Our daughter is 29 years old and has intellectual disabilities She has been on the (DD) waiver waiting list for over 14 years.  We have not received an indication of when she might receive a slot and the unknown future weighs heavy on our minds. 

I fully support the comments provided by the Virginia Ability Alliance. The line that hit me the most is this one    “… reduces the odds that the person with a disability will be able to access services notably before, or at all before, their caregiver dies”.

I know the DBHDS is not in control of the funding, but it is very important to know that many parents and caregivers of people with intellectual disabilities are exhausted and overwhelmed. Many of us have put our own lives and plans on hold to care for our adult children. Our over functioning, year after year, is one of the main reasons more people who have disabilities are not in extreme crisis situations. We all know this arrangement cannot last forever and help will be needed sooner or later.

Much more importantly, in many ways this does a great disservice to our adult children. As a result of our young adult and not so young adult children not receiving waivers, it is very difficult for the person with a disability to move out and develop the natural supports and establish the planned supports that will allow them to grow in their independence in the community. Ideally, parents and caregivers, the people who know the person with the disabilities the very best, need to be a part of this transition to independence and be able to monitor how things are going and make necessary changes for the first couple years (or longer) as our young adults move out into the community.