Maine Withdraws Unpopular Proposal

Maine’s Department of Health and Human Services has withdrawn a controversial proposal to use a single assessment tool to determine services for individuals with developmental and intellectual disabilities.That didn’t stop dozens of Mainers from testifying at a public hearing Monday to denounce the idea, and what they consider DHHS’s lack of transparency.

Training Community Police about IDD

Nice job by the Tennessee Department of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities for preparing video and instruction materials for law enforcement about interacting with people with IDD. If there's one thing you do with this, please share it with your local police departments and police commissioners.
Pardon this rather prosaic post on an important subject.
Increasing numbers of police officers and others in criminal justice have gotten the memo that the field must do a better job addressing individuals in mental health crisis. Men and women living with intellectual and developmental disabilities sometimes experience behavioral behavioral crises that bring them into contact with law enforcement. That’s a real problem, and there is a dearth of good training resources for the law enforcement community.

Editorial: Fla. Failing IDD Community

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Names are stacked nearly 20,000 deep on a statewide list of people who have requested financial help to pay for special services ranging from job training to housing.

Many of these wait-listed Floridians have been on the list for years. And many of them may not be granted the help they need anytime soon.