Illinois Developmental Disability Programs
 continue to lag in national rankings

Dr. David Braddock, with the Coleman Institute for Cognitive Disabilities at the University of Colorado, publishes the State of the States in Developmental Disabilities. Beginning in 1982, Dr Braddock and his colleagues have tracked the programming and financing performance of states in their developmental disability service system. In his 2005 report, Dr. Braddock summarizes Illinois as follows:

Illinois only provided 2% in inflation adjusted growth in spending vs the national average increase of 8.5% from 2002-2004;

Outdated reliance on institutional settings is shown by our ranking as the 9th largest in per capita utilization of 16 person and larger residential settings;

43rd in per capita expenditures for community developmental disability services;

44th in per capita expenditures for supported living;

45th in per capita expenditures in supported employment;

46th in per capita waiver spending for community programs;

30,482 individuals with developmental disabilities living with a primary caretaker over the age of 60.

The poor showing of Illinois' developmental disability system must be at the forefront of those issues that the governor and legislature must address.

Your past efforts have saved Illinois disability services from a quick demise; however they must continue in order to bring about real improvements for individuals with disabilities in Illinois.

View the entire State of the States report