Some 10,000 Louisiana residents with developmental disabilities are waiting for help to live independently, and most have been waiting for years. Editorial writers at the Shreveport [LA] Times say it’s time for legislators to start working on clearing the waiting list.

The state’s system for assisting people with developmental disabilities is “clearly in need of an overhaul,” they say. An excerpt:

It has to start with perception that home care is better than institutional care. From there it’s a matter of getting care to children as early as possible.

From a purely monetary perspective, it’s cheaper to hire a full-time personal assistant, who can make sure someone gets ready for work and has a meal at the end of the day, than it is to keep someone in an institution at $140,000 per year.

And on a human level, encouraging independence leads those with special needs to becoming productive, even taxpaying, citizens.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 27th, 2009 at 12:55 pm and is filed under caregivers, commentary, families, institutionalization, intellectual/developmental disabilities, NOT2BEMISSED, waiting list/waivers. 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.