Thursday, November 12, 2009

I.H.S.S.


IHSS = In Home Supportive Services.
This is a program paid for by the state, for disabled people.
I have received IHSS for a few years. A provider comes to my home,
once a week, for a couple hours, and helps me do housework and other things around the house, that I cannot do, because of my limitations. For instance, my balance and visual impairments, make it impossible for me to vacuum or mop, dust the higher shelves, clean the slippery tile shower, etc. IHSS has been a great help to me.
Suddenly, the state has decided that I am no longer eligible for IHSS services. They made this decision without my having seen a doctor at all. I am appealing the decision. My state hearing is November 25th. I am gathering as much info as possible, to bring to the hearing, to 'back up' the fact that I do have limitations.
I can do plenty of physical stuff, for instance: mowing the lawn - no problem. It is not a hell of a lot different than pushing a shopping cart around, in fact its easier, you don't have to contend with people and aisles full of (breakable) objects.
Changing the oil in a car - no problem, you are laying down to do it, so you can't possibly lose your balance and fall over. It requires loosening ONE bolt, which is positioned in a spot where you can't really see it anyhow, so you kinda gotta do it by braille ;-)
But take moping the kitchen floor: once I'm all done, it looks great, TO ME! But if I get down on my hands and knees, where I can bring the floor into focus, I see I missed all kinds of crap, in fact I just made mud. Same thing when I try to clean the shower. Or vacuum.
I wrote a letter, requesting CART for communication at the hearing. It is the law. They have to provide it. I am not sure exactly how to enforce that, but I am not going to just 'settle'. So I got my hearing date notice, it is Nov. 25th, there was no mention of the CART I requested, so we will see how that goes. Oh yeah, a footnote on the letter they sent me:
"If you have trouble understanding English, an interpreter will be provided." hello?
What about us late deafened AMERICANS who speak English?? This is going to be interesting...wish me luck ;-)

3 comments:

Jamie said...

Good luck! I am pulling for you, babe!

Kristine said...

I'm pulling for you too!

There are many others in your situation and we need to help one another as much as we can. As both an IHSS consumer like yourself and an advocate for others, I want to help spread the word. Please know your case is very important.

Check out this website for more information: www.udwa.org

Contact me if you have any questions that I may be able to help you with (use the webmaster link).

We're all in it together -- let us know your results!

YB said...

Good luck, KC! I'd hate to be the state of CA going head to head with you. ;0)