Community-Based Care Offers Alternative For Helping Those With Disabilities

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Corbin Allgood-McKinnon has lived at L'Arche Atlanta since 2016.

Just a few years ago, many people with developmental disabilities in Georgia lived their day-to-day lives in the confines of the state’s mental health institutions.

But today, many are being given the chance to be a part of their community, experiencing an independent life.GPB intern Makenna Smith reports on the use of community-based care for treating those with developmental disabilities in Georgia.

Corbin Allgood-McKinnon and his mother, Beth, are sitting on the porch of L'Arche Atlanta.

It's a community-based program for people with developmental disabilities.

Allgood-Mckinnon is 30 years old and an accomplished musician. He's played the bagpipes for 13 years and has competed in the U.S., Scotland and Ireland. He even played at his dad’s wedding.

He's also blind and intellectually delayed. 

During the week, Corbin leaves the house and attends a day program with his friends in Gwinnett County.

“I cook. I play games. I play cornhole," he said.

L'Arche Atlanta is part of an international network of community-based care facilities founded in 1964 in Trosly, France.

Corbin left his mom’s home 3 years ago to move into L'Arche. 

"If I could have chosen when he would have come here, it would have not been when he did. I wasn’t ready. Because I just have so much fun being with him and feel so comforted by his presence. But, it was the best place," his mother said.

Home and community-based programs also help family members and caretakers answer the question of who will take care of their loved one after they’re gone.

“It’s such a relief to know he’s gonna be ok,  he's gonna be loved, he’s gonna love where he is, who he’s with and his life.”

It also gives people in the community with and without developmental disabilities the opportunity to understand one another.

Tim Moore has been the Executive Director of L’Arche Atlanta since it launched in 2012.

“There is always an incredible amount of difference that is created by disability. That difference is feared no matter where it is," Moore said.

"So, in L’Arche, we flip that fear upside down and we invite people to encounter the person and the gifts that are within the people with disabilities."

Georgia had to close many of its mental health hospitals in 2010, due to a settlement with the federal government. That created more demand for programs like L’Arche. 

But Executive Director of the Georgia Council on Developmental Disabilities Eric Jacobson says not everyone who wants this type of care can get it. 

“The only thing that’s keeping everybody from having that life on some level is dollars allocated by the state legislature and the federal government to support those folks in the community," he said.

In August, Gov. Brian Kemp asked for every state agency to make 4% cuts in their budgets this fiscal year and 6% cuts on what’s left the year after.

This includes the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities, which currently has a wait list of 344 people.

Georgia Public Broadcasting is a state agency funded in part by the state of Georgia.