According to a recent study conducted by IBISWorld, Inc, the future is bright for the elderly and disabled services.  Because of an aging population, more services are being demanded for elderly care.  Also, the industry is seeing a trend with families that have taken care of disabled loved ones.  More and more parents are unable to provide care due to their needs as they get older, hence the demand for more formal care by provider agencies and home and community based services is on the rise.  Only approximately 13% of individuals with I/DD live in residences provided by agencies across the country.  This number is sure to rise.  

Real-time news, engagement and interaction are just a few of the terms to describe one of the leading social networking sites of 2013. The Twitter platform is like none other, as you are provided with a constant updated feed of all of the people and businesses you choose to follow. No longer do you have to await the nightly news to learn about the latest news and events, instead Twitter is the place for you to share and learn more information than ever before. I have decided to put together a list of noteworthy home care industry Twitter accounts that I feel are worthwhile to follow when it comes to keeping up with Home and Community Based Services advocacy and news.

Last month, I had the privilege of attending a webinar put on by AAIDD in conjunction with the Coleman Institute for Cognitive Disabilities and the Institute on Disability and Human Development.  Both of these institutes have really great data on I/DD Home and Community Based Services throughout the US and really give a complete picture on what's going on in our industry as a whole.  This blog post will focus around what I learned regarding the services and needs of individuals with I/DD as they have trended over the last 30 something years.  There are some really promising trends that were uncovered in the webinar and also some that pose challenges to providers across the country.