By Barbara Shelly in the Kansas City Star:

Hundreds of people with developmental disabilities in Kansas are waiting years after completing high school to get a job or placement in a sheltered workshop.

The problem is so pervasive that advocates have a term for it — graduating to the living room. The state invests millions of dollars in public school special education programs, and then leaves the graduates to languish at home.

Emily Thomas, who has multiple physical and intellectual disabilities, has been idling at home for four years without a place to go or a purpose to her days. Her mother worries that the state’s neglect has left Emily isolated, and deprived her of the opportunity to have friends outside her family.

Helping Kansans like Emily lead a productive life is a state responsibility — one that lawmakers and governors have largely shirked for a decade.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 9th, 2009 at 2:13 pm and is filed under Medicaid/Medicare, NOT2BEMISSED, employment/jobs, intellectual/developmental disabilities. 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.