Wednesday, August 19th, 2020
Coalition for Texans with Disabilities
Raise Your Voice
1:45 p.m. ‑ 3:00 p.m.

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>> If you all are having any issues, or need to talk, unmute yourself and we can help y'all get connected.         

>> Perna: So we're still having people register, like right up until right now.  
          
>> Very cool.  I sent out a copy, the Facebook thing about an hour ago, 
so there was still time to register.  
>> We're live, so we are already letting people in, just so you know.  
>> Okay. 
>> No no profanity. 
>> Me?  
>> I always like to warn people that come on that they're not on mute. 
>> I appreciate that.  
>> Hey, Julie. 
>> Hey, Julie.  
>> Hey.  Hi. 
>> Jolene, how are you?  
>> I'm fine, how are you?  
>> On day two of virtual lining with three boys.  
>> So it's smooth sail ing.  
>> Yeah, it's awesome when up get to contact tech support because the teacher sent you the wrong link to join the meeting. 
>> Well, at least you got the link ‑‑ I mean, a link.  
          It's good to see you, Stephanie.  
>> It's good to see you, too.  
>> Another thing we should not forget, I'll need y'all's help remember ing.  If we don't download the attend ee report in 20 minutes, it goes away.  
          
>> I thought we had seven days.  
>> I think ‑‑ maybe for some other things it's seven days.  
>> Okay. 
>> Yeah, I went to get it last time after we had had that like super long debrief, and it was like, oh, I guess we just aren't going to know who was actual ly in the room.  Yea!  
>> Yea!  
        
>> Perna: Hey, Bryson.  
>> What was the inmute for phones, Laura?  
>> *6, I believe. 
>> *6 and then pound sign.  
>> Oh.  
>> Hello, Dennis. 
>> Hello!  
>> You're trying to figure out who this is.  Can you see me?  
>> Yeah.  No, I don't.  
>> How are you do ing?  Now you should.  
>> Hey, Richard, how are you?  
>> Fine.  Has the meeting gone on or did I miss it?  
>> Oh, no, it's just ‑‑ it starts at 2:00.  This is just people getting online.  
>> I've got a question for you.  I just didn't have time to send the questions.  But you're talking about special education today, right?  
>> Yes.  And early childhood intervention, those kinds of things.  

>> Be ing in special education the last 16, 17 years of my teaching career ‑‑ 16 years, and the part that was the hard est part for people in special education. 
          Was the self‑contained classrooms.  And I've always been a firm believer, Dennis, that the state tests that they give for people in self‑contained, 
that use ed to be where they have to take it, to me has no benefit for them.  
>> Hey, Richard, sorry, one quick second.  Do we want to save this for part of that conversation since we'll have more people come ing in that kind of want to talk about the same thing?  
>> I think that's a good idea, yeah.  
>> Sorry about that interruption.  Plus, I think we're going to start. 
>> Perna: We're going to get started here in a second.  But I'm excited about your enthusiasm, Richard.  
>> Well ‑‑ 
>> I didn't know you did that as part of your work. 
>> I'm in the education field.  And I have a daughter with down syndrome.  And the biggest problems is after high school, the post‑secondary, what are we preparing our kids for those self‑contained classrooms. 
          Or even our chlorinclusion kids for life after high school.  
and I think there should be something better than those state mandated tests.  It's about preparing them in life after high school 
>> And those tests don't necessarily measure that. 
>> No, they don't. 
>> I hate to cut the conversation short.  We're at 2:00.  We want to go ahead and get started.  
          But Richard, you'll definitely have a chance to pick this back up in about 30 minutes.  So hold that thought.  
          I'm going to go ahead and introduce myself.  Hello, folks.  My name is Laura Perna.  I'm the communication s director here at CTD.  
          I'm going to audio describe myself.  
I'm a white woman with black glasses, and super long brown hair that obviously hasn't been cut in at least six months.  
there's a white and brown wall behind me, and I'm wearing a mustard colored T‑shirt.  
so I'm just going to quickly go over the zoom function and accessibility for today.  
          Sorry, I'm multitask ing here.  First of all, this meeting is closed captioned.  
you can turn them on if you're on a desktop at the bottom of your screen.  
you can toggle them on and off.  
and you can also in your accessibility settings change the size of those caption s.  
          Now, they won't follow you into our breakout rooms, but if you requested closed caption ing in your registration, we will put you with the caption er in your breakout room so you'll still have that.  
          We'll ask that you stay mute ed unless we unmute you, or ask you to unmute yourself.  
          And if you'd like to turn your video on and off, to let others know you're not in the room, we welcome you to do that.  
          I mention ed we would be going into breakout s.  You'll be dropped in breakouts automatically, you don't have to click a "join" button or anything like that, so just know that that will happen.  
          The chat box, we're use ing the chat box for you to ask for any technical help if you need it.  
and if you don't have access to the chat, you can also e‑mail us at info@txdisabilities.org and we're watching that for any tech help requests.  
          Let's see.  If you are privately chat ing with somebody, please know that private chats are not all that private.  
we will get all private chats in a chat log.  
following this meeting.  So if you have criticism, be gentle, or text it.  
          Final ly, we're not pinning our highlight ing anybody today, so speaker view versus gallery view is up to you.  
          And that is all I have to say.  So I will turn it over to Jolene and Jennifer.  
>> Sanders‑Foster: Hi, I'm Jolene Sanders‑Foster.  I'll first audio describe myself.  I'm a white woman with long brown hair, and black glasses.  In the background is various antique‑y things in my children's art.  
          And I will let my mental health peer policy fellow introduce herself.  
>> Hi, everybody, my name is Jennifer Toon and I am the new mental health peer policy fellow at CTD.  I will auto describe myself.  I'm a white woman 
with short brown hair, black round glasses.  Spiff y cool look ing polo shirt.  In the background are several posters of wonder woman and cats dressed as wonder woman.  So excited to be here.  
>> We're really happy to have you and your wonder woman cats here, too.  So the first thing we're going to do to kick this off, just so you know, this session's going to be interactive 
  
