Bill To Help Ease Transition at Age 22

BOSTON — With the right services, autism advocates say people with developmental disabilities can work and live independently.  But instead, they say, many of them are cut off from special education when they turn 22 and do not qualify for adult services they need from the state’s Department of Developmental Services.
“We have many children who are sitting at home, watching TV, playing on the computer, don’t have access to a day program,” said Barbara L’Italien, spokesperson for The Arc Massachusetts.

Opinion: Life's Lessons From the Front Line

Sandra Houghton is a self-advocate with extensive experience in systems advocacy, human rights and leadership development. She developed the Self-Advocacy Leadership Series, the first program in the U.S. that focuses on communication and social skills to teach individuals with developmental disabilities to become "self-advocates." Houghton currently conducts SALS training seminars at the Massachusetts Developmental Disabilities Council in Quincy

Imagine a childhood without play dates or birthday parties, sleepovers or school dances. Doesn’t sound like much of a childhood, does it? Well, for children with disabilities — developmental and otherwise, it is more often than not, the norm.
Having grown up with cerebral palsy, I know what it feels like to be "different." Even within my own family I felt like an outcast. My brother could do no wrong. My little sister had the looks and the brains. But I was just the disabled kid. I didn’t have the opportunities that my siblings had — no friends, no social experiences.