Overview

The Department administers programs which promote social, physical and economic well-being while providing people with disabilities with opportunities to achieve their full potential for self-direction. The Department works closely with an advisory council comprised primarily of people with disabilities which makes recommendations to improve the planning, development and administration of programs.

This comprehensive 'plan in progress' identifies current home- and community-based services for elders and people with disabilities, including programs to transition people out of institutions and into community settings. The plan recommends additional community supports, as well as better education of the general public, service providers, and people with disabilities about available options for community living. The work is guided by the principles of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Olmstead v. L.C.

Presented here with full appendices, the plan is an excellent resource of services currently available and a primer on the issues facing policy-makers, including recommended action steps. Capsule summaries of individual situations help personalize the successes to date and challenges ahead.

Medicaid for Employees with Disabilities, also known as MED-Connect - Link to Med Connect Page

The Medicaid for Employees with Disabilities program was authorized by The Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act of 1999. Its implementation in Connecticut is mandated under Public Act 00-213 Work Incentives for Persons with Disabilities. The program allows persons with a disability to engage in employment without risking eligibility for needed medical services through the Medicaid program. The program also allows certain individuals to keep other necessary services needed to remain employed. In general an eligible person with a disabling condition who is employed, can qualify for Medicaid without the use of spenddown while earning income in excess of traditional income limits.

The Department of Rehabilitation Services (DORS) Opens in a new window Opens in a new window

The Department of Rehabilitation Services' Bureau of Rehabilitation Services (BRS) provides two essential programs:

Disability Determination Services (DDS) - Persons with severe disabilities who are unable to work due to their impairments may apply for benefits under the Social Security Administration (SSA).

Vocational Rehabilitation Program (VR) - Eligible individuals with significant physical or mental disabilities can apply for help to prepare for, find, or keep a job.

Social Work In-Home Support Program:

A program that provides non-medical homecare services as part of an overall case plan to maintain adults with physical and/or mental disabilities, age 18-64 inclusive, in the community. Without the provision of these significant supportive services, the adult with a disability would require institutional placement. Program services include: adult daycare; adult companion; home delivered meals; case management; chore; case work; homemaker; and personal emergency response system. Eligibility depends on income related to Medicaid, asset levels related to SSI, certification of need by a physician or other appropriate healthcare professional, and a Department social work assessment. Application is made by contacting the Department's regional offices. The program is currently closed for intake but any new referrals will be added to our waitlist in the order in which they are received.

This program’s goal is to maintain adults with disabilities in independent living through the provision of services, to increase the likelihood that the home environment for people with disabilities will be healthier due to the provision of homemaker and chore services, and to increase opportunities for people with disabilities to achieve self-direction and choice by the provision of private providers.

Personal Services Program:

The goal of the Personal Services Program is to maintain persons with severe disabilities outside of institutional settings through the provision of grants for personal assistants and to reduce costs of care to the state through provision of community based alternatives to institutionalization.

Family Support Grant Program:

The goal of this program is to maintain children with developmental disabilities at home with their families by the provision of subsidies to defray the extraordinary expenses associated with raising a child with a disability.

Legal Services For Indigent People

This provides grants to private, nonprofit organizations and agencies to provide civil legal services to indigent individuals in the areas of housing and domestic relations.

Neighborhood Assistance

This provides tax credits to businesses that invest in programs that provide neighborhood assistance, job training or education, community services, crime prevention, energy conservation or construction or rehabilitation of dwelling units for families of low and moderate income in the state.

State Supplement

Please click below to view information on the State Supplement Program, which provides cash assistance to the Aged, Blind, or Disabled to supplement their income and maintain them at a standard of living established by the State Legislature.

Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) Waiver

A Medicaid Waiver program that employs the principles of person-centered planning to provide a range of non-medical, home and community based services, to maintain adults who have an acquired brain injury (not a developmental or degenerative disorder), in the community. Without these services, the adult would otherwise require placement in one of four types of institutional settings. Adults must be age 18-64 to apply, must be able to participate in the development of a service plan in partnership with a Department social worker, or have a Conservator to do so, must meet all technical, procedural and financial requirements of the Medicaid program, or the Medicaid for Employed Disabled program. An adult deemed eligible for the ABI Waiver, is eligible for all Medicaid covered services. Application is made by contacting the Department's regional offices, and returning a completed ABI Waiver Request Form.