Initial 2,500 Self-Determination Participants Selected

On Monday, October 1st, the Department of Developmental Services (DDS) announced that the initial 2,500 participants for the Self-Determination Program were selected.

To find out if you were one of the 2,500 people selected to participate now, enter your Unique Client Identifier number at https://www.dds.ca.gov/SDPverification/index.cfm. DDS will also mail notification letters to all applicants to communicate their selection status. You can also contact your Regional Center.

Those who were not selected initially to participate will remain on the list for subsequent selections if some of the initial 2,500 choose not to enroll or discontinue in the program. The Department will continue to collect and add names of those interested in the program for subsequent selections.

The Self-Determination Program is based on beliefs that people —

• Plan their own lives and make their own decisions
• Determine how funding is spent for their services and supports
• Plan and choose their own formal and informal supports
• Take responsibility for the decisions made
• Validate those decisions through maintaining ongoing control

The five principles of self-determination are —

• Freedom to exercise the same rights as all citizens; to establish, with freely chosen supports, family and friends, where they want to live, with whom they want to live, how their time will be occupied, and who supports them;
• Authority to control a budget in order to purchase services and supports of their choosing;
• Support, including the ability to arrange resources and personnel, which will allow flexibility to live in the community of their choice;
• Responsibility, which includes the opportunity to take responsibility for making decisions in their own lives and accept a valued role in their community, and,
• Confirmation, in making decisions in their own lives by designing and operating the service that they rely on.

Please visit https://www.dds.ca.gov/SDP/SDPUpdates.cfm for updated information on the program.

Jordan Lindsey, Executive Director, The Arc of California