On The Results?

[Guest guest]

Something from today's (Aug. 19, 08) Schafer Autism Report that might

be relevant to some of us, who believe the state is taking proper

care of us as best as can be done. That I have time for this might

make me the exception? or very special? I know how to do the *open*

prayer, and communicate beyond the norm, for what I need,

Thereof? .. . for my family, of my family, Thereof

I more and more think and talk as if God is listening, call it of a

Conscience, thereof? Why not, is not a question for me

On the results, of others? otherwise? .. .

'Chilling' Hardship Rates Among Families Raising Disabled Children

tinyurl.com/6qa9hz

Families with disabled children are struggling to keep food on

the table, a roof over their heads, and to pay for needed health and

dental care. But according to a new study from the University of

North Carolina at Chapel Hill, these challenges are now falling on

middle-income households and not just on poor families as previous

research has found.

These latest findings show that long-held federal standards for

identifying the nation's poor are not capturing everyone in need and

should be re-evaluated, especially for the financial effects on

disabled children, said L. Parish, Ph.D., the study's lead

investigator and an assistant professor in the UNC School of Social

Work.

" The bottom line is that U.S. families raising children with

disabilities are reporting severe hardships at rates that are

chilling, including families that are solidly middle-class, " she

said. " We were shocked to find such high rates of hardship among

upper-income families. "

The study, which is based on 2002 data from the National Survey

of American Families, is being published in this month's journal

Exceptional Children. The survey analyzed 28,141 households.

The UNC study found that overall, families across all income

levels who are raising disabled children are significantly more

challenged by food, housing and health issues compared to families

without disabled children. Many also struggled to pay their phone

bills.

Most surprising, Parish said, was data indicating that a

significant percentage of those struggling are higher-income

households. Yet based on federal poverty guidelines – which have

remained unchanged since the 1960s and are used to determine

eligibility for many income, food, health and disability-related

programs – those same households would not be classified as " poor, "

she said. They also would not qualify for assistance, despite the

higher costs of raising children with disabilities, Parish noted. In

2002, the federal poverty level for a family of four was $18,100.

According to the study, 40 percent of the surveyed families

with disabled children who earned between two to three times the

federal poverty level (between $36,200 and $54,300 for a family of

four, for example) experienced at least one food hardship, including

worrying that food would run out or skipping meals because of a lack

of money. Fifteen percent of families with incomes at three or more

times the federal poverty level ($54,300 and up for a family of four)

experienced housing instability, meaning they were unable to pay

their rent or had to move in with others.

" These results suggest that state and federal policies that are

in place to help families with disabled children are not going nearly

far enough, " Parish said. " They are not eliminating deprivation. And

these findings are particularly troubling now when the nation's

economy is struggling. Families raising children with disabilities

are likely to be hardest hit during this economic downturn. "

Though the study found that children with disabilities were

more likely to have health insurance and a usual source of care, they

were 61 percent more likely than non-disabled children to have

postponed necessary medical care and 83 percent more likely to have

postponed needed dental care. The study didn't examine the causes for

those results, but Parish said they likely are related to the

expenses of obtaining care – even with health insurance – and other

issues, such as limited transportation.

The research results offer a compelling reason to expand

eligibility standards for federal programs designed to assist

families with disabled children, Parish said. Though more study is

needed to determine how best to assist these families, UNC

researchers suggest that increasing the income limits for food

stamps, housing assistance and federal Supplemental Security Income,

which assists low-income people with disabilities, would probably be

a good start. Raising the asset limit for Supplemental Security

Income and Medicaid, the federal insurance program for the poor and

disabled, so that families are not penalized for saving money in case

of a hardship would also help, Parish said.

" These families struggle to provide adequate care for their

disabled children, " Parish said, " and stronger supports are vital. "

• • •

The $40 billion paid to stage the Olympics could have provided

$40,000 of ABA support (or whatever support) to 1,000,000 people

afflicted with autism for one year. That could have gone a " long "

way to " saving " many of them

That's just a " beginning " of some of the things of some of us not

being ABA-like as far as I'm concerned.

Mike,

ABA-like?

More than most, Thereof? .. .