My Journey Home

For ten years, I lived in a nursing home.When people hear that, they often assume it was because I was old or because I needed medical care that could only be provided in an institution. That wasn't the case. I lived there because I didn't have access to the community supports I needed to live in my own home.Like thousands of people with disabilities across Georgia, I wasn't waiting for a miracle. I was waiting for the right support.Today, I'm writing this from my own home.It's still hard to believe.The Georgia Council on Developmental Disabilities (GCDD) is driven by its Five Year Strategic Plan goals to improve services and supports for people with intellectual and other developmental disabilities (I/DD). The Council, charged with creating systems change for individuals with developmental disabilities and family members, will work through various advocacy and capacity building activities to build a more interdependent, self-sufficient, and integrated and included disability community across Georgia.This project was supported, in part by grant number 2001GASCDD-03, from the U.S. Administration for Community Living, Department of Health and Human Services, Washington, D.C. 20201. Grantees undertaking projects with government sponsorship are encouraged to express freely their findings and conclusions. Points of view or opinions do not, therefore, necessarily represent official ACL policy.