newjerseynewsroom.com

BY SALVATORE PIZZURO

COMMENTARY

Dawn Apgar, the current deputy commissioner of the state Department of Human Services and interim director of the Division of Developmental Disabilities, is in no hurry to support a new study, proposed by Senator Loretta Weinberg, to evaluate the success rate of developmentally disabled New Jerseyans who formerly resided at the North Princeton Developmental Center. In question are the mortality rates of the former residents, as well as their success in finding community placements, access to appropriate medical care and related services, etc.

Interestingly, additional members of the developmental disability community will seek a new home when the State’s developmental centers in Totowa and Woodridge close in the next few years. As many as 500 developmentally disabled individuals will be impacted by the closing of the two North Jersey developmental centers.

Perhaps most alarming is the position that the State has taken, and demonstrated via Apgar, regarding new research. As experienced and dedicated group experimental researchers will attest, each study may provide a small, but important, piece of information; it is the collection of data via a variety of studies that produces significant information. As a researcher, this is the first time that this writer has heard a governmental official state publicly that additional research is unnecessary.

The North Princeton Developmental Center closed in 1998. Senator Loretta Weinberg simply wants to know what happened to the residents since the closing; did they have difficulty acquiring appropriate community placements? Were the necessary services available in the community? Who provided the services? Will those services be available when the Woodbridge and Totowa residents are transferred to the community?

Perhaps the most important question is “Why would the Christie Administration be opposed to having these questions answered”?

Apgar was reportedly one of the principal investigators of the ”Post-North Princeton Study” that was designed by the Developmental Disabilities Planning Institute at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. As a good researcher knows, follow-up data is always necessary, as short-term studies provide limited results. One must now ask, “Did the study measure what it purports to measure?" Perhaps more importantly, did the Apgar study provide information that will help us guarantee a smooth transition for developmentally disabled adults from larger institutions to community placements? Certainly, we need to know if the necessary services are available in the community and are accessible for all.

Finally, why would Apgar or the Governor be afraid of the results of any future studies? The lives of developmentally disabled adults are at stake. We must work together in order to assure them of a reasonable quality of life.

Dr. Salvatore Pizzuro, a disability policy specialist, holds a doctorate in Developmental Disabilities from Columbia University and an advanced degree in Disability Law from New York Law.

RECENT COLUMNS BY SALVATORE PIZZURO

N.J.'s 'Forgotten People': The developmentally disabled

Fight for Tara’s Law follow-up bill continues in Trenton

Reported abuse at Vineland Developmental Center elicits questions about Task Force decisions

Coalition opposes potential closing of Woodbridge and Totowa Developmental Centers