Disability Advocates Lobby for Alcohol Tax

BALTIMORE -- Michelle Rikon of Elkridge has a 12 year old son with multiple disabilities who sometimes violently lashes out at her and his 8 year old brother, traumatizing the youngster and monopolizing his mother's time to the point that the younger child won't eat and may need a colostomy. He's fed through a tube, she said, while her older boy has been hospitalized seven times for his outbursts, and nothing seems to help.
If that weren't bad enough, she said, "We have received no services" from the state's Developmental Disabilities Administration. Other speakers said the overburdened agency is busily dropping thousands of needy families from its 19,000-name waiting list, often without any notification — an allegation that the state disputes.
Rikon, a 38-year old nurse, made her tearful, emotional remarks spontaneously at a legislative breakfast held Wednesday morning by the ARC of Howard County and the Howard County Autism Society. Those groups are pushing Howard's state legislators to support an alcohol tax increase that they believe could help relieve their problems with more than $200 million in dedicated new revenue.