Florida Can Do More To Help Residents With Disabilities

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Please take a few minutes to send a letter to the editor.Florida Can Do More To Help Residents With Disabilities

http://www2.highlandstoday.com/content/2008/sep/28/la-florida-can-do-more-to-help-residents-with-disa/

The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 28, 2008

It's

said that a society is measured by how it treats its weakest members.

If that's the case, Florida falls short. That's because the state has

cut funding, and also mishandled funding, for disabled Floridians and

their families.

The Family Care Council held a public meeting Friday to discuss with

state Rep. Grimsley and state Sen. J.D. 's legislative

aide cuts to state funding that benefits local people with

disabilities. In particular, the funding affects disabled people's

ability to have some kind of transportation and personal assistance

when going out into public.

Family members of locals with disabilities told moving stories of

the sacrifices they make to care for their family members. They weren't

seeking pity, but rather wanted an explanation as to why the state

would do something so harmful to Floridians who cannot care for

themselves. These people are faced with losing jobs or cutting back

work to care for their loved ones.

Other complaints were that while transportation and assistance

funding was going away in October, other money is wasted by the state.

For example, the state paid for upgrades to a residential bathroom at a

cost of $21,000. If the state would have allowed the family to hire a

local contractor, the cost could have been as low as $3,000. And diaper

shipments flood into one house in an uncontrolled manner that

demonstrates wasted state money.

Fundamentally, though, this issue boils down to basic human decency.

People with severe disabilities can, for all practical purposes, be

imprisoned in their houses because they have no way to leave, and if

they did, would be easy prey to anyone wanting to rip them off. There

has to be a way the state can provide funding to help families deal

with disabled adults.

Everyone understands that the state has slashed its budget, and

there's not much to go around. But every caring person also understands

that there's no excuse why a state like Florida cannot do some basic

things like this without breaking the bank. Clearly money is being

spent unwisely on other areas of the same budget. Fix those before

doing something so drastic that it harms families and disabled citizens.Stay up to date on your PC, the Web, and your mobile phone with Windows Live. See Now