Toolkit for Families

VOR has adapted a hospitalization form to inform doctors, nurses, and other hospital employees about the needs and challenges of patients with intellectual disabilities or autism.* This form is useful whether the patient is verbal or non-verbal. If your loved one is going to the…

VOR Advocacy Manual and Tookit for State Coordinators, Members and Choice Advocates

Mar 13, 2013 | Toolkit for Families

March 2013 (revised) First prepared in 2005, our Toolkit has been refined and updated to further assist VOR advocates achieving our shared mission on behalf of people with I/DD by maximizing and harnessing our collective skills and strengths at the state and federal levels. Even the most seasoned…

Scrutiny of community mental health centers is scant in fraud-prone states: federal report

Jan 18, 2013 | Toolkit for Families

Scrutiny of mental health centers is scant in fraud-prone states: report Modern Healthcare January 15, 2013 Despite years of warnings, the private contractors that monitor for problems in Medicare community mental health centers still aren't actively looking for problems in some the states most…

Safe at home: Feds, states take steps to prevent home-care crime

Jan 18, 2013 | Toolkit for Families

Safe at home: Feds, states take steps to prevent home-care crime By Joe Carlson Modern Health Care Magazine * January 12, 2013 As healthcare companies look toward aggressive growth in the most intimate of settings—patients' own homes—more Americans are asking how much they really know about the new…

Oklahoma ICFs/MR: Vision for the Future

Jan 28, 2012 | Toolkit for Families

The PGA/OPEA Vision for the Future of the Northern Oklahoma Resource Center of Enid and the Southern Oklahoma Resource Center A Safety Net for Oklahoma’s Most Vulnerable January 2012 By the Southern Oklahoma Resource Center Parent Guardian Association and the Oklahoma Public Employees…

Connecticut: No cost savings if facility closes

Oct 21, 2011 | Toolkit for Families

Southbury Training School Press Release * September 19, 2011 In studies done in 2002 and 2010, the state Department of Developmental Services projected high costs associated with closing the state-run Southbury Training School, and declined to project any significant savings in the closure. The…

IL-ADD Releases Cost Analysis

Oct 15, 2011 | Toolkit for Families

The Illinois League of Advocates for the Developmentally Disabled (IL-ADD) has challenged the myth that all persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) can be served for less cost in smaller, unlicensed settings. On October 13, they released a summary and detailed cost analysis…

Families' Arguments Against Closure

Mar 18, 2011 | Toolkit for Families

November 17, 2006 The Toronto Star Families fighting to keep Ontario's remaining institutions open the concerns that follow. In the full article, each concern is more full explained. Click here for the full article: Increased mortality rates (see also, California Comparative Mortality Studies;…

Chamber of Commerce: Closure = Lost Revenue

Mar 4, 2011 | Toolkit for Families

On March 2, 2011, the Greater Topeka Chamber of Commerce testified against the closure of the Kansas Neurological Institute, a state operated ICF/MR, noting the human and fiscal impact of closure. Fiscal Impact "There are also the economic consequences to closing KNI. The Topeka Chamber…

New Jersey Survey on Residential Choice

Dec 28, 2009 | Toolkit for Families

VOR's Past President, the late-Robin Sims, held a press conference in her state capitol to announce the results of a residential survey that she helped spearhead. The survey was simple. It was sent to family members and guardians of New Jersey State Developmental Center residents. The survey asked…

ICFs/IID as Permanent Homes

Nov 13, 2009 | Toolkit for Families

Individuals with developmental disabilities who qualify for Intermediate Care Facilities for individuals with intellectual disabilities (ICFs/IID) have a legal right to access and to stay at those facilities as long as they remain eligible and choose to do so, and thus they have a right to consider…

VOR Grassroots Advocacy Manual

Aug 6, 2009 | Toolkit for Families

VOR’s “Grassroots Organization and Advocacy Manual” help choice advocates harness their collective grassroots advocacy strengths. The Manual aims to provide advocates with easy-to-understand resources for your state advocacy on behalf of people with mental retardation and developmental…

Choice Defined in Law and Use

Aug 4, 2009 | Toolkit for Families

Federal Law Requires Residential Choice!

Quality of Care: Abuse and Neglect in Community Settings

Aug 4, 2009 | Toolkit for Families

VOR's "Widespread Abuse, Neglect and Death in Small Settings Serving People with Intellectual Disabilities" document provides a bibliography of investigative media series, state audits and peer-reviewed research in more than half the states that detail systemic concerns with regard to quality of…

Cost: Facility-based care is cost effective

Aug 4, 2009 | Toolkit for Families

A 2003 peer-reviewed study of existing cost comparison literature on found that community settings for persons with developmental disabilities are not always less expensive than facilities, as some advocates claim. (Walsh, et al., "Cost Comparisons of Community and Institutional Residential…

Olmstead v. L.C.

Aug 4, 2009 | Toolkit for Families

The Supreme Court Supports Residential Choice! The Supreme Court, in its landmark Olmstead v. L.C. ruling, recognized the need for a range of services which respond to the varied and unique needs of the entire disability community: “We emphasize that nothing in the ADA or its implementing…

Grassroots Advocacy Checklist: If not us, who?

Aug 4, 2009 | Toolkit for Families

When dealt a "recipe for disaster", the following provides tips on how to "make cake" by sharing with advocates a checklist for successful grassroots advocacy.

Cost Comparison Study

May 4, 2009 | Toolkit for Families

A 2003 peer-reviewed study of existing cost comparison literature and related 2009 Update found that community settings for persons with developmental disabilities are not always less expensive than facilities, as some advocates claim. (Walsh, et al., "Cost Comparisons of Community and…

Quick Links

Find a Doctor or Dentist

Family Toolkit

Legislator Toolkit

Cost Comparison Study

Meet the Families

Sibling's Voice

Toolkit for Families

Introducing People with Intellectual Disabilties to New Caregivers and Support Staff

Hospitalization Form for Individuals with I/DD or Autism

What is Applied Behavioral Analysis?

For Advocates: Do's and Don'ts when interacting with the press.

"Intermediate Care Facility Homes Financially Benefit the Ohio Waiver System"

VOR Advocacy Manual and Tookit for State Coordinators, Members and Choice Advocates

Scrutiny of community mental health centers is scant in fraud-prone states: federal report

Safe at home: Feds, states take steps to prevent home-care crime

Oklahoma ICFs/MR: Vision for the Future

Connecticut: No cost savings if facility closes

IL-ADD Releases Cost Analysis

Families' Arguments Against Closure

Chamber of Commerce: Closure = Lost Revenue

New Jersey Survey on Residential Choice

ICFs/IID as Permanent Homes

VOR Grassroots Advocacy Manual

Choice Defined in Law and Use

Quality of Care: Abuse and Neglect in Community Settings

Cost: Facility-based care is cost effective

Olmstead v. L.C.

Grassroots Advocacy Checklist: If not us, who?

Cost Comparison Study

Quick Links