NJ's Self-Directed Rights Act Signed Into Law

I've written about my wish for my son to live among us in the community rather than in a residential facility. Yesterday, January 12th, New Jersey Governor Jon S. Corzine signed The Self-Directed Rights Act (AA259), which gives individuals with developmental disabilities who choose self-directed supports through the Division of Developmental Disabilities (DDD) the same rights as those who are in state facilities. "Self-directed support services" are further defined as:

........ an arrangement in which funding is made available by the department, through the Division of Developmental Disabilities or any other division in the department, to a person with a developmental disability or person who has been authorized to serve as a fiduciary of the person with a developmental disability, who is living in his own home, the home of a family member or guardian, or some other similar living environment. The purpose of the arrangement is to support the needs of the person with a developmental disability by allowing the person, or his family or guardian, or both, to determine the nature and scope of services to be provided, in lieu of the department placing the person with a developmental disability in a residential program operated by the department directly or by contracting with a residential provider of services for persons with developmental disabilities.

Along with another proposed piece of legislation, NJ De-Institutionalization Bill A3625, which calls for five of the state's seven state developmental centers to be closed within five years and the resources currently used for these centers to instead to be used for community housing----and certain events that are to occur next week (as in next Tuesday, in Chicago)---I'm starting to feel downright hopeful here at home in the Garden State.