Agenda

Registration and breakfast

Welcome

• Judy Mark, President, Disability Voices United
• Aaron Carruthers, Executive Director, State Council on Developmental Disabilities
• Benjamin and Jono Wenger, SnapIF

Opening Plenary Panel:
The Importance of Choice and Control Over Our Lives

This opening panel session features people with disabilities who participate in the Self-Determination Program and practice supported decision-making. The panelists will provide examples in their lives of how SDM and the SDP lead to meaningful lives and outcomes.

• Melissa Crisp-Cooper, Associate Director of Participant Experience, The Arc San Francisco
• Thomas David Forderer, LIFE Connector, PRAGNYA
• Peter Mendoza, Community Program Specialist II, California State Council on Developmental Disabilities
• Jackie Yang, LIFE Connector, PRAGNYA
• Judy Mark, President, Disability Voices United, Moderator

Plenary Panel:
Supported Decision-Making in Action: How SDM Works as an Alternative to Conservatorship

This panel will cover the basics of supported decision-making: what California law says and the differences between SDM and conservatorship.

• Zoe Brennan-Krohn, Director, Disability Rights Program, ACLU
• Claudia Center, Legal Director, Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund (DREDF) and parent
• Ayesha Elaine Lewis, Senior Staff Attorney, Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund (DREDF)
• Dashiell Meier and Kristin Meier, Self-Advocate, Ambassador, Center on Youth Voice, Youth Choice and Parent
• Vivian Do, Project Manager, Supported Decision-Making Training and Information Center, Disability Voices United, Moderator

Breakout Sessions:
Supported Decision-Making in Health Care and Finances

This session will give you practical tools on how to use SDM in health care and finances, such as powers of attorney.

• Madeline Handy, Outreach Specialist, CalABLE
• Clarissa Kripke, MD, FAAFP, Clinical Professor of Family and Community Medicine, Director, Developmental Primary Care, University of California, San Francisco
• Amelia Ott, Parent, SDM-TAP Program Manager, Family Resource Navigators
• Thao Tran, Parent and family advocate, nurse practitioner, DVU Ambassador, Disability Rights Advocate
• Marta Green, Parent Advocate, President, Marta Green Consulting, Moderator

Supported Decision-Making in Education and Transition to Adulthood

This session focuses on practicing SDM at the earliest ages and using SDM at school IEPs and as children with disabilities become adults.

• Eileen Crumm, Executive Director, Family Resource Navigators and parent
• Darlene Hanson, MA-SLP, Training Coordinator, Disability Voices United
• Talya Kemper, Associate Professor, California State University East Bay, Founder, Think by the Bay and Parent
• Carolyn Tellalian, LCSW, Parent and Board Member, Disability Voices United
• Antonio Milane, Self-Advocate and Board Member, Disability Voices United, Moderator

Lunch
You can choose to eat in the Laurel Room or take your lunch upstairs for the following session:

Ask the Experts About SDM and SDP

Join experts on supported decision-making and the Self-Determination Program in a casual conversation. Tina has been in the SDP for twenty years and practices SDM every day. Kavita and Kishan coach individuals and families on how to use SDM and are Independent Facilitators in the SDP.

• Tina Ewing-Wilson, Outreach Specialist, Howard McBroom Fellow, Disability Voices United
• Kavita Sreedhar, Co-Founder, PRAGNYA, SDM Coach and SDP Independent Facilitator
• Kishan Sreedhar, Co-Founder, PRAGNYA, SDM Coach and SDP Independent Facilitator

Step by Step in the SDP

This panel will feature an overview of the steps to enter the SDP. It will cover person-centered planning, individual budgets, spending plans, FMSs, and oversight.

• Lisa Chen, Manager, Ritz FMS
• Tina Ewing-Wilson, Outreach Specialist, Howard McBroom Fellow, Disability Voices United
• Vi Ibarra, Contra Costa County Developmental Disabilities Council, Parent, and member, Regional Center of the East Bay SDP Advisory Committee
• Michelle Smith, Parent, PT, MA, Independent Facilitator, Pathway to Change, PurdySmith Collaboration
• Sandra Van Scotter, Parent, Chair, Kern Regional Center SDP Advisory Committee
• Nina Spiegelman, Director of Policy, Disability Voices United, Moderator

Breakout Sessions:
Beginning Your SDP Journey

The panelists will provide advice on how to start the SDP, the lessons they have learned, and ways to overcome barriers.

• Morgan Curtiz, Self-Determination Program Specialist, Far Northern Regional Center
• Rob Lewis, Director of Business Development, GT Independence
• Ken Parekh, Parent, Co-Chair, Golden Gate Regional Center SDP Advisory Committee
• Suzy Requarth, Head of Care Management, NeuroNav
• Cynthia Salomon-Ponce, Acting Self-Determination Program Ombudsperson, Department of Developmental Services
• Miguel Lugo, Outreach Specialist, Disability Voices United, Moderator

Latest Changes to the SDP

This panel will cover how the SDP has and will be changing over the next few years based on recent laws passed. While most changes have not yet been implemented, we will discuss a broad overview of the coming changes.

• Katie Hornberger, Deputy Director, Division of Community Assistance and Resolutions, Department of Developmental Services
• Judy Mark, Parent and President, Disability Voices United
• Marlene Morales, SDP Manager, Department of Developmental Services
• Rick Wood, Parent and Co-Chair, Statewide Self-Determination Advisory Committee
• Sherry Novick, Parent and Board Member, Disability Voices United, Moderator

Closing Plenary Panel:
Bringing It All Together: SDP and SDM are the Future for Disability Rights

How the SDP and SDM are life-changing for individuals and game-changing for the systems that are supposed to serve us.

• Aaron Carruthers, Executive Director, State Council on Developmental Disabilities
• Tina Ewing-Wilson, Howard McBroom Fellow, Disability Voices United
• Oscar Mercado, Self-Advocate, Director, Community Programs, ICC
• Alison Morantz, Director, Stanford Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Law and Policy Project and Parent
• Gilda Giron, Director of Outreach and Leadership Training, Disability Voices United, Moderator