A new survey ranks Tennessee 47th in the nation in caring for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
United Cerebral Palsy weighed factors like quality of life with disabilities, efforts to promote independence, and policies designed to keep families together.
Tennessee’s low ranking from comes from the state’s long waiting list for services and from its reliance on treatment facilities rather than providing more help at home.
About 7,100 Tennesseans with intellectual disabilities are currently waiting for services; others have limited services available to them.
The survey also found that the Tennessee Department of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities is making progress in serving people in their own homes and communities. By 2012, about 87% of those served by DIDD were living in their own communities, up from 78% in 2007.
