The staff at the Center on Human Policy have studied the issues having
to do with supporting adults with disabilities in living in the community
for many years. Over the past four years, we have come to believe that
the thinking in our field about community living for adults, especially
for those with severe disabilities, must undergo a radical change.
This news bulletin addresses this need for change. It presents and summarizes
some concepts about community living, tells the stories of a number of
people who seem to enjoy their lives and the homes they have created, and
introduces readers to agencies that are supporting people in individualized
ways. It also presents resources for further exploration of the concepts
introduced here.
This way of thinking requires setting aside the understandings one may
have developed over years of working in the field. For many readers, it
may require thinking differently about how the funding streams in their
state could be put together to assist people in getting the support they
need so that they can live where and with whom they want to live. Several
of the people whose stories we tell, for example, are supported through
funding sources that have traditionally been used in only one way (e.g.,
for foster care in a family or for group home living). We ask our readers
to think about the people and their homes first, and about the funding
that supports them second.