Case Closed? I Hope Not

I have been waiting for a while, fearing what the results might be, and my fears have been justified.

The most recent “Case for Inclusion” has been released, and it shows definitively that Colorado is trending in the wrong direction when it comes to delivering services to our fellow citizens with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD).

The "Case for Inclusion," presented in partnership between United Cerebral Palsy and the ANCOR Foundation's Included. Supported. Empowered. Campaign, is a comprehensive data tool that examines how well programs in all 50 states and the District of Columbia are serving residents with I/DD.

So how does Colorado rank? The report puts us at #27 – just a little below the middle. “That’s not so bad,” you might say. Well, in 2015, we ranked at #6. That’s a big movement, going the wrong way. 

There’s more to those numbers. According to the 2015 edition of the Coleman Institute for Cognitive Disabilities’ “The State of the States in Developmental Disabilities,” which tracks nationwide financial and programmatic trends in I/DD services, Colorado ranked 48th in the nation in terms of fiscal effort for I/DD funding. And yet we ranked 6th in outcomes, so we were providing a great ROI through our work. That does not seem to be the case anymore.

We’re not getting any better when it comes to spending on I/DD services in our state, either. Colorado per capita spending on I/DD services has not kept pace and in fact declined in the last year of available data:

2012 - $71 
2013 - $71 
2014 - $75 
2015 - $80 
2016 - $77 

And Colorado's fiscal effort, already dismal when compared to other states, has seen spending per $1000 of personal income decline since 2012. 

2012 - $1.57 
2013 - $1.49 
2014 - $1.48 
2015 - $1.53 

But here’s a surprise: I’m not using this space to gripe about those results. In fact, I see an opportunity in the data above. Colorado has just elected a new Governor, and with that election I see a chance to work with him on changing the narrative above. Wasn’t it Albert Einstein that said, “Insanity is repeating the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results?” I see a chance to NOT repeat some of the mistakes that have been made over the past few years and to explore ways to return Colorado to its former status as a state that consistently delivers great outcomes through its I/DD services, even with limited resources.

To be clear, I’m not saying we don’t need more funding. But there are many opportunities to review and revisit how we were funding and delivering services in ways that have demonstrably worked in the past, but whose efficacy has been undermined by several years of poor and disjointed policy making and oversight.

The Case for Inclusion has been made for Colorado in 2019. It isn’t a good case. But the case isn’t closed, and we can change it to improve the lives of our fellow citizens with I/DD. It will take hard work and a thoughtful process, but the path to get there is right in front of us.

Then again, what do I know?

PS – here’s a great way to view Case for Inclusion results and analysis on a single web page.