For the past several months, at least once a week, a group of Access Living advocates have traveled to Springfield to urge state legislators to protect services that support people with disabilities living in the community. When the state budget was announced in February, cuts gutted community-based services. If such a budget passes, the cuts would threaten the independence of hundreds of people with disabilities.
In Springfield, advocates urged legislators to protect community services, arguing that community living promotes a higher quality of life and that community services cost far less than institutional services.
When advocates make their visit to Springfield today, May 25, they will focus on the Community Reintegration Program, a Department of Human Services program still on the chopping block. Through the program, people on Medicaid living in nursing homes are able to transition into an apartment of their own. Over the years, Centers for Independent Living, like Access Living, in Illinois have empowered thousands of people with disabilities to make the transition, saving the state millions of dollars.
If the program is cut, hundreds of people around the state may not get the choice to move out of a nursing home. Not only will this deprive a person of his or her choice to live in the community, it will be cost the state thousands of dollars per person every year. Such a cut doesn’t make fiscal sense or common sense.
Before the end of the week, please contact Governor Quinn’s office and urge him to support the independence of people with disabilities by funding the Community Reintegration Program.
Contact Governor Quinn’s office:
Phone: 217-782-0244
TTY: 888-261-3336
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# For Access Living for Independent Living in Chicago, click headline or go to: http://www.accessliving.org/
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