2018 Alaska Statutes
Title 47. Welfare, Social Services, and Institutions
Chapter 80. Persons with Disabilities
Article 7. General Provisions.
Sec. 47.80.900. Definitions.

In this chapter,

(1) “council” means the Governor's Council on Disabilities and Special Education created by AS 47.80.030;

(2) “department” means the Department of Health and Social Services;

(3) “facilities for persons with disabilities” means publicly or privately operated facilities, or specified portions of facilities, designed primarily for the delivery of services to those persons; the term includes residential facilities;

(4) “habilitation” means education or training for persons with disabilities to enable them to function better in society;

(5) “least restrictive setting” means a residential or other setting for meeting the needs of a person with a disability that requires the least amount of restriction of personal liberty by enabling the person to function in as normal an environment as possible and to live as normally as possible, within the limitations of the disability;

(6) “person with a developmental disability” means a person who is experiencing a severe, chronic disability that

(A) is attributable to a mental or physical impairment or combination of mental and physical impairments;

(B) is manifested before the person attains age 22;

(C) is likely to continue indefinitely;

(D) results in substantial functional limitations in three or more of the following areas of major life activity: self-care, receptive and expressive language, learning, mobility, self-direction, capacity for independent living, and economic self-sufficiency; and

(E) reflects the person's need for a combination and sequence of special, interdisciplinary, or generic care, treatment, or other services that are of lifelong or extended duration and are individually planned and coordinated;

(7) “person with a disability” means a person with a developmental disability as defined in (6) of this section or a person who is hard of hearing, deaf, speech impaired, visually impaired, seriously emotionally disturbed, orthopedically or otherwise health impaired, or who has a specific learning disability; the term includes a child with a disability as defined in AS 14.30.350;

(8) “residential facility” means a publicly or privately operated facility that provides 24-hour care for four or more persons with disabilities, excluding family, foster family, or adoptive homes;

(9) “substantial disability” means a disability that prevents or substantially impedes the person's participating in and benefiting from the social, economic, educational, recreational, or other opportunities generally available to peers in the community who are not similarly disabled.