Budget Roundup: Fighting Planned Cuts

The message is coming from so many states that we decided to compile a roundup. First piece addresses New Jersey cut and is by Tom Toronto, president of United Way of Bergen County

We are deeply concerned about the position the state of New Jersey has recently taken with respect to housing opportunities for those with disabilities and special needs.

The state is contemplating a rule change that will limit housing choices for people with developmental disabilities to either four-bedroom group homes or set-aside units that are 25 percent or less of a large multifamily development. Bergen County's United Way believes that people with developmental disabilities have the right to choose from a full array of housing, lifestyle and support-service options.

Charlene Smith-Scott, an employee with The Arc Baltimore, responds to Maryland cuts.

Before Gov. Martin O'Malley left office, he cut funding that my colleagues and I were counting on to stay ahead of minimum wage. Now, Gov. Larry Hogan is doing the same thing with the new budget. People in my profession are not state employees, but we are doing work that is the responsibility of the state. Maryland doesn't seem to take that seriously because we are paid as the lowest of the low among our comparable peers in health care, elder care and the like.

NEWARK, Del. — The conflict among caretakers and community advocates for Delawareans with intellectual and development disabilities came out in full force during a public hearing Monday discussing how taxpayer-funded community housing and work placement funded is offered in the state.The hearing, held at Delaware State Police Troop 2 headquarters in Newark, provided a forum for the community to evaluate Delaware's preliminary transition plan to adapt a new federal rule that changes how subsidized home- and community-based services are funded.

Delaware Divided on Housing Issue

The debate that divides Delaware's disability community, especially in matters of housing, has plenty of sharp edges.
Those edges have come into plain view since the federal agency that decides how to steer taxpayer support for disability services has changed the rule on how it will fund home- and community-based services.

Fla. Senate Official Plans to End Wait List

Florida's next state Senate president hopes to eliminate the backlog of people with developmental disabilities who are waiting to receive services in their homes. Senator Andy Gardiner praised state leaders for directing $36 million in the last legislative session to a waiting list for home and community-based services under a Medicaid waiver. The state Agency for Persons with Disabilities sent out letters last month offering services to 695 Floridians who have been waiting for them.

Future of Sheltered Workshops Debated

Patrick Biscoe, a worker at the
sheltered workshop, sorts through
old x-rays that will be recycled.

ELWYN, Del. -- Nobody working in the sheltered workshop at Elwyn Delaware gets a cut in pay if their Paratransit bus is an hour late. Nobody raises an eyebrow if they wear a helmet to work or answer questions by pressing a button on an electronic voice device.
The passageways are wide enough on floor A and floor B for anyone in a power wheelchair to move easily. And those who walk without difficulty can scoot quickly between work tables to distribute supplies needed to keep the work line on schedule.
Some of the 154 employees at Elwyn have worked at its tables for 30 years. They are among about 500 Delaware residents with intellectual and physical disabilities who work in such jobs with state and federal support.

Seeking a Chance to Live Independently

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- How will my child fare when he leaves home? And what will happen to him when I'm gone?
These are questions most parents worry about. But they weigh especially heavily on the parents of children with autism, Down syndrome and other developmental disabilities.
"Parents say this all the time: 'When I'm no longer here, I want to know they're still going to have a place to live and somebody is going to make sure they're OK,'" said Jim Whittaker, executive director of The Arc Jacksonville. "That's the biggest fear the majority of families have."