ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — More than 14,000 special needs families are in Orlando for the 26th Annual Family Café, one of the largest disability conferences in the country.
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Since 1998, the Annual Family Café has brought Floridians with all types of disabilities together for a weekend full of information, training, and networking.
The conference seeks to connect families with resources and support services they need.
It comes as the state of Florida announced record breaking funding for people in need of disability services.
But advocates say that won’t cover a 26,000-person backlog of special-needs Floridians seeking additional support.
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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced in April that more than $2.2 billion would go to the Agency for Persons with Disabilities for services through the IBudget waiver.
The waiver provides social, medical, behavioral, and therapeutic services to individuals with autism and other developmental disabilities.
It allows those with special needs to access services at home and in their community that are not covered by Medicaid.
“You have a steadily growing demand for waiver services and oftentimes the supply lags behind that,” said Jeremy Countryman, the Vice President of the Family Café.
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According to Countryman, the new funding will help clear some of the backlog of Florida families currently on the IBudget waiver waitlist, but it won’t cover all the need.
Disability advocates say approximately 26,000 Floridians are currently on a waitlist for the IBudget waivers.
“There is always some type of process or waitlist for people who aren’t able to access that new funding,” said Countryman, “One of the reasons we’re here is to help people identify things that can help them in that interim period.”
The Annual Family Cafe has helped families connect with those additional resources for over two decades.
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At this year’s event, NSU’s Disability Inclusion and Advocacy Law (DIAL) Clinic, hosted a drop-in session focused on helping families craft Decision Making Agreements and other Guardianship Alternatives.
Those legal documents help families whose special need kids are transitioning to adulthood.
“All people with disabilities should live as independently as possible, and the more tools you give people to do that the better,” said Matthew Dietz, the director of the DIAL clinic.
Meanwhile, Lalita Tooley told Channel 9 she found community at the Family Café nearly 20 years ago, when her now adult sons were just children.
Tooley’s 18-year-old son Jack has autism, and 20-year-old Connor has down syndrome.
She attends the conference every year and now is a presenter who helps other parents learning to support their special needs children.
“This changed my life because I’m not alone. I have other mothers and parents like me,” said Tooley.
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