Fwd: *HOT** March 29 We need you at the hearings ....and your letters.... The Threat is Real, Heartless Cuts

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LEHIGH COUNTY IS NOT GOING TO BE REPRESENTED!!!LISA SPORTELLI  is driving and will come pick up WHOEVER wants to attend!  Please contact at 610/530-2393.....or email her gutbrain@...

This is a great time to SPEAK YOUR MIND............Budget CutsAdult transitonsAdult waivers...AND MORE!!

The Threat is Real, The Hearing and Impractical Heartless Cuts, the Weekly News Digest Is Here

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March 26, 2012

 

The Threat To Cut Intellectual Disability And Autism Services Is Real - we need you to participate!

PA State Governor Corbett has proposed the most devastating budget for 2012-

2013 for the Intellectual Disability and Autism Community. On Thursday, March 29,

2012 at 9:30am - 11:30am Self Advocates and Family Alliance (SAFA) has organized a hearing scheduled with the PA House of Representatives Human Services Committee in burg. The

Committee will hear Testimony from Families across the Commonwealth and their sons and daughters about

their lives and their need for community supports and services. We urge you, your family members and friends to attend this hearing and most importantly write your personal stories about your families, your trials, concerns and fears about how cuts to services may impact your lives and your future. The Press Conference is taking place at the Rotunda at 9am, we will gather there at 8:30am to give everyone enough time to go through security. We will then together enter room 140 Main Capitol for the hearing. Click here to read more about the Hearing.

 PA Representative Murt ® from Montgomery County has always been a great champion for our cause and has been very outspoken about the cuts affecting our community. In the video he testifies before the House Appropriations Committee regarding funding for individuals with developmental disabilities. Watching this clip will give you an idea of the urgency we are facing.

To watch the Press Conference and the Hearing live go to: www.pahousegop.com or www.GeneDiGirolamo.com on Thursday March 29th. Links will take you to the live streaming.

 

Ronnie Polaneczky: Heartless Cuts Are Impractical, Too

So I figured I'd devote this column to Dee Coccia, whose tales you need to commit to memory. If you have a heart, they will haunt you. Dee is 73, her husband is 74, and together they care for their 46-year-old daughter, who is profoundly disabled intellectually. Dee is also co-executive director of Vision for Equality Inc., a nonprofit that advocates for the mentally disabled and those who love them. So she knows what life is like for families whose children will never, ever be able to care for themselves. No matter how big and strong and old they become.

Click here to read more!

State Sen. M. Tartaglione: Corbett's Blindness a Disability He Can Overcome

When a group of citizens in wheelchairs visited the Capitol in February, the former criminal prosecutor who spent a dozen years as a National Guard infantryman, took no chances.

Capitol Police were deployed and barricades were erected to keep the dangerous wheelchair people at bay.  This wasn’t too difficult.  The security detail explained that they were told to not to let people in wheelchairs on the elevators.  Blocking the elevators was all it took to keep them on the ground floor, a safe distance from the governor’s lair. Meanwhile, lobbyists, pages, pizza drivers and politicians continued to enjoy access as usual.

For the full story, click here.

 

 

Miriam Hill: Philly Council Panel Told of Risks From Corbett-Proposed Budget CutsCorbett has proposed combining into a single block grant state dollars that help pay for services to the homeless, people with mental health and substance-abuse problems, HIV patients needing hospice care, children aging out of foster care, people with intellectual disabilities, and those in the city-run nursing home. Then, the budget would reduce total payments to those programs 20 percent. In Philadelphia, that would mean a loss of $41 million. For the Full article, Click here.

Most Talked About On our Facebook this week, the most popular post discussed Gov. Corbett's recent comments. Gov. Corbett's ignorance is staggering! He considers people with disabilities " addicted to the system " ? Add this to the fact he does not allow people in wheelchairs access to his office.

Click here for the full article.

Events:

Rally In burg

Date & Time: May 2nd, 2012 at 12 noon

Location: burg

Vision for EQuality, The Pennsylvania Waiting List Campaign, The ARC of Pennsylvania, Self Advocates and Family Alliance, Self Advocates United as One and many other Self Advocate and Family organizations across the State will be holding a Rally in burg to stop the proposed Governor’s Budget that will cut services to citizens in Pennsylvania.

Contact us at Events@... if you are interested in going by bus. Buses leave at 8am from various locations.

Click here for more info.

 

Quote of the Week

" We, the one's who are challenged, need to be heard. To be seen not as a disability, but as a person who has, and will continue to bloom. To be seen not only as a handicap, but as a well intact human being. "

M. Hense

Visit our website at  www.VisionForEQuality.org

Vision for EQuality

718 Arch Street, 6N

Philadelphia, PA 19106

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-- Liz DeSantis " The person who follows the crowd will usually get no further than the crowd. The one who walks alone is likely to find himself in places no one has ever been before. "

" Creativity in living is not without its attendant difficulties, for peculiarity breeds contempt. And the unfortunate thing about being ahead of your time is that when people finally realize you were right, they'll say it was obvious all along. " ---Temple Grandin

" Anyone

can give up, it's the easiest thing in the world to do. But to hold it together when everyone else would understand if you fell apart, that's true strength. " - Reeves " Knowing trees, I understand the meaning of patience. Knowing grass, I can understand persistence. "   - Hal Borland