Developmental Disabilities Services (DDS) uses its department goals to empower and support Oklahomans with developmental and intellectual disabilities to live independently and work in integrated employment within their communities. We also strive to improve the wellbeing of individuals receiving Home and Community Based Services and provide resources and services to individuals and their families on the DDS waitlist.

DDS has contacted more than half of the families on the waitlist for services, and we are on track to fulfill our original timeline to eliminate the waitlist in 2024. There were 4,993 applications assigned to seven cohorts (or groups) who have been waiting for services for up to 13 years. Of those, more than 2,600 individuals have started the process with 924 people approved for services by the end of fiscal year 2023 (FY23).   

The 2,600 DDS applications processed in FY23 represent over half of those on the waitlist at the beginning of the year. In most cases, it takes six to nine months for individuals on the waitlist to begin receiving services, and our progress is updated regularly on the DDS waitlist website.

Our Waitlist elimination timeline is on the DDS website and we remain on track to make Oklahoma a “No-Wait State” for DDS services.

A critical component to ending the waitlist was the implementation of our regional family meetings – our PossABLE initiative. These meetings provide in-person, accessible resources and information to families as they prepare to come off the waitlist. The meetings have provided waves of positive feedback from families. In FY23, DDS hosted 15 of these events across the state including gatherings in Lawton, Enid, McAlester and Ardmore. Additional meetings were held in Oklahoma City and Tulsa, and a virtual event was held in April 2023. DDS staff and providers met with 880 Oklahomans at these meetings to answer their questions and provide them with a pathway to receive services.