          We want to get feedback from you.  To start that, one of the things we want to do is launch a real quick poll.  
and this poll ‑‑ first of all, it's anonymous.  You can check all that apply.  
and we will share the results of the poll with you during the follow‑up.  After this session, you'll get the results of those.  
so Jennifer, do you have that?  There we go.  
so we're going to leave this up here.  I'm going to read through the options.  
          And we'll leave this up here for a few moments to make sure everybody has enough time to fill it out.  
          So the question is, are the following among your own policy priorities?  Choose all that apply.  So this is multiple choice.  
          The first one is early childhood intervention from 0 to 3 years, special education access, 
special education accountability, 
special education, special education fund ing, 
school mental health, and behavior supports, school discipline, or none of these, or something else.  
maybe you have a different priority.  I'll just leave this up for a few minutes. 
>> To remind you, you may need to scroll down to the bottom of the poll to be able to submit.  
especially if you're on a phone or a tablet.  You might have to do a little scroll ing. 
>> Thank you, Laura.  
          
>> Did everybody have an opportunity to complete that?  I'm happy to wait a few more moments.  We're in no rush here.  
         .  
>> Can I have it back for a minute?  I didn't hit the submit button.  

>> Unfortunately, since you just relaunch ed the poll, you lost all of the votes.  So everyone would have to retype it.  Let's just leave it up, and when you're done, click the red button and close it out and we'll leave it up running and let you all move forward.  
         .  
>> All right.  Right now I think we're going to kick it over to Dennis who is our executive director here at Coalition for Texans with Disabilities.  He's going to give you an overview of our organization.  
and what raise your voice is and what we hope to get out of the sessions in the effects few weeks. 
>> Thank you, Jolene.  My name is Dennis Borel.  I am the executive director here.  I'm an Anglo male with gray hair, gray beard, and dark blue shirt.  
          And like Laura, I haven't had my hair cut in about six months, so I'm sort of start ing to look like my younger hippie days.  
you have to be old enough to understand that reference.  
          So the Coalition for Texans with Disabilities has been around since 1978.  
it's a cross‑disability organization which means we can touch on all issues in the disabilities spectrum, all kinds of disability, all ages.  For exam billion, today we're talking about children's issues.  
we'll also talk about many other issues through this series.  
          Our focus is advocacy.  We're certainly among the primary disability advocacy groups, have been for a long time.  
          Two of our core principles in advocacy is to involve you, those with lived experience, those who are in the battle day to day, if you will.  So we value you, as self‑advocates, we value community input.  
          So raise your voice.  The idea of Raise your Voice, this is an opportunity for us to hear from you.  For you to hear from us.  And to go forward together.  And when we say Raise Your Voice, we do mean that.  We really want to hear from you.  
          So today as I mention ed, we're going to focus on children's issues, special education.  
          Over the next several Wednesday s, at 2:00 p.m., we'll have other sort of target ed issues.  Next Wednesday, August 26th will be on community attendance and wages.  
          On September 2nd, voting for people with disabilities.  
          On September 9th, dental benefit for adult and Medicaid.  
          And we're going to take off September the 16th and recognize a civil rights holiday for our Latino community.  
and then we'll resume on September 21st and talk about expansion of medical cannabis.  What can you expect involved in Raise Your Voice.  First, we will value you, listen to you and involve you.  
we will share information with you on advocacy techniques, process of legislation, background on issues and more.  You'll work with other self‑advocates, some whom you may know, some whom you'll get to know.  
they'll all be sharing their ideas and you'll share your experiences and ideas.  
we have an experienced staff in advocacy.  We'll be there to collaborate with you.  
and final ly, what is this all for?  This is all in preparation for January 2021, which is the next meeting of the Texas legislature, 
and in each of our discussions we're going to talk about bills  goals we have.  We've received an interesting question several times.  Given the various quarantines, lockdowns, restrictions that are happening in our communities, 
how is the legislative going to happen in 2021.  The answer is, we don't know yet.  Don't know yet.  
but what we have seen is that the legislators themselves are calling for a more restricted environment.  You know, exactly how that will play out, whether they will have hearings, 
