Caring for All People With Special Needs

By Tyler Bowden

Many people face challenges because of special needs that they have. Society’s

responsibility, therefore, is to do everything possible to care for and assist these people in

enjoying a more fulfilling life. To accomplish this, much care has been directed to help children

who require this extra care. Resources ranging from special education to daycare programs seek

to enrich and improve their lives. These resources truly are necessary and beneficial. They

should be kept and built upon. However, if care is only directed to helping children with special

needs, a large portion of the population is overlooked - adults with special needs.

The Current Situation of Adults

Defining what classifies as “special needs” is a difficult topic to solidify. However, using

a very broad definition, studies have found that a quarter of adults in the United States have

disabilities. Of these, the second most common type is a cognitive disability (Centers for Disease

Control and Prevention). These people still have needs just like children with special needs do,

and these often must be met by others. They still require housing, food, and, if possible,

employment. However, because care for these people is often lacking, they face many

challenges. One study found that “quality of life of adults on the autism spectrum is lower than

that of typically developing adults, when measured with tools designed for the general

population” (Ayres et al.). Additionally, almost a quarter of people who are homeless have a

disability (United States Interagency Council on Homelessness). Thus, meeting the needs of

adults with special needs is a serious issue that needs to be addressed. Their lives can be

negatively impacted if this care is not provided.

My Cousin’s Experience

Many programs truly have allowed for children with special needs to move towards

becoming independent members of society. For those for whom these programs are successful,

they can even reach a point at which they can function as others in society would. However, this

is not the story for every person. Some people’s disabilities are much more severe than others.

Because of this, they still require even their basic needs to be met by someone else regardless of

what help they received when they were children.

For example, my cousin has autism. He is 27 years old and went to a school for those

with special needs. However, because of his mental disability, he will never be able to function

in society as others his age would. He still attends a day program on weekdays. He has never

been able to work a job and still lives at home. He must have everything provided for him. Not

only does he face challenges directly from his special needs, he also faces many other hurdles in

the implications of this. As my aunt described when discussing healthcare, “People with special

needs often have access to specialists for diagnosing and treating specific symptoms of their

conditions. However it can be difficult to find dentists and internal medicine doctors who have

experience dealing with those with special needs. Individuals with special needs don't just need

treatment for their disability they also get sore throats and sprained ankles and they need regular

dental care. [T]here can also be issues with health insurance and transportation to medical

appointments.” In other words, every aspect of his life is impacted. Many argue that children

with special needs should be helped for this reason. Adults with special needs must be cared for

to the same extent for the same reason.

Assisting the Family

Families of those with special needs also face a great burden. Many times, the

responsibility to find the care that their children require falls to the parents and other family

members. About 860,000 parents must care, at home, for their adult children who have special

needs (Public Broadcasting System). Even when the child has reached the age when many

children would move out and live independently, the family must still provide for most, if not all,

of their child’s needs. This puts great financial and emotional stress on them. The cost of an adult

day program costs about $15,200 a year (Elbaum). This can put great strain on one’s resources,

especially in situations such as when a single parent is tasked with caring for their child with

special needs. An important aspect of caring for people with special needs includes assisting

those who are providing for them. This help can be offered through increased funding for

subsidies for families or funding for support groups. As their families are helped, the person with

special needs is also cared for.

What is Being Done?

Many people have sought to improve the lives of adults with special needs. For example,

TURN Community Services provides resources such as caring for people in their home and

assisting people in finding employment (TURN Community Services). These services are crucial

and greatly improve the lives of those who require them. They help the family receive the

assistance they need and provide care that can only be found through these methods. However,

providing the resources to meet people’s needs is not easy. Programs like TURN require constant

support and donations to provide the services to those who need it. People can support care for

adults with special needs by supporting these amazing organizations.

 Providing assistance is also difficult because resources must be provided that will meet

the balance between helping those with special needs become independent members of society

while still meeting the needs that one cannot meet on their own because of their disability. This

is difficult because each person’s situation is unique, so one blanket solution will not help

everyone. Some people are able to obtain employment on their own but need assistance in

obtaining healthcare. Others require assistance even in obtaining food and shelter each day. By

developing programs that can meet needs individually, the resources can more effectively reach

many people. However, this also requires great funding and volunteer work to coordinate these

many efforts. Nonetheless, the magnitude of the effort that a solution will require should not

inhibit people from putting forth the effort to solve a problem of such great scale. Providing care

to help another person demands this effort. Neglecting adults with special needs would harm

them. They cannot just find other means to fill their needs; they must receive the assistance from

others. Efforts should be made to improve and expand care for them. As adults with special

needs are cared for, they can live more fulfilling lives.
 Works Cited

Ayres, Michael, et al. “A Systematic Review of Quality of Life of Adults on the Autism

Spectrum.” Autism, vol. 22, no. 7, Oct. 2018, pp. 774–783,

doi:10.1177/1362361317714988.

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1362361317714988.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “CDC: 1 in 4 US adults live with a disability.” CDC

Newsroom, 16 August 2018, https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2018/p0816-

disability.html.

Elbaum, Deborah. “Special Needs Care for Adult Children: Cost of Care.” Care.com, 24 January

2018, https://www.care.com/c/stories/10266/special-needs-care-for-adult-children-cost-

of-care/.

Public Broadcasting System. “What happens to developmentally disabled as parents age, die?”

PBS Newshour, 10 August 2016, https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/happens-

developmentally-disabled-parents-age-die.

TURN Community Services, “What we do.” 2018,

https://www.turncommunityservices.org/services.

United States Interagency on Homelessness. “Homelessness in America: Focus on Chronic

Homelessness Among People With Disabilities.” August 2018,

https://www.usich.gov/resources/uploads/asset_library/Homelessness-in-America-Focus-

on-chronic.pdf.