Too many disabled students graduate to the living room, rather than into jobs

From The Kansas City Star:

Emily Thomas (pictured) was born profoundly disabled. Doctors told her parents that if she lived, she might never so much as smile.

“I wasted a lot of tears over that,” says her mother, Cynthia Thomas.

Emily, now 25, grins when presented with a hefty sandwich at an Overland Park café. She beams while riding the lift on her family’s new van. She exults when I hand her a business card.

“Emily’s always been a person who brings out the best in the people around her,” her mother says.

With a single encounter, I see what she means. Emily’s delight in life’s small moments is contagious.

Cynthia and Ted Thomas always envisioned a full life for their daughter. They sought out schools with good special education programs. Despite hearing and vision impairments and cognitive and physical disabilities that require her to use a wheelchair, Emily gained skills and thrived in the daily routine of classes.

She graduated from the Shawnee Mission schools and completed a program to work on social and employment skills.

And then everything screeched to a halt.

Emily is one hundreds of developmentally disabled adults in Kansas who are awaiting placements in sheltered workshop or job programs. The Thomas family has been on hold for four years.

The problem is so pervasive that advocates have a term for it — graduating to the living room. The state invests millions of dollars in public school special education programs, and then leaves the graduates to languish at home.

“Emily is losing skills,” her mother said. “She’s not out enough. She used to be really comfortable in the community. She’s not as comfortable anymore.”

Through the state of Kansas, Emily receives Medicaid benefits that pay for 40 hours of support services a week. Support workers are scarce, however, and Emily, with her multiple impairments, is a challenging client. So her mother handles the work of getting her dressed, toileted and bathed.

Cynthia Thomas would like to take Emily on more outings, but the logistics and physical effort required are often daunting. She’s experienced health issues of her own.

“There’s a lot I can’t do for Emily,” Cynthia Thomas said. “We parents, we tend to age.”

She would love for Emily to have a place to go and a purpose to her days.

A sheltered workshop would be ideal.

“Disabled people do the jobs that other people don’t want to do,” she said. “They do them beautifully and they’re fulfilled by it.”

More than anything else, Cynthia Thomas would like Emily to have contact with people outside of her family.

“I think the saddest thing about her being at home is that she has no friends,” the mother said. “If you can hope for one thing for your child with a disability, it would be to have at least one good friend.”

Helping Kansans like Emily lead a productive life is a state responsibility — one that lawmakers and governors have largely shirked for a decade.

A result of their neglect is Emily Thomas — gregarious and eager to experience life — idling at home.

The way her mother sees it, the state’s lack of commitment makes losers of everyone.

“Having her out in the community makes the community stronger,” she said. “Emily is a positive person to be around.”