we expect that they will, but they may not, they may go to virtual hearings.  
visits may be different.  You may have to have appointments to go into the capitol, other than what we call drive‑by visits where we just go in and hit all the legislative offices in certain areas.  
so we do different things.  But what I can tell you is how it plays out, we'll keep you informed as these guidance s are delivered.  
and we will make adjustments with you to make sure you can raise your voice.  
          So at this point, let's dig into some issues, and I'll kick it back to Jolene.  
>> Sanders‑Foster: Thank you, Dennis.  So first of all I'd like to start out by look ing at where we were 
and where we're head ed, or where we think we might be head ed this next legislative session in 2021.  
          One of the priorities is early childhood intervention.  Some of you not familiar with the program, it's a home‑base ed program for children 0 to 3 years old who either have a ID developmental delay or disability or some other medical condition.  The array of services can include pediatric therapy, nutritional services, case management, and it's been shown to be really effective school ready ness program that supports not just the kid, 
but the family as well.  Very comprehensive program.  
just to give you a background.  A legislative background on ECI.  Back in 2021, our lawmakers slash ed fund ing to the program and ineligibility to access the program.  
this end ed up limiting access for kids who should have been serve ed at that time.  
additional ly, back in 2015, the legislature cut Medicaid re imburrs ment rates, OT, occupational therapy and speech therapy, that end ed up hitting the east side really hard.  And the majority of their clients are covered by Medicaid.  
          So this resulted basically in providers not be ing able to keep their doors open so they started dropping out of the program.  
just to give you perspective, in 2011, we had 58 providers, we're down to 42 total across the state of Texas.  Really the biggest barrier to ECI services in the state 
is that Texas does not adequate ly fund ECI.  All ECI providers have to serve all eligible kids and can't create a wait list, can't turn kids away.  
so what that means is without adequate fund ing, ECI providers are stretch ed thin and trying to figure out how to do more with less.  
if they can't, and they can't keep their doors open, and this is why we're see ing providers dropping out across the state.  
          So we did have some wins last session.  
lawmakers actual ly approved additional money for ECI in the state budget.  But we still need to fund the program to be able to increase the per‑child allot ment, 
and also fund for a case.  If throughout the year I serve 3,000 kids, I'm not getting paid for 3,000 kids.  
          So CTD is going to priority that in the budget.  Protecting ECI services right now are critically important to these families.  
so another priority, every session, for CTD is special education.  That includes a lot of stuff.  
and just as a disclaimer, we may not get to everything today, or I may not cover the things that all of our priorities that we're going to have an opportunity to really start having conversations after this, and sharing other ideas that aren't covered here.  
this is by no means an exhaustive list.  
          Special education is kind of, you know, when you transition out of ECI, you transition into part B of the individuals with individuals with disability s act.  Texas has a long history of delaying services to eligible students and the state has been reluctant historically to fund it at the level it needs.  
in 2017, lawmakers pass ed legislation that eliminated this arbitrary enrollment cap that many of you know as the 8.5% cap that deny ed hundreds of thousands of kids the services that they need.  
          Additional ly, this past legislative session in 2019, we did make some strides through the school finance bill, house bill 3, which among other things establish ed full‑day pre‑K.  
it increase ed the special education fund ing wait and the advisory committee to study educational fund ing.  
there was also a provision in there to add bonus s to special education students to help in their college career and military ready.  We continue to build on those strides, prioritize ing fund ing in the budget, protecting some of those gains we made in previous sessions to protect the rights of students, as well as advocate ing for transparency and accountability.  
          So now I think I will kick it over to our mental health peer policy fellow Jennifer Toon who will discuss mental health and school discipline 
>> Thank you, Jolene.  So let's talk about mental health in schools first.  
we know that unidentified and untreated mental health conditions can severely interfere with academic success 
damage well be ing, and compound exist ing developmental delays.  
kids with disabilities and/or mental health challenges are often unidentified, so therefore, they're not able to access those services that they desperate ly need.  
