Disabled Adults

An incorrect number slipped into Monday's column on Governor Glendening's shortsighted decision to abolish Maryland's Disability Assistance and Loan Program. The state, in a report issued to members of the General Assembly last week, said about 61 percent of disabled adults who receive the $157 monthly DALP grants eventually are found eligible for federal Supplemental Security Income (SSI). Other DALP recipients, who seek SSI with the help of the Maryland Disability Law Center, are successful about 90 percent of the time -- not 99 percent of the time, as stated here Monday.

For the parents of developmentally disabled adults, Opportunity Builders Inc. has been a place for their children to make friends, learn life skills and be productive. The parents of children with mental retardation, autism and other disabilities, volunteered and donated money to keep the nonprofit going for the past 47 years, even rescuing it from closure in 1986 when the doors were padlocked because of unpaid bills. Tomorrow, they get to celebrate a hard-fought milestone for OBI - the grand opening of its own 41,000-square-foot headquarters on 14.5 acres.

The Schaefer administration announced plans yesterday for massive changes in the state's welfare programs -- including a proposal to cut benefits to families who don't take their children to the doctor and to school.At a hastily called news conference, Human Resources Secretary Carolyn W. Colvin outlined the administration's intention to impose tough new rules in the main welfare program for families, cut thousands of disabled adults from a second program and eliminate a third program altogether.

When Liz Johnson was three years old, her mother realized she had a budding artist on her hands after seeing the brightly colored pictures her little girl painted at nursery school. Nearly two decades later, Johnson rediscovered her early passion at Providence Center's Art Institute, where she has spent the past nine years honing her artistic skills. Yesterday, the 38-year-old developmentally disabled artist watched over the hanging of her third one-woman show. The display of 20 of her vibrant abstract acrylics runs through July 6 in the Gallery at Woods Memorial Presbyterian Church in Severna Park.

Arthur A. Nierenberg, a disabled activist who spent his life tearing down barriers to employment, died of a heart attack Thursday at Sinai Hospital. He was 75. Mr. Nierenberg was a co-founder in 1952 of Abilities Inc. in Albertson, N.Y., which grew into a world-renowned work demonstration center that trained thousands of the seriously physically and mentally disabled for gainful employment in competitive industries. "He challenged everything. He expanded our sense of what was possible," said Daniel F. Goldstein, a Baltimore lawyer and longtime friend.

Lorraine Shaughnessy worries that she won't be able to take care of her mentally retarded brother for too much longer.Her husband has just been diagnosed with cancer. Her parents in Florida are 86 and ailing. And she finds herself low on time and energy for her 57-year-old brother, who shares the Shaughnessys' Rockville home."When you stop to think about it, it's a very fragile existence the three of us have, my husband, brother and me," she said.Her family is one of several thousand across Maryland waiting for government-funded housing or services for adult relatives with developmental disabilities -- mental retardation, brain damage, cerebral palsy, autism or multiple sclerosis.

There's a beautiful new building at Change Inc., an agency that on Friday celebrated 25 years of serving mentally handicapped adults.But the staff works hard so that the clients don't spend too much time inside the rooms on Bishop Street in Westminster.The point is to get them into the community as workers, volunteers and citizens, said Richard Glaser, executive director.That's why the agency changed its name two years ago, from Carroll Haven."We wanted a name that reflected what we are doing and gave us a more positive image," Mr. Glaser said.

The lively young woman and a fragile older man walked hand-in-hand on a nature walk, slowly trailing a long line of fellow participants in a residential summer camp for adults with disabilities. Ronnie Meusel, the 23-year-old counselor, and Eugene Harvey, 58, are longtime attendees at Camp Glow, begun nearly 40 years ago by a Catholic nun and funded annually by the Archdiocese of Baltimore and its parishes. "I won at bingo last night," said Harvey, who lives in Gambrills and prefers "Dude" to his given name.

When Columbia's St. Matthew House opens as expected Saturday, so will the world of severely disabled citizens like Maria Turley.Turley, 49, plans to be present at 3 p.m. today for the dedication of the house in Kings Contrivance next to the village center. It will be the realization of a vision that came to her five years ago: a community for people who need services but also want independence."It's pretty humbling," said Turley, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis 25 years ago, uses a wheelchair and will be among the 15 residents.

A state home for developmentally disabled adults improperly kept nearly $80,000 that it should have returned to the state general fund at the end of fiscal year 2009, the Office of Legislative Audits reported Friday. The state Department of Mental Health and Mental Hygiene, which operates the Potomac Center in Hagerstown, has agreed to return the $79,800 to the general fund, according to a letter signed by Secretary John M. Colmers and included in the OLA report. Auditors for OLA, an agency of the Department of Legislative Services, found that the Potomac Center did not have adequate records to substantiate expenditures it had accrued June 30, 2009, the last day of the fiscal year.