Department of Human Services Increases Commitment to Pennsylvanians with Intellectual Disabilities

HARRISBURG, Pa., March 6, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Governor Wolf and the Department of Human Services (DHS) have declared March as Intellectual Disabilities Awareness Month in Pennsylvania to raise awareness of the challenges and achievements of people living with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

"Governor Wolf and I recognize the strengths and potential among individuals with intellectual disabilities. We've come a long way since March first became Intellectual Disabilities Awareness Month in 1987," said DHS Acting Secretary Ted Dallas. "While we still have more to do, more people with intellectual and developmental disabilities are living and thriving in their communities rather than in institutions, and our society is richer because of it."

Gov. Wolf's proposed 2015-16 budget includes an additional $19.3 million to provide home and community-based services to 1,050 individuals with intellectual disabilities and autism and $12.8 million to fully annualize the 2014-15 program expansion. His budget contains a total of $45.9 million to reduce waiting lists and expand services for vulnerable Pennsylvanians.

One in 10 families in the United States is directly affected by a person with intellectual disabilities at some point in their lifetime, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Gov. Wolf is committed to funding programs that can help these people reach their full potential.

"Today individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities play active roles in their schools, workplaces and neighborhoods. They have more opportunities in education and employment and more protections in health care, the legal system and other areas of human rights," Dallas said.

For more information on DHS's programs, visit www.dhs.state.pa.us.

Media contact: Kait Gillis, 717-425-7606

Editor's Note:

PROCLAMATION

INTELLECTUAL DISABILITY AWARENESS MONTH
March 2015

WHEREAS, An intellectual disability is defined as a disability characterized by significant limitations both in intellectual functioning and in adaptive behavior as expressed in conceptual, social and practical adaptive skills, which originates before age 21; and

WHEREAS, people with an intellectual disability are of all racial, ethnic, educational, social and economic backgrounds; and

WHEREAS, people with an intellectual disability are valued members of society— our friends, neighbors and co-workers—who find fulfillment living everyday lives; and

WHEREAS, Early Intervention, education and home and community-based services continue to be vital to enabling citizens with an intellectual disability to function and thrive.

THEREFORE, in order to recognize the many contributions and challenges of citizens with an intellectual disability, I, Tom Wolf, Governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, do hereby proclaim March 2015 as INTELLECTUAL DISABILITY AWARENESS MONTH in Pennsylvania.   I encourage all citizens to support the efforts and hard work of Pennsylvanians with an intellectual disability and their families as they strive to live self-determined lives and realize their own personal aspirations.

GIVEN under my hand and the Seal of the Governor, at the City of Harrisburg, on this seventeenth day of February in the year of our Lord two thousand and fifteen, and of the Commonwealth, the two hundred and thirty-ninth.

TOM WOLF
Governor

SOURCE Pennsylvania Department of Human Services