and several things contribute to that.  Such as inadequate training, school mental health personnel shortages, 
inappropriate discipline, and a real disconnect between schools and mental health systems.  
          Now, in 2019, Texas moved in the right direction by making mental health in schools a priority, but they just didn't go far enough in address ing the unique needs of kids 
at the intersection of disability and mental health.  
          So, you know, right now can be a really frightening and overwhelm ing time for our children.  An emotional stress is really emerge ing as a huge barrier to learning.  
and COVID‑19 has made it abundant ly clear that providing access to behavioral and mental health supports, it's not a luxury, it's an urgent necessity right now.  
          During this next session CTD is committed to support ing policies that bolster mental health supports for young children.  
and we really want to build on the gains we made last session, such as HB‑18 which requires schools to consider the mental health of all students 
when providing training, programming, revision s to curriculum s, and services.  
          And we really want to make sure that fund ing for SB‑11, the school safety allot ment, dedicates a portion of fund ing to support student mental health strategies.  
we really want to support these policies that provide school districts with the training and the technical assistance in implement ing multi‑tier ed levels of service and support.  
          Another really important priority for us is school discipline.  Students with disabilities are way overrepresented in all forms of school discipline, both formal and informal.  
but informal practices, which are known as shadow ed disciplinary s, practices, they're increasingly problematic.  
these practices include things like isolated lunch s, be ing locked in rooms, exclusion from recesses, 
shame ing students in front of the whole class, and undocumented school initiated parent pickups.  
          Now, we're going to really be hammering away at the use of early pickup s and all informal suspension s.  
we will also advocate for dedicated fund ing for restorative disciplinary practices as well as the requirement of qualification s for campus behavior coordinators, 
and ensure students who need or already have a behavior intervention plan, that these are appropriate, effective, and they're revised as need ed.  
          We are committed to eliminate ing this disproportionality in school discipline.  The reason this is so important is students that are inappropriately disciplined at school are more likely to experience trauma, 
and really get funnel ed right into that school‑to‑prison pipeline, and eventual ly drop out.  
          So in 2021, we will really be work ing hard in urge ing the legislature to eliminate the use of any punitive practices that unfair ly punish students for behaviors that are manifestation s of a disability, 
or even a response to pandemic related stress.  
          And with that, I'm going to turn it back over to Jolene.  
>> Sanders‑Foster: Thanks, Jennifer.  That's actual ly a really good segway to us kind of address ing the elephant in the room which is COVID‑19.  
          The pandemic certainly highlighted some already exist ing challenges, or concerns.  And we've also heard that it really created some new ones that obviously a lot of us could have never predicted.  
          So whatever the 2021 session looks like, I don't think we can go into it without address ing the impact of the pandemic.  
so a few things we're already hearing that we're already trying to address, and that we know will be issues in this next legislative session, 
have to do with compensatory services.  Another  a number of districts have basically already acknowledge ed that during the pandemic, they either had to delay or put services on hold.  
          So what does that mean?  It means that the students, or these babies and toddlers in ECI were not receiving their regularly scheduled services and their critical support so they could make progress.  
          That leads to regression.  On the front burner for CTD is ensuring the kids get the compensatory series  services, that we're not necessarily a failure on the part of the direct but were direct ly related to the COVID‑19 pandemic.  
          So in order to secure that, our priority is really to ensure that all the districts and providers across the state have the resource s to provide that going back to the idea that we can't keep do ing more with less.  Especially during this really unprecedented time.  
          Kind of in the same vein, we're going to be oppose ing any attempt to what are be ing consider ed vouchers for relinquish ing their rights to compensatory services later.  Or to a free appropriate public education.  
          Like I said, this is not an exhaustive list.  Obviously things are kind of day‑to‑day and hour‑by‑hour and we're sure that we'll probably 

