State Makes Progress Helping Support Those With Disabilities

Indiana has made progress on a large majority of recommendations to better support the roughly 100,000 Hoosiers with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

That was the assessment at Thursday’s meeting of a task force charged with monitoring the state’s progress.

The intellectual and developmental disabilities task force last year created 34 recommendations for the state and its members say there’s been progress on all but eight of them. Task force member Christine Dahlberg is executive director of the Governor's Council for People with Disabilities. She says the eight share a common theme.

“Each one of them either mentions some kind of tax policy or additional funding,” Dahlberg says.

That includes offering tax incentives for employers and better wages for those who support people with disabilities.

Task force member Kylee Hope is director of the state's Division of Disability & Rehabilitative Services. She says more testimony from families and self-advocates is key.

“Allow us to hear kind of their struggles, some of their barriers, their desires, their wants – what would be helpful,” Hope says.

The task force is slated to meet through 2025 – and members say completing all the recommendations is an aggressive but achievable goal.