36-596.51. Definitions

In this article, unless the context otherwise requires:

1. " Assistant director" means the assistant director of the division of developmental disabilities.

2. " Community supports" means community based programs designed to promote independence, productivity and integration for individuals with developmental disabilities and their families.

3. " District" means an administrative area of this state designated by the division of developmental disabilities in the department of economic security.

4. " Family" means a group that lives together and that consists of at least one person with a developmental disability and that person's parent.

5. " Family support" means services, supports and other assistance that are provided to families with members who have a developmental disability and that are designed to:

(a) Strengthen the family's role as a primary care giver.

(b) Prevent inappropriate out of home placement.

(c) Maintain family unity.

(d) Reunite families with members who have been placed out of the home.

(e) Include respite care, assistive technology, appropriate personal assistance services, parent training and counseling, vehicular and home modifications and assistance with extraordinary expenses associated with the needs of the person with a developmental disability.

6. " Family support subsidy" means a grant that is provided to a family on behalf of a family member with a developmental disability or directly to an individual with a developmental disability for the purchase of services or necessities required to keep the family member or the individual in the family home or their own home or noninstitutional setting.

7. " Family support voucher" means an authorization of payment for services.

8. " Independent" or " independence" means the extent to which individuals with developmental disabilities and their families exert control and choice over their own lives.

9. " Individual program plan team" means a group of people interested in or providing individual support to:

(a) An individual with a developmental disability. If that person is under eighteen years of age or has a legal guardian, the team shall first have the permission of the parent or guardian.

(b) A parent or guardian.

(c) Family members, health professionals and other individuals that a parent or guardian invites to participate in the individual program plan.

(d) A representative of the division or the district providing the program.

(e) The provider of services to a person with a developmental disability or a representative of that provider.

(f) The case manager.

10. " Individual support" means services, supports and other assistance that enables a person with a developmental disability to be independent, productive and integrated in that person's community and that is designed to:

(a) Enable the person to control that person's environment and have the most independent life possible.

(b) Prevent placement in a more restrictive living arrangement than is necessary.

(c) Enable the person to live, learn, work and enjoy life in the community.

(d) Include appropriate personal assistance services, assistive technology, vehicular and home modification, support at work and transportation.

11. " Integration" means that persons with developmental disabilities and their families:

(a) Participate in the same community activities and employment as those persons without disabilities.

(b) Use the same community resources as those persons without disabilities.

(c) Reside in homes that are part of the community.

(d) Have contact with persons without developmental disabilities.

12. " Parent" includes a guardian, a legal custodian and a person acting in the place of a parent. Parent does not include a paid care provider.

13. " Productivity" means engagement in income producing work that is measured through improvements in income level, employment status or job advancement or engagement in work that contributes to a household or community.

14. " Therapeutic services" means occupational, physical, speech and language, respiratory, vision and other therapies to increase, maintain or improve the functional capacities of individuals with disabilities.