For Families Supporting Adults With Disabilities, Independence Extends Beyond Housing Alone

For many families supporting a person with a disability, independence involves far more than finding a place to live. It can also depend on access to employment, reliable support, meaningful relationships, and a community that remains available as circumstances change. A 2025 report from AARP and the National Alliance for Caregiving estimated that 63 million Americans were providing ongoing care to an adult or child with a complex medical condition or disability.

Employment is another important part of that picture. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 38.1 percent of working-age people with a disability were employed in 2025, compared with 74.8 percent of working-age people without a disability. These figures do not reflect every individual experience, but they illustrate why access to meaningful work remains part of the wider conversation about independence.

Shantoya Thomas

Housing adds another consideration. A person may have a safe place to live while still needing access to transportation, employment, social connections, daily-life skills, and appropriate support. For families thinking many years ahead, the question may therefore be less about securing housing alone and more about creating the conditions for a fulfilling adult life.

That can be difficult when different parts of support are planned separately. Housing, workforce development, family support, transportation, and community participation may each address an important need, but families still have to consider how those pieces will work together over time. A more connected approach could offer another way to think about that transition.

That question has shaped the perspective of Shantoya Nicole Thomas, founder and campaign spokesperson for Brighter View Foundation. Her experience in disability services and as a parent has led her to focus on a concern that many families may recognize. "The question many families carry is, 'What happens when I'm gone?'" Thomas says. "For parents of children with disabilities, planning for adulthood is about more than housing. It is also about who will be there, what support will remain available, and whether their loved one will continue to feel connected to a community."

Thomas is now applying that thinking to the proposed Brighter View Independent Living Community, a concept-stage project intended for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Current plans envision a mix of supportive apartments, accessible cottages, and duplex or shared-living homes, allowing for different living arrangements as individual needs and preferences vary.

The concept is designed to extend beyond housing alone. Current plans include a Life Enrichment Center and workforce hub intended to bring together life-skills development, employment pathways, wellness support, transportation, family navigation, and opportunities for community connection. Rather than treating these needs as separate parts of adult life, the proposed model would explore how they might work together within one supportive environment.

"The goal is to give families better options to consider as they plan for the future," Thomas explains. "Independent living is stronger when people can also build relationships, develop practical skills, take part in meaningful activities, and access support when they need it."

Importantly, the project is currently in its development phase, with work already well underway. Brighter View is actively verifying family demand, identifying an appropriate site, advancing preliminary design and accessibility planning, engaging experienced affordable-housing development partners, and building a workable legal and financial structure. Each of these steps is laying the foundation for a clear construction pathway.

Brighter View is moving the idea forward responsibly by focusing on the planning and groundwork that development depends on. The organization is gathering insight into family needs, exploring suitable sites, shaping accessibility priorities, working through legal and financial requirements, and involving families and self-advocates at every stage. The current campaign directly supports this progress, helping turn early momentum into a confirmed site, design, and construction timeline.

For Thomas, involving families in that planning is important because support needs can change across a lifetime. "Families do not stop being families when a child becomes an adult," she says. "The support around them has to evolve as their needs change. Ideally, families should not have to rebuild an entire support system every time they enter a new stage of life."

No single housing or community model will suit every adult with an intellectual or developmental disability. Individual preferences, support requirements, affordability, funding, regulation, and family circumstances all matter. That is also why Brighter View's current plan begins with research and family engagement rather than assuming that one predetermined model will meet every need.

"We have to think with the future in mind," Thomas says. "The aim is to create more practical options around adulthood, employment, belonging, and independence, while giving families greater confidence about what may come next."

The broader conversation about independence may therefore benefit from looking beyond any single service. Housing matters, but so do work, relationships, transportation, life skills, and a sense of belonging. Bringing those considerations into the same long-term conversation could help families plan not simply for where a loved one might live, but for the life they may be able to continue building there.