Subject Index Disabled and Elder Care

The Equitable Access to Education, Employment, and Training for Incarcerated Individuals with Disabilities Act seeks to provide fair access to educational programs, work assignments, and vocational programs offering earned program sentence credit to incarcerated individuals with intellectual or developmental disabilities.

The Illinois General Assembly enacted the End-of-Life Options for Terminally Ill Patients Act. The Act will permit a mentally capable adult resident with a terminal disease to request a prescription for self-administered medication that brings about a peaceful death.

The Illinois General Assembly amended the Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Confidentiality Act to expand access to minors’ mental health and developmental records. The amendment allows parents or guardians of minors, regardless of the minor’s age, to inspect and copy records relating to mental health or developmental treatments and services provided to the minor, as long as the minor is receiving special education services under the School Code. 

On Oct. 30, 2024, the Third District of the Illinois Appellate Court held that a voluntary refusal to undergo a low-risk surgery could be considered unreasonable behavior in the context of applying for a disability pension.

The Illinois General Assembly amended the Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Administrative Act. To be admitted to a state-operated mental health facility for the developmentally disabled, an individual must be at least 18 years old, they and their guardian (if they have one) must have received or attempted to receive education on community-based services, they must meet the intermediate level of care definition, and they must meet all clinical eligibility requirements.

The Illinois General Assembly amended the Adult Protective Services Act. The definition of “abuse” was expanded with regard to disabled persons between the ages of 18 and 59 and all persons over the age of 60 who reside in domestic-living situations.

Amendments were adopted to the Adult Protective Services Program (89 Ill. Adm. Code 270 (effective July 1, 2018)) adding references to "self-neglect," clarifying the Adult Protective Services Registry, and establishing administrative procedures for appeals related to inclusion in the registry.

Amendments to the Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) Account Program (74 Ill. Adm. Code 722 (effective May 23, 2018)) clarify that the parents of an adult with a disability can manage ABLE accounts on behalf of their child without appointment by a court.