Disability Rights North Carolina/web/89

How A Request Becomes A Case

When a person with a disability first contacts Disability Rights North Carolina (DRNC) our receptionist asks a few screening questions.

• Do you have a disability?
• Why are you calling DRNC?
• What kind of help are you looking?

If you are not the person with the disability the receptionist will ask if are you the parent of a minor child with a disability or the legal guardian of a person with a disability.

Why? We need to know that we are talking to someone who can legally 'hire' us to represent the person with a disability. You can always help the person call us.

If you need help to fix a problem that is an issue DRNC has the authority to address, your request will go in our database and appear on our Awaiting Intake list.

How Long Do You Have To Wait

Once you are on the Awaiting Intake list, it may take up to two working days for one of our Intake Specialists to return your call.

Every attempt to call you will be logged in our database. So if we call you and there is no answer, we log that in with the date and time.

(Remember if you have call waiting, there will be no record of our attempt at your end.)

If we leave a message, we log that in. If the line is busy, we log that in. Our Intake Specialists return the oldest calls first. Eventually, after leaving several voice mail messages, we will stop trying but we also give you a 5 day warning before we take you off the list.

The Interview

Once an Intake Specialist connects with the caller, they will first collect some basic information on the person with a disability - name, age, gender, race, income, type of disability, where the person lives, etc.

This is information we must collect to prove that we are doing our job. The answers to these questions will not impact our decisions to take your case. All of our services are free regardless of income.

Then the Specialist will listen to your issues. Their job is to ask lots of questions about who, what, where and how often. Questions like:

• What is happening or not happening?
• Who is responsible?
• How often did it happen?
• What led up to this?
• What paperwork you have?
• Have services been stopped or reduced?

What we do with the information

The information from your interview will be reviewed by an Attorney.

The Attorney is checking to see if there is your issue has merit - in other words has been a law, regulation or policy been broken. The Attorney is also checking to see if your situation is on our 'targets' list. If the answer is yes to both, the request will be sent to Case Review. DRNC has Case Review every Wednesday morning.

If there is no legal merit, or if the request is no one of the targets for this year, then the Attorney will work with the Intake Specialist to identify information and/or referral to give you.

Every caller will receive some information that will help them with their situation or referral to a more appropriate advocacy organization or attorney.

In a Box

If you want help with any of the following issues, the Receptionist will offer you a referral to someone who does that type of work. DRNC does not take the following cases:

• Assisted suicide.
• Divorce, custody, support, and other family law matters.
• Drafting of wills, trusts, and estate planning.
• Representation in criminal proceedings.
• Malpractice cases.
• Workers' Compensation or Unemployment Compensation
• Issues related to collective bargaining agreements.
• Product liability cases.
• Bankruptcy matters.
• Personal injury cases, including intentional torts.
• Consumer protection issues.
• Tax issues.
• Pension, ERISA issues and private insurance disputes.
• Property disputes.
• Veteran's Benefits