Aroner's Bill the Best ChanceFor those who are not familiar with Assembly Bill 896, which proposes to
close California's institutions for people with developmental disabilities,
more information is available from this Inclusion Daily Express web page:
Aroner's bill the best chance
Oakland Tribune
Opinion
March 30, 2001
ENCOURAGED by the headline of your March 22 editorial, "State needs to upgrade care for disabled," I was soon disappointed as I read on. Without suggesting a source for this upgrade, you rail against one of the best hopes on the horizon for providing it: Dion Aroner's Assembly Bill 896.
By unifying the current two-tiered service system for Californians with developmental disabilities AB896 could provide the resources and accountability to prevent the very sorts of abuses of community transitions that you report.
How is it that the state could pull back major funding from services for people who were deinstitutionalized in 1993? Or hijack the resources realized when Stockton and Camarillo were closed down?
There was no legislation stopping them, that's how. If we don't trust the state to do the right thing, then we need to compel them to, and AB896 could do that.
I was also disappointed that your editorial took such a short view of what's happening with developmental centers. They will close down with or without AB896. Their decaying infrastructures will take unjustifiable billions to restore, and the natural attrition of the numbers of residents will make such large institutions out of scale with the demand. As that happens, we would do well to use the opportunity to redirect resources where they are sorely needed in the community.
My deepest disappointment comes from the Tribune's use of simply wrong information to make your case. In the editorial, California's diverse array of community services is painted with the broad brush of "one size fits all community centers." (As director of a community nonprofit providing supports for individuals with developmental disabilities, I'm not sure what these community centers are.)
The truth is, community services range from group homes to individual supports in people's own homes, to art programs, to job supports, to travel training and more. Community-based supports such as those we provide at United Cerebral Palsy are individually tailored to each individual's needs and interests. Nothing we do is even in a center.
And you rely on the old myth that whether or not a person should be in a developmental center "depends on the conditions of individuals." In reality, an overwhelming majority of people with intensive support needs already live in the community. Per 1999 Department of Developmental Services statistics, there are 22,107 individuals in the community labeled with severe or profound mental retardation, vs. 1,005 in institutions.
Likewise, more than 54,000 of our neighbors in the community need help with basic self care, and 27,000 have severe behavioral support needs -- compared to around 2,800 and 2,000, respectively, in developmental centers.
There certainly are people who need intensive support and medical backup. Is a large complex of buildings out in the country, with chaplains, janitors and cooks on the payroll, necessary for that? Do people with disabilities need to be isolated from the community (and the community from their unique contributions) in order to get them the support they need?
WE should not unnecessarily disrupt the lives and supports that individuals have come to rely on, and we don't have to. If other stakeholders would follow Dion Aroner's farsighted lead, we can approach everyone's needs with deliberation.
The Trib is absolutely correct to ask, "When, if ever, will the state of California fully accept its responsibility and provide a comprehensive program that offers adequate care and options for its developmentally disabled citizens?" Unfortunately, in the same breath, you undermine a great opportunity to hold the state accountable to that responsibility.
Michael Williams is the executive director of the Oakland-based United Cerebral Palsy of the Golden Gate.