From the [Biloxi, Mississippi] Sun Herald:

In a national report ranking the states, United Cerebral Palsy has cited Mississippi as the state most likely to institutionalize people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The UCP report analyzes community supports for Americans with disabilities on Medicaid.

Nationally, the picture is improving, the report says, with more Americans leaving large institutions. Currently 41 states have 173 large state institutions (described as more than 16 beds) housing 37,700 Americans.

In Mississippi, however, the report says four in 10 individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities are housed in large institutions. Nationally, the figure is less than one in 14. Mississippi has five large institutions housing 1,369 residents.

… “Every American wants the opportunity to live and work in their community,” Stephen Bennet, UCP’s president and CEO, said when the report was released. “The top-performing states in our rankings do a better job promoting independence and productivity in safe, quality community settings, but we still have far too many people with disabilities not getting the services and supports they desperately want and need.”

More information on the report is here.

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 21st, 2008 at 9:17 am and is filed under NOT2BEMISSED, independent living, institutionalization, intellectual disabilities, research news. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.  Email This Post