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State seeks public comment on updated draft Olmstead Plan, aimed at helping those with disabilities

The Olmstead Plan offers a blueprint for guiding people with disabilities toward inclusive home and work settings. Adobe stock photo.

The Olmstead Plan offers a blueprint for guiding people with disabilities toward inclusive home and work settings. Adobe stock photo. 

State officials are seeking public comment on a newly released draft of the Olmstead Plan, aimed at guiding people with disabilities toward independence. 

The 2024-25 Olmstead Plan offers a blueprint for how the state can best assist people with disabilities and help them experience the benefits of inclusive communities.

It further aligns North Carolina’s community integration goals with directives based on the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Olmstead v. L.C.

Much has changed since the release of the previous Olmstead plan, including the legislature’s approval of an $835 million investment in behavioral health. The recent expansion of Medicaid and investments in community living and workforce initiatives have also impacted the landscape.

The state is now seeking public comment through an email listed on the NCDHHS website. The deadline for comment is March 7, and the final two-year plan is expected to be published in April.

Neal Charnoff joined 88.5 WFDD as Morning Edition host in 2014. Raised in the Catskill region of upstate New York, he graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1983. Armed with a liberal arts degree, Neal was fully equipped to be a waiter. So he prolonged his arrested development bouncing around New York and L.A. until discovering that people enjoyed listening to his voice on the radio. After a few years doing overnight shifts at a local rock station, Neal spent most of his career at Vermont Public Radio. He began as host of a nightly jazz program, where he was proud to interview many of his idols, including Dave Brubeck and Sonny Rollins. Neal graduated to the news department, where he was the local host for NPR's All Things Considered for 14 years. In addition to news interviews and features, he originated and produced the Weekly Conversation On The Arts, as well as VPR Backstage, which profiled theater productions around the state. He contributed several stories to NPR, including coverage of a devastating ice storm. Neal now sees the value of that liberal arts degree, and approaches life with the knowledge that all subjects and all art forms are connected to each other. Neal and his wife Judy are enjoying exploring North Carolina and points south. They would both be happy to never experience a Vermont winter again.

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