We Want to Hear From You - 2023 Disability Rights California Survey

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May 12, 2023

We Want to Hear From You - 2023 Disability Rights California Survey

We’d like your input as we review and revise the priorities of our work for 2023. You can tell us what is important by answering the questions below.  If you need help, please call us at (800) 776-5746 and say, “I need help with your survey.”

We’d like your input as we review and revise the priorities of our work for 2024. You can tell us what is important by answering the questions below.  If you need help, please call us at (800) 776-5746 and say, “I need help with your survey.” 

Responses are due by:  July 1, 2023.

We believe collecting information from you about your race, ethnicity, age, sex and sexual orientation will help us to understand how people from diverse backgrounds access services. We would greatly appreciate it if you share this information with us, but we understand if you choose not to. 

Survey

Race/Ethnicity
Gender
Sexual Orientation
What Would You Like to Tell Us About? (select all that apply)

Access, Discrimination & Housing

Goal: Work in solidarity with marginalized communities to create radical positive change by ending discrimination, and preserving and advancing civil and human rights. 
Does this goal address your needs?

Are the following priorities important to you?

1. Prevent criminalization of people with disabilities and eliminate the negative impacts of law enforcement.
2. Challenge disability discrimination by private and public entities and protect self-determination.
3. Expand the supply of, increase access to, and prevent the loss of housing that is healthy, accessible, and affordable.
4. Increase the accessibility of transportation systems and modes of travel.
5. Ensure equal access to higher education and accessible learning environments.
6. Ensure access to courts and protect the right to accommodations and/or assistive technology in court.

Health

Goal: Ensure Access to Healthcare and Home and Community-Based Services. 

Does this goal address your needs?

Are the following priorities important to you?

1. Prevent barriers and disparities in access to healthcare and home and community-based long-term services and supports.
2. Improve and expand Medi-Cal services for children, including in the California Children’s Services (CCS) program and rights to Early and Periodic Screening Diagnosis and Treatment (EPSDT) programs.
3. Increase access to durable medical equipment (DME) and other technology which supports people with disabilities in their homes and communities.

Intellectual Developmental Disabilities

Goal: Advance equity and affirm the inherent right of intellectually and developmentally disabled people to live self-determined lives in inclusive, barrier-free communities.   

Does this goal address your needs?

Are the following priorities important to you?

1. Ensure systemic equity in California’s I/DD service delivery system.
2. Ensure inclusive, community living for people with I/DD and end reliance on carceral settings.
3. Ensure systems and supports for people with IDD promote self-determination, and are not ableist or discriminatory.
4. Ensure access to services for mono-lingual Spanish speaking consumers with IDD.

Rights in Facilities

Goal: Ensure vigorous and meaningful oversight by the abuse response system and end abusive practices in facilities, programs, restrictive settings, carceral settings, and community settings.

Does this goal address your needs?

Are the following priorities important to you?

1. Investigate and address abuse, neglect, and criminal victimization of people with disabilities.
2. Improve adequacy and timeliness of abuse response system and oversight entities through advocacy and data tracking.
3. Investigate and address, neglect and abusive conditions and practices in jails, prisons, and juvenile detention facilities.
4. Investigate and address the harmful effects of immigration policy and detention on people with disabilities.
5. Investigate and address excessive restraint and seclusion in facilities and programs.
6. Monitor and address the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and other public health threats on people with disabilities in congregate care settings.
7. Provide trainings to diverse disability communities and professionals to further the goal of ending abusive practices and ensuring vigorous and meaningful oversight.

Mental Health

Goal: Decrease Stigma and Ensure Deinstitutionalization, Decarceration and Diversion.

Does this goal address your needs?

Are the following priorities important to you?

1. Stop discriminatory practices in locked facilities and maximize options for diversion and/or release for people with significant mental illness.
2. Combat stigma, reduce unnecessary institutionalization, and advocate for culturally responsive community-based services for people with significant mental illness.
3. Prevent criminalization, arrest, detention, and barriers to re-entry for people with significant mental illness.
4. Combat stigma and discrimination by government entities or private businesses against people with significant mental illness.
5. Prevent and challenge violations of autonomy rights, informed consent, and self-determination for people with significant mental illness.
6. Collaborate with community groups and leaders to lead advocacy on issues that impact people with significant mental illness.
7. Provide advocacy materials to people with significant mental illness or other stakeholders in a variety of formats and languages to ensure accessibility and usability to enforce their rights.

Employment

Goal: Increase employment and access to employment services and supports for people with disabilities.

Does this goal address your needs?

Are the following priorities important to you?

1. Ensure services and systems that support competitive, integrated work and expand opportunities for people with disabilities.
2. Increase employment of people with disabilities by addressing barriers to hiring and retention.
3. Collaborate with community groups and leaders to advocate for supports that increase employment of people with disabilities.
4. Empower people with disabilities, their families, and allies, through education about employment rights, accessing employment services and supports, and Social Security work incentive programs.

Peer Self-Advocacy

Goal: Educate mental health peers with significant mental illness or significant emotional impairment, providers, and families about their rights, benefits, services and how to self- advocate for their expressed interest.

Does this goal address your needs?

Are the following priorities important to you?

1. Provide education to people with significant mental illness in a variety of formats and languages to ensure accessibility and usability to enforce their rights.
2. Train providers to recognize stigma and discrimination and support expressed interest for those they serve and how to support the rights of those receiving the services.
3. Inform those who support mental health peers about the peers’ individual rights, personal autonomy, and expressed interest, in a variety of formats.
4. Collaborate with community peer groups and peer leaders to lead advocacy on issues that impact people with significant mental illness. 

Voter Registration

Goal: Ensure that people with disabilities understand how to register to vote and that voter registration is accessible and easy for people with disabilities.
Does this goal address your needs?

Are the following priorities important to you?

1. Educate people with disabilities about voter registration, including for people under a conservatorship.
2. Identify people under a conservatorship who have been disqualified from voting by a court and provide assistance to those who want to get their voting rights restored.
3. Monitor compliance with voting rights requirements for people under conservatorship by courts, counties and the State.
4. Monitor and improve voter registration agencies and Secretary of State processes for compliance with the law.
5. Monitor the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to ensure automatic voter registration and accessibility.

Voting Access

Goal: Improve the voting experience of people with disabilities by ensuring that it is as accessible, private, and independent as possible.  

Does this goal address your needs?

Are the following priorities important to you?

1. Maintain a voting hotline and represent voters with disabilities who experience barriers to voting.
2. Increase public awareness and the accessibility of Remote Accessible Vote-by-Mail.
3. Ensure people with disabilities can vote privately and independently.
4. Train election workers, election worker trainers, and elections officials about disability access and disability etiquette.
5. Monitor implementation of the California Voter’s Choice Act and advocate for full compliance with its accessibility and public participation requirements.
6. Develop a stronger network of disability advocates with expertise in voting-related issues.
7. Engage in systemic advocacy to ensure individualized access to voting information and processes for people with disabilities.

Education

Goal: Safe, Inclusive, Universally Designed Schools 
Does this goal address your needs?

Are the following priorities important to you?

1. Ensure equitable access to education and services that are universally designed to achieve better educational outcomes for students with disabilities.
2. Ensure the use of safe, restorative practices to support student behavior, in lieu of discipline, exclusion, restraint, seclusion, police contact, segregation, suspension, and expulsion.
3. Ensure inclusive, culturally competent schools.
4. Ensure integrated mental health services in schools and communities for students with serious emotional impairment.
5. Ensure access to technology, effective communication, language access and other necessary services for students with low incidence disabilities, from language distinct communities and students who can benefit from these services.