As in metropolitan regions across the country, the population of low-income adults with disabilities in the Portland area is large. The 2004 US Census estimated the number in the tri-county area to be more than 178,000. Many of these low income adults with disabilities are not able to access the services and support they need. However, the inability to access needed services and support is not restricted to low income adults with disabilities. Without the support and services they need, the quality of life for all disabled adults decreases.
A complex aggregate of health and social service agencies exists to serve the needs of adults with disabilities. For a variety of reasons, services are often fragmented and lack the integration and coordination across agencies that is needed to simultaneously address multiple problems. Adults with disabilities often find it difficult to find the services intended for them and become confused and/or discouraged. Many just give up in frustration and settle for doing the best they can without the support and services they need. These people have "fallen through the (proverbial) cracks" of the service systems and are at high risk of ending up on the streets, in the criminal justice system, or dead. There are not hundreds, but thousands, of homeless people in the Portland metro area. The percentage of those thousands of homeless people who are disabled is high. Recent studies reported in The Oregonian indicate that as many as 25% of our prison population have significant mental health issues. The number of "invisible" disabled adults who simply die is unknown. This is an alarming and hidden travesty in our society and evidence that our existing social and health services are failing to address the needs of large numbers of our citizens.
A complex aggregate of health and social service agencies exists to serve the needs of adults with disabilities. For a variety of reasons, services are often fragmented and lack the integration and coordination across agencies that is needed to simultaneously address multiple problems. Adults with disabilities often find it difficult to find the services intended for them and become confused and/or discouraged. Many just give up in frustration and settle for doing the best they can without the support and services they need. These people have "fallen through the (proverbial) cracks" of the service systems and are at high risk of ending up on the streets, in the criminal justice system, or dead. There are not hundreds, but thousands, of homeless people in the Portland metro area. The percentage of those thousands of homeless people who are disabled is high. Recent studies reported in The Oregonian indicate that as many as 25% of our prison population have significant mental health issues. The number of "invisible" disabled adults who simply die is unknown. This is an alarming and hidden travesty in our society and evidence that our existing social and health services are failing to address the needs of large numbers of our citizens.
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