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. Programs include:
Choices are for Everyone:
Connecticut's Community Integration Plan for the Elderly and People with Disabilities
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 the Employed Disabled
The Medicaid for the Employed Disabled 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 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.
DSS Guide to Durable Medical Equipment
Please click below to view a page on getting durable medical equipment through the Medicaid Program.
View the Durable Medical Equipment page
ConnPACE - Prescription drug assistance:
Please follow this link to go to ConnPACE information.
The Personal Care Assistance Program:
This program provides the opportunity for adults with disabilities to become or remain employed through the provision of grants up to $7,300 to pay for personal care. A personal care attendant may live in or come into the person’s home to provide assistance with the activities of daily living such as feeding, bathing, dressing, housekeeping chores and transportation.
Community Based Services:
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.