Terms Used In Rhode Island General Laws > Chapter 40.1-21 - Division of Developmental Disabilities

• Ancillary services: means those services provided, and shall include, but not be limited to, transportation, housing, housing adaptation, personal attendant care, and homemaker services. See Rhode Island General Laws 40.1-21-4.3
• Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
• Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. ^{Source: OCC}
• Case management: means the implementation of an individual's program by providing information, by referral to appropriate service providers, by procurement of services, and by the coordination of the necessary services. See Rhode Island General Laws 40.1-21-4.3
• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• Department: means the Rhode Island department of behavioral healthcare, developmental disabilities and hospitals. See Rhode Island General Laws 40.1-21-4.3
• Developmentally disabled adult: means a person, eighteen (18) years old or older and not under the jurisdiction of the department of children, youth and families who is either a mentally retarded developmentally disabled adult or is a person with a severe, chronic disability that:

  (i)  Is attributable to a mental or physical impairment or combination of mental and physical impairments;

  (ii)  Is manifested before the person attains age twenty-two (22);

  (iii)  Is likely to continue indefinitely;

  (iv)  Results in substantial functional limitations in three (3) or more of the following areas of major life activity:

  (A)  Self care;

  (B)  Receptive and expressive language;

  (C)  Learning;

  (D)  Mobility;

  (E)  Self-direction;

  (F)  Capacity for independent living;

  (G)  Economic self-sufficiency; and

  (v)  Reflects the person's need for a combination and sequence of special, interdisciplinary, or generic care, treatment, or other services that are of lifelong or extended duration and are individually planned and coordinated. See Rhode Island General Laws 40.1-21-4.3

• Diagnosis and evaluation: means a process to determine whether and to what extent an individual is developmentally disabled and a study of the individual's condition, situation, and needs that lead to a recommendation of what services, if any, would benefit the individual. See Rhode Island General Laws 40.1-21-4.3
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• Ex officio: Literally, by virtue of one's office.
• Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
• Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• person: may be construed to extend to and include co-partnerships and bodies corporate and politic. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-6
• real estate: may be construed to include lands, tenements, and hereditaments and rights thereto and interests therein. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-10
• Supportive services: means those services provided to developmentally disabled adults, and shall include, but not be limited to, occupational therapy, physical therapy, psychological services, counseling, nursing services, and medical services. See Rhode Island General Laws 40.1-21-4.3
• United States: include the several states and the territories of the United States. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-8