Developmental Disabilities Services
What We Do
The mission of Developmental Disabilities Services (DDS) is to help Oklahomans with developmental disabilities and their families lead safer, healthier, more independent lives. Our focus is to enhance the quality of life for individuals in our waiver programs and empower clients and their families to choose services that help them thrive in their communities and gain increased independence.
DDS continues to eliminate long waiting periods for individuals to receive waiver services. Working with seven cohorts comprised of families, providers and stakeholders, we remain on track to eliminate the state’s 13-year wait for services. Since the waitlist elimination plan launched in May 2022, nearly 2,000 people have been approved for, or are already receiving, services including 1,045 individuals in FY24. We invite you to check our progress on the DDS waitlist website.
Regional family meetings are a critical component of our efforts to reach families coming off the waitlist. DDS staff hosted 25 in-person or virtual regional meetings and provided valuable resources and information to 1,400 families.
Two programs, DSP+ and Called to Care, were launched to address the national workforce shortage of direct support professionals (DSPs) who provide in-person care to individuals with intellectual or developmental disabilities. DSP+ helps recruit, retain and reward direct support professionals through incentive payments. In FY24, 14,665 individuals received $16.6 million in incentive payments. Called to Care is a statewide awareness campaign launched by DDS and Community Living, Aging and Protective Services (CAP). After launching in March 2024, the campaign generated 45 million impressions, 86,635 unique visits to the Called to Care website and 6,077 visits to specific DSP job postings online in only four months.
DDS remains committed to achieving an adequate number of internal case management staff to serve families. To help meet that goal, more than 100 additional case managers were hired by DDS in FY24.
Additional Information
