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> FAQ - Ohio Legal Rights Service
This section contains brief answers to frequently asked questions (FAQs) about Ohio Legal Rights Service. These answers are not intended as legal advice about your specific situation. You should consult a lawyer if you need legal advice.
OLRS provides rights protection and advocacy services to people with disabilities. Refer to Services and Programs for more information.
OLRS' mission is to protect and advocate, in partnership with people with disabilities, for their human, civil and legal rights.
OLRS serves people with disabilities who are subjected to rights violations because of their disabilities, and who are eligible for services under federal laws, and whose issues are within OLRS' agency priorities.
OLRS does not charge its clients for services. Where provided by law, OLRS may ask judges or hearing officers to award OLRS attorney fees for legal representation.
OLRS releases no information about clients or from client files without clients' permission. Case files and other client based information at OLRS are confidential under both state and federal law. Client communication with OLRS, including an initial request for services, is privileged as if between attorney and client or pursuant to statute and rule governing the Ombudsman section of OLRS. Other information that records the agency's activities, such as fiscal matters, may be subject to disclosure under the Ohio Public Records Act. Refer to the OLRS Privacy Policy/Disclaimer Statement for more information.
OLRS accepts referrals from any source, and then communicates directly with the client in any way possible. OLRS releases no information to the source without the clients' permission, except to the parents when the client is a very young child.
OLRS accepts cases according to written agency priorities defined according to the federal and State laws which govern its programs, and according to public input gathered during public meetings and through surveys submitted in writing and through the Web site.
There are particular problem areas and cases that OLRS will not accept. Because of program and funding limits, OLRS does not generally take cases: that other agencies routinely accept; where the court appoints counsel or the client is already represented by an attorney; involving malpractice suits or of a general legal nature when the problem is not directly related to the person's disability. OLRS does not provide representation in criminal matters. Refer to Need our Help? for more information.
When OLRS is not able to take your case, OLRS may be able to provide referrals.
OLRS refers people to many other agencies and service providers for help with issues that are not related to disability and where cases are not within written agency priorities.
If OLRS does not accept your case, you have the right to file a grievance. Staff from OLRS Intake can help you file the grievance, or you can file it yourself by writing to OLRS or calling OLRS Intake. Refer to Need our Help? for more information.
OLRS' clients make their own decisions. OLRS works to promote self-determination, personal autonomy and self-advocacy. OLRS advises and presents options to its clients in order to assist clients to make their own, informed choices.
Advocacy is to plead the cause of another, as defined by that other, because that other is not listened to in his or her own right. OLRS assists clients to learn self-advocacy — the ability to define and plead one's own cause in order to be heard in one's own right.