42 U.S.C. § 15002 — Definitions

In this subchapter:
(1) “American Indian Consortium^*” means a federation of at least two recognized tribes, officially created by each participating tribe, with 150,000 enrolled resident members combined and connected Indian lands in at least two States.
(2) “Areas of emphasis” means quality assurance, education, early intervention, child care, health, employment, housing, transportation, recreation, and other formal or informal community services and supports affecting quality of life.
(3) “Assistive technology device” means any commercial, modified, or customized item, equipment, or product system used to increase, maintain, or improve functional abilities.
(4) “Assistive technology service” means direct help selecting, obtaining, or using such a device, including evaluating needs in the usual environment; buying, leasing, or otherwise obtaining it; selecting, designing, fitting, customizing, adapting, applying, maintaining, repairing, or replacing it; coordinating it with therapy or an education or rehabilitation plan; training or technical help for the person and, when appropriate, family, guardian, advocate, or representative; and training or technical help for professionals, employers, or others substantially involved in the person’s major life functions.
(5) “Center” means a University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities Education, Research, and Service under part D.
(6) “Child care-related activities” means advocacy, capacity building, and systemic change that give families of children with developmental disabilities access to community child care, including before-school, after-school, and out-of-school care.
(7) “Culturally competent” means providing services, supports, or assistance responsively to recipients’ beliefs, interpersonal styles, attitudes, language, and behavior, in a way most likely to maximize their participation.
(8) “Developmental disability” means a severe, chronic disability attributable to mental or physical impairment, appearing before age 22, likely to continue indefinitely, causing substantial limits in at least three major-life-activity areas—self-care; receptive and expressive language; learning; mobility; self-direction; independent living; or economic self-sufficiency—and requiring a planned, coordinated combination and sequence of special, interdisciplinary, or generic services, individualized supports, or other lifelong or extended assistance. A person from birth through age 9 with substantial delay or a specified congenital or acquired condition may qualify without meeting three criteria if, without services and supports, the person probably would meet them later.
(9) “Early intervention activities” means advocacy, capacity building, and systemic change for those young children and their families to maximize the children’s development and families’ ability to meet their special needs.
(10) “Education activities” means such activities enabling appropriate supports and modifications, maximum educational potential, lifelong education, and integration and inclusion in student life.
(11) “Employment-related activities” means such activities resulting in obtaining, keeping, or advancing in paid, supported, or self-employment in integrated community settings.
(12) “Family support services” means services and assistance designed to strengthen the family’s primary-caregiver role, prevent inappropriate out-of-home placement and preserve unity, and reunite families when possible. They include respite, rehabilitation and assistive technology, personal assistance, parent training and counseling, support for aging caregivers, vehicle and home changes, and help with extraordinary disability-related expenses.
(13) “Health-related activities” means such activities giving access to coordinated health, dental, mental-health, human, and social services, including prevention.
(14) “Housing-related activities” means such activities giving access to community housing and supports, including help renting, owning, or modifying a home.
(15) “Inclusion” means acceptance and encouragement of people with developmental disabilities participating with nondisabled people in social, educational, work, and community activities, with chosen friendships and relationships; homes near community resources and regular contact with nondisabled people; equal access to community activities and employment; and use of the same community resources while living, learning, working, and enjoying life.
(16) “Individualized supports” are supports enabling self-determination, independence, productivity, integration, and inclusion; designed to control the person’s environment, permit the most independent life, avoid unnecessarily restrictive placement, and enable community life; and including early intervention, respite, personal assistance, family support, supported employment, aging-caregiver family support, rehabilitation and assistive technology, and related services.
(17) “Integration” means the equal right to access and use community resources used by and available to others.
(18) “Not-for-profit” means an agency, institution, or organization owned or operated by corporations or associations whose net earnings do not benefit a private shareholder or individual.
(19) “Personal assistance services” means services by one or more people that help a person with a disability perform ordinary daily activities, including work activities, and increase control and ability in everyday life.
(20) “Prevention activities” address causes of developmental disabilities and worsening functional limits by reducing causes or risk factors, identifying problems early, and reducing effects throughout life.
(21) “Productivity” means income-producing work shown by increased income, better employment status, or advancement, or work contributing to a household or community.
(22) “Protection and advocacy system” means one established under section 15043.
(23) “Quality assurance activities” are activities improving consumer- and family-centered assurance and protection systems that monitor services so people avoid abuse, neglect, exploitation, rights violations, and inappropriate restraint or seclusion; train people and families in leadership, self-advocacy, and self-determination to avoid those harms; or coordinate agencies and integrate systems to improve and protect self-determination, independence, productivity, integration, and inclusion.
(24) “Recreation-related activities” provide access to community recreation, leisure, and social activities through advocacy, capacity building, and systemic change.
(25) “Rehabilitation technology” means applying technology, engineering, or science to meet needs and remove barriers in education, rehabilitation, employment, transportation, independent living, and recreation; it includes rehabilitation engineering and assistive devices and services.
(26) “Secretary” means the Secretary of Health and Human Services.
(27) “Self-determination activities” result in appropriate assistance giving people the ability and opportunity to communicate and decide, communicate choices and control services, control resources, participate and contribute in communities, and receive support to advocate, build leadership, join coalitions, educate policymakers, and help make public policy.
(28) “State^*” includes each State, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands, unless otherwise provided.
(29) “State Council on Developmental Disabilities” means a council established under section 15025.
(30) “Supported employment services” enable competitive work in integrated settings for people for whom competitive employment has not traditionally occurred or has been interrupted or intermittent because of significant disabilities, and who need intensive or extended support because of the nature and severity of their disabilities.
(31) “Transportation-related activities” provide access to and use of transportation through advocacy, capacity building, and systemic change.
(32) “Unserved and underserved” includes racial and ethnic minorities, disadvantaged people, people with limited English, people in underserved rural or urban areas, and particular groups of people with developmental disabilities, including those needing assistive technology to participate and contribute in community life.