Opinion: NYS Proposed Minimum Wage Hike Threatens People with IDD & Field

Bravo Laura Kennedy, president of NYSARC, Inc., and Steven Kroll, its executive director, for this op-ed in Albany Times Union.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo's proposed $15 minimum wage contains a serious flaw that threatens the financial viability of an entire field of caregivers and the people and families those caregivers support.While the governor has appropriately decided that New York needs to champion the rights of hard-working, low-income wage earners by requiring a higher minimum wage, he has not provided any funding for the many not-for-profit agencies that depend almost completely on the state for their funding. Among the 2.3 million workers who stand to benefit from a minimum wage increase are more than 100,000 workers who provide support 24 hours a day, seven days a week for people with developmental disabilities such as Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, autism and neurological impairments. No funding is provided for this increase.

DSPs Expected to Feel Md. Budget Cuts

Washington County providers of services for the developmentally disabled would feel the pinch of a 2 percent across-the-board budget reduction to Maryland state agencies that a state board approved this week.

The reduction is part of a plan to cover a $410 million budget shortfall. It would cut in half a 4 percent increase in funds for developmental disability community services  for this fiscal year that the Maryland General Assembly passed last year.

With Caregiver Pay Hike, Feds Warn States About ADA Obligations

As new rules roll out mandating better pay for in-home care workers, federal officials say states must not compromise the rights of people with disabilities in the process.

Starting in January, home care workers will qualify for the first time for federal minimum wage and overtime protections. Now, the Obama administration is warning states not to forget the needs of people with disabilities — who often rely on in-home care providers — as they implement the new policy.

When Caregivers Need Healing

“This has happened before,” she tells herself. “It’s nowhere near as bad as before, and it will pass.”Robbie Pinter’s 21-year-old son, Nicholas, is upset again. He yells. He obsesses about something that can’t be changed. Even good news may throw him off.

Dr. Robbie Pinter and her
son, Nicholas.

So Dr. Pinter breathes deeply, as she was taught, focusing on each intake and release. She talks herself through the crisis, reminding herself that this is how Nicholas copes with his autism and bipolar disorder.

Virginia Families Fear Future Without Institutions for Their Chidlren

Adam Bertman at the Northern
Virginia Training Center in Fairfax.

On his bad days, Adam Bertman would crush light bulbs with his bare hands. He once launched the heavy lid of a toilet tank down the stairs, striking a caregiver.One of his worst days came in fall 1998, when Bertman, who has autism and brain disease, became upset while out for a supervised walk. He started throwing rocks at cars and was so out of control by the time police officers arrived that they pulled their guns.
That was Bertman’s life before he entered the Northern Virginia Training Center in Fairfax, one of the commonwealth’s five state-run institutions for the developmentally disabled. It was before he developed relationships with the center’s staff members, who have learned to read his body language for signs that he is becoming agitated.

But now, as the state prepares to close four of the five centers and move their residents to community-based group homes, his mother, Judith Korf, worries that Bertman, 41, will end up in the same situation again.

In ER, Caregiver Key to Treating Autistic Patients

The bright lights and noise in an emergency department or examination room can disturb and upset a patient with an autism spectrum disorder; so can the exam itself if the doctor does not use the proper approach.
Unfortunately, caregivers of patients with autism frequently report that a trip to the hospital can turn into a distress-filled struggle, getting in the way of proper treatment, according to a recently published online article by five emergency physicians, including three from Allegheny General Hospital.

Family of Autistic Man who Died in Van Files Suit

PHILADELPHIA -- The father of a man with severe autism who died last year after his caretaker left him inside a van on a hot day has filed a civil suit against the Middletown residential center and a former employee.

Bryan Nevins, 20, of Long Island, NY, died a year ago this month after he was left inside a locked van parked at Woods Services for more than five hours on a day when temperatures outside reached 97 degrees. Nevins lived at Woods Services.

OT Cap for Caregivers Sought

ALBANY, N.Y. -- Thirteen-year-old Jonathan Carey died four years ago after an aide at the state's O.D. Heck center, who had worked a string of double shifts, suffocated the autistic boy during an excursion in a van. The aide, Edwin Tirado, was eventually convicted of manslaughter in the case. It was later revealed that Tirado was a veritable overtime king at the Niskayuna institution, having logged 1,647 overtime hours the year before.
Now, Carey's father Michael is pushing a bill that would limit the amount of overtime that caregivers can work, although it's unclear if such controls will actually be passed by the Legislature this year.
"We need to cap it," Carey said of a measure he's supporting that would limit to 60 hours the total amount of time a direct care worker could spend on the job in a given week at centers for the disabled such as O.D. Heck.

Two Mothers United By a Little Girl

A tribute to all mothers -- especially those with special needs. Happy Mothers Day to the most important people in the world. Yes, that includes you mom! (She won't see this, at 88 with failing vision, she doesn't have a computer).

"I need help."
It's posted on the wall, about eye-level for a 7-year-old girl whose ability to walk and talk is compromised by autism, cerebral palsy and developmental delays.
When necessary, Bridget's mother, Cathy Collins, will point to the handwritten sign. So will Bridget's caregiver, Letty Gaucin.
They celebrate achievements most people take for granted in a child Bridget's age, such as the steady progress made over two years in getting her potty trained.
They are two moms with backgrounds that couldn't be more different, bound by a common purpose: To see children like Bridget live as full a life as possible.

A Day of Pampering for Devoted Caregivers

CRANFORD, N.J. -– The Cerebral Palsy League recently held a "Caring for the Caregiver Day" at its Cranford facility to cater to and pamper those who care for others every day. More than 50 parents, grandparents, siblings and other family members who serve as primary caregivers for loved ones with developmental disabilities enjoyed an afternoon of classes, workshops and relaxing treatments provided by CPL staff and health and wellness experts from the community.