“As a proud parent of a son who has Autism, I know first-hand how much trust it takes to have someone else take care of your child who is not able to fully communicate to you what they experience when they are not with you. It has deeply unsettled me to see the footage that has been released that shows the residents of a group home being physically assaulted and abused by the staff that is supposed to be taking care of them.
However, I also acknowledge that the root of this problem is much more complex than just one employee or even one group home; this incident cannot be fixed without addressing the inadequacies in the funding that is being allocated to compensate the Direct Service Providers (DSP) in NYS. Due to the increased number of individuals in NYS who are requiring clinical support services without increasing the compensation for DSP workers, it has led to these workers being overworked and underpaid for the care that they are providing. The unsustainably low pay for these workers has directly influenced the standards of care that individuals with disabilities are receiving and it has also led to a drastic increased in turnover and vacancy rates for jobs for DSP. It is necessary to increase the compensation for DSP workers to address the disparity of care that is occurring within the system.
I have dedicated much of my life to Autism advocacy and lobbying for the passage of laws that will help with family services for people who have Autism and their families, and I am grateful to have been elected to a position where I have the resources to make significant positive changes for people who have Autism. That is why, in addition to lobbying for more funding for DSP workers, I am currently working in collaboration with members from both political parties in the NYS Assembly to pass a bill that will allow group homes to install security cameras in common areas of group homes to ultimately deter this kind of behavior from occurring again.”