services.
Enforce Nevada’s Olmstead implementation activities to ensure that individuals with disabilities have quality community based services.
Employment
Social Security beneficiaries will obtain or retain employment.
Reduce barriers to employment for beneficiaries of Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI).
Provide individual and systemic advocacy to ensure eligible transition age students with disabilities have access to vocational rehabilitation services and employment supports.
Develop an information packet for persons transitioning into adulthood.
Social Security beneficiaries will be free from exploitation by employers who are acting as representative payees.
Conduct periodic site visits of Nevada employers and service providers who are acting as Social Security representative payees.
Individual Rights
People with disabilities will have their rights protected.
Accept cases of alleged denial of rights of individuals with disabilities by care and treatment service providers.
Provide self advocacy training and resource materials about personal rights.
PAIMI Advisory Council
NDALC will support the activities of the PAIMI Advisory Council.
Investigate resources related to housing.
Investigate opportunities to combat stigma.
Explore collaboration with advocacy groups for the purpose of enhancing peer support.
Become educated on the Trauma Informed Care effort initiated by SAMHSA.
Outreach
People with disabilities will have increased access to and knowledge of NDALC services and their rights under federal and state law.
Conduct outreach activities to selected facilities, group homes, and supported living arrangements.
Conduct outreach activities in the community to increase awareness of NDALC services and the rights of individuals with disabilities.
NDALC will advocate for expansion of transportation services where appropriate.
People with disabilities will be educated about their voting rights and the voting process.
NDALC will support the activities of the Developmental Disability partners in the state of Nevada.
NDALC will conduct a comprehensive needs assessment.