State can help people with disabilities live in the community

Independence Northwest, located in Naugatuck, is one of the state’s five nonresidential Independent Living Centers, created in 1987 to help people of any age, with any disability, live independently in the community. With the closing of state institutions, the centers were part of a nationwide movement to give people the tools and support they needed to live in their own homes with dignity.

The stated mission of the centers was not just the right thing to do for people with disabilities, but it was the right thing to do fiscally. By helping people to live independently — and for many, to also work — the centers save the state millions of dollars every year by averting the need for more expensive emergency and residential services.

Center services include support for developing independent living and advocacy skills, finding and maintaining housing; transitioning out of nursing facilities through Money Follows the Person; transitioning from school to work, connecting with appropriate technology, access to benefits counseling; learning soft skills and finding jobs. Each center also has dedicated staff, fluent in ASL, who make all services available to people who are deaf or hard of hearing.

After 35 years of operation, despite successfully saving the state money and supporting thousands of people with disabilities, the centers are one of the biggest secrets in the state’s communitybased nonprofit human service system, and funding has remained stagnant.

When the centers were established in 1987 with state and federal funding, plans called for the organizations to provide services in every one of the state’s 169 cities and towns, and in the early years they did. But over three decades, as the cost of living increased more than 200 percent, the centers have been forced to reduce access.

Today, the centers serve only 27 towns. While the centers work every day to continue to provide services, limited funding means that many of the state’s estimated 614,000 people with a disability are not getting the services they need.

The need for services has, not surprisingly, increased. Since the start of the pandemic, which disproportionately impacted people with disabilities, the demand for services is up 51 percent, and waiting lists are as long as six months.

When the pandemic hit, staff at Independence Northwest and the other four centers worked quickly to adapt to a new way to provide services remotely and to meet the new needs created by the pandemic. The centers adapted existing systems, created new systems and delivered the support services that people needed.

The total state funding for all five centers in the most recent state budget is $760,000 per year. Over the past three decades, when the state faced tough fiscal times, our funding was cut. In some years, we faced mid-year rescissions. In better years, the funding was not restored.

This year, at a time when the state’s fiscal health is the best in history, we are asking for additional $1 million. It is both reasonable and much-needed.

Independence Northwest makes the Naugatuck Valley a better place to live for the thousands of people we serve and the communities they live in, as do the state’s four other centers.

But we can do better, and we can do more. Our staff, at least 51 percent of whom are people with a disability, deserve a decent salary for the work they do. Connecticut has the resources to make the independent living centers flourish. I urge the governor and lawmakers to approve our funding request.