‑‑ some new things will float to the top.  We hope this is a good conversation starter today.  
and even after this session.  
          So with that, I'm going to kick it over to Laura, who's going to get us started on another activity.  
>> Laura, before you jump in, this is Chase Bearden.  Before we go into breakout so we can have everybody unmute themselves, and that way we can unmute you before you go into the room?  Thanks.  
          
>> So like she said, we're about to go into breakouts, where we will have small group discussions around this question, or set of questions.  When you're thinking about your priority issue around education, and ECI, 
at the end of the 2021 legislative session, what is your measure of success?  
what would you consider a success, thinking about your issues?  
we're not going to have rounds like we did for our launch for these discussions.  
it's just going to be open discussion.  
but we did want to share a couple of tips.  
          And things to note.  First, y'all will be automatically place ed in your breakout rooms, you don't have to click a button or anything to join.  
          We found it's good to do a quick (indiscernible) to get into the room to make sure everybody's mic is still turned on and everyone can be heard.  Okay?  
you may still need to mute yourself when you're not speaking in your breakout, just depend ing on what is going on in the background of your space.  
          If you would like to try out audio describing yourself, we absolute ly encourage that.  
it's handy to pass the mic by verbal ly name ing the next speaker.  
so if you're speak ing and you can see in your video ‑‑ or on your screen that somebody looks like they're nodding and want to jump in, 
name that person, or just name a person at random if nobody seems to want to speak.  
          And you can also use the raise hand feature if that's something you're familiar with.  
          Also, I'll send y'all an alert about halfway through, and if you aren't use ed to alerts, they're in tiny text.  
they pop in at the top of your screen.  
so be on the lookout for those.  And if you are use ed to see ing them, go ahead and read them out for your group when you see them, so that everybody knows that that has come through, 
and we're about at the halfway point.  
          Give everyone a chance to speak.  If that halfway alert comes through and you've been the only one talking in your group, be quiet, and turn it over to someone else.  
          As I mention ed before, if you request ed caption s, our caption er will be in your breakout room with you.  
          There is a call for help button, and Chase and I will come in and assist if you all are having issues.  
          So with that, I'm going to drop y'all on into your breakouts.  

>> Hello.  How are you?  
>> I'm well.  How are you do ing?  
>> Glad to be able to listen.  I was a special education teacher a long time ago.  
>> I was an early intervention specialist for about seven years.  But it's been a while since I've been in the field.  
so it will be interest ing to find out how the issues have updated themselves.  
>> A lot of what I'm hearing is the same as when my children were in there.  And what I taught in there. 
>> Yeah. 
>> The halfway house is ‑‑ we still have a lot of work to do. 
>> Mm‑hmm.  For sure.  
>> Is there anyone else in our group?  
>> I see two other people, but they have their videos off and they are on mute.  
Deborah, or there's also a caption er here.  So Deborah, would you like to speak?  You are mute ed.  
if you'd like to unmute yourself. 
>> You must have two Deb bras in the group then. 
>> Yes, we do.  
>> Yes, I'm sorry.  There's a DeborahT. And yourself.  
          
          It doesn't look like they want to speak.  
          So I guess ‑‑ I mean, I think the bottom line here really comes down to, you know, fund ing.  
you know, making sure that there's fund ing to provide the services that children need.  
particularly with ECI, because they're like identify ing these kiddo s early, and having the ECI program be able to transition them into special education, 
it's really a help.  Versus someone come ing from, you know, just their home in regular registration trying to sign up for special education.  
I think the ECI program really kind of orients the parents to what their role is in terms of, you know, what an IEP is, individualized education plan.  
and they were themselves hard to, you know, advocate for their child.  
          
>> Debra, if you would like to speak, please feel free.  

>> Hello.  I'm back.  Sorry, I had to take a therapist call.  
>> Okay. 
>> So it dropped me out.  But they graciously put me back in.  
so is anyone else talking yet?  
>> It looks like Deborah T. Is having some issues.  She doesn't have a camera view right now, and she is having issues communicate ing with us.  
>> Sorry to hear that.  

>> I am send ing her a message just asking her to maybe just give us sort of an idea of any of her priorities, or what she might like to see.  
or Deborah, if you want to go ahead with your thoughts.  The other Deborah is type ing in ing in.  She says, compensatory services are a priority for her.  
          I'm also interested in efforts to improve teacher training for students with disabilities.  
          
>> I agree with that.  

