Whose needs are we meeting? Results of a consumer satisfaction survey of persons with developmental disabilities in Colorado.

A Colorado team mailed a survey to 247 residents with developmental disabilities. Ages ranged from babies to 72 years old. The form asked how happy people were with eight service areas like housing, work help, and therapy.

The paper only lists the number of people who answered. It does not say if most people were happy or unhappy. No score or ranking is shared in the short summary.

Caldwell et al. (2007) later tracked families who got their own budgets to buy services. After nine years these families still said they were happier and had fewer unmet needs than a wait-list group. The 1991 snapshot did not link money to happiness, but the 2007 study shows personal budgets can keep satisfaction high.

Friedman (2023) reports that Medicaid now spends about $47,000 per person with IDD each year, mostly on day and residential supports. The 1991 survey did not show dollar amounts, so the new figures let you see what states now pay for the very services people rated.

Dinora et al. (2020) found that people in sponsored residential homes joined more community activities than those in larger facilities. This turns the old satisfaction list into action: pick smaller homes if you want better participation outcomes.

You can use the eight service domains as a quick checklist during intake. Ask the same questions today, then compare answers to the later studies. If satisfaction is low, look at individualized budgets and sponsored residential options first. These next-step moves are backed by longer and newer data that the 1991 paper simply did not have.