Ten years in, an initiative aimed at stomping out use of the word “retard” is evolving to embrace a new focus.

Special Olympics and Best Buddies said this week that their “Spread the Word to End the Word” campaign will segue into an effort dubbed “Spread the Word: Inclusion.”

The new push will emphasize respect and inclusion rather than highlighting an end to terminology that’s considered offensive to many with disabilities.

“We know that exclusion persists beyond just language,” said Tim Shriver, Jr., co-founder of Spread the Word in a video posting about the changes. “Over 60 percent of people still believe that individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities should be segregated in schools and the workplace. We need to create a new reality, one in which everyone — with or without an intellectual or developmental disability — is included.”

At age 57, Ellen Warshaw is finally living her dream. She’s preparing to move into a new home for aging adults called the Michael Och House at JESPY, a South Orange-based nonprofit dedicated to individuals with developmental and intellectual disabilities.

“There’s going to be eight other people plus me. And I get to pick out my room, and I’m excited because I have my own bathroom and I don’t have to share,” Warshaw said.

But research shows that Warshaw’s welcomed situation is the exception.

“There has to be more choice. There’s this idea in some people’s head that there’s one size fits all with folks with disabilities. It’s just not the case,” said Paul Aronsohn, ombudsman for the New Jersey office of Individuals with Intellectual Developmental Disabilities and Their Families.

In his budget proposal this week, Gov. Phil Murphy announced he wants to pour $22.5 million in new funding to care for people with developmental and intellectual disabilities, including $9.5 million in state and federal funding to serve residents with special needs and mental illness. 

Advocates are urging legislators to approve the plan. Affected families have long complained about difficulties finding proper psychiatric care, in-home behavioral services and medical treatment, leading to lengthy hospital stays and frequent trips to hospital emergency departments. 

Suzanne Buchanan, executive director of Autism New Jersey, called the governor's proposal "encouraging."

The mission of the center in Fairfax County is to “employ and support” people with disabilities, but a prosecutor said a worker sexually assaulted a 29-year-old woman with Down syndrome in its offices.

Police began an investigation in October 2017 after a doctor made a disturbing discovery: The woman was five months pregnant, authorities said.

She later gave birth.

The pattern played out again nearly a year later. Police say another client at the MVLE Community Center, a 33-year-old woman with intellectual disabilities, was raped. The case was reported to police in August 2018 after her doctor discovered she was pregnant. She also gave birth.

Last month, Bernard Betts-King, 60, a behavioral specialist at MVLE, was charged with sexually assaulting both women. DNA tests showed he was likely the father of the second woman’s child, court papers say. DNA results are pending in the other case.

A former Hacienda HealthCare board member is speaking out about a patient rape case that he says has turned into a "political circus" and says the remaining board should resign.

In order to restore public trust, Phoenix pediatrician Dr. Kevin Berger, who was the only physician on the board, says Hacienda HealthCare's remaining five board members should step down.

"I think the structure of the board and its functioning has been set in its ways for many decades," Berger told The Arizona Republic.

This is about an article in the Ann Arbor News, “Group-living townhouses with co-working space will target young professionals in Ann Arbor” by Ryan Stanton, 2/23/19. 

You may detect a note of sarcasm on my part, when I describe what is being proposed here in Ann Arbor to much acclaim. If this were proposed by families of adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities, as a housing and service solution for their family members, some advocacy groups would denounce the effort as an attempt to re-institutionalize people with IDD and segregate them from society by providing services where they live targeted to their specific needs. 

Because this project is designed for young professionals, with the idea of helping them save money and share services with other like-minded adults, we are unlikely to hear cries of righteous indignation and accusations that it is just a scheme to oppress and infantilize young professionals. This is a complaint you would inevitably hear if this was built for people with disabilities. I think it would be a fine idea to have an option like this for people with disabilities who prefer group living and can benefit from it.

To be clear, housing people with disabilities was not an issue in this article, and I don't mean to imply that there was any hint of discrimination by the city or developer against any particular group of people. This is just me, struck by the contrast in how we think about non-disabled people just living their lives, and people with disabilities being caught up in controversies over other people wanting to decide for them how they should live.

A developer will build 11 six-bedroom units, that city officials initially assumed was for students used to dorm-like living:

Direct support professionals who support people with disabilities are underpaid, plain and simple. I worked in the fast food industry for five years before deciding to move on and work with the Cantalician Center. I’ve seen how both jobs operate and it’s unfair that those that work in the fast food industry can make more than a DSP.

The work that we do to support people with their everyday life is a colossal job. I continually worry about people’s safety. I worry about making sure people get their medication in the right dosage and at the right time. I worry about making sure people eat healthy and at the right time so it doesn’t conflict with any medications they may take so that they do not become ill and have to trek back and forth to the doctor’s office or worse the hospital.

The responsibility I have in my job as a DSP far outweighs any job responsibility I had working in the fast food industry.

Unfortunately for me, my co-workers and the people we serve, the person serving the fries