LD1984 asks legislators to solve the problem.
Follow the Clear the Waitlists in Maine Facebook page to keep up in real time and to join the cause in advocating for young people with developmental disabilities, autism, brain injury and other conditions. This page will serve as a landing page to other places, and is under development.
At present, when people with special needs finish school, their names are placed on a waitlist for services here in Maine. These are people who have been deemed eligible for services after high school. These are people with developmental disabilities, autism, brain injury and other conditions. These are people who needed significant support while in school, but following school have no supports other than their family. And most families have two working parents.
Some years ago, the state of Maine was sued for not providing services for people with complex needs. That lawsuit was settled in 2014. Yet, here we are again, with Maine's waitlists increasing at a rapid rate the last few years. To see a timeline history of waitlists in Maine, please visit the Maine Parent Coalition's page. They have a terrific and terrifying graph which shows the increase in Maine's waitlists over time. It is getting worse, not better.
The word waitlist doesn't convey the pain that leaving school and then having no supports other than family brings. Time spent on the waitlists puts life in a holding pattern. Being on a waitlist means isolation. Being on a waitlist can sometimes mean loss of skills. Being on a waitlist means lost opportunity for growth. Being on a waitlist is harmful. Being placed on a waitlist is false economy, too, because it creates issues in some people's lives that make recovery from that time hard and more expensive later.
Please follow the Clear the Waitlists in Maine page on Facebook. Maine can do better.
🌟🌟🌟🌟 🌟 Please call or email your legislator asking them to support clearing the waitlists and vote for LD1984.
Find your representative to Augusta:
http://legislature.maine.gov/house/house/MemberProfiles/ListAlphaTown
Find your senator to Augusta:
http://legislature.maine.gov/senate-home-page/find-your-state-senator
The legislature meets soon in this. To read the bill, click here:
http://legislature.maine.gov/legis/bills/getPDF.asp?paper=SP0686&item=1&snum=129
To read more about how this bill came to be drafted, click here:
https://www.facebook.com/103191717853332/posts/114142630091574/
To see Maine's legislative process diagram in full at higher resolution, click here:
https://legislature.maine.gov/doc/1702
To read more detailed description of Maine's legislative process, click here:
http://legislature.maine.gov/general/path-of-legislation-in-maine-detailed/9285
Also, if you're on a waitlist, email clearthewaitlists@gmail.com to share your name and situation.
#clearthewaitlists #mainecandobetter.
