DDS 1199 Delegates Assembly – 6pm

Department of Developmental Services 1199 delegates are meeting on Thursday, April 19 at 11am and at 6pm to create an alternative vision of a just and decent system for supporting Connecticut residents with intellectual and developmental disabilities and plan a fight-back against the DDS Commissioner’s plan that would essentially dismantle DDS services in five years.

Call your organizer at (860) 251-6000 for meeting location information!

The Commissioner states that “legacy services are no longer sustainable.” What that means is no guarantee for people with intellectual and development disabilities and their families to birth to three services, residential placements, respite programs, day programs, or competitive employment. In the Commissioner’s plan “community integration” is nothing more than individuals and families fending for themselves with minimal support. He is telling parents that they will have no alternative but to support their child at home for the rest of their lives.  But we know the people that we support need a variety of settings and a broad array of services.

The department has already closed and plans to close dozens of residential placements without any regard to the 547 “priority” individuals and families who need services right now.  Of the 7500 people who receive DDS services in CT, only 1500 get their services directly from the state — and under the Commissioner’s plan, that number would be reduced to 25.  This plan would destroy all public jobs, and transform private sector DD standards to one notch above poverty –as if caregivers and our families somehow don’t need or deserve a decent standard of living.

We must unite with private sector DDS workers and reach out to families — particularly those with young children who are the future of the system — to create a vision of a just, decent system, and together forge a plan to fight for it.  Join us!