Upcoming NYS Disability Training Network Trainings

This fall, the NYS Disability Advocacy Training Network (DATN) is offering free workshops in two ways.

First, we have virtual workshops that are open to both self-advocates and family members. You are welcome to join us online.

Second, we are accepting invitations from groups and organizations. If you would like us to present one of our workshops to your group, we would be glad to. We are happy to present to self-advocates, parent and family caregiver groups, or other audiences.

All of these workshops are free of charge because we are funded through a grant from the NYS Council on Developmental Disabilities. To schedule a workshop for your group, either virtually or in person, please email us at advocacynetwork@syr.edu. We are adding new trainings regularly, so please visit our website at NYSDATN.org for the most up-to-date information.

Fall 2026 Workshops

IPSE 101: Growing Inclusive Postsecondary Education in New York State

Via Zoom: September 24, 1:00-2:30pm and October 21, 11:00am-12:30pm

What is Inclusive Postsecondary Education (IPSE)? Learn about inclusive college programs that serve students with intellectual disability, how they work, and opportunities that are available in New York State. We will leave plenty of time for Q&A.

How a Bill Becomes a Law / Advocating in Albany

Via Zoom: October 2, 10:00-11:30am and October 8, 10:00-11:30am

Are you curious about how laws are made, or interested in having input in the spaces where they are made? In this workshop, we will discuss the lawmaking process, why it is important to advocate in government spaces, and how to talk to the people who make the laws. The workshop includes information specific to New York State and opportunities to practice speaking up to protect your rights. It is for self-advocates (those with a disability) as well as family caregivers.

Disability Rights 101

Via Zoom: October 7, 4:00-5:30pm

Disability rights are human rights, and they are an important part of our country’s civil rights history. Join us to learn about the laws and Supreme Court decisions that protect Americans with disabilities from discrimination and help ensure their right to live full and fulfilling lives. We will cover a brief overview of the Americans with Disabilities Act, laws that impact education (Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act), and the Supreme Court’s Olmstead decision. When we know our rights, we are better able to advocate for ourselves in everyday situations and to advocate for expanding those rights.

School Advocacy

Via Zoom: October 15, 5:00-6:30pm

Advocacy starts with the student. For students, self-advocacy means knowing your needs and being able to state them. We will build these skills through self-knowledge, rights awareness, communication, and follow-through, using tools like an “elevator pitch” and situation-specific scripts. For parents, advocacy means showing up as an equal team member rather than a guest: preparing before meetings (reviewing drafts, writing down top concerns and asks), speaking up during them, and following up after (email summaries, dated records, and tracking whether services are actually delivered). For both, the goal is the same: turning knowledge of rights into the confidence to use them.

Advocacy through Storytelling

Via Zoom: October 19, 6:00-7:30pm

What is your story, and how can it help others?

Introduction to Self-Direction

Via Zoom: October 20, 5:00-6:30pm

What do you know about self-direction? Attend our presentation to see its impact in action.

To attend a workshop, please register here NYS Disability Advocacy Training Network (DATN) Fall Workshop Registration – Fill out form

If you are part of an organization, school, or agency, we would be grateful if you would share this email widely with your members, staff, and the families you work with. 

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Medical equipment suppliers are closing. Hochul can help.

By Mike Alvaro
For the Times Union

For people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, independence is rarely one dramatic breakthrough. It is built from ordinary things most New Yorkers never think about, whether it is a hospital bed at home instead of in an institutional facility, a lift that lets a parent safely move an adult son, or the incontinence supplies, feeding supplies and bath safety equipment that make it possible to live in the community rather than an institution.

Durable medical equipment and supplies are not a line item. They are the infrastructure of an independent life. But the independence of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities depends on a supplier network that is disappearing.

New York has lost roughly a quarter of its durable medical equipment suppliers since 2013. In a growing number of counties, a family caring for a child with a developmental disability, or a residence supporting adults who depend on medical equipment and supplies, has fewer and fewer places to call. The result: longer waits for deliveries, equipment that goes unrepaired and people who end up in a hospital or nursing facility because the basic supplies that kept them at home stopped arriving.

Each year New York pays Medicaid managed-care plans hundreds of millions of dollars to cover medical equipment and supplies for their members, and it pays those plans in full. But the plans are under no obligation to pass that money along. By the time the funds reach the companies that deliver, fit and service the equipment, a large share has vanished.

Based on analysis of claims data conducted by the Northeast Medical Equipment Providers Association, claims are being paid at roughly 62 cents on the dollar. Some plans pay less than half the state’s Medicaid fee schedule for identical items, and some route suppliers through third-party administrators that take a cut on top.

The fix to this problem is awaiting action by Gov. Kathy Hochul, and it will cost the state nothing. Legislation (S.8838-A/A.10576) passed this year by both houses with bipartisan support would require Medicaid managed-care plans to pass through not less than 100% percent of the state’s Medicaid fee schedule to suppliers of durable medical equipment.

The legislation does not raise rates. It does not expand coverage. It ensures that money the state has determined is the proper price for medical equipment and supplies reaches the people who provide them, instead of being absorbed along the way.

Gov. Hochul vetoed an earlier version of this bill last December, citing cost. That concern deserves a straight answer: The state has already paid these plans. The only question is whether the plans keep the money or the equipment gets delivered. This bill asks the state to spend nothing more than it already has, and to get what it already paid for.

People with disabilities fought for decades to win the right to live in their own homes and communities. They should not lose that right to a reimbursement gap most New Yorkers never knew existed.

Mike Alvaro is executive director of the Cerebral Palsy Associations of New York State.—

Upcoming Incident Management Sessions

  Are you looking to learn more about how Incident Management Systems work for our loved ones who live in group homes? We are alerting you to these upcoming sessions where we will continue to delve into the details surrounding what happens when there is an incident involving your loved one. 

The sessions are designed for those currently living in OPWDD Certified Group Homes and their family advocates. You can attend one or all three of these Advocacy Sessions. 

All sessions are 7:00 – 8:30pm.

Together we are going to learn how to respond to incidents in our loved one’s group home!

https://us02web.zoom.us/MEETING/REGISTER/2TSUOI4WTSOQOFIP8DNBNQ

For those who have already registered, we appreciate your response.