Maybe it's the gloom of our recent weather, but I have to say that recently I've really been feeling like no matter how hard I work, people are not getting the message about how much people with disabilities will be impacted if the Governor's proposed budget cuts are approved. In fact, I was in the midst of preparing a very impressive pity party for myself the other day,... you know, complete with Häagen-Dazs and all manner of other snack food, when I grabbed the remote and turned on the news just in time to see KSBW's coverage of AB 1947 (Strickland) the so-called Pregnancy Placard Bill.
The broadcast featured an informal parking lot survey of women asking their opinions about whether or not they would utilize a "pregnancy placard" if provided with the opportunity. Despite the fact that the mechanism for pregnant women to obtain a placard already exists, the media lauded this proposed legislation as an issue of the highest importance to people with disabilities. When are people going to understand that disability is about more than just parking?? When is the media going to pay attention to the issues that are really important to people with disabilities?
The Central Coast Center for Independent Living has been engaged in a continuous effort to educate business owners in our community about their responsibility to maintain accessible parking for people with disabilities, adding a requirement for additional spaces, and a different placard would make it more difficult for local business owners to comply with existing accessibility standards and contribute to negative perceptions of people with disabilities in general by placing them in direct competition and conflict with pregnant women. An idea that is as disturbing as it is absurd.
Central Coast residents with disabilities face some of the most devastating cuts to programs and services in history, given our State's current fiscal situation. These cuts include a reduction in expenditures for the In Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program by 35 percent or $875.6 million overall. This program provides services for people with disabilities and seniors who are at risk of institutionalization, in order to allow them to remain safely in their homes. The Governor has proposed elimination of the part of this program that pays the wages for parent care providers of children with disabilities and adult care providers that provide care for their spouse. Additionally, the Governor has proposed a reduction in the State's share of cost for provider wages that would in effect, bring wages for care providers statewide down to the minimum wage.
The impact of these proposals and others like them will be what disability advocates are calling "mass institutionalization", people with disabilities being forced into institutions at a much higher cost to the State. People with disabilities are engaged in the fight of their lives to preserve the independence that these programs afford them. Surely, anyone can see that these issues are more important than parking. If anyone out there still doesn't understand what this is about, let me fill you in.
It's about a couple in Salinas who are full-time caregivers for their 35-year old daughter who contracted brain cancer at the age of six. It's about the devastating financial and emotional sacrifices they have made for nearly thirty years and the fact that they shouldn't have to make any more.
It's about another couple that are full-time caregivers for their son with multiple disabilities including a seizure disorder that can cause him to have eight or nine seizures a day. It's about the fact that he requires 24-hour care that no nursing home could provide.
It's about all of the other people who have written letters to the Governor and their legislators, sent Valentines, and spread the word about what these cuts would really mean for people with disabilities. Any Questions?