Editors at the Chicago Tribune say Illinois should shift its priorities toward community-based care for people with disabilities. The state has just announced the closing of the Howe Developmental Center, an institution for people with disabilities that lost federal funding after reports of substandard care and needless deaths.

Illinois has relied much too heavily on expensive, large-scale institutions to care for its developmentally disabled residents … more than most states. There is a place for such institutions. But most developmentally disabled residents flourish in smaller, community-based settings. Many people are able to integrate into the community and work outside the home.

The editorial notes that institutional care is much more expensive, costing the taxpayers about $140,000 a year for each person in an institution as compared with $50,000 a year for community care.

See earlier posts here and here.

This entry was posted on Monday, September 15th, 2008 at 4:30 am and is filed under commentary, housing, independent living, institutionalization. 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