Advocacy for People with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

 

John N. Constantino et al., John N. Constantino. "The Impact of COVID-19 on Individuals With Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities: Clinical and Scientific Priorities" (letter), American Journal of Psychiatry, August 28, 2020.

Finally, there is the Herculean task stakeholders and advocates have to ensure that public decision making and the massive mobilization of relief funds by federal, state, and local governments are equitably responsive to the needs and interests of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, who require representation in all decisions that affect the population in a public health emergency of this scale. Preserving equitable attention to the voices of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, in addition to the already daunting enterprise of effective self-advocacy in the heat of a national crisis, creates inordinate challenges for people with limitations in communicative capacity to be heard effectively. In this context, advocacy therefore takes on unprecedented significance, given the consequences of oversight during such rapid mobilization of funds. Between March 6 and April 24, 2020, four COVID-19 emergency supplemental funding packages became law, and each has implications for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (see Table S3 in the online supplement).