News

DRM Serves on Mental Health Working Group

Jun 18, 2020 | Community Mental Health

In 2019 DRM was appointed a member of the legislatively-mandated Mental Health Working group. I had the pleasure to be the appointed member from DRM on that group. In the first legislative session of 2019 Senator Cathy Breen presented a bill in the Maine Legislature...

New Maine Law Increases Access to Hearing Aids

Feb 24, 2020 | Deaf Services

On January 1, 2020, Maine became one of only a handful of states that require private insurers to cover the cost of hearing aids for adults. The change is the result of a bill, “L.D. 38 An Act To Require Insurance Coverage for Hearing Aids for Adults,” which was...

Leave as a Reasonable Accommodation under the Maine Human Rights Act

Dec 22, 2019 | Employment

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Maine Human Rights Act (MHRA) are comprehensive anti-discrimination statutes that prohibit discrimination against individuals with disabilities in private employment, state and local government employment, public...

Pulling Back the Curtain: Maine Children in Residential Placements

Dec 4, 2019 | Children's & Education Rights

In July, Katrina Ringrose and I traveled to Fordyce, Arkansas, to visit a residential mental health treatment program where three Maine youth were living. In my three years at DRM, I have visited youth with disabilities in out-of-home placements across the state of...

DRM Death Investigation Leads to Recommendations for Increased State Oversight of Maine’s Progressive Treatment Program

Sep 10, 2019 | Community Mental Health, Inpatient Psychiatric Settings & Group Homes

Disability Rights Maine (DRM) was contacted by the mother and legal guardian of John Doe[1], a 40 year old man who had been found unresponsive in his apartment and was later declared dead. The mother stated that her son was an individual with mental illness and was...

Issue Spotting in Rep Payee Relationships

Aug 27, 2019 | Rep Payee Review Program

For those who may be unfamiliar, a representative payee, or “payee”, is an individual or an organization who manages the Social Security benefits of a person who SSA has determined unable to manage, or direct the management, of their own benefits[1]. You may be...