OHIO HOUSING Disabled face lack of data, obstacles

Some families aren't aware that aid programs exist.
COLUMBUS (AP) -- Likolya Bullock turned to the Yellow Pages when she needed a spot in a nursing home, and then a way out of one.
"Even now, when I need things done, I realize I have to do them on my own," said Bullock, 21, who uses a wheelchair because of cerebral palsy.
Under the Americans with Disabilities Act and a 1999 Supreme Court decision, Bullock has the right to live where she chooses, instead of in an institution. The Cincinnati woman has learned that no one can fight for that right better than she can.
An unknown number of people who could live in an apartment or small group home, with state-paid workers to help them dress or bathe, are instead in nursing homes or state centers for people who are mentally retarded.
"What we've been finding is people sometimes end up in those places because people haven't been there to tell them how to stay out," said Gary Tonks, executive director of the Arc of Ohio, an advocacy group for people who are mentally retarded.
Those who apply and qualify for state aid must find a place to live and hire home-care workers from a limited supply.
Programs
Three state agencies run six programs for state-paid home health care for people with disabilities, and new programs are being developed.
Many families do not know the aid exists, and some state and county workers have incorrectly turned people away because workers were not familiar with all the programs, said Roland Hornbostel, deputy director and chief of policy for the Ohio Department of Aging.
"People shouldn't be directed to go to a service center and find it's an empty parking lot or a Kentucky Fried Chicken. It's happened," he said.
The department is using a federal grant this year to develop a Web site to explain home-care options and pay for a coordinator who will train government workers and private agencies to use it. Another new worker will help promote and explain housing assistance programs to consumers and government workers.
Even professional social workers would welcome a little guidance through the tangle of regulations.
"The agencies keep changing their procedures and they expect you to keep up. If I have difficulty, you can imagine what it's like for families. You have to use the right lingo," said Katherine Rohrer, a social worker at the Ohio Valley Center for Brain Injury Prevention and Rehabilitation in Columbus.
The grant-funded program helps arrange care for brain-injured patients from central and southern Ohio after they leave Ohio State University Medical Center.
Private agencies' help
Some families have found help from private agencies. The Columbus-based Arc uses volunteers such as Coralee Bosworth to explain alternatives to institutions.
Paralyzed by polio at age 12, Bosworth, 55, has an apartment in Sandusky. Her sister is paid to care for her. Bosworth also works part time for an independent-living center.
She said she wanted to work with people who are disabled once she learned all the services available.
"I have family support, but a lot of people don't," she said.
Bullock turned 18 the day her family moved from Indiana to a Cincinnati homeless shelter. She called the Ohio Department of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities for help.
"They told me they'd put me in a nursing home until they could find something for me," she said.
Nine months later, she was still in a Clermont County nursing home, where there was no one else her age and no programs to help her leave. So she got a phone book and looked under "cerebral palsy."
Working it out
The United Cerebral Palsy association said it could help if she lived in neighboring Hamilton County, where the chapter is based. More than a day of calls later, Bullock found a spot in a nursing home there and a ride. She graduated from high school while living in that nursing home, found an apartment in Cincinnati and is working toward a degree in social work.
"The problem is, it's a senior citizen building," Bullock said. "Right now I'm looking in the papers and calling Realtors and trying to find housing that's wheelchair-accessible so I can move."
Housing is often the single biggest obstacle to leaving an institution, advocates and people who are disabled say.
"A lot of times it's inaccessible or unaffordable," said Rohrer of the brain injury center. The key is arranging care at home before going to an institution, she said.
Demand for accessible, affordable housing will only increase, said Joan Lawrence, director of the state's Aging Department.
Ohio could look to states such as Oregon, which encourages older healthy people living alone to help care for boarders with disabilities, Lawrence said.
"Down the road, we've got to do some of this recruitment of facilities for people -- homes, real homes," Lawrence said.