SAN ANTONIO – A coalition of six local nonprofits serving people with intellectual or developmental disabilities, or IDD, has launched a new survey to get feedback directly from families and caregivers.
The group said it wants the thousands of families in Bexar County who navigate life with an IDD to lead the conversation around the care they want to see in town.
“The purpose of this survey is really trying to hear parents' voices,“ said Jenny Hixon, CEO of ABC of Southwest Texas. ”What are we doing? Well, what can we do better? What are the things that are working really well that might not be obvious to all of us? And what are the areas where we have an opportunity to improve, really, and lift up those voices in a systematic way?"
ABC of Southwest Texas, The Arc of San Antonio, The Brighton Center, Morgan’s Multi-Assistance Center (the MAC), SA Life Academy, and Respite Care of San Antonio say that around 10%-15% of families in the country have a loved one with an intellectual or developmental disability.
The nonprofits want to get an accurate look of what care looks like in the area and find room for improvement.
"It saves time, money, stress, all of the above for families. They are already dealing with a, really, sometimes challenging situation just to run a normal daily household,“ said Katrina Campbell, CEO of The Brighton Center. ”And so, anything that we can do to give them a level of empowerment and confidence that they know the trajectory of their child’s life, we’re all for."
The survey is live right now and takes around seven minutes to complete. Around 700 people have completed it so far, but the nonprofits say they want to get as many responses as possible.
That survey will close at the end of March, and the nonprofits will work with the data in April. They plan to share their findings with the public in May.
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