The following words and terms, when used in this subchapter, have the following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise: (1) Actively involved person--A person with significant and ongoing involvement with an individual who lacks the ability to provide legally adequate consent and who does not have an LAR. The MRA providing services and supports to the individual or the state MR facility in which the individual resides determines if the person is actively involved based on the person's: (A) observed interactions with the individual; (B) knowledge of and sensitivity to the individual's preferences, values, and beliefs; (C) availability to the individual for assistance or support; and (D) advocacy for the individual's preferences, values, and beliefs. (2) DADS--The Department of Aging and Disability Services. (3) Individual--A person who has mental retardation. (4) LAR (legally authorized representative)--A person authorized by law to act on behalf of an individual with regard to a matter described in this subchapter, which may be a parent, guardian, or managing conservator of a minor individual, or the guardian of an adult individual. (5) Local service area--A geographic area composed of one or more Texas counties that determines the MRA from which an individual may receive services. (6) Mental retardation--Consistent with THSC, §591.003, significantly subaverage general intellectual functioning existing concurrently with deficits in adaptive behavior and originating during the developmental period. (7) MRA (mental retardation authority)--An entity to which the Texas Health and Human Services Commission's authority and responsibility described in THSC, §531.002(11) has been delegated. (8) PMRA (Persons with Mental Retardation Act)--Texas statutes relating to persons with mental retardation codified in THSC, Chapters 591 - 597. (9) Services and supports--Assistance to an individual through an MRA or a state MR facility, which may include: (A) eligibility determination; (B) service coordination; (C) community services; and (D) residential assistance. (10) State MR facility (state mental retardation facility)--A state school or a state center operated by DADS. (11) Subaverage general intellectual functioning--Consistent with THSC, §591.003, measured intelligence on standardized general intelligence tests of two or more standard deviations (not including standard error of measurement adjustments) below the age-group mean for the tests used. (12) THSC (Texas Health and Safety Code)--A codification of Texas statutes relating to health and safety. |
