Blog Stories

Providing residential services for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) takes focus, organization, and lots of patience long before the first resident moves in. From housing permits to community resistance to increasingly bureaucratic reimbursement regulations, the road to offering residential services is long.

As soon as the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines were approved in December, many in the disabilities community saw a bright light at the end of the tunnel. But Hope Levy, Executive Director of Premier HealthCare, YAI’s clinical affiliate, made it a personal crusade to get priority access for New Yorkers with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD).

“All kids need a family around them,” said Jeffrey Darling, YAI’s California Project Manager. When a child in the foster care system has an intellectual or developmental disability (I/DD), a family placement may not be able to meet complex behavioral or mental health needs. But because California regulations no longer permit foster kids to live in licensed group homes, the state had to devise a solution.

For students at the International Academy of Hope (iHOPE), YAI’s school for children with brain injuries, working to increase their independence is an essential part of the curriculum. When iHOPE staff saw one of their students taking steps with the help of a cutting-edge mobility device, they wondered how many of the other students could also benefit from it.

Sexual assault is one of the most traumatic, isolating experiences a person can go through. According to the National Center for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), 94% of women who are raped experience PTSD symptoms over the two weeks following their assault. For many, these symptoms can last a lifetime or get worse with time. Pair this trauma with an intellectual or developmental disability (I/DD), and victims are routinely dismissed, overlooked, or further traumatized by the reporting process. Project Shield, a collaboration between the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office and YAI, has been working to support sexual assault victims since 2004.

Sarah Shanderson is passionate about using smart technology, often turning on her lights from her smartphone and counting her steps with her Fitbit. Now she is sharing her zeal for tech with people served by YAI with the goal of empowering them to live safer, healthier, and more independent lives.

The International Academy of Hope (iHOPE) has had a clear and unique vision ever since it was founded in 2013. With a remit to educate young people with traumatic brain injuries and other brain-based disorders, iHOPE offers one of the nation's only curricula designed to optimize the latest expertise in educating people with brain injuries.

When Jeff Burke started a new job at YAI as a Floater in March of 2019, he was optimistic for the year ahead. His job required him to fill in at whatever program needed extra staff. He’d find himself in Brooklyn one day and in the Bronx the next. But there was no way to predict that by March of the following year, he would contract the novel coronavirus that had begun to hit New York.

On December 3, YAI hosted a conversation at the United Nations Conference of States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities exploring its partnership with the Royal Commission for AlUla in Saudi Arabia.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit New York in March, most in-person services for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) disappeared overnight. This put many people at risk for losing years of hard-won progress in education, socialization, and crucial life skills.