The War on the Disabled

This blog is going to be longer than my usual posting, but that’s because it is an area where I have a lot of passion.

With the presidential political race in full swing, we’re hearing a lot about wars – the War on Women, the War on Christianity, the War on the Middle Class… But what we’re not hearing about is the War on the Disabled - those members of our society with either physical or developmental disabilities. Okay, that’s a sensational title, but what I’m really talking about is how the policies presented by the various parties in our government will affect funds and outcomes for people with disabilities; specifically for individuals on the Autism spectrum.  

Obviously, our country and families are experiencing financial difficulties right now. When states are faced with budget challenges, they have to make cuts. These cuts generally occur across the board. Infrastructure projects are put on hold, economic development activities drop, parks lose services. However, cuts to programs impacting individuals with disabilities will cause significant, negative impacts on their lives, directly affecting their health and their ability to grow and live independently.

Keep in mind, these cuts can come through direct and indirect channels. Direct cuts could come in the form of lowered support for state-funded residential homes, school programs, respite services or other direct impact programs. The cuts could also come from indirect channels like lowering supplemental funds for dentists to provide services to low-income (read also individuals with disabilities) patients.

The result of these cuts? Individuals with disabilities may lose housing, healthcare services, vocational rehabilitation services, etc. Wait lists grow, dental appointments are missed, people get ill, and unemployment rises.

Just think about toddlers being diagnosed with Autism. We all know that early intervention is critical to the future outcome for a child with autism, however as funds are cut, wait lists for services are growing anywhere from 18-24 months. Think of a 20-month wait - your three-year-old is now five, and has lost two critical years of service.  How can we afford to allow this to happen as the costs will be so much greater in the future if we don’t take care of it now?

Or you could think about the adult with Autism who requires housing and medical assistance. What if they can’t manage their medications because their support staff was let go? What if their support for food was cut? What if they no longer get visits from social services? Is it cheaper to put them away in an institution? We all hear about how support for people with Autism drops off a cliff when they leave school, but that chasm will only get deeper if we cut funding.

To me, there is a fundamental difference in how people view programs like welfare, and it comes down to ratios – do you believe that there are more people that take advantage of welfare or are there more people that need it for help? While I believe that there are definitely people that are lazy and gaming the system, I think there are far more people that absolutely need the support that government programs can give them.

Some individuals with developmental disabilities may never be able to have a job or pay taxes (many do though), but that doesn’t mean that they are any less valuable members of society. We have a responsibility to assist people that need help. We shouldn’t slash and burn programs that provide healthcare, housing or other services for people with disabilities just because budgets are tight. Make it harder for people to cheat, but ensure that people that need services get the help they need.

 As members of the disability community, we all have a responsibility to let our legislators know that funds that support individuals with developmental disabilities are vital to their quality of life. We also have the responsibility to review the track records of candidates to see where they stand, and make sure we’re electing individuals not just for the R or D behind their name, but also on where they stand in the War on the Disabled.