Hawaii Disability Rights Center is Hawaii's designated
PROTECTION AND ADVOCACY (P&A) SYSTEM FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES
Congress created a nationwide Protection and Advocacy System for People with Developmental Disabilities in the Developmental Disabilities Assistance and Bill of Rights Act of 1975. On July 1, 1977, Kahua Ho'omalu Kina (A Place of Protection for the Handicapped) was established as a non-profit corporation in the State of Hawaii to carry out this new federal mandate in the State of Hawaii. Shortly thereafter, the corporation began doing business as the Protection and Advocacy Agency of Hawaii. The corporation was renamed Hawaii Disability Rights Center (HDRC) in January 2000. Today, there is a protection and advocacy system operating in every state and territory of the United States, in Washington D.C., and for Native Americans. Congress has expanded the authority of the P&A systems to serve all disabilities and to operate and enforce the following statutes:
Protection and Advocacy for Individuals with Developmental Disabilities (PADD) is authorized in the Developmental Disabilities Assistance and Bill of Rights Act, 42 USC 15001, PL 106-402. Protection and Advocacy for Individuals with Mental Illness (PAIMI) is authorized in the Protection and Advocacy for Mentally Ill Individuals Act, 42 USC 10801, PL 106-310. Protection and Advocacy for Individual Rights (PAIR) is authorized in the Rehabilitation Act, 29USC 794e, PL 106-402. Protection and Advocacy for [Individuals in Need of] Assistive Technology (PAAT) is authorized in the Assistive Technology Act, 29 USC 3011,3012, PL 105-394. Protection and Advocacy for Beneficiaries of Social Security (PABSS) is authorized in the Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act, 42 USC 1320b-20, PL 106-170. Protection and Advocacy for Individuals with Traumatic Brain Injury (PATBI) in the Children's Health Act of 2000, 42 USC 300d-53, PL 106-310. Protection and Advocacy for Voter Access (PAVA) in the Help America Vote Act of 2002, 42 USC 15461-62, PL 107-252. Protection and Advocacy is also authorized in Hawaii Revised Statutes 333F-8.5, and HDRC is designated by the Governor (Executive Orders 77-3, 82-4, 89-2 and 94-06) to provide its important protections for people with disabilities.
