Residents protest cuts
to disability programs
Residents outline concerns for
legislators at packed meeting
By Janene Holzberg
Howard County Times, October 29, 2009
Nearly 300 people crammed
into Ellicott City Assembly of God Church last week to protest state budget
cuts to developmental disabilities programs and a burgeoning waiting list for
services before a cluster of invited elected officials.
The Howard County Town Hall Meeting, held
Oct. 22, was the second of eight forums planned across the state and was
sponsored locally by The Arc of Howard County, eMerge, Howard County Autism
Society and Humanim.
Seventeen speakers, some of them
individuals with developmental disabilities, offered emotion-filled testimony
about losing or not having desperately needed programs.
There are 19,000 people on a statewide
waiting list that is managed by the Developmental Disabilities Administration,
said Laura Howell, executive director of the Columbia-based Maryland
Association of Community Services. About 800 adults and children from Howard County
are among that number, she said later.
The 22,000 people who receive services
have had their programs slashed since the start of fiscal year 2010 (July 1,
2009), said Howell, adding that a third round of budget cuts is expected in
early November.
A year-long effort by DDA workers to weed
out names that may no longer belong on the list — due to changes in status,
moving out of state, or death of applicant — will culminate in January and
should lower that figure, Howell said after the meeting.
“Cleaning up the list is a pretty big
undertaking so it doesn’t happen routinely,” she noted.
Over a 10-year period, just keeping pace
with inflation, DDA has been underfunded by $100 million,” Howell told the
audience, which included Maryland Department of Disabilities Secretary Cathy
Raggio and Renata Henry, deputy secretary of behavioral health and disabilities
for the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
“Support staff workers earn an
average of $10 an hour here in the wealthiest county in the wealthiest state,
forcing them to work two or three jobs” to make ends meet, or to seek employment
elsewhere, she said. “But community service providers are only reimbursed
at a rate of $9 an hour, so already we have a shortfall.”
Howell said money for service
coordinators, who provide an important oversight service, was cut by 15
percent; $1 million was cut from the rolling-access fund that grants
waiting-list families up to $3,000 year; and $1 million was cut from the
respite care program, which provides breaks for caregivers.
“We are all gravely concerned,”
she said.
Dorothy Plantz, co-chairperson of The
Arc’s governmental affairs committee, told the crowd that despite its wealth,
Maryland is ranked 43rd for spending on developmental disabilities issues and
devotes 21 percent less funding to that category than the average state.
Plantz, whose 27-year-old son, Matthew,
has been on the waiting list for eight years, said, “It’s time for our
‘One Maryland’ slogan to include all citizens.”
Pat and Dan Sullivan held up a photograph
of their 21-year-old son Ryan, telling the audience that he has Down’s
syndrome, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and autism.
Dan Sullivan said he’s blind in his left
eye and losing his vision in his right, yet he might have to retire from his
job and attempt to be Ryan’s caregiver since his son has lost vital support
services.
As citizen testimony drew to a close,
moderator Ed Wilson of The Arc opened the floor to legislators.
“I would be angry and frustrated if I
were in your position,” Sen. Edward Kasemeyer, an Ellicott City Democrat,
told the crowd. “We will make an effort to correct cuts that were
inappropriately directed at you.”
Sen. James Robey, an Elkridge Democrat,
said he “was not prepared to make any more cuts” to developmental
disabilities services. “And I promise to vote for the (5-cent-per-drink)
alcohol tax if the proceeds benefit DDA, and if it ever gets out of
committee.”
Sen. Allan H. Kittleman, a West Friendship
Republican, said he wanted to apologize “because our government doesn’t
place a priority on you.”
“I’m not sure the alcohol tax is the
answer, because they could give that money to you and then take it away again
somewhere else,” he said.
More information on the DDA waiting list
is available at www.endthewaitnow.com.
One mother’s plea: Protect ‘our most
vulnerable citizens’
With his upturned nose, thick fringe of
dark eyelashes, and closely knit eyebrows, Matthew, 39, has all the telling
facial characteristics of Cornelia de Lange syndrome. Both of his arms end at
the elbow, a limb abnormality that often accompanies the syndrome. He weighs a
mere 53 pounds.
His mother, Pam Matheson, testified at last week’s town hall meeting about the
impact of state budget cuts from her wheelchair, her son at her side in his
wheelchair.
“Matt has wanted all his life to be a regular guy,” Matheson told state
legislators. “His services make the difference between being shut away and
being part of the fabric of the community.”
When the Ellicott City woman first laid eyes on him, he was 6 years old and
lying passively in a crib at Rosewood
Center, a now-closed
state institution for the developmentally disabled in Owings Mills. She was a
26-year-old special education teacher in Howard County,
learning about stimulating children with special needs.
“Here was this little guy who didn’t respond (to stimulation). … There could
be cymbals crashing and it wouldn’t matter.” She was told he was deaf and
blind, though later testing proved he his hearing and his vision were impaired.
“He vomited 30 times a day, was self-abusive and just an awful mess — but he
had a spark in his eye,” she recalled.
Leaning into his crib, “I said ‘ma-ma’ and he repeated it after me six times in
a row and I thought, ‘Well, he’s got some smarts,’ ” Matheson said. She became
Matt’s foster parent soon after that.
“I always wanted kids and I fell in love with him… you just do what you need to
do,” she said.
After taking him home, Matheson was told Matt wouldn’t have lived much longer
if she hadn’t, because he repeatedly aspirated food into his lungs — a chronic
problem she says occurred because he was fed pureed foods while lying on his
back.
She soon decided she didn’t want to be Matt’s foster parent any longer;
instead, she adopted him in 1980.
Since then, Matheson has married, had a car accident in 1988 that put her in a
wheelchair, and, in 2000, retired as an itinerant teacher of visually impaired
students after 27 years with the Howard
County public schools
system.
The loving effort she puts into caring for Matt, some might say, is Herculean
since both mother and son use wheelchairs. But Matheson doesn’t see it that way
at all.
“I believe you do what you can for your fellow man,” she said. “It’s every
person’s duty.”
The only recognition she wants is from elected officials that people such as
Matt thrive on the opportunities provided by state funding and families depend
on assistance. When support workers’ visits are cut from his weekly routine, he
is deprived of community outings and all she can manage is changing his diaper
and hooking up his stomach tube for meals.
“These are our weakest, most vulnerable citizens,” Matheson said. “We are
begging the state not to reduce funding for these vital community services.”
