intellectual-disabilities
A Mom’s journey through Pa.’s direct support professional crisis | Opinion
I’ll keep fighting for my daughter … for all these sons and daughters. Because that’s what moms do.
Why doesn’t Pa. support equal pay for equal work for disability support workers? | Opinion
The state has federal stimulus money to make it happen. It should spend it.
House bill aims to protect intellectually disabled from false confessions | Thursday Morning Coffee
Good Thursday Morning, Fellow Seekers. Police reform measures may have lost some of the momentum they had in Harrisburg in the days after last April’s conviction of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, but that hasn’t stopped some lawmakers from continuing to press the case for badly needed change. The newest proposal comes from state Rep. Liz Hanbidge, D-Montgomery, […]
There’s a workforce crisis in human services that funding alone can’t fix | Opinion
How can we hire quality staff to support the individuals in our programs if we can’t offer them a living wage, let alone a quality rate?
Pa.’s waitlist system is an injustice to its disabilities community | Opinion
It is unacceptable to leave a vulnerable community waiting indefinitely on services they need to survive.
Let’s come together to give direct service providers the support they need – and deserve | Opinion
By Marian Baldini In 1977, I entered the Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD) field as a direct care worker (direct support professional) at KenCrest. At my group home, there were three teams working with six teenagers. Of the six staff, all but one possessed a bachelor’s degree, and I had just finished my masters. During […]
Pa. does not take a one-size-fits-all approach to disability services | Opinion
An official says Pa's goal is to expand choice for disabled individuals. And they're working hard all the time to make it happen.
Our elected leaders can’t overlook the intellectually disabled during COVID-19 | Opinion
People’s lives are at stake. We are out of staff, out of money, out of PPE and out of time. If ever there was a time to help the most vulnerable, it is now.
Wolf vetoes bill blocking Pa.’s planned shutdown of two centers for the intellectually disabled
(*This piece has been updated to include comment from Sens. John Yudichak, I-Luzerne; Lisa Baker, R-Luzerne, and Scott Hutchinson, whose districts include the affected residential centers) As expected, Gov. Tom Wolf has run his veto pen across a bill that would have blocked him — and his eventual successor — from unilaterally shutting down any […]
Pa. Senate bill keeping Polk, White Haven centers open has serious flaws. This is why | Opinion
The provisions of Yudichak's bull will force thousands of people with intellectual disabilities to go without services.
A Pa. House bill that blocks the closing of two centers for the intellectually disabled just cleared a critical hurdle
The bill requires the state to clear a waitlist of adults with developmental disabilities who are to be provided with home care
This is Pennsylvania’s biggest – and most overlooked – workforce crisis | Opinion
Pennsylvania needs more people to work with those living with intellectual disabilities and autism. And they need to be fairly compensated for that work.