>> When I was teaching in a self‑contained, one of the things that I was fortunate enough is I had parents who wanted to participate in other classes besides where their own students were in.  
and it enable ed me to train different volunteers use ing what their ‑‑ some of them had hobbies.  
I could write it into the IEP, into the overall school plan.  I wonder if she's interested in things like that as well.  
because any services that we can get, there's a benefit.  Especially if they meet the IEP goals as well as the state goals.  
>> Yep.  She says she agree s.  I mean, I will say that there does seem to be many, many cracks in the special education system.  
you know, first off, trying to identify what services a child needs.  
second off, providing them those services.  
and then third off, making sure that everyone has training to do their job in providing those services. 
>> One of the problems I was asked to come in as a liaison between the different magnet schools, and the school district I was in, 
was the problems that when a student for whatever reason was taken to alternative, 
we always had a problem that their IPE needs did not follow.  
and I've still got different friends, of course that (indiscernible). 
>> She said many parents are look ing for inclusion, for a general education, but that general education teachers are not prepared, and then she says, yes, it's a good idea to outline identifying students, identifying appropriate services, and then ensuring appropriate training.  
          
>> 
>> And then ultimately it seems like in the previous legislative years, just making sure that there is no more are cuts.  Because it just seems 2011, 2015, there were a lot of cuts.  
so maintaining the pennies that we have is crucial.  
>> I have to agree with that.  
>> And then I guess I will say that, you know, when Jennifer Toon was talking about mental health, you know, I do think that that is something that, you know, has to be looked at in every child.  
especially now with COVID.  
you know, so bring ing that into the mix was ‑‑ was a hard moment for myself, too.  
that's yet another barrier.  You know, to overcome.  

>> I'm curious how legislation is going to work, that we still have the COVID situation where you can't go into possibly the capitol and all that, how they're going to 
 ‑‑ how we're going to know that they're hearing our concerns, our recommendation s or suggestion s.  

>> Well, currently I work in law enforcement.  
I can tell you kind of how the courts are adapt ing, you know. 
>> That would be interest ing. 
>> To in‑person, or transitioning to online versus in‑person.  
some of them are ‑‑ a lot of them are use ing zoom.  I know I've participated in a lot of mock hearings to, you know, see how jury selection is going to happen, 
you know, how people are going to check in, in those moments.  
some courts are even having zoom rooms where if you have people who don't have access to technology, where they can come into the court and have a zoom room where they have a computer to use.  
you know, so I assume, or my feeling is that they may ‑‑ they may have something similar to where you can provide testimony 
in your ‑‑ you know, in this zoom room space.  
and they may limit however many people are in there at a given time.  
who knows.  
but I know that it will be possible.  
I think also getting the word out to people, you know.  Now that they can't just stop by.  
it will be an adjust ment, I'm sure.  
>> For myself, when the libraries closed, because I had been going there for webinar s [lapse in audio], I have family that live out, and their communities 
having internet, is a situation that many of the children don't have.  
so I'm concerned with those, if we have this continue, how are we going to meet the needs of those who do not have the ability to go online or to receive almost [lapse in audio]. 
>> Yeah, I think access to technology at least when we had our first meeting with Raise Your Voice, it kind of cut across our entire conversation, making sure that there is access to technology.  
and then for kids in special education, you know, you're also dealing with, you know, our communication where you've got 
got software [lapse in audio] they're type ing in the computer speak ing for them.  
you've got max switch communication.  You know, where someone can hit a button and it indicates what their response is.  That kind of thing.  
          So, you know, I think we're going to be dealing with this for quite awhile.  
>> Yes. 
>> But I also believe in our advocacy here in Austin, we're a very strong advocate.  
advocate population s, advocate groups that really care, that do get the word out, and do support people in making sure their voice is heard.  
so I believe in us.  You know?  
>> Not giving up.  
>> No.  
>> But I would appreciate somewhere along the line where maybe we get a little further ahead than what we've been over [her screen froze].  
>> Yeah.  Deborah, did you have anything else you wanted to type in the chat?  
          She said, I think both of you are covering all the bases.  
>> You're very kind.  It would still be great to hear from her. 
>> I think it's also, you know, you know, these issues are so macro, they're so big so it's kind of hard to pare down what are the priorities, 
making sure that you're getting a little bit of everything so that you can see some forward movement everywhere.  
because there is so much need.  
I know, you know, just myself come ing through special education, you know, in dealing with IEP s back when I was in school, 25, 30 years ago now, 
it was definitely a struggle.  And I need ed a minimum accommodations.  
most of my classes were regular ed, I just need ed things like extra books and wheelchairs and help in the hallways.  
that was a struggle back then.  In my work with ECI, just be ing there, support ing parents, you know, 
trying to make sure their kiddo s get the best thing.  
it's a very tough road that they're having to go on as well.  
and I think, again, you know, we have to change our whole attitude on, you know, what disability is, and what disability looks like.  
you know, I think sometimes people have images of what a person with a disability is.  
and if you don't fit that mold, then, you know ‑‑ 
>> Yes, I can speak to that.  I need ed a test, and the nurse was not be ing rude, she was saying, you know, clause to phobic, you just have to climb up here and get in.  
I said, ma'am, I have the full meal deal down my back.  I can't do that.  
>> Yeah. 
>> You've got a disability?  
>> I said, yes.  That's why I need the wheelchair sometimes and a walker.  
>> Mm‑hmm. 
>> Oh.  Did you mention that to us?  I said, yes, when I turned in my records.  
but unfortunately sometimes maybe they're just busy, or it's overlooked.  But it took a long, long time to get it because of it.  
so I total ly agree, we need to let people know that there are almost a blindness when it comes to the reality of what disability is.  

