4196

EXECUTIVE ORDERS

WHEREAS, State law does not contain an adequate or comprehensive
definition of developmental disability, and therefore does
not clearly delineate the eligibility of developmentally
disabled citizens to the assistance and services provided by
the State;

WHEREAS, Maryland, as well as several other states of the nation,
have been attempting to assess the implications of adopting
the federal functional definition of developmental
disability as set forth in the Rehabilitation, Comprehensive
Services and Developmental Disabilities Amendments of 1978
(P.L. 95-602);

WHEREAS, The Federal Government's use of different definitions in
determining the eligibility of developmentally disabled
citizens for Special Education and Medicaid services has
further hampered Maryland's effort to clarify eligibility
for State assistance and services;

WHEREAS, The Governor appointed a study group to examine these
issues;

WHEREAS, The Developmental Disabilities Definition Study Group
determined that substituting the federal functional
definition for the categorical definitions in existing State
law would enable Maryland to serve developmentally disabled
citizens on the basis of substantial functional limitations
in, at least, three of seven major life activity areas, and
not simply by categorical type of disability;

WHEREAS, The study group's recommendations gave rise to a number
of significant fiscal, legal, programmatic, and policy
questions for which the State lacked adequate information,
and therefore was unable to resolve;

WHEREAS, The State has now established a demonstration project   at

the Walter P. Carter Center which will enable the State    to

assess the impact of adopting a functional definition  of
developmental disability;

WHEREAS, This demonstration project will assist the State in
identifying the number of developmentally disabled citizens
by level and type of disability, and therefore enable the
State to plan and develop the most appropriate services to
meet the needs of the developmentally disabled citizens;

WHEREAS, The State's ability to assist developmentally disabled
citizens necessitates a comprehensive review of the
provisions in Title 7 of the Health General Article of the
Annotated Code of Maryland;