July 6, 2011
Dear Colleagues and Friends:
As you know, OPWDD is undergoing significant reforms, and one of the most exciting changes currently underway is our move to more individualized supports and services for people with developmental disabilities. Given that we just celebrated Independence Day, I thought it would be appropriate to share the inspiring stories of two New Yorkers, Ben and Regina, who have gained their independence through living arrangements and programs that work for their needs.
Ben
Ben, a resident of East Aurora in Western New York, was diagnosed with Duchenne muscular dystrophy when he was two. Now 25, he has been living on his own for the past three years.
Ben attended Edinboro University in Pennsylvania and lived in a dorm on campus. When he graduated, he and three friends worked with their local DDSO to find a private, non-certified home. After purchasing their home and making environmental modifications with the assistance of OPWDD’s Home of Your Own program, Ben and his friends hired their own assistants and control their own living expenses through the agency’s Consolidated Supports and Services (CSS). Each pays a portion of the mortgage. Ben’s mom told us, “We have found that miracles aren’t so few and far between—they are all around us.”
Regina
Regina works every day at the OPWDD Housing Initiatives office in Manhattan as a federal Housing and Urban Development Housing Counselor, instructing peers on how to purchase a home or find an apartment. Regina has lived with cerebral palsy her entire life, and nine years ago moved into a HUD subsidized apartment in the Bronx. She has been living on her own ever since. Regina has learned how to write checks to pay her bills, and to do her housework with the help of a home assistant she hired herself. Regina loves to travel, and last year she went to Puerto Rico with friends. She made all of her own travel plans and only needed the assistance of her aide during the trip.
We all know that a one-size-fits-all model does not work. Programs like Individualized Supports and Services (ISS) and CSS help individuals ive the lives they choose. Giving people with developmental disabilities and their family members these types of opportunities is critical to our mission. I look forward to all of us sharing more stories like those of Ben and Regina, and the independence they experience in their lives.
Sincerely,
Commissioner Burke