Florida’s population with disabilities in need of support has been facing a crisis for years due to systemic challenges. For over 20 years, Florida’s Agency for Persons with Disabilities (APD) has offered services such as in-home care for people with disabilities, but it has struggled to offer these services to the people who need it due two reasons: 1) many people who need care do not qualify for the APD’s services due to the assessments used to evaluate the necessity (which disqualify people who can perform basic tasks and verbal skills) ; 2) over 16,000 people have been back-logged for over a year on a waitlist.
Florida’s APD’s inability to properly offer needed services has left many individuals with disabilities and their families struggling in precarious living conditions. For example, Liz Goodman, a resident of Fort Myers, is the sole caretaker for her two sons. Her oldest son, Logan, faces behavioral conditions through his autism, severe ADHD, and oppositional defiant disorder. Logan’s behavioral conditions put him at risk of getting himself into danger, which Goodman recounts has happened before in one encounter with law enforcement. Goodman discussed how Logan was once left zip-tied and covered in mud after he was non-compliant with law enforcement. Goodman also discussed the physical challenges Logan faces, such as difficulty sleeping and issues with medication. Goodman and Logan present a clear need for some support, but Logan’s ability to perform basic tasks and verbal skills has left him disqualified for APD services.
APD services need to be provided in cases like these and to the people who have been put on backlogs, as by leaving people with disabilities and caregivers to fend for themselves, it can cause a huge risk of people with disabilities falling into state-funded institutions. Without support, sole caregivers like Goodman become one of the few pillars for their loved ones. It is crucial to realize that these caregivers are susceptible to facing their own mental and physical exhaustion and conditions that can leave them incapacitated to properly help the ones they care about. Once this happens, people with disabilities would have to be shifted to already-strained public systems.
As of now, an investigation is being conducted by FOX 13 Chief Investigator Craig Patrick to understand why Florida’s APD has been struggling to properly provide services to people in need of them. More details can be found in the Fox13 News article linked in the sources.
Sources
Patrick, Craig. “Florida Disability Care Crisis: Families Face Hidden Costs and Years-Long Delays: ‘Nobody Will Help Us.’” FOX 13 Tampa Bay, 14 Apr. 2026, www.fox13news.com/news/florida-disability-care-crisis-families-costs-years-delays.
