CO Ranks In Bottom Half For Support For People With Disabilities

DENVER, CO –Colorado is among the nation’s worst states when it comes to supporting people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. That’s according to a new report published Thursday by the American Network of Community Options and Resources, known as ANCOR, and United Cerebral Palsy.

In the annual report, “The Case of Inclusion,” the authors assess every state based on 30 measures that they say illustrate how well state programs serve people with developmental disabilities. The metrics are broken down into five key areas: promoting independence, promoting productivity, keeping families together, serving those in need and tracking health, and safety and quality of life. The “promoting independence” category accounted for half of all possible points because, the authors stressed, “if a person is living in the community, it is a key indicator of inclusion.”

Colorado ranked 27th in the country according to the study. "Stagnant or declining investments" in programs that help people with intellectual and developmental disabilities lead more independent and productive lives have resulted in Colorado dropping from 8th place in 2007 to 27th place this year in state ranking, the study said.

Here’s what the researchers had to say:

• In 2016, there were still 210 people living in large-scale care settings. Included in that group were 49 people living in one of Colorado’s two state-run institutions.
• Compared to the national average of just over $11,000 per family, Colorado spent only $1,146 per family on services to let people with disabilities to live at home with their families.
• Colorado tied with Alaska in having the highest percentage of vocational rehabilitation participants finding a job (74 percent, compared to the national average of 54 percent). But the average wage for those in vocational rehabilitation jobs was $7.45 per hour (compared to $8.54 nationally). The average number of hours worked per week in those jobs was the second-lowest in the nation, at 13 hours worked per week.
• To meet current demand for residential services of the roughly 3,000 people on Colorado’s waiting list, the state would need to expand its existing service offerings by 28 percent, the study said.

The top performing states were scattered throughout the West, Midwest and parts of the Northeast. Arizona ranked No.1 on the list with 86 points, followed by Oregon and Vermont.

Here are the 10 best states:

1. Arizona, 86
2. Oregon, 85.1
3. Vermont, 83.3
4. Missouri, 81.7
5. Kentucky, 81.2
6. Hawaii, 81.0
7. New Hampshire, 80.0
8. Ohio, 79.4
9. California,79.1
10. South Dakota, 79.0

“Individuals with [intellectual and developmental disabilities], including the young and the aging, want and deserve the same opportunities and quality of life as all Americans. Yet some states do much better than others in demonstrating the needed political will and implementing the sound policies and focused funding necessary to achieve this ideal,” the report stated.

Interestingly, just 40 points separate the highest- and lowest-ranking states, and just 14 points separate the No. 1 performer from No. 25. That likely explains why several states were able to make significant gains in this year’s report. The researchers highlighted Maryland, Missouri, Ohio, Washington, D.C., Kentucky, Nebraska and Oregon as success stories. Washington, D.C. led the way, jumping 38 spots, followed by Missouri (37), Ohio and Kentucky (both 35).

These states dramatically improved their rank by significantly increasing the number of people served in home-like settings, closing state institutions and reporting outcomes for the National Core Indicators survey, which assesses the quality of such services. Several also added a Medicaid buy-in program to support coverage when individuals work and increase their earnings.

Also of note in the report, the researchers found that despite significant progress over the last 10 years to help individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities integrate into their communities, those efforts have stalled — or even regressed — in recent years. Just 29 states said that 80 percent or more of these individuals were served in a home-like setting. This includes a family home, their own home or a small group setting. Furthermore, just 15 states have closed all their large state institutions and the number of people nationwide on wait lists for HCBS services actually increased by 75,000 from the 2016 report to nearly 424,000.

Most of the data used in the report is from 2016, while the most recent data comes from credible, national sources, the authors said.

Patch national staffer Dan Hampton contributed to this report.

Photo credit: Shutterstock

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