In the Spotlight: Time to not be nice, taxpayers
pjstar.com | Peoria, IL : May 14, 2011
After a week of "budget boxing" side by side with other local human service providers, I went to sleep with visions of the faces of people that state government funding cuts would affect. I awoke to Patrick Swayze's quote in the movie "Road House": "Be nice . . . 'til it's time not to be nice."
People with disabilities are fighting to hold onto services they need to live in their own homes and communities. Advocates for Access is one of 23 centers for independent living in Illinois that provide these services. We face significant budget cuts under Gov. Quinn's proposed 2012 budget. Without these services, people will be forced into institutions. Legislators may think these cuts save money. However, for every person who must move into a nursing home because the right community services are not available, the state will end up paying several times more than it saved.
Currently, the budget includes a 36 percent cut to centers for independent living (CILs). In addition, it eliminates our Community Reintegration Program (CRP), which transitions people out of nursing homes and into their own homes. Also, deep cuts eliminate services for people with physical, developmental and psychiatric disabilities. Similar to cuts to CILs and CRP, home service cuts will limit community-based resources for people with disabilities.
I agree that politicians need to cut spending, but behind every cut to home services there are people who will lose out on the help they need to live in their own homes. The answer is not to cut programs that hurt the independence of people. The answer is to rebalance a system that currently favors institutional care. On average, institutional care costs three times more than home-based care. I have to ask myself "why," when Illinois is already last in the nation for providing community-based services, do they add $50 million to nursing homes and take $4 million away from CILs that keep people out of nursing homes?
One in five people have a disability. It is the only minority group that does not discriminate and that any one of us could join in an instant. It is time for "nice," tax-paying citizens to become advocate warriors and have their voices heard. Call your senator today and tell them not to support disproportionate cuts to community-based human services.
Melody Reynolds is executive director for Advocates for Access.
## For Advocates for Access, go to: http://advocatesforaccess.com/
4450 N. Prospect Road, Suite C8, Peoria Heights, IL 61616
v/vp: 309.682.3500 :: tty: 309.682.3567 :: f: 309.682.3989 :: e: info@advocatesforaccess.com
No comments:
Post a Comment