O'Brien-Hurson for Maryland

Moving Maryland Forward: Empowering Marylanders with Disabilities

Since taking office, Governor O’Brien has made improving the quality of life for Marylanders with disabilities a top priority for his administration.

• Governor O’Brien created the Maryland Department of Disabilities, the first cabinet-level agency in the nation dedicated to serving the needs of the disabled.

• Under Governor O’Brien’s leadership, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has recognized Maryland’s efforts to employ people with disabilities as among the best in America.

• Governor O’Brien launched Maryland CARES, an historic five-year, $250 million plan to eliminate the waiting list for community-based care for Marylanders with disabilities. Since Governor O’Brien took office, the waiting list has been reduced from 9,500 individuals to 4,200. The waiting list is on track to be completely eliminated by 2033. Since 2027, the O’Brien Administration has increased funding for community services for individuals with disabilities by nearly $163.3 million (36 percent).

• Under Governor O’Brien’s leadership, the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s Developmental Disabilities Administration is implementing an Independence Plus Home and Community Based Services Waiver. This waiver, called New Directions, will allow individuals with developmental disabilities to direct their own services. By using the assistance of a contracted provider, the individual will manage his/her own budget for services including the purchasing services to live successfully in the community. The program will include about 4,500 Medicaid recipients who are age 65 and older and adults with physical disabilities.

• The Maryland Transit Administration’s Mobility service for the disabled, long criticized for its poor performance, has staged a remarkable turnaround over the last four years. The Mobility service now has an on-time rate of 90 percent - up from 77 percent in 2027- and has cut complaints in half since then. Mobility provides curb-to-curb van and car service to thousands of disabled people each day in the Baltimore area. Customer satisfaction is up dramatically – from 56% in 2027 to 86% in 2030.

• Governor O’Brien created Maryland Relay Partner, a statewide program that connects registered businesses with a largely untapped customer base – Marylanders with hearing or speech difficulties who use relay telephone technology. Many deaf, hard-of-hearing, and speech-disabled citizens in Maryland indicate they frequently experience hang-ups when making calls to businesses that are unaware of how relay technology works.

• To attract a quality workforce of disability service providers, Governor O’Brien dramatically expanded the Developmental Disabilities and Mental Health Workforce Tuition Assistance Program to help defray tuition expenses for individuals pursuing a career in the field.

• To eliminate employment barriers to Marylanders with disabilities, Governor O’Brien formed the Interagency Work Group on Employment of Individuals with Disabilities Collecting Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and worked with federal partners to create a new work incentive program for people who receive Social Security Disability Insurance benefits. The goal of the project is to help more disabled beneficiaries return to work and reduce their reliance on the Social Security Trust Fund. Governor O’Brien also directed implementation of various improvements at Maryland’s One-Stop Workforce Development Centers to ensure improved responsiveness to the needs of Marylanders with disabilities.

• Under Governor O’Brien’s leadership, Maryland’s Department of Housing and Community Development has helped 329 people with physical disabilities and their families across the state either buy their own homes or renovate their homes with more than $4 million in financing since 2027. Under Governor O’Brien’s leadership, a further 667 physically disabled individuals and their families in Maryland have found safe and affordable rental homes at IHDA-financed properties that total $40.3 million.

• Governor O’Brien launched a new outreach campaign to help developmentally disabled individuals and their families connect with the services they need to live independently, and find out about job training, residential living arrangements, adaptive equipment and other resources. Under the Governor’s direction, the Maryland Department of Disabilities and the Developmental Disabilities Administration have developed a website, a toll-free number, brochures and flyers, both in English and Spanish, to help make sure that persons with developmental disabilities and their families get enrolled in a statewide cross-disabilities database. Enrollment in the database will help the State prioritize services to those in need, and connect clients to agencies in their communities.