T.H. v. Division of Developmental Disabilities

The case, T.H. v. Division of Developmental Disabilities, concerned a 55 year-old man with Aspergers Syndrome, a developmental disability that was recognized and identified in the 1990s. The man had been cared for by his mother, and when she died, his siblings asked the New Jersey Division of Developmental Disabilities (DDD) for help. DDD denied on the grounds that the nature of the developmental disability was not cited in the mans medical records before the man turned 22.

The New Jersey Supreme Court justices said that because the mans specific difficulties were not recognized as a developmental disability before he turned 22, no evaluations, observations, or treatment would have been recorded, and therefore the observations of his family should be an adequate substitute. The court also ruled that the DDD placed more restrictions on the types of conditions that must be documented before age 22 than are required by law.