Civil Rights

Yesterday was Disability Capitol Action Day in Sacramento, probably the best one in the 7 or so years I've been attending. Everyone enjoyed the speeches and the entertainment. A day for people to tell the legislators they elected that the poorest seniors and people with disabilities cannot take any more cuts and survive. I have the job of reading and analyzing those budget proposals, of figuring out how it will impact people's lives and of conveying that information to those we have elected. It seems that lately it is an ongoing process, as soon as one budget goes through we start another cycle of cuts. We hear the mantra "no new taxes, no tax hikes." I wonder if more people who pay taxes really had the experience of conversing with those who have withstood cut after cut after cut would feel that they couldn't withstand a relatively small financial impact that a tax increase would entail. I just have trouble believing that most are that cold of heart.

So how are tax cuts and civil rights related? If you're poor there are two places your needs are met - in an institution or in your home. When you are housed in an institution you lose so many things we all take for granted - you don't get to chose when to be up and when to sleep, you don't get to chose when and what you eat, you haven't committed a crime and yet your every move is controlled by another. But if you need some help to get dressed, or shop, or prepare food, or many other things then you either have those services in your home or in a nursing facility. In the interest of fiscal responsibility the legislators say we have to cut these in home services, they cost too much. What they don't say is that for every 1 person forced to live in an institution 3 to 4 people can receive all of the services they need in the community - the opposite of fiscal responsibility.

So my question is do they really just want to lock people away, no matter what the cost, if they've aged, if they've had an accident, if they've been the victim of a violent crime, if they've gotten a serious illness? Do we want to go back 40 years when people who were different were just locked away from society? Civil rights - either everyone of us have them or we risk none of us having the guarantee that we will have our rights respected as we go through the journey of life.