The Law Gives You Rights
This Supplement tells you which parts of the Lanterman Act give you the right to get the services and supports you need. These parts are called sections (or §), and these sections are from the Welfare & Institution Code. To learn more about which section affects you, read the summaries below.
Caution! This list is not complete. We cannot list all of the services you have the right to receive, but we list the most common ones below. For more information about your rights, please see the complete manual, Rights Under the Lanterman Act.
If you have a developmental disability, you have the right to:
·
Treatment, and
services and supports to help you live the most independent, productive, and “normal”
life possible.
·
Services that
protect your freedom in the least restrictive way.
·
Dignity, privacy,
and humane care.
·
Treatment,
services and supports in natural, community settings, as much as possible.
·
Participate in an
appropriate public education program, regardless of your disability.
·
Prompt medical
care and treatment.
·
Freedom of
religion, conscience, and freedom to practice your religion.
·
Participate in
community activities, and interact with peers.
·
Physical exercise
and recreation.
·
Be free from harm,
including unnecessary physical restraints, isolation, excessive medication,
abuse or neglect.
·
Say “no” to
unsafe procedures.
· Make choices in your own life. This includes where you want to live, who you want to live with, your relationships, how you spend your free time, your education, and work, your personal goals, and making a plan that fits your needs, and wants.
You have the right to:
·
Have DDS,
regional centers, service providers, and others give you information you can
understand to help you make choices.
·
Have DDS,
regional centers, service providers, and others give you the chance to make
decisions.
·
Have DDS,
regional centers, service providers, and others respect your choices.
If you live in a developmental center or community care facility, you have the right to:
·
Wear your own
clothes.
·
Have and use your
own personal items without sharing them with other residents. For example, your
own shampoo, toothpaste, deodorant.
·
Have and spend
your own personal money, including at the canteen.
·
Have your own
personal place to store your belongings.
·
See visitors
every day.
·
Make or get calls
without anyone listening in or hearing what you say.
·
Have paper,
envelopes, stamps or other things you need to write a letter.
·
Send and receive
mail without someone else reading what you write or opening or reading letters
sent to you.
·
Say no to “shock”
treatment (electroconvulsive therapy or ECT treatment).
·
Say no to
psychosurgery. Psychosurgery means brain operations like lobotomy, psychiatric
surgery, and behavioral surgery that affect how you think, feel or act.
·
Say no to
treatment that causes pain or trauma.
·
Make choices in
all of your daily routines (what time you get up or go to bed), about your
friends, or about free time, and social activities.
·
Make choices
about what should be in your IPP.
You have the right to:
·
Receive advocacy
services
·
Go to court to
enforce your rights. This includes saying no to a conservatorship.
You have the right to have relationships with family members and others, and for your relationships to be respected and encouraged.
Regional Centers must help clients, and their families get the services and supports that give them the most opportunities and choices for living, working, learning, and participating in leisure activities.
You have the right to:
·
Have a regional
center decide if you are eligible for services in fewer than 120 days.
·
Have a regional
center decide if you are eligible for services in fewer than 60 days if:
-
Waiting would put
your health and safety at risk or lead to a greater delay in mental or physical
development, or
-
There is an
immediate risk that you will be placed in a more restrictive environment (for
example, being placed in a developmental center).
You have these rights, even if you move to a new regional center:
·
If one regional
center decides you are eligible, you are eligible for services at all
·
Your eligibility
will not end unless the regional center proves that the original decision was
clearly wrong.
·
If you move to an
area served by a different regional center, your old and new regional center
must make sure your services and supports are transferred smoothly.
·
You will have the
same IPP until you agree to a new IPP.
·
If services or
supports that you had before you moved are not available at the new regional
center, you must have an IPP meeting within 30 days.
·
Until your IPP
meeting, the new regional center has to give you alternative services and
supports that best meet your IPP goals in the least restrictive setting
possible.
General IPP rights:
·
After the
regional center decides that you are eligible for services, they have 60 days
to develop an IPP. §4646(c).
·
Both your IPP and
the services and supports you receive must be tailored to you and your family.
Your IPP must take into account your needs and preferences (and those of your
family, if appropriate).
·
The IPP services
and supports must help you integrate into the community and lead an
independent, productive, and normal life in a healthy and stable environment.
