Budget cuts threaten Virginia program for adults with intellectual disabilities
March 14th, 2009
From the Washington Post:
Impending budget cuts in suburban Fairfax County are threatening to close a program that helps adults with intellectual disabilities build independent lives. The 20-year-old program has a $1 million annual pricetag.
Mary Yates, 22, and her parents had been planning on using the program to help launch her into a new life when she graduates from Fairfax High School this year. Now families like the Yates’ are being faced with difficult choices about how they will care for their children.
Bill and Elizabeth Yates fear their daughter’s hard-won educational gains will slip away, and that one of them might have to stop working to look after her. “It’s very possible she may be graduating to the couch,” said Bill Yates.
(Photo from the Washington Post)


March 16th, 2009 at 4:31 pm
Here in New Hampshire, Governor Lynch did not fund the waitlist. Adults with Special Needs wait for services.
Now they will wait even longer!
We here in NH have community-based programs which are so underfunded; have always been and now with the economic crisis will even be more so underfunded.
Wondering if the Community Choice act will help with this?
March 14th, 2009 at 10:32 am
Times of economic stress test us. Are we only willing to enable people with disabilities to achieve their potential and lead fulfilling lives when we feel flush? These are times when we decide what kind of people we really are.