Connection
News and views promoting independence for people with disabilities
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DRS
Connection News and views promoting independence for people with disabilities |
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Antoinette "Toni" Lueck serves on the Disabled
Resource Services Board of Directors and
on the Dial-A-Ride Advisory Board, herself relying on DAR for
transportation. As a Board member, Toni works to ensure that
DRS continues to run effectively, by assisting with policy
decisions. She provides advice guided by her own experiences and helps at
fund-raising events like WineFest.
Toni was born with sight in only one eye, but this did not stop her from earning an undergraduate degree in chemistry and math at the University of Wisconsin at Oshkosh and a master's degree in Library Science from Case Western Reserve in Cleveland, Ohio. From 1969 through 1989, she served as Physical Sciences Librarian at Colorado State University. In 1989, she spent six months helping to set up a library in Cairo, Egypt. |
After major cataract surgery in 1984, however, her sight gradually deteriorated so that in 1989 she had to retire on SSDI (Social Security Disability Income) and to give up driving.
Despite her vision problems, as she has since 1977, Toni continues to breed Morgan horses. She presently has five, two of which she talks to every day over the fence at her home in Fort Collins.
Toni manages everyday life on her own. She gardens and mows her half-acre yard. She needs help only with cleaning the house, and a friend drives her to the grocery store each week. When Toni's sight became so bad that she could not read her Medicare correspondence, DRS's Older Individuals who are Blind Program Coordinator, Karen Hutchinson, helped Toni sort it all out.
Serving on the DRS Board, Toni has learned much about the independent living movement. She attended the Statewide Independent Living Council conference in Breckenridge last June. Toni has her own opinions, though, about too much political correctness, feeling that independence can be overemphasized. Because people are so different, she feels there should be a wide variety of options as to where a person with a severe disability should live.
Toni is an enthusiastic Board volunteer who wants to talk to people in the community, continuing to spread the word about DRS and agency services. She says, "I like to get involved with the things I support."
The OIB (Older Individuals who are Blind) Program of Disabled Resource Services provides seniors who are losing their sight with services to help them maintain their living arrangements and their maximum degree of independence.
DRS sponsors a very active support/advocacy group which meets on the third Saturday of the month to listen to speakers and share successes and heartbreaks.
Trips are taken to such places as the Littleton store, Beyond Sight, which has many aids for low vision or complete blindness. Fun outings like Rockies games are enjoyed. Similar groups also meet in Loveland and Estes Park, and Karen can help individuals find these resources.
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Karen Hutchinson has been the OIB Coordinator since the program began nine years ago. She works one on one with people who have conditions such as macular degeneration, diabetes related vision problems, severe glaucoma or even no sight at all. Karen meets each client's unique needs--for instance, marking appliances so a person can set them by feel, whether oven temperature or heating thermostat. She knows how to find telephone numbers when it is impossible to read the phone book, how to get talking books instead of printed books, how to acquire the financing for large, expensive equipment such as reading machines or talking computers. Karen Hutchinson also assists with Social Security issues. If you or someone you know could use her help, call Karen at her Loveland office, 613-1927. |
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A few weeks ago, you probably received a survey, which DRS mailed to everyone on the newsletter list on behalf of the City of Fort Collins. Did you return it? If not, there is still time to do so. The present survey will help to improve what the city already provides in the way of healthy and fun recreation. Certified therapeutic recreation therapist Renee Lee has run the Adaptive Recreation Opportunities program since 1998. It was based on a 1995 survey asking people with disabilities about what recreation opportunities they wanted, what the barriers are and how to overcome them. |
The program addresses three areas:
Have you tried "Lunch Out," the monthly lunch club where you can meet other people and discuss what you might like to enjoy in the way of recreation?
Parks and Recreation programs can be found in the Recreator, but Renee also has a special newsletter for people with disabilities.
If you want to be on the mailing list or need any other information on recreation opportunities, call Renee at 224-6027.
Please don't forget to mail back that survey!
The Spinal Cord Injury Hotline has been closed down for lack of funding. For over 15 years, this national hotline has been available to people who have sustained a spinal cord injury and their families.
Jennifer Bell at DRS was the local contact person. The hotline served as a central information and referral service for people with new injuries and handled approximately 800 calls a month, giving information on job training, rehab facilities, dating services, pregnancy and health and family concerns.
Originally, funding came from the University of Maryland, then from the American Paralysis Association and finally the Paralyzed Veterans of America. Now, as with many other great ventures, the money has dried up, and the hotline is no more. Plus this happened at a time when every year there are more spinal cord injuries.
