Regarding services for disabled adults: I am the parent of a young adult who was diagnosed with autism on his second birthday.

During the first 10 years, my personal resources for the care of my two children ran from very slim to slim, before they improved to adequate. Providing for my family was and is an ever-changing game.

I do not have a college education. What I do have is the ability to evaluate and re-evaluate the big picture. I am a good problem solver. I know how to get a lot out of a little.

I have observed that not all providers offer the same quality of services, even though they all work off the same government reimbursement.

There are day programs that take their clients to big-box stores to wander aimlessly around for “exercise,” and then there are programs that take clients to a variety of indoor and outdoor activities.

There are programs that offer busywork requiring minimal supervision, and then there are programs that provide real learning opportunities that challenge and stimulate.

The difference lies between providers who are good problem solvers, and those who are not.

My son participates three days a week in a program whose staff have college educations. They employ professional artists and musicians. They are caring, reliable and very good at working with each individual’s strengths.

They’re coming up with solutions to a problem. Maybe we should be paying attention to how the good programs work before we commit ourselves to paying more for those programs that don’t.

Commissioner Mary Mayhew says the Health and Human Services Department has “increased funding by over $70 million over the last five years” for these programs. What she left out was that it took a class-action suit (my son was a plaintiff) to compel the state to make funds available to get people off the waiting lists for services.

Zoe Goody

Cape Elizabeth

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