Foes of a planned group home for people with developmental disabilities in Virginia are acting out of ignorance, prejudice and fear, Colleen Miller writes in the [Harrisonburg, VA], News-Record , adding that their actions are illegal under the federal Fair Housing Act. She says people with developmental disabilities deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. An excerpt:

The arguments made by the opponents of this home are old and patently false. Homes for people with disabilities have existed in communities just like Pleasant View, for many decades, with no negative effect on property values, no increase in crime, and no increase in traffic. These false fears arise from the fact that people with intellectual disabilities have been segregated from society for too long. Simply put, it is a fear borne of the unfamiliar.

The law is unambiguous that individuals with disabilities have the right to live in the community, but awareness of the law alone will not resolve the protests of those who have preconceived notions of individuals with disabilities. Only time, experience and knowledge will overcome those notions. Individuals with intellectual disabilities have been denied their rights for too long. We must continue to break down the barriers between them and their right to freedom and inclusion.

Colleen Miller is director of the Virginia Office for Protection and Advocacy in Richmond.

See also:

A chance to live the good life, By Jeremy Hunt — Harrisonburg [VA] News-Record

Deed restrictions vs. fair housing, By Jeremy Hunt — Harrisonburg [VA] News-Record

From the Fredericksburg [VA] Freelance Star and the Culpeper [VA] Star Exponent:

A  community service board in Northern Virginia dropped plans to set up a group home for adults with intellectual disabilities after neighbors complained vehemently to the local board of supervisors.

The Rappahannock-Rapidan Community Services Board (RRCSB) had proposed converting a foreclosed home in a rural neighborhood into a supervised group home for a handful of adults with developmental disabilities who had no criminal backgrounds.

Members of the neighborhood voiced concern that a group home would lead to decreased property values, compromised neighborhood safety, a violation of neighborhood covenants, lost insurance coverage, and safety problems for the residents with disabilities.

One woman promised that she “would be the neighbor from hell” if the group home was established on her street.

See also:

Editorial: We hope the RRCSB can find suitable group home  — Culpeper [VA] Star Exponent

… These people are not criminals or druggies. They are developmentally disabled adults who simply need help doing the things most of us take for granted.

… Living among the rest of society is key to the well-being of developmentally disabled people, which is why the board considered the house in the first place. It works well at other RRCSB homes in the area, not to mention the hundreds of homes nationwide run by The Arc and other such organizations.

From the Cincinnati Enquirer:

A group of Ohio parents have banded together to create a rural residential and employment program for their adult children with autism.

It’s estimated that the non-profit Safe Haven Farms will cost $3.2 million, and will house up to 24 adults.

Sometimes lost amid questions about what causes autism and why its prevalence has increased – neither answer is known – is this: What happens when all those children become adults?

“If I were to grade our country on adult services for individuals with autism, I’d have to give it an F,” says Jeff Sell, vice president of advocacy and public policy for the Autism Society of America. “There are just very few options out there.

(Cincinnati Enquirer photo of program founders Denny and Ann Rogers and daughter Emily)

The Kansas City Star Editorial Board writes that people with developmental disabilities plead for help in the state Capitol annually, but keep getting pushed aside. More than 4,100 Kansans are on waiting lists for residential and home-based services — waiting lists that didn’t exist as recently as the 1990s.

Waiting means delayed therapy for children whose social and physical developments depend on services. It means idleness for young people who have finished school and are shut out of job programs. It means unending stress for families seeking a group home placement — or even respite care — for a disabled adult. Many Kansans have been on hold for more than four years.

“If we had a 4,000-person waiting list for kindergarten this year, someone would do something about it,” said Tom Laing, executive director of InterHab, a statewide advocacy group for people with disabilities.

… A state’s character is defined by how it treats its weakest citizens. By that measure, Kansas has much work to do.

From the Seattle Post-Intelligencer:

A disability watchdog organization has filed suit against Washington state, arguing that hasty budget cuts threaten to push some 900 adults with disabilities into nursing homes.

The suit seeks to delay funding cuts to a nursing care program that allows adults with disabilities to live in a state-run group home and still receive Medicaid-supported health care services.

“The risk of this transition is being entirely borne by individuals, many of whom are frail, many of whom are elderly, all of whom are disabled,” said [Andrea] Brenneke, an attorney for the Washington Long-Term Care Ombudsman. “What we have is a system that appears to have failed entirely in protecting the constitutional rights of these people. … (The state) can’t just cut them off.”

The attorney for the state, Assistant Attorney General Michael Young, responded that the state was not abandoning people and that, in some cases, former providers were helping their clients bridge the gap by donating their time as charity.

AP/Philadelphia Inquirer, WNEP-TV, [Scranton, PA] Times-Tribune:

Two women who were employed by the ARC to care for a woman with intellectual disabilities stand accused of abusing her by tricking her into drinking urine and eating feces in a residential group home in Pennsylvania’s Wyoming County.

Kimberly A. Holzlein, 26, and Jill L. Hillard, 36, were charged with assault, reckless endangerment, neglect of a care dependent person, harassment, disorderly conduct and criminal conspiracy.

Both have been released on $20,000 bail, and both have been fired.

A court affadavit quoted Holzlein as saying “I did these things out of frustration because I had enough.” Hillard denies the charges.

In the wake of allegations about staff-organized fights in Texas institutions, a handful of families interviewed by the Corpus Christi Caller-Times say the state schools are “the best in an imperfect world” for their children with intellectual disabilities.

They say they fear the allegations will be used to shut down the state’s institutions, and say they think a better solution would be more state funding and better working conditions.

Other advocates say the state should close the institutions and support residents in their home communities. They say some parents may oppose change because of fears that alternatives to institutional care are not available.

“That isn’t true,” said Dennis Driggers, a staff attorney for Advocacy Inc. “There are community-based alternatives that can provide appropriate care for anyone.”

See also: Another mother claims son was abused at Corpus Christi institution — MSNBC

(Corpus Christi Caller-Times photo)