Open Letter to Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf
VOR has sent a letter to Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf, supporting the residents and famiiies of the Polk and White Haven Developmental Centers.
Please Oppose the Disability Integration Act
The Disability Integration Act (DIA) is a seriously flawed bill. While the intention of the bill is to provide services for all people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, it would eliminate existing services provided to the most severely impacted members of this population, and moving these individuals from their long-term homes into more isolated settings that provide fewer services, lower staffing ratios, and lower standards of care.
Celebrating the 20th Anniversary of the Olmstead Decision
VOR is proud to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the Supreme Court's landmark decision in Olmstead, and we are proud to have contributed an amicus brief that helped shape the Court's opinion.
Joint Report from HHS OIG, ACL, and OCR: Group Home Beneficiaries are at Risk of Serious Harm
This report, released in January, 2018 by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,' Office of the Inspector General, Administraton for Community Liiving, and Office of Civil Rights acknowledged the systemic shortcomings in protecting residents of HCBS waiver group homes from incidents of abuse and neglect. OIG found that up to 99 percent of these critical incidents were not reported to the appropriate law enforcement or state agencies as required. The report stated, “Group Home beneficiaries are at risk of serious harm. OIG found that health and safety policies and procedures were not being followed. Failure to comply with these policies and procedures left group home beneficiaries at risk of serious harm. These are not isolated incidents but a systemic problem – 49 States had media reports of health and safety problems in group homes.”
VOR's Abuse and Neglect Document
VOR's Ongoing Document:
Updated October 3, 2019
This document provides a bibliography of investigative media series, state audits and peer-reviewed research in more than half the states that detail systemic concerns with regard to quality of care in community-based settings for persons with developmental disabilities. Tragedies range from physical, emotional, and financial abuse, neglect and even death. Many of these outcomes are associated with a zest to move to a "community for all" vision people with developmental disabilities without adequately considering the ramifications of separating vulnerable people from specialized care and then doing away with a critical safety net (a/k/a deinstitutionalization). The lessons learned from more than 25 states should cause policymakers and lawmakers to take pause and recognize that a range of needs requires a range of service options.
DOWNLOADS:
VOR Letter to the American Psychiatric Association on Proposed Changes to the DSM-5
VOR has wrtitten a letter to the American Psychiatric Association opposing a request by AAIDD that would further dilute the defiition of intellectual disabilities.
