Ability Unleashed

/Home/Society and Culture - Woodbridge, VA

OUR MISSION

The mission of Ability Unleashed is activism, advocacy, training, and education to ensure equality of opportunity and true access to freedom for Americans with disabilities and their families.

The Company is focused on three primary areas; the first is services to people with disabilities under Virginia's Medicaid Waiver Programs. Ability Unleashed has a second focus on providing information, support, and services to active duty members of the United States Armed Forces and their family members who have disabilities. Finally, Ability Unleashed focuses on monitoring policy and participating advocacy and activism.


THE INDIVIDUAL AND FAMILY DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES SUPPORT WAIVER (DD WAIVER)

What is ("The DD Waiver")?

A "Waiver" is a Medicaid program that provides a range of home and companion care services to individuals found eligible under the Waiver guidelines. Those eligible for Waiver services are individuals who would be unable to continue in their home setting without those services. The goal of Waivers is to provide families with the flexibility to develop and implement alternatives to institutionalization and to provide necessary services to allow individuals to remain in their communities and out of institutions (more specifically defined by Medicaid as ICF/MRs or Intermediate Care Facilities for the Mentally Retarded). Waivers are a federal program administered by the states under the Department of Medical Assistance Services (DMAS), the agency that administrates Medicaid. Each state develops its own waivers and allocates funding for them, which is matched dollar for dollar by the federal government. Virginia currently has six Medicaid Waivers: Assistive Technology, AIDS, Consumer-Directed Personal Attendant Services, Elderly and Disabled, Mental Retardation (MR) and the newest Developmental Disabilities Waiver.



What are the eligibility requirements for the DD Waiver?



The DD Waiver is Virginia's newest Waiver program, effective July 1, 2000. It's important to note that eligibility for Medicaid Waivers differs from that of eligibility for “regular”, or State Plan Medicaid services. However, once an individual applies for a Medicaid Waiver and is approved for Medicaid eligibility, the individual can receive Medicaid Waiver and all other “regular” Medicaid services, such as prescription drugs, medical coverage. Eligibility requirements for the DD Waiver are as follows:



1. Must be six years old or older (children under six years old must receive services under

the MR Waiver until their sixth birthday, at which time they can apply for the DD Waiver)



2. Must be diagnosed with autism, cerebral palsy, epilepsy or any other developmental

disability other than MR evident before age 22. (Any diagnosis of MR disallows eligibility

for the DD Waiver).



3. The Disability results in a substantial limitation in three or more of these

areas:

Self care

Communication (verbal or nonverbal)

Learning

Mobility

Self-direction

Capacity for independent living



4. Parental income is NOT considered when determining eligibility, regardless of the

individual's age.

1422 Decoy Ct.
Woodbridge, VA 22191

(703) 497-1580 ● Fax (703) 497-4762