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Service delivery to persons with disabilities, their families, and their communities occurs at multiple levels and through Many funding streams. Understanding this delivery requires a clear understanding of (1) the frequent presence of coexisting intellectual and developmental, sensory, communication, or cognitive disabilities; (2) multiple funding streams; and (3) types of disabilities. This article reflects general trends in service delivery. Services for persons with disabilities tend to be relatively advanced compared to human services for other populations because this group has Many family members and other advocates seeking reliable and effective programs.

Across the different types of disabilities, individuals and their advocates increasingly focus on concerns to improve environmental accessibility and inclusion in their communities. Recent decades have seen the shift from services being provided based on a diagnosis to a functional approach. Under this functional approach, individuals receive services based on what is required to improve quality of life, increase their own decision making, and support community inclusion. Vital issues include conceptualizing new perspectives arising from the field of disability studies in which the traditional medical model is rejected in favor of full inclusion and the assumption that people with disabilities are best served if their lives are interconnected through their peers, who may or may not have disabilities. In this shift from a traditional medical model (that assumed a deficit in the individual) to a social model of disability (focused on inclusion), relevant employment issues and services lead to increased community participation (e.g., supported employment); housing services; and a community in which approaches such as person-centeredness, peer support, consumer-driven, and independent-living movements are provided to increase a disabled person's likelihood of becoming a fully participating citizen.

At a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Disability Employment Awareness Month event in Washington, D.C., hiring and employing individuals with disabilities pose questions to panel members. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack is dedicated to establishing the USDA as the lead federal agency in employing individuals with disabilities

Systems of Delivery

Delivery schemes for persons with disabilities are provided both publically and privately. In the public realm, this may include special education services for children with disabilities through the public education system in either a regular classroom or through segregated settings, disability services offices at colleges to support students by discerning and recommending reasonable accommodations, and rehabilitation services for veterans through the U.S. Veterans Administration. The federal government also funds three core functions provided in each of the 50 states and territories. These core functions include advocacy and protection; funding for disability councils so these political jurisdictions can support local initiatives; and University Centers for Excellence in Disabilities, which provide research, technical support, preprofessional training, and other services within a state or territory.

In the private realm, services are provided by not-for-profit and for-profit organizations. The not-for-profit organizations include those that primarily receive funding through a combination of fees, insurance payments, and governmental contracts from local, state, and federal sources. These organizations typically serve those persons with intellectual and developmental, communication, sensory, or psychiatric disabilities. Often persons receiving services are referred and funded by local (e.g., county) governments. In the for-profit sector, persons receiving services frequently have a disabling condition that may be temporary or long term, such as traumatic brain injury, with third-party insurance or first-party fees covering the cost of providing the services.

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