A recent article in The New York Times demonstrates the difficulty that aging parents face as they care for their adult children with severe intellectual disabilities. NYSARC, a New York agency that supports people with disabilities, highlighted the article on its website to illustrate the issues facing parents in New York who are in similar situations.

2. A recent article in The New York Times
demonstrates the difficulty that aging parents face
as they care for their adult children with severe
intellectual disabilities. NYSARC, a New York
agency that supports people with disabilities,
highlighted the article on its website to illustrate the
issues facing parents in New York who are in
similar situations.
The article focuses on a single mother from
Kentucky who is taking care of her 33-year-old son,
who has autism, cerebral palsy, and intellectual
difficulties.

3. The mother struggled to find a compassionate health care
provider for her son, who was prone to violent outbursts
and disruptions in the waiting room. She and many
parents like her now take their children to a new clinic in
Louisville designed to care for people with intellectual
disabilities.
Doctors at the clinic noted that health care is only one of
the issues facing families of adults with profound
disabilities. NYSARC emphasized that as caretaker
parents age, they often hope their child will die first
because they don’t know who else would be able and
willing to care for him or her.

4. NYSARC provides a lifelong guardianship
service for families, and the agency will step
in to secure care and make decisions in the
best interests of the individual with
disabilities if the family caregiver becomes
unable to do so.
Hallie Greene, a director with Rosicki,
Rosicki & Associates, is a member of the
NYSARC Board of Governors.