In This Issue:

  • Share Your Stories with The Arc
  • Prepare for the Medicaid and CHP+ Renewals Process
  • Tell Congress: Pass Disability Funding Now!
  • Ask Your Senators to Support the SSI Savings Penalty Elimination Act
  • In A Different Key Movie Streaming Soon
  • Don't Miss Coffee House Tomorrow!

Share Your Stories with The Arc

Storytelling enables sharing information that can increase understanding and emotional connections. A powerful story can help change perceptions and lives.

At The Arc, telling stories is an essential tool to educate and motivate others within and beyond the world of disabilities. When successful, storytelling can motivate people to make positive changes in outdated systems.

We are always interested in stories from individuals and families in our community! Each year, we share stories though video and live speeches during our Summit of Hope. You can view this year's Summit of Hope video stories by clicking here. 

Our goal in storytelling is to help amplify the voices of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and increase awareness in the broader community. The Arc-JCCGC practices ethical storytelling, to guarantee that whenever people give us the privilege of helping to share their stories, we will do it in a fair and respectful manner.

If you have a great story connected to The Arc or the IDD community, please email our communications team at: [email protected].

And if you're interested in watching more video stories, click here for a campaign presented by The Arc U.S.: Real Stories and Real People.
Prepare for the Medicaid and CHP+ Renewals Process


Health First Colorado and CHP+ members: It will be critical for you to complete renewals for healthcare coverage when the Public Health Emergency (PHE) ends.

Even though Health First Colorado and CHP+ members will not lose coverage during the current PHE, you still receive regular renewal notices each year in the mail and in your PEAK inbox. Members must pay attention to renewal notices and fill out the necessary forms to make sure they keep their Health First Colorado and CHP+ coverage if they are still eligible.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services declared a PHE in response to the outbreak of COVID-19 in January 2020. Congress subsequently passed legislation that ensured anyone enrolled in Health First Colorado (Medicaid) was guaranteed to keep their health coverage during the Public Health Emergency. This applies to people covered by CHP+, too. according to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Financing.

Tell Congress: Pass Disability Funding Now

Millions of people with disabilities rely on home and community-based services (HCBS) to stay in their communities and out of congregate settings, but there isn’t enough money in the program to support everyone. People with disabilities rely on home and community-based services for everyday things like employment supports, getting around the community, dressing, bathing, taking medication, and much more.
 
More than 820,000 Americans are on waiting lists to receive HCBS and are not getting the services they need. The Senate is currently considering making a major investment in disability services, but we need your help to make sure it happens!
 
Act now so people with disabilities, their families, and the direct support professional workforce can get the support they need!
 
Click here to ask Congress to fund HCBS so people with disabilities can access critical services and supports and live in their own community.

Ask Your Senators to Support the SSI Savings Penalty Elimination Act

The Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program provides critical support for millions of people with disabilities and their families to be able to afford necessities like food and rent. But SSI has many unfair and outdated rules that make it hard for people to save money and get out of poverty.

For example, people who get SSI can only have $2,000 in assets or $3,000 if they are married—this includes money in bank accounts, property, and savings. These asset limits have not been updated since 1989, forcing many people with disabilities into poverty.
We need changes to SSI now that would significantly improve the lives of people with disabilities who receive SSI!

The SSI Savings Penalty Elimination Act raises the asset limit to $10,000 for individuals and $20,000 for couples. The legislation also adjusts that number for inflation every year. This will allow SSI beneficiaries to better address needed emergencies when they arise.

Please contact your U.S. Senators and ask them to support people with disabilities and their families by co-sponsoring the bipartisan SSI Savings Penalty Elimination Act. Interested? Click here.
In A Different Key Movie Streaming Soon

In a Different Key is a movie that depicts how life turned out for Donald Triplett, the first child diagnosed with autism.

According to PBS, the movie is about a mother tracking down the first person ever diagnosed with autism, now an elderly man living in rural Mississippi, to learn if his life story holds promise for her own son with autism. Her journey exposes a startling record of cruelty and kindness alike, framed by forces like race, money and privilege – but leads to hope that more communities are learning to have the backs of people on the spectrum.

In a Different Key is scheduled to stream online on the Rocky Mountain PBS website on December 20 at 10 p.m. and on December 21 at 6 a.m.

To view the movie trailer on pbs.com and to watch the broadcast during the scheduled streaming times: click here.
Don't Miss Coffee House Tomorrow!

Join us at our monthly social gathering. Everyone is welcome at Coffee House!

Come and make new friends, mingle with people of all abilities, and promote inclusion in our community.

Thursday, December 15: 5:30 to 7:00 PM
Panera Bread
650 S. Wadsworth Blvd., Lakewood

Hope to see you there!

For more information on this and other upcoming events, click here to check out our calendar.