When One IQ Score Blocks State Help for Your Adult

If your autistic adult — or your young adult with intellectual disability — needs job coaching, case management, or a ride that keeps bowling and work on the calendar, and a state office said no because one IQ number sat above a line, you are not imagining the gap. Families in Connecticut just took that gap to court. Clinicians look at how a person actually lives day to day. Some state rules still stop at a single test score.

What the lawsuit says happened

Four young Connecticut residents — Andrew Baylis, 23; Daynasha Bohannon, 18; Carriella Borchetta, 20; and Alexander Capuano, 19 — sued the Connecticut Department of Developmental Services (DDS), the state office that runs many adult intellectual-disability supports, and Commissioner Elisa Velardo. The case is Baylis et al. v. Department of Developmental Services, filed in Hartford Superior Court. Disability Scoop covered it September 8, 2026, from Hartford Courant reporting. Connecticut by the Numbers and Law360 also reported on the complaint.

Their claim is plain: each of them has a clinician diagnosis of intellectual disability under the DSM-5 (the diagnostic manual clinicians use). Each needs real help with daily life, work, or getting around. DDS still denied eligibility because Connecticut law, as the agency applies it, treats a Full Scale IQ score of 70 or higher as a hard stop — even when other scores fell below 70, and even when adaptive functioning (how someone manages real-world tasks like dressing, cooking, travel, and money) shows ongoing need.

The complaint says Connecticut is one of only three states that still mandate and exclusively rely on a strict IQ cutoff for these services. Most other states treat IQ as one factor among several, closer to how clinicians already work.

Andrew’s file, as described in Law360’s report on the complaint, is the kitchen-table version. At 17 his IQ was measured at 72. At 23 he still depends on his parents for most daily living tasks. DDS denied case management and other supports meant to help him stay in community life or pursue work.

Alex’s mom, Kelly Capuano, told reporters her son wants to work and loves bowling. He needs practical help with employment and transportation. After she had a stroke and could no longer drive, he had to drop his bowling league. “We are not asking for the sun and the moon — just a few concrete services that will help him live safely and build as much independence as possible,” she said in a statement carried by Connecticut by the Numbers.