>> Yes.  Well, and it's change ing.  
and, you know, at some point, you know, every ‑‑ it's not if, it's when.  
you know, and where you fall on this continuum that also has many multi‑levels within the continuum.  
it's a very interest ing thing.  But in terms of kiddo s, I worry about regression.  
you know, kiddos that are not getting services now.  
you know, the services that they are getting are absolute ly vital to them progress ing within education at all.   
so, you know, that's a hard thing, you know?  PTOT speech, you know, vital.  Vital services.  
          
>> Yes.  
>> And that's just ‑‑ again, that doesn't even bring up ‑‑ once a child has these services, then you've got to worry about, well, are the people providing the services, or are they trained in a good way.  
you know, like Deborah said earlier, to make sure that, you know, they are getting the services they need and they are progress ing in the way they should or can, or have the right to.  
>> Transportation was a problem when my children were going from Scottish rite into the school trying to make appointments.  [Her screen froze]. 
          It's part of what my children need according to their IEP s.  But all I got was, it's disruptive.  I thought it would be worse if they didn't get it, disruptive to their entire life 
>> Mm‑hmm.  Again, it's just this ‑‑ you know, I don't mean to overgeneral ize these things, because again, disabilities is so complex.  
but ‑‑ but if COVID has taught us anything, it's that we really need to be look ing at disability differently, and planning, you know, planning differently.  
universal design is so, so important.  
you know?  To make sure that everyone has access not only to physical buildings, but again, has access to access to the education they need and services they need.  
we just really need to change our whole attitude and our whole view.  
Deborah says, yes, universal design is very important.  

>> In what way would she want to expand on that?  
>> Okay, hold on.  
          She says, COVID has also shown us that systems can be more flexible and should be more flexible to accommodate.  Yes.  Hear hear.  
>> Total ly, I agree with that.  
>> In a lot of ways, once we learn how to transition, it should open doors for people with disabilities.  You know, but it's a matter of getting everybody on board, get everybody transition ed.  
making sure, again, everybody has access to some sort of technology.  
and can maintain that access.  
I mean, parents right now in general, they just have ‑‑ I mean, with kiddo s going back to school now, I feel for them.  
it's a whole new world.  
okay.  It looks like ... 
          
>> So, did you all come back on your own, or did it just bring y'all back?  
>> I click ed leave the breakout session, but it was count ing down, like it was fix ing to kick everybody out. 
>> Gotcha. 
>> Hey, Chase.  How is it going?  
>> Good.  How about you?  
>> I can't complain. 
>> You still in Colorado?  
>> Oh, no, I got back August 8th.  I wish I was still there. 
>> I understand.  
>> Ooh, yeah.  Anyway, peace and joy, buddy. 
>> You, too.  Talk to you soon.  I'm going to mute, Laura.  

>> Perna: Okay.  Everybody should be come ing back into the room.  
          Hello again, everyone.  It looks like we may have lost a few folks.  
but I think we're all back in.  
all right.  
          Thanks, everyone.  I hope that was a good experience, and y'all had some good discussions.  
          I'm going to invite y'all to quickly take a highlight, or a takeaway from your discussion and type it into the chat box.  To share with the group.  
you can just go ahead and type that in, and hit enter, and share that now.  
          If you don't have access to the chat, there will be a place in the feedback form to give us your comments and we'll send a link to that out after we're done.  
          So go ahead and type in your comments, your takeaways, your vision of what an absolute ly amaze ing session for ECI is going to look like.  
and we will just read through those and I'll share those, and then I think Jolene and Jenn have another poll 
>> Hey, Laura, can I add on real quick?  This is Chase Bearden with CTD.  The information you give us right now lets us build off of that for the session.  
Laura, brought to my attention a minute ago hosted from every week, we'll post this up on our website.  
so others will be able to see what areas people are talking about.  
and that way we can help find and make those connection s and work together.  So the more information you're able to give us right now, really does help.  
and that follow‑up that you can do in an e‑mail, if you can't get it time right now benefits all of us to keep work ing towards that goal.  
          
