Turning 21: Bittersweet Birthday for Young Adults with Disabilities

I occassionally blog for the Ruderman Family Foundation and this is my latest  blog:

In a recent Boston Globe column, (January 29), Joan Vennochi brought us the story of James Nadworny, a young man with Down syndrome, who recently celebrated his 21st birthday. While it was undoubtedly a wonderful occasion, it would bring him and his devoted family closer to the day when he turns 22, a milestone, to paraphrase Don McLean, when “the music died.”


In Massachusetts and in most states, people with disabilities and their families have been “happy for a while.” People like James and my son, Jon, through the age of 22, are guaranteed an education but, unlike the majority of special education students, who will go on to college or careers, our children need additional supports to achieve the dreams and hopes we have for them.

“Bad news is on the doorsteps” because our children are entitled to nothing after their education ends. Continuation of support depends entirely on the state budget process. The support that individuals with significant disabilities need to be successful is not adequately funded and the funding gets tougher every year.

I know. I have been advocating on behalf of persons with disabilities for over 30 years. I know our State House too well and I get tired of begging for a society to see the worth of our children and adequately fund the services they need and to pay the dedicated staff who work with them a living wage.

My son was lucky. He is 32 and when he turned 22, the economy was stronger and the political will to provide him the supports he needed was stronger. As a result, he received the support he needed to work and live independently.

James is turning 22 in the worst possible economic time and the hopes of his family, for him to live a full, productive and meaningful life, should be the hope all of us has for James.

VERC Enterprises Shows Us the way

 

 

Over 20% of VERC Enterprises workforce are people with intellectual disabilities and according to CEO Leo Vercollone (pictured here with me and one of his employees at a recent recognition event at Cardinal Cushing Centers) and it has kept his 24 convenience stores/gas station and car washes ahead of the competition. In an industry with 100% turnover, his company has a 40% rate. The difference are... people with intellectual disabilities. He spoke of a culture created at his company through hiring individuals with intellectual disabilities. In the face of stiff competition, he wanted to create a store culture that is happy, fun, inclusive and caring. The key to creating that culture is the over 20% of his workforce who have intellectual disabilities. His employees say work is more fun. His customers find the practice socially responsible and he he describes these employees as committed and hardworking. Three cheers for VERC!!!

How do we get the word out that people with intellectual disabilities are an asset in the workplace??

Vercollone is keynote speaker at Cushing Centers breakfast

Vercollone is keynote speaker at Cushing Centers breakfast

Cushing Centers volunteers a real plus at Hanover COA

Cushing Centers volunteers a real plus at Hanover COA

Cardinal Cushing Centers' Simons wins book award

Cardinal Cushing Centers' Simons wins book award

Collaboratives try to Distract the Legislature by Focusing on C766 Schools.

Thank you to Larry Sauer, Guest Blogger

Vice President for Student Program and Services

Cardinal Cushing Centers

In recent months Educational Collaboratives have been under a great deal of scrutiny because a few collaborative directors have taken advantage of the lack of regulation and financial accountability to enrich themselves at the expense of special education students. Like our Chapter 766 schools, Cardinal Cushing School and St. Coletta’s Day School, Educational Collaboratives serve school districts by providing special education services to low incident populations as well as provide districts with a variety of other services including transportation, IT services, and Medicaid Reimbursement services. Unlike our schools, Educational Collaboratives have been largely unregulated and financially unaccountable.

The concerns uncovered by the State Auditor’s Office at the Merrimac Educational Collaborative and a few other collaboratives have brought this lack of regulation and accountability to the attention of the legislature and they are in the process of taking action to increase regulations and accountability for the collaboratives. Senate Bill 2101, which will be taken up in the Senate today is intended to address the recent scandal involving the alleged misuse of millions of taxpayer dollars by officials of the Merrimack Education Collaborative. The bill will provide badly needed oversight of the governance and financial activities of education collaboratives to assure public accountability and transparency.

Unfortunately, the collaboratives are fighting back against these efforts by trying to shift the legislature’s focus away from the collaboratives and on to schools like ours. Two proposed amendments, 13 and 14 to Senate 2101 are stacked against C766 schools like ours. The proposed amendments seek to direct attention away from the lack of accountability in education collaboratives and, instead, conduct reviews of C766 schools by commissions dominated by education collaboratives and public schools.

There are a number of problems with the proposed amendments:

• Amendment 13 calls for a study of the effectiveness of C766 schools, collaboratives and public schools by a commission dominated by collaboratives and public schools, but with not one representative from C766 schools.

• Amendment 14 calls for a review of the tuition setting process and salaries in C766 schools by a different commission with 14 members – and only one representative from C766 schools.

• Amendment 14 calls for the commission to obtain input from groups ranging from education collaboratives and human service providers – but not from C766 schools.

We urge you and all families, school staff, Boards of Directors, and advocates to call your State Senator today to ask them not to support amendments 13 and 14 to Senate bill 2101 sponsored by Senator’s Tarr and Baddour.

Sorry I Have Been Away

It has been over a month since my last blog entry and it is not because there has been nothing to say, it's just that I have been busy and didn't know what to say. Today, I saw this photo and I knew that I had to share it with you because it reminds me that we all have gifts. As you hurry through this holiday season, I hope you carry with you this message-some gifts can't be bought, they are gifts from the heart.