Provincial Self-Advocates’ Advisory Committee - Meeting Summary

June 23, 2011

1. Welcome and introductions:

All committee members were welcomed to the meeting and each member introduced themselves.

2. Talk about the Meeting Notes:

Committee members asked for the Terms of Reference to be changed in two places:

• On page 1, in the title, Terms of Reference means What We Are About and How We Will Work Together.
• On page 2, under Reporting, we will also say that the meeting notes will be sent to all committee members to approve before they are given to the Assistant Deputy Minister, the Deputy Minister and the Minister for information.

3. Talk about PDD Provincial Community Leadership Awards:

The PDD Provincial Community Leadership Awards Committee will meet on July 14 in Edmonton. One self advocate from the Provincial Self Advocates Committee will join the Awards Selection Committee to help choose a provincial winner. Self-advocates voted by secret ballot to choose a self-advocate to be on the Awards Selection Committee. A member of the committee was chosen.

4. Presentation on PDD Administrative Review:

Last year the Minister hired a company to tell us how the PDD program could save money on things like how it is organized and how it works with the agencies it gives money to. The company wrote a report. There were some good ideas in the report. The Minister asked the PDD program to work on these things:

• Have one way to apply for PDD program supports everywhere in Alberta
• Have one PDD program website with good information
• Have better agreements between the PDD program and service providers
• Have more help for families who want to hire their own staff
• Have a new computer system to make it easy to share and find information about how the PDD program supports are helping people

Every 3 months the Minister will tell us about the work the PDD program has done. The Minister’s first report will be on the PDD program website in September, 2011. The PDD program website is at http://www.seniors.alberta.ca/PDD/.

5. Concerns about people living in institutions and new ones being built

There was not enough time to talk about agenda item #5 and agenda item #6. The Committee voted by secret ballot to talk about agenda item #6 now, and to talk about agenda item #5 at the next meeting.

Before the next meeting, the PDD Program Branch will send information to self-advocates about people living in institutions and new ones being built. The Committee will talk about this at the next meeting.

6. Using IQ Testing for Program Eligibility:

The PDD program has laws that the program must only serve adults with a developmental disability. We did research and talked to people about the best way to tell if a person has a developmental disability. The best way we have now is an IQ test.

An IQ score of 70 or less meets the first piece of the law. All of the pieces of the law are in the Developmental Disabilities Regulation. Click on this link if you want to read the Regulation: http://www.qp.alberta.ca/574.cfm?page=2009_183.cfm&leg_type=Regs&isbncln=9780779742400&display=html

If someone does not agree with a decision about eligibility for the PDD program, they can appeal the decision.

The PDD Program Branch will send information to self-advocates about IQ testing before the next meeting. Self-advocates can talk about this information with other self-advocates in their region and then tell the Committee what they said.

7. Next Meeting: Thursday, October 6, 2011

Members who are not able to come to a meeting can send someone else. The names of the person must be sent to the Committee Co-Leads at least 3 days before the meeting.

8. Other

When should the agenda and meeting notes be sent out?

• The PDD Program Branch will send agendas and meeting notes to the Committee at least one month before the next meeting so that Committee members have time to talk to other self-advocates in their regions.

What is the role of an ally?

• The ally’s role is to help self-advocates prepare for meetings, and to help self-advocates use their voice to tell the Committee what other people in their regions are thinking.
• First we need to hear the self-advocates talk, but there may be a few times where an ally helps a self-advocate with talking and where the ally speaks on behalf of many self-advocates in the region.