As the three national Developmental Disabilities (DD) Network partners that represent the entities authorized in the DD Act whose members annually advocate for and provide hundreds of thousands of clinical services and home and community based supports to people with disabilities and their families, the Association of University Centers on Disabilities (AUCD), the National Disability Rights Network (NDRN), and National Association of Councils on Developmental Disabilities (NACDD) are concerned about the policy brief distributed by the House Republican leadership on Thursday, February 16th to its Members about repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

The goals of the policy brief distributed last week are to “put Medicaid on a budget” and to “return the focus of the program back to helping those most in need.” Continue reading →

By David Owens, Contact Reporter

The governor on Friday formally announced his plan to expand housing opportunities and services for people with intellectual disabilities.

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy included $3.8 million in his proposed budget for what he termed the “intellectual disability partnership initiative.” The goal is to reduce the waitlist for people with intellectual disabilities who need state-funded housing and to find new ways to address the need.

Malloy also proposed $1 million in bonding funds to convert group homes to supportive housing units, residential care homes or community care homes for people with intellectual disabilities. Continue reading →

Advocates for the more than 16,000 people with intellectual disabilities who are served by the state are reacting favorably to some aspects of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s proposed budget, including an increase of about $4 million to, among things, help create more community settings for people now living in state facilities.

They also applauded the closing, at a savings of $1.6 million, of the on-campus fire department at the Southbury Training School — a unit that has hung on year after year as the population has dwindled to fewer than 250 residents and the unused portions of the complex are being mothballed.

But there was despair over the lack of funding for day programs and job training for high school graduates in 2017 and 2018 — as many as 600 young people who are turning 21 and will have completed their federally mandated schooling. For decades, these graduates went fairly seamlessly into the social, recreational, and skill-building programs for young adults. In the last few years, funding cuts have restricted these opportunities. Continue reading →