Developmental/Intellectual Disabilities

The University of Southern California's Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work has posted a "Crisis Care for Adults With Cognitive Impairment" resource on their website. This webpage includes a list of the types of cognitive impairment, a guide to person-centered care for adults with cognitive impairment and strategies for health care providers. Source: The MSW@USC, the online Master of Social Work program at the University of Southern California.

The Rehabilitation Research Training Center (RRTC) on home and community-based services (HCBS) recently shared their Spring 2021 newsletter titled HCBS Quality Matters. The newsletter provides an inside look at the RRTC’s work and the HCBS studies on which they collaborate. The Spring 2021 edition highlights the needs of people with intellectual/developmental disabilities (IDD) and includes stories on health disparities, employment, and person-centered planning.

Using data from the 2019 AAA National Survey, this brief, explores differences and similarities between AAAs serving rural and non-rural areas in structure, budget, workforce and service provision, including home repair and modification, transportation and evidence-based programs.

The National Association of Councils on Developmental Disabilities has launched a new vaccination resource website for the I/DD community. The site shares trusted sources to help inform vaccine decisions among the community and caregivers.

On March 29th, President Biden announced several actions to expand access to COVID-19 vaccines, including an exciting partnership between ACL and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to increase vaccine access for people with disabilities and older adults. Read the news release for more information about funding distribution.

The Social Security Advisory Board has released its annual report summarizing their work during fiscal year 2020 and detailing information regarding its accomplishments, including Board publications and commissioned work.

This Mathematica article summarizes some of their key findings from a recent study utilizing NCI-AD data. The study contributes important information to the field of managed care long-term services and supports (MLTSS) and quality outcomes. One finding shares “MLTSS enrollees rated their experience of care and quality of life more favorably than fee-for-service beneficiaries.”

On March 24, 2021 President Biden signed the SAVES LIVES Act into law, expanding VA's legal authority to provide COVID-19 vaccines to all Veterans, regardless of their VA health care enrollment status, as well as Veteran spouses, caregivers and some beneficiaries. The expanded authority depends on readily available COVID-19 vaccine supply and requires VA to continue to prioritize vaccinations and healthcare delivery for our nation’s Veterans enrolled in VA care.

Mathematica’s Center for Studying Disability Policy recently created interactive state disability maps that reveal important patterns in state- and county-level prevalence of disability among working-age adults as well as how that prevalence compares with Social Security Disability Insurance and Supplemental Security Income participation rates. This information can help policymakers and program managers identify areas with the highest needs or potential benefit discrepancies.

The American Association on Health and Disability is concerned about the impact of COVID-19 on persons with disabilities, and has launched a cross disability survey to look at vaccine hesitancy and access challenges people with disabilities are encountering. The purpose of the survey is to better understand the reasons adults with disabilities have or will take the vaccine, are not sure about taking the vaccine, or have decided not to take the vaccine.