Adults with developmental disabilities deserve the chance for independent living.

To look at my essay on how parents can obtain independent housing for an adult son or daughter who is developmentally disabled, click on independent living.  To find out what a disabled person is entitled to at CMH if he or she has Medicaid, read my essay entitled "Medicaid: what does it pay for?"  or read the Medicaid Manual.  I also have a one-page summary entitled "How to get what you need from CMH" and an 8-page essay on that topic which I distributed at a seminar in Traverse City in 2001.

Read about Special Needs Trusts.  This allows the person to receive government benefits such as Social Security or Medicaid, while having financial resources available in a trust.

Find out more about Guardianship for a person who is developmentally disabled.  Can such a person get married?  Is it a crime for a DD adult to go out on a date?  What should you do if you are a guardian, and CMH attacks your authority in probate court?  Read "Annie Brief" for a legal defense to this type of problem. 

Find out how a Community Mental Health provider can go wrong, as occurred in Monroe County.  Click on MONROE to read the Black Point consultant report in its entirety.

I wrote an opinion piece in the Detroit News about how the "system" creates homelessness in the mentally ill.  The same is true for persons with developmental disabilities.

To learn about advocacy organizations that help persons with developmental disabilities, click on ORGANIZATIONS. 

Read the entire Supreme Court decision, Olmstead v. L.C.

If you are on my e-mail list, perhaps you saw this recent message from a sibling.

To find out why I am so interested in this topic, check out my biography.

To read about successful lawsuits that helped DD adults, click on either MOODY or CLASS.  

A child with cerebral palsy has a web site, site up by her parents. This site has a huge list of links and resources on a variety of topics, and apparently the parents even sold ads to support the web site and a respite program they have set up!!  You can visit the web site at this address: http://www.family-friendly-fun.com  

A person with mental illness or a developmental disability is, unfortunately, more likely than someone else to be sent to prison for a crime he or she did not commit.  For an example of this, click on KERRY'S STORY.