People with Developmental Disabilities
Nearly all persons supported by Community Systems, Inc. (CSI), over 600 persons, have developmental disabilities.
Developmental disabilities are, by definition, acquired before one's 18th birthday. According to the federal government's definition, a developmental disability is a severe, chronic disability which:
- is attributable to mental and/or physical impairments
- is indefinite
- results in functional limitations in three or more areas of major life activity (self care, receptive and expressive language, learning, mobility, self-direction, capacity for independent living, and/or economic self-sufficiency), and
- results in a person's need for special care, treatment, and other services which are lifelong or of extended duration.
In brief, mental retardation (now preferably termed intellectual disability) is a developmental disability.
A developmental disability may present in one or more of several ways and that, in turn, requires that CSI staff have special skills.
