Hi. Here is a bit more detail about the process that led to the OCR
ruling in Massachusetts. 

In 1998, I was contacted by a Massachusetts cash assistance recipient
with 2 young children who was within a few weeks of reaching the
state*s 2-year time limit on her benefits and being cut off of
assistance. She had attended school through the 9th grade but could not
read or write. She had previously obtained a diagnosis of a learning
disability. She had been desperately trying to find an adult education
program that could help her read to a sufficient extent to enable her to
become employed but could not find a program that said it knew how to
work with someone with learning disabilities. She had contacted her cash
assistance worker for help since the state TANF agency purported to run
an Employment Services Program to help clients access employment
preparation services, including adult education as needed, but her
caseworker said she had no idea how to help her. I contacted the Central
Administration of the TANF agency asking for help in locating an
appropriate program, but the TANF agency said that *those people*
were the responsibility of the state vocational rehabilitation system
and not the TANF system.

I then filed a complaint with the Office for Civil Rights of the U.S.
Dept. of Health and Human Services (OCR) alleging that the Mass. TANF
agency was discriminating against persons with learning disabilities by
not ensuring that their Employment Services Program (ESP) served such
individuals. 

After several years of investigation, in January 2001, OCR issued the
attached letter of findings, concluding that the Mass. Agency (DTA) was
systematically discriminating against persons with learning
disabilities, that TANF agencies have a statutory obligation to assess
the employability and barriers to employment for their recipients, and
that failure to include in that assessment a system for diagnosing
learning disabilities is discriminatory. 

After several more years of negotiation, in Dec. 2006, OCR and DTA
entered into the attached Resolution Agreement under which DTA agreed to
screen ESP participants for learning disabilities and pay for diagnostic
assessments for those who screened positively (see beginning on p. 20 of
55 of the entire document, which is p. 10 of Appendix A to the
Agreement), as well as provide other remedies and generally improve
their systems for informing clients of their rights under the Americans
with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. 

The agreement provides for general training of ESP providers under
contract with DTA as to how to recognize and generally accommodate the
needs of persons with learning disabilities. Unfortunately, even though
TANF recipients can sometimes meet their work requirements by
participating in adult education programs, DTA does not contract
directly with adult education providers, so they were not included in
those trainings. 

In addition to Massachusetts, I think in California there is a good
system for screening for LD in the TANF system. 

Off-list, I have been asked if the Agreement contemplates those with
learning disabilities being able to participate for a longer time in
educational programs than might generally be allowed by TANF agencies or
TANF rules. The answer is yes, based on individualized requests for
reasonable accommodations/modifications to generally applicable program
rules. See page 13 of 55 of the full document, which is p. 3 of Appendix
A,  part I.F.4, which describes the right to request reasonable
acommodations/modifications of general program rules, including
modification of certain "deadlines". Similarly, the Agreement
specifically addresses the right to request more time to complete an
education or training program before benefits are terminated due to the
time limit. See page 26 of 55, which  is p. 16 of Appendix A, part K.

Even without an agreement like this in your state, recipients have a
right under the ADA and Section 504 to request a reasonable modification
of  time limits on participation to accommodate their learning
disabilities. 

I hope that is helpful. Ruth

Ruth A. Bourquin
Mass. Law Reform Institute
99 Chauncy Street, Suite 500
Boston, MA  02111
(617)357-0700 ext. 333
fax: (617)357-0777
email: rbourquin at mlri.org


>>> <RKenyon721 at aol.com> 01/14/08 11:52 AM >>>

Hi Ruth,
 
It is good to hear from you again.  I received two comments from 
subscribers 
off-List asking for more information about your famous case.   Can you
please 
go into more detail about 1) how it came about and 2) what  resulted?  
This 
landmark case has implications for service providers  in every state.
 
Thanks so much,
 
Rochelle
 
 
 
Rochelle Kenyon
Moderator, NIFL/LINCS Learning Disabilities  Discussion List
Center for Literacy Studies at the University of  Tennessee
_RKenyon721 at aol.com_ (mailto:RKenyon721 at aol.com)  

To  post a message: 
_Learningdisabilities at nifl.gov_ (mailto:Learningdisabilities at nifl.gov) 
 

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To read archived messages:
_http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/learningdisabilities/2007/date.htmlml_ 
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I am belatedly reviewing the helpful  discussion and wanted to share
some 
information from Massachusetts that relates  to the issue of ways to
obtain 
diagnostic assessments. 

Several years  ago, I filed a complaint with the Office for Civil
Rights of 
the U.S. Dept. of  Health and Human Services alleging that our state
TANF 
agency (the Department of  Transitional Assistance or DTA) was failing
to 
accommodate the needs of persons  with learning disabilities in its
Employment Services 
Program for TANF  recipients. In 2001, OCR ruled that TANF agencies
have an 
obligation to assess  whether recipients have disabilities that may
interfere 
with their ability to  participate equally in TANF-funded programs. In
late 
2006, OCR and DTA entered  into a Resolution Agreement under which
participants 
in DTA's ESP system, which  can include those participating in adult
education 
courses, can be screened for  learning disabilities using the
Washington State 
screening instrument. If the  recipients screen positively, then DTA
pays for 
a diagnostic assessment  performed by qualified individuals under
contract 
with the University of  Massachusetts' Disability Evaluation Service. 

This provides an important  avenue for TANF recipients to obtain a
diagnostic 
assessment that can then form  the basis for education and training
providers 
affording the kinds of  accommodations necessary to help their
participants 
succeed. Attached is a DTA  memo very generally describing the
process.

(TANF recipients who are not  participating in ESP activities can also
be 
screened by DTA and, if screened  positively, they are referred to our
vocational 
rehabilitation agency with a  possibility of obtaining an assessment
there, 
although I think that there are  long waiting lists.)


Ruth A. Bourquin
Mass. Law Reform  Institute
99 Chauncy Street, Suite 500
Boston, MA   02111
(617)357-0700 ext. 333
fax: (617)357-0777
email:  rbourquin at mlri.org 
 
 
 



**************Start the year off right.  Easy ways to stay in shape.   
 
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