This year's campaigns by the two Larimer County United Ways began in September.
Fort Collins Area United Way, with the permanent theme "The Power of Community," has a goal of $3 million and aims to fund seven new programs as well as the 37 agencies already receiving support.
United Way of Loveland-Berthoud-Estes Park's theme for 2000 is "The United Way You Care About Your Community," and their goal is $1.1 million to assist 44 agencies.
For the current year, Disabled Resource Services received $75,000 towards running the Fort Collins office and $20,000 in Loveland.
If you want to contribute to the campaign, call 407-7000 (Fort Collins) or 669-1450 (Loveland).
December 31 is the deadline for applying for the City of Fort Collins rebate on property tax or rent, utilities and food tax for seniors and people with disabilities. If you lived all of 1999 within city limits and your 1999 income was below $11,800 for one person or $13,500 for two, you are eligible to apply. Call Sue (221-6788) for an application form. Call Linda or Jennifer (482-2700) if you need help in filling it in.
Scooter users may find useful a new booklet, Safety Travel and Etiquette. Written by Michael Creurer, a former motorist turned scooter-user, it comprises several pages of tips, complete with photographs and checklists, to maximize safe travel around town. You can order it for $5 (plus shipping) from amazon.com or for $5 (plus $0.75 postage) by e-mail from changing@pacificcoast.net.
Transfort offers training for people with disabilities who need assistance learning to ride the bus. The trainer works personally with citizens, riding with them until they learn how to use the system. Call 221-6620.
Work Incentives, the new law which should make it easier for people with disabilities to work without losing the benefits on which they rely, came into force on October 1.
SSDI beneficiaries who return to work are now allowed to continue Medicare Part A coverage at no cost for 52 months. If you also have a Medigap policy, you can elect to suspend that coverage if you are covered under an employer group plan. If you lose group coverage, Medigap coverage can be reinstated as long as you provide notice of the loss of coverage within 90 days. Call Social Security for information on your situation because neither the Social Security web site nor the toll-free number (1-800-772-1213) was any help to DRS.
There is also a new Medicaid "buy-in" option from October 1, but individual states choose whether or not to participate. Although the law is already in force, it has proved impossible in Fort Collins to find out what Colorado is doing about this part of the Work Incentives law.
The Colorado Cross Disabilities Coalition has stated, however, that a footnote to one of the bills passed last session "mandated that the State Medicaid agency meet with legislators and consumers to discuss implementation of the federal Work Incentives Act Medicaid Buy In Option provisions."
The implication seems to be that Colorado has not yet made a decision whether or not to participate in this part of the act. This may have something to do with the fact that the state is concerned that Medicaid costs in Colorado are rising extremely fast. Steve Tool said in the Fort Collins Coloradoan (Oct. 1, 2000), "We have a Medicaid budget in this state that is absolutely out of control."
Ticket to Work begins January 1, 2001 so watch our next newsletter for information.
Below is a partial list of holiday activities. The list only includes information available when this issue went to press, so watch the newspapers or call FirstCall Servicenet (407-7066) for additional infomation.
This annual event will take place at the Lincoln Center, Nov. 10-14. Wednesday, Nov. 15, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., will be a special time for people with disabilities. People will be available to assist those who need help in order to enjoy the decorated Christmas trees. Cookies and drinks will be provided. Anyone is welcome, but groups of more than five are asked to call in advance (Pam Huss, 898-3812).
Through the Operation Stand-By Program, Creative Recreation in Special Populations can provide free tickets to events at the Lincoln Center for low income elderly individuals and persons with disabilities. Spare tickets are donated for five series: Film Series, Children's Series, Shows, Artist Series and the Anything Goes Series. Call Kim (493-4454) for an application form or information.
For Sale: 1977 Ford Van (150,000 miles) equipped with a wheelchair lift and driver's hand controls, $2,000. Call Vic (667-5390).
Free: Sports wheelchair. Call Don at the Loveland Office (667-0816).
Free: Electric lift-up chair. Free, but pick it up yourself! Call Laura (663-0158).
Free: Electric wheelchair complete with charger. Call Angela (207-1540).
Volunteer Opportunity: You can help by serving on the DRS Board of Directors. The Board meets the fourth Monday of the month. For information or application, call 482-2700.
To top of pageto the organizations and individuals listed below, who supported Disabled Resource Services in 1999-2000. Their support made it possible for DRS to provide services to people with disabilities.
