Speaking out for People with
Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities
In March of 2018, the National Council on Disability issued a position paper, "Beyond Guardianship, Toward Alternatives That Promote Greater Self-Determination". In September, VOR's Issues Oversight Committee submitted a report on our position and findings regarding that report.
By Tamie Hopp, VOR Director of Government Relations & Advocacy in Nonprofit Quarterly, July 16, 2014 (and reprinted in the Summer 2014 Nonprofit Quarterly Print edition)
Early reforms were quite properly motivated by the need for a system of care and supports that responded to the very individualized and diverse needs of the entire population of people with I/DD. These reforms, however, also set the stage for decades of ongoing deinstitutionalization, resulting in the elimination of specialized housing, employment and education options for people with I/DD, leaving some to question the price of “progress.”
VOR has submitted a statement to the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services regarding proposals to change the "Public Charge Ground of Inadmissibility", also known as the Public Charge Rule.
VOR has sent a letter to Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf, supporting the residents and famiiies of the Polk and White Haven Developmental Centers.
VOR has wrtitten a letter to the American Psychiatric Association opposing a request by AAIDD that would further dilute the defiition of intellectual disabilities.
Further written testimony submitted to the committee is available here
