Charlottesville Daily Progress: Budget hurts those with disabilities

I wrote this letter to the editor, which appeared in the Charlottesville Daily Progress on March 4:

http://www2.dailyprogress.com/cdp/news/opinion/letters_to_the_editor/article/budget_hurts_those_with_disabilities/53053/

Balancing Virginia’s budget by eliminating services and programs for people with disabilities might look good on paper, but this balancing is done on the backs of Virginia’s most vulnerable citizens.

These proposals, which are a step in the wrong direction when it comes to human dignity and civil rights, come a time when most states are eliminating institutionalization as an option. Virginia, on the other hand, is choosing to continue to build and/or rebuild institutions, at a current cost of some $47 million, at the same time shutting the door on many of the services that would allow people with disabilities to remain in the community, with families and loved ones, and to be able to work and participate in community life.

Almost 6,000 people are on wait lists for Medicaid waivers that would allow them to receive services in the community rather than in institutions, a clear testimony to the fact that citizens of the commonwealth do not want institutionalization as their only option.
Under the proposed cuts, some people with disabilities who are able to work, utilizing personal assistant services, will no longer be able to work. People who are living in the community with assistance will have no choice but to go into institutions or nursing homes. Respite care could be slashed to almost nonexistent levels: The proposed cut from 720 hours to 240 hours maximum a year works out to less than an hour of respite care in a 24-hour day, for those fortunate enough to obtain it. Thousands of jobs for Virginians would be lost with the elimination of personal assistant services and other related jobs.

Virginia has responsibilities under the Americans with Disabilities Act and the 1999 Supreme Court decision Olmstead v. L.C., to provide services that ensure that people with disabilities are served in community settings. As the federal assistant attorney general for civil rights, Tom Perez, said in his recent installation speech: “Segregating people with disabilities in institutions is every bit as bad and illegal as segregating children of color in inferior schools.”

This sort of decision-making will force even more Virginia families into warehousing their loved ones, and into financial and personal disaster.

To balance the budget by forcing people with disabilities into institutions and poverty is a disgrace to Virginia.

Paula C. Durbin-Westby is coordinator for the Autistic Self Advocacy Network, Virginia Chapter.