Vote for What Matters
Posted October 26, 2010 by Mandy Smith in Advocacy
When we go to the polls on November 2nd we have a huge responsibility not only to ourselves and our families but to our communities as well. Unfortunately, there is an entire portion of our society that is regularly disenfranchised by our government; they are the members of the disability community.
While most of us get to choose where we live, what we eat for dinner, our recreational activities, and where we shop, many members of the disability community are not afforded these same freedoms. In fact, over 2,400 people are on the Physical Disability waiting list to receive home care services in their homes. Their only option is to enter nursing facilities to receive needed care.
In the facilities, our friends, family, and neighbors are forced to live according to the rules of the nursing home. Many of the personal choices that we often take for granted are yanked away. There is something very wrong with a society that forces segregation and second class treatment onto one segment. Civil Rights are guaranteed to American citizens and yet we routinely violate the Civil Rights of people with disabilities by not funding services necessary to allow someone to remain in their own home, where they choose to be.
While I personally believe that individual choice should be provided to us regardless the financial cost; in this case, it makes much more fiscal sense to provide Home and Community Based Services over nursing home care. In fact, studies consistently show that they can be provided at ½-2/3 the cost of nursing home care.
Kansas is somewhat known for the neighborliness of its citizens, our innate friendliness. I am hopeful that those traits will translate into action for people with disabilities. When you head to the polls on Tuesday, remember the plight of your family member, friend, or neighbor who is facing the horrible choice of losing everything and entering a nursing home or receiving no care. Vote for the individuals who support the disability community and have shown it in their past voting record.
In the last legislative session, a moderate coalition of Republicans and Democrats banded together and passed a budget and a sales tax increase that not only didn’t cut into Home and Community Based Services, but also provided for money to assist people off of the waiting list. For a complete list of how the House members voted on these issues please visit this link: https://rcilinc.org/blog/make-your-voice-heard.
On November 2nd please vote for what really matters.
