Resources

Glossary of Terms

Accessible Housing: A home that accomodates disability related assistive technology.
Assistive Technology: Devices that people use to conduct activities of daily living.
Adult Rehabilitative Mental Health Services (ARMHS): Services that develop and enhance psychiatric stability, social competencies, personal and emotional adjustment, and independent living and community skills, when these abilities are impaired by the symptoms of mental illness.
Brain Injury Waiver (BI): Provides funding for home and community-based services for children and adults who have brain injury.
Case Management: A collaborative process that assesses, plans, implements, coordinates, monitors and evaluates the options and services required to meet an individual's health needs, communicate and use available resources to promote quality, cost-effective outcomes.
CHOICE Domains: The Disability Services Division of the Minnesota DHS defines the domains of a meaningful life with the CHOICE acronym: Community membership; Health, wellness and safety; Own place to live; Important long-term relationships; Control over supports; and Employment earnings and stable income.
Circle of Support: A group of people selected by a person with disabilities to help plan, design and assist that person achieve their personal goals.
Closed questions: Questions that require a "yes" or "no" response that are often asked to gain confirmation.
Community Alternative Care Waiver (CAC): Provides funding for home and community-based services for children and adults who are chronically ill. The CAC Waiver is designed to serve individuals with disabilities who would otherwise require the level of care provided in a hospital.
Community Alternatives for Disabled Individuals Waiver (CADI): Provides funding for home and community-based services for children and adults who would otherwise require the level of care provided in a nursing facility.
Disability Benefits 101 (DB101): DB101 has tools and information on health coverage, benefits and employment. People can plan ahead and learn how work and benefits go together.
Developmental Disability Waiver (DD): Provides funding for home and community-based services for children and adults with developmental disabilities or related conditions.
Direct Deposit: The electronic transfer of a payment directly from the account of the payer to the recipient's account.
Disability Housing Voucher: Program for assisting low-income families and people with disabilities to afford modest, safe housing in the private market. The vouchers enable participants to find their own housing, including single-family homes, townhouses and apartments.
Energy cost assistance: Helps pay home energy costs and appliance repairs for income-qualified households.
Housing Access Coordination (HAC): HAC is a home and community based waiver service that helps eligible Minnesota adults with disabilities seek, locate and maintain modest, safe, accessible housing that is not owned, leased, or controlled by a disability services provider.
Housing Access Coordination Process: Four distinct phases (Plan, Find, Move, Follow-Up) help HAC coordinators meet major milestones in helping individuals seek, locate and maintain modest, safe, accessible housing.
Home and Community-Based Waivers: Medicaid home and community-based waivers offer supports to people with disabilities who would otherwise reside in hospitals, nursing facilities or Intermediate Care Facilities for Persons with Developmental Disabilities (ICFs/DDs). These services are available to eligible people in addition to services covered by MA.
Home Care Services: Provides medical and health-related services and assistance with day-to-day activities to people in their home. It can be used to provide short-term care for people moving from a hospital or nursing home back to their home, or it can also be used to provide continuing care to people with ongoing needs. Home care services may also be provided outside the person's home when normal life activities take them into the community.
Landlord: The owner of a house, apartment, condominium or real estate, which is rented or leased to a person who is called a tenant, a leasee or renter.
Lease: A legally enforceable contract that defines the relationship between an owner and renter. A typical lease spells out all of the terms involved in a rental agreement, including the length of time a lessee may use it and what condition it must be in upon return to the lessor. The amount of payments and any financial penalties for late payments may also be included in a lease contract. A lease is a binding legal agreement and the renter should be aware of all the conditions before signing.
Minnesota Supplemental Aid (MSA): A state-funded program that provides a monthly cash supplement to people who are aged, blind or disabled and who receive federal Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits. Some recipients who do not receive SSI because their other income is too high may still be eligible for MSA if they meet MSA eligibility criteria and their income is below the MSA standard. MSA participants are also eligible for help with medical costs through the Medical Assistance (MA) program and for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
Mover Journal: A short relocation journal based on an individual served by HAC that includes participant photos, housing "wish list," experiences and challenges, and information about the new home. Participants must provide permission to share their journal.
Occupational Therapy: Promotes health by enabling individuals to perform meaningful and purposeful activities across the lifespan. Occupational therapists use treatments to develop, recover or maintain the daily living and work skills of their patients with a physical, mental or developmental condition.
Open Questions: Questions that start with Who, What, Where, When, Why and How. Ask open questions to gain meaningful information from individuals.
Person-Centered Planning: A set of values and strategies that focus on people, rather than services or programs, driven by people's dreams, preferences, likes and dislikes.
Personal Care Assistance (PCA): Services that help a person with day-to-day activities in their home and community. PCAs help people with activities of daily living, health-related procedures and tasks, observation and redirection of behaviors and instrumental activities of daily living for adults.
Personal Futures Planning (PFP): A planning process that involves getting to know the person and what her life is like now, developing ideas about what she would like in the future, and taking action to move toward this by exploring possibilities within the community and looking at what needs to change within services.
Private Duty Nursing (PDN): Nursing services ordered by a physician for a recipient whose illness, injury, physical or mental condition requires more individual and continuous care by a Registered (RN) or Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) than can be provided in a single or twice-daily skilled nurse visit and requires greater skill than a Home Health Aide (HHA) or Personal Care Assistant (PCA) can provide.
Representative Payee: An arrangement by which a governmental agency may appoint a substitute person to receive funds on behalf of a recipient who is unable to manage the funds.
Semi-Independent Living Services (SILS): Services that include training and assistance in managing money, preparing meals, shopping, personal appearance, hygiene and other activities needed to maintain and improve the capacity of an adult with a developmental disability to live in the community. A goal of SILS is to support people in ways that enable them to achieve personally desired outcomes and lead self-directed lives.
Security Deposit: An upfront payment that guaruntees a landord will be compensated for any damages that may occur while a tenant is living on the property. The amount of this deposit is usually no more than one month's rent, but can be more.
MSA - Housing Assistance: The program provides financial support so eligible people with disabilities can find affordable housing. It allows people to choose where they would like to live.
Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI): A federal insurance program funded by payroll taxes for individuals who have been in the workforce, have paid into the Social Security system and have become disabled and are unable to work. In certain situations, it is also available to individuals who have never worked. SSDI is not based on financial need and is program under RSDI (Retirement, Survivor and Disability Insurance).
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (MN SNAP): A county-run federal program that helps Minnesotans with low incomes get the food they need for sound nutrition and well-balanced meals. The program issues electronic SNAP benefits that can help stretch household food budgets.
Supplemental Security Income (SSI): A federal needs-based program for children and adults who have not been able to work or have not worked enough to pay into the Social Security System. SSI helps to offset the costs of food, clothing and shelter with monthly benefit payments. It differs from Social Security Income and is funded from general tax revenues and not Social Security taxes.
Transitional Services: Services that help individuals move from a licensed setting to their own home. Transitional services include essential furniture and household goods, moving expenses, utility and security deposits, and related supports deemed necessary and reasonable.