On July 4, 2021, David Axelrod wrote guest essay to the NY Times entitled "When It Comes To People Like My Daughter, One Size Does Not Fit All".

The letter may be found here. VOR President Harris Capps wrote to the Times in support of Mr. Axelrod's letter. VOR's letter may be found here.

In June of 2021, the State of Louisiana passed landmark legislation to improve the quality and availability of dental services for people with I/DD in HCBS settings. Work continues on this effort, in order to provide equivalent services to people in ICFs.

The person who put all of this in motion was VOR's own Mary Kay Cowen. But she didn't do it alone. To read more about her inspiring work, and to get an idea as to how to make something like this happen in your state, we are pleased to present the following information.

Intro from VOR

Louisiana Dental Task Force for Adults with I/DD Position StatementLouisiana Dental Task Force for Adults with I/DD Position Statement

Louisiana Dental Task Force Fact Sheet

Adults with I/DD Dental Infographic

VOR's 2021 Virtual Annual Meeting was held on  Sunday,  June 27th via Zoom.

Conference materials are available for download here.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, VOR's Legislative Initiative was held virtually this year. There were no in-person meetings with Members of Congress or their staff on the Hill as in other years. Instead, our members arranged meetings via Zoom or held conference calls with legislative aides.

We focused on Choice and the need to support all residential and employment options, concerns about the DSP crisis, and the need to protect vocational centers and 14(c) wage certificates for people with moderate-severe I/DD and autism. Conference materials are attached below.

VOR has submitted a response to the draft version of the HCBS Access Act of 2021 as proposed by Rep. Debbie Dingell, Sen. Bob Casey, Sen. Maggie Hassan, and Sen. Sherrod Brown.

We believe that provisions in this bill could lead to the elimination of the ICF system by providing fedeal funds to states to fully cover HCBS Waiver services, de-incentivizing states to pay for the services provided by ICFs.

Click here to read VOR's letter