Patti's Blog - Advocate for Elders, People with Disabilities and Their Families

PEKDA at Beyond Basics Fall Literacy Fundraiser

Beyond Basics, http://www.beyondbasics.org/, is a Southfield, MI based literacy non-profit that works with Detroit public schools to provide literacy interventions to narrow the literacy gap in low-income neighborhoods. All students & families that enter Beyond Basics partner classrooms receive access to free books that they can take home to help boost vocabulary and reinforce literacy interventions. 

Patti Dudek, of Patricia E. Kefalas Dudek & Associates, attended the fall Beyond Basic's Literacy Event at a private residence in Detroit. Artwork created by Beyond Basics students was auctioned off to raise funds to support Beyond Basic's mission. 

 

 

 

See more: http://www.dbusiness.com/Party-Pictures/Beyond-Basics-Fall-Literacy-Event-2017/#.Wh9MGxNSw1K 

Disability in Neo-Liberal America

Excerpt from: Planet of the Blind (click for full article)

 

An article in today's New York Post, that deleterious rag, offers the provoking headline: "Rich Manhattan Moms Hire Handicapped Tour Guides so Kids Can Cut Lines at Disney World". Gotcha! By God! What a scandal! Something's rotten in the Magic Kingdom! I smell perfervid mendacity and liniment. Christ! I'm about to faint. And then I read: "Some wealthy Manhattan moms have figured out a way to cut the long lines at Disney World — by hiring disabled people to pose as family members so they and their kids can jump to the front, The Post has learned."  "Hortense, get the smelling salts! The cripples are conning Minnie and Mickey! Help, Hortense, I have the vapors!"

Yep, there's some real investigative journalism. Forget the dubious claim that people with disabilities are posing as family members--it might actually be true, but let's be clear--the tour guide in question who uses a wheel chair, has the right to earn an honest living. If her wheelchair gets her and her charges to the head of a line, well, whoop dee do. The article is piffle, jazzed up, electrified, powered by the oldest ableist outrage of them all--the notion that there are people faking disability.

Medicaid Eligibility: Using Estate Planning Techniques

Excerpt from: Strafford Pub (click for more information)

 

Tuesday, June 18, 2013
1:00pm-2:30pm EDT, 10:00am-11:30am PDT

Early Registration Discount Deadline, Friday, May 24, 2013

Elder law practitioners must integrate estate planning with long-term care planning and may need to contemplate a client's eligibility for Medicaid long-term care coverage. Understanding the tools available to assist clients in achieving Medicaid eligibility, while ensuring assets are protected, is critical.

Strategies to consider for income planning, gifting and asset protection include annuities and various trusts such as special needs trusts and credit shelter trusts.

Counsel must understand transfer of asset rules, exceptions to the rules, the application of the five-year look back, and how to maximize coverage. Counsel must also recognize pitfalls and potential penalties for transferring and gifting assets.

Listen as our authoritative panel of elder law attorneys outlines how to use estate planning tools to best ensure that clients meet the Medicaid eligibility requirements.

 

Patti is speaking at this event.

More kids diagnosed with mental health disabilities

Excerpt from: Health 24 (click for full article)

 

Significantly more US children have a neurodevelopmental or mental health disability than did a decade ago, according to new research.

Disabilities that impair a child's day-to-day living have risen 16%, with the greatest increase seen in richer families, according to the study. Conditions such as autism or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder appear to lie behind the increase, experts said.

But the surveys of parents in 2001-'02 and 2009-'10 also revealed some good news: The rate of disability due to physical conditions went down, according to the study, which is scheduled for presentation at the Pediatric Academic Societies' annual meeting in Washington DC. Data and conclusions presented at meetings are typically considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed medical journal.

U.S. Wins Record $240 Million Discrimination Verdict in Iowa

Excerpt from: Bloomberg Business (click for full article)

 

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said an Iowa jury awarded $240 million in damages, a record for the agency, in a trial accusing a Texas-based turkey processing company of severe abuse and discrimination against workers with intellectual disabilities.

The jury in federal court in Davenport, Iowa, found that Hill Country Farms Inc., doing business as Henry’s Turkey Service, subjected 32 men to verbal and physical harassment, harsh living conditions and other abuses from 2007 to 2009, after 20 years of similar mistreatment, the EEOC said today in a statement.

The Goldthwaite, Texas-based company employed the men in Iowa, where they worked eviscerating turkeys. The EEOC presented evidence that the company exploited the workers because their intellectual disabilities made them vulnerable and unaware of their rights, the agency said.

My Voice: Bring awareness, help for Huntington's Disease

Excerpt from: Argus Leader (click for full article)

 

May is “Huntington’s Disease (H.D.) Awareness Month,” and appropriate long-term care and housing options are needed now for South Dakota and surrounding states.The lack of appropriate long-term care and housing is not exclusively a local problem. Because our Sioux Valley chapter of HDSA is the only H.D. support group in South Dakota, we regularly support and counsel H.D. families throughout eastern South Dakota, southwestern Minnesota and northwestern Iowa. The next closest H.D. support groups are in Minneapolis, Iowa City, Fargo, Grand Forks, Denver and soon Omaha. While not every H.D. family attends support meetings, of those we serve, many probably will seek long-term care and housing options as their loved one’s H.D. advances.

The cost of care

Excerpt from: Life Health Pro (click for full article)

 

This year marks the tenth anniversary of Genworth Financial's Cost of Care survey and it's a great time to discuss long-term care in all its forms with your clients. By minimizing their risk, you can help them prepare to meet the challenges of tomorrow before the task becomes too monumental to achieve.

Here's how.

Get to know what your clients value.

Mental Health Counseling Week and Disability

Excerpt from: Atlantic Highlands Herald (click for full article)

 

Besides having penned this newspaper column about disability since 2002, I'm also a licensed professional counselor and national certified counselor.

Recently, the American Mental Health Counselors Association (AMHCA) sent an email to its membership declaring May 6-12 as "Mental Health Counseling Week" and urging all AMHCA members to "set aside time during (the week) to participate in local activities to promote and reinforce the importance of mental health."

So today I'm tossing in my two cents. A disproportional percentage of people with disabilities also have a mental illness.

Overall, America is becoming more "disabled" as its population skews older and medical science becomes more skilled at preserving the lives of people with medical issues. The number of people claiming disability benefits is skyrocketing. The federal government generally determines a person has a disability when that person has a significant impairment in any major life function, such as walking, seeing or thinking.

Why mom may need a break

Excerpt from: houmatoday (click for full article)

 

One in four Louisianans care for a child or adult with disabilities or an older adult in their home.

It is estimated that 917,000 adults are caregivers in this state, providing more than 600 million hours of care each year that is valued at over $5.7 billion.

The average caregiver in our state is a middle-aged working woman who is caring for an aging mother in the home.

When you consider that 10,000 individuals turn 65 every day in the U.S., this role will only increase.

Caregiving for children with disabilities, adults with disabilities and adults who are aging in place starts out as a manageable activity, juggled with one’s work and other family obligations, but within five years, the caregiver often feels overwhelmed.

Off the Ball: Sport and Mental Disability

Excerpt from: Sports Byte (click for full article)