When Should I Establish Eligibility For Services From the New Jersey
Division of Developmental Disabilities?
by
Herbert D. Hinkle, Esq. and S. Paul Prior, Esq.
Hinkle & Fingles, Attorneys at Law
2651 Main Street
Lawrenceville, New Jersey 08648
(609) 896-4200 or (215) 860-2100
The short answer is to establish eligibility today. There is no age
limit for eligibility (although clients have told otherwise), and
there is no downside to eligibility. Therefore, eligibility should be
established as early as possible to obtain, if nothing else, family
support funding.
Eligibility for services from the New Jersey Division of Developmental
Disabilities (“DDD”) requires: “A
severe and chronic disability which: (1) is attributable to a mental
or physical impairment or combination of impairments; (2) is manifest
before the age of 22; (3) is likely to continue indefinitely;
(4)
results in substantial functional limitations in three of the
following areas of major life activity: self-care, receptive and
expressive language, learning mobility, self-direction, and capacity
for independent living or economic self-sufficiency; and (5) results
in the need for specialized and general care that is individually
planned.”
With some children (with a disability caused by Down Syndrome)
eligibility can be established in infancy. Other disabilities,
like autism, cannot be diagnosed and assessed until later, delaying
eligibility.
With disabilities like Asperger’s Syndrome (and high functioning
autism), there is a practical reason to establish eligibility early.
Many people with these disabilities are highly intelligent and capable
of obtaining a college degree or more, and yet are unable to live
independently without supervision. In the authors’ experience, DDD
often declines eligibility to individuals in these situations.
Therefore, an application in early adolescence avoids some of these
problems.
Articles discussing the services available from DDD, waiting lists and
service rights are available on this website.
______
Herbert D. Hinkle, his partner, Ira M. Fingles, and their colleagues,
S. Paul Prior and Valerie A. Powers Smith, maintain a statewide law
practice with offices in Lawrenceville, Marlton, and Florham Park, New
Jersey, and Yardley and Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania. They lecture
and write frequently on topics of law, aging, disability and estate
planning and are available
to speak to groups in New Jersey and Pennsylvania
at no charge.
Comments and suggestions
for future articles should be mailed to: Hinkle & Fingles, 2651 Main Street, Suite A, Lawrenceville, New Jersey 08648-1012.
Copyright 2005
Herbert D. Hinkle. All rights reserved.