>> Perna: So Jolene and Jenn, did you all want to take it from here?  
>> Sure.  First of all, continue to, you know, to let those thoughts flow, and just add them into the chat box.  
because like Laura said, we'll be look ing at all of this, and read ing them as well.  
          Hopeful ly this is a good opportunity for you guys, to kind of connect with other advocates.  Family members, self‑advocates.  
so we kind of want to know how it went.  So we're going to want to know the poll.  
I'll go ahead and describe it when Jenn launches it here in a second.  If you don't mind filling it out as honestly as possible. .  You won't hurt our feelings.  What are your initial thoughts about this session?  First of all, it was great.  
or okay, but would have done something differently.  
or you didn't like this format at all.  
so we'll leave that up there for a little while and give you guys some time.  To complete that.  
          
>> Perna: While y'all are giving us feedback about the session, Dennis, do you want to thank our wonderful sponsors?  
>> Borel: I do.  And you know, this is a series.  This is not just today.  And we're very please ed to be able to do this, and do it at no cost.  
it makes it so much easier to do things this way when you can just invite people who put the time and the will and desire to get engage ed in Raise Your Voice.  But it does cost money.  
so how did that happen.  We had a nice set of sponsors.  You know, sort of the silver level care source.  Shield HealthCare, and on the gold level, the next higher up, DentaQuest partners, AstraZeneca, and Amgen.  Going up to the diamond level, PhRMA.  And our top funders are Hart InterCivic UnitedHealthcare and Superior Healthplan.  
and that allow ed everyone to ‑‑ for us to do these, and continue to do these.  
and we will do others beyond the ones we announce ed earlier.  
you'll get a follow‑up e‑mail, another survey if you don't do the one on the poll you're take ing.  
links for the next several sessions.  
and I just wanted to also say this is really important, as Chase said.  We listen to what you say and adjust what we're do ing.  
it all comes from you.  
          I would just speak real briefly, and I talked about this a little bit in our breakout, 
a lot of people are interested in more fund ing for these programs.  
they're great programs.  They're return money.  In other words, they save you more money than they cost, or actual ly bring in revenues, because people can go to work because they're now successful in education.  
          And we've been hearing people, our state leaders talk about how this is going to be a bad session for fund ing any services.  
in fact, they're talking about shortfalls and cuts and all this.  The real answer to that is, don't believe it.  
don't believe it.  
they have a large rainy day fund.  They've already gotten billions extra from the feds.  They'll get more.  
there's loopholes favor ing certain small groups that have been kept in place well beyond their useful ness.  
there are other ways to raise money.  
so remember what we're talking about, we're talking about smart advocacy, smart public policy, 
things that work for our whole community, and things that ultimately are afford able.  
and so don't buy this idea that we're broke.  We won't be broke, and it's not our worry.  
that they come up with a budget.  That's their job.  We can give them plenty of ideas, but it's their job.  
what their job is not to do is say, too bad, go away, you folks, we're not going to serve, you know, children with disabilities.  
that is not an accept able deterrent.  So I'll kick it back to whoever is close ing out.  
>> I just want to say really quickly, thank you all for your patience.  I know many of you probably have been on a million zoom calls or you just don't like zoom and that's fine, because we're not all super fans of it.  
but I appreciate your patience with us navigating this virtual platform.  
normally we would be do ing this in person.  But we do value your feedback, and obviously none of the things we discuss today are an exhaustive list.  
we hope that you will continue to share your thoughts, your recommendation s, your creative solutions, and your concerns with us.  
so thank you for be ing here.  

>> And always feel free to e‑mail us any more ideas you have, or policy ideas, or things you hear from other people.  
if we need to add to this.  
or even if you think adjust ing the format would better serve everyone.  
please let us know.  We want to make sure it works for everyone and we can continue on conversations.  Thank you y'all.  

>> Thank you.  
>> Thank you.  
>> Bye, everybody.  
>> Bye!  
>> Bye.  Thank you, guys. 
>> Bye.  Thank you. 
>> Take care, y'all.  Thanks.  

          [Time is 3:02 p.m.]