‘What Will Happen When I’m Gone?’: Parents Of People With Disabilities Push To Expand Services

By Ana B. Ibarra, CalMatters

Thirty years ago, Jim O’Hara Jr. woke up from a coma, unable to walk, talk or eat. An 18-wheeler had broadsided his car, leaving him, then 18 years old, with a severe brain injury, according to his father, Jim O’Hara. Doctors said the young man’s condition wouldn’t improve much. But O’Hara refused to leave his son in a nursing home.

After more than a year of hospital stays and rehabilitation, he brought Jim Jr. home, knowing he’d need far more help than one person could provide. California’s . . .