Who Decides Where Autistic Adults Live? – The Atlantic

For many intellectually and developmentally disabled people, large campuses or farmsteads may be better options than small group homes. But new state laws could make it hard for big facilities to survive.

Source: Who Decides Where Autistic Adults Live? – The Atlantic

I reposted this article (click the link above) because I think it is something many in the autism community might be interested in. In Texas and other states, there is intense political opposition to the creation of “congregate settings” or communal group homes like assisted living facilities for adults with special needs; but the adult foster care model where people are placed in a residential home “in the community” is a myth–there is no community for people with intellectual disabilities unless we create them. The myth of inclusion, which paints a false happily-ever after life of an adult with profound intellectually disabilities being integrated into a community by sticking him in someone’s home (it is adult foster care) is just a way for people to make themselves or parents feel better about a situation they feel they cannot change. This is a great article everyone with a developmentally delayed child should read. There is a better way!!