(a) DADS publishes handbooks describing the rights of an individual in simple, non-technical language and makes these handbooks available in English and in Spanish.
(b) A state MR facility must give a copy of Your Rights in a State School or Center to an individual and LAR or actively involved person when the state MR facility admits the individual and annually thereafter.
(c) An MRA must give a copy of Your Rights in Mental Retardation Community Programs to an individual and LAR or actively involved person when the individual applies to the MRA for services and supports and annually thereafter.
(d) DADS provides copies of Your Rights in Mental Retardation Community Programs to an MRA upon request in any language used by a significant percentage of the population in the MRA's local service area.
(e) A state MR facility and an MRA must conspicuously and at all times display the appropriate rights handbook in areas frequented by an individual, an individual's family member, or an LAR. The state MR facility and MRA must write in the handbook the name, telephone number, e-mail address, and mailing address of the rights protection officer at that state MR facility or MRA.
(f) A state MR facility and an MRA must provide the appropriate rights handbook to a person who requests a copy.
(g) The rights handbooks specified in subsections (b) and (c) of this section may be obtained:
  (1) through DADS' website at http://www.dads.state.tx.us/news_info/publications/brochures/index.html#consumer;
  (2) by writing the Department of Aging and Disability Services, Consumer Rights and Services, P.O. Box 149030, Mail Code E-249, Austin, Texas 78714-9030; or
  (3) by calling the toll-free number at 1-800-458-9858.
(h) The following rights handbooks may be obtained by accessing the website or by writing or calling, as described in subsection (g)(1) - (3) of this section:
  (1) Your Rights in the Home and Community-based Services (HCS) Program;
  (2) Your Rights in the Texas Home Living Program; and
  (3) Your Rights in an ICF-MR Facility.
(i) A state MR facility and an MRA may photocopy a rights handbook.

Source Note: The provisions of this §334.117 adopted to be effective January 1, 2007, 31 TexReg 10349; transferred effective July 1, 2024, as published in the June 14, 2024, issue of the Texas Register, 49 TexReg 4435