·
The services that
you and your family receive must: reflect your preferences and choices, help
meet the goals of your IPP, and be cost-effective. §4646(a).
·
Your IPP must
include your “goals, objectives, and services and supports” that the regional
center pays for, or that you get from other agencies §4646(d).
·
Your IPP must say
exactly how many and what type of services you will receive, and when the
services will start. §4646.5(a)(4).
Whenever possible, the IPP team must chose services that allow:
·
Children to live
with their families.
·
Adults to live in
the community with as much independence as possible.
·
Clients to
interact with people without disabilities in positive and meaningful ways. §
4648(a) (1).
IPP Meetings:
·
You will have a
planning meeting to agree on what will be in your IPP.
·
If you (and the people representing you)
cannot agree with the regional center on an IPP in the first meeting, you will
have another one within 15 days, unless you ask for more time. §4646(f).
·
There must be
someone with the authority to say “yes” or “no” for the regional center at your
IPP meeting. § 4646 (d).
·
You must be
notified of every IPP meeting.
·
You can require
that someone else also receive notice of IPP meetings, and that they are sent a
copy of any notice sent to you. § 4646(e).
IPP Review:
·
You IPP must be
reviewed and modified every 3 years.
·
If you ask for an
IPP review before then, you have the right to an IPP review within 30 days.
§4646.5(b).
·
If you get
services under the HCBS waiver, your IPP will be reviewed every year.
·
The IPP review
can include a review of your medical, dental, and mental health needs, if you
agree or ask. §4646.5(a)(5).
Appeals:
·
If you disagree
with part of your IPP (for example, if the regional center refuses to include a
service you think you need), the regional center must send you a notice that
explains why they did not agree (§ 4701) and your right to appeal. §§ 4646(g),
4701.
You have a right to:
·
Have the regional
center coordinate your services, and make sure you’re your IPP is implemented.
§ 4647(a).
·
Have a service
coordinator assigned to you.
·
Be told within 10
days if the regional center changes your service coordinator permanently.
·
Say that you want
someone else to be your service coordinator. § 4647(b).
You have the right to:
·
Have the regional
center get the services and supports you need to meet your IPP goals. §
4648(a). The regional center will try to obtain the service or support from
other public agencies before using regional center funds to pay it. §
4648(a)(8).
·
Have the regional
center consider supports in the natural community, home, and recreational
settings first.
·
Have services
that are flexible and tailored to you. § 4648(a)(2).
·
Service
providers’ rates that ensure that the provider can meet your special needs and
provide quality supports in the least restrictive setting§ 4648(a)(5).
·
Have your choice
of service provider considered. The planning team will also consider the
provider’s ability to provide quality supports, their qualifications, and what
it costs to provide services of similar quality with other providers. § 4648(a)(6).
·
Receive crisis
and emergency services from the regional center to help you stay in the living
arrangement you choose. § 4648(a)(9)(b).
·
If the regional
center places you in a community living setting, they must tell you your rights
in a way that you can understand them. § 4648(a)(10).
If you are an adult:
·
You have the
right to decide where you live.
·
You cannot be
forced to move unless you are a danger to your health and wellbeing, there is a
court order, or your conservator has the authority to decide where you live.
If you want to move from a community facility, the regional center must schedule an IPP meeting as soon as possible help you find and move to another place.
If you are a child living with your family:
·
Getting the
services you need to stay at home with your family and community life is a high
priority. §4685(a)(b).
·
Your IPP must
include a family plan that describes the services and supports that will help
you live in your family home. 4685(c)(2).
If you are a child living outside your home:
·
The regional
center must do everything possible to place you close to your family home.
§4685.1(a).
·
If the regional
center cannot do that, they must send you a written explanation at least every
6 months that says what it is doing so that you can live closer to your family.
You have the right:
·
To have
relationships
·
To get married
·
To be part of a
family
·
To have children
·
To make informed
choices in your personal life. You can use the services offered by the regional
center, like sexuality training, parenting skills training and supported living
arrangements for parents with developmental disabilities and their children, to
make these choices.
·
You have the
right to receive supports to help you participate in your community.
·
Regional Centers
are responsible for expanding opportunities that give you full and equal
protection and participation in community integration and options in work,
recreation, social, community services, and education.
· <