Opinion: Connecticut Budget Cuts Reflect 'New Level of Inhumanity'

Powerful Op-Ed piece in The Hartford Courant by Stanley and the Rev. Kathleen Peters, parents of an adult child with ID/DD.

Enough is enough. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and the Office of Policy and Management Secretary Benjamin Barnes have shown a whole new level of inhumanity with their continued cuts to the Department of Developmental Services budget. As two of the thousands of parents of an adult child with an intellectual/developmental disability, who has been on the department's waiting lists for residential funding, we are sickened by the Malloy administration's indifference to our children and all the children affected by the budget cuts.

People with intellectual and developmental disabilities are among the most vulnerable members of our society and the least able to personally advocate for themselves. We can only think that it is because of their vulnerability that the governor and the secretary of policy and management feel that they are an easy target to take the brunt of cuts to balance the state budget.