Dear
Thank you for contacting my office and sharing your thoughts and concerns regarding services for Georgians with disabilities. I am pleased that the voices of people with disabilities, their families and other disability advocates are strong in Georgia, and I want to assure you that we hear those voices.
From listening, we know that Georgians with disabilities want alternatives to institutional care. They want to be active, participating members of their own communities, and they want a fair chance to be a part of Georgia's great workforce.
I am very proud of the support that we have been able to provide for Mental Retardation/ Developmental Disability (MR/DD) services during my administration. In Fiscal Year (FY) 2006, we provided funding for 925 new MR/DD services. The FY 2007 Appropriation Bill included funding for 1,500 new Medicaid Waiver services including funding to allow 150 children, adolescents and adults with DD to transition from institutions to community services. Also, the FY 2007 budget included funds to strengthen our MR/DD system's capacity to meet the increasingly complex needs of our consumer population. On an annual basis, the FY 2007 appropriation will total over $19 million in state dollars, the largest increase in MR/DD funding in Georgia's history.
Developing our state's budget involves making difficult decisions as we must weigh and prioritize the many competing and important needs of the people of our state. However, I want to assure you that I will not forget my respect for and commitment to Georgians with disabilities during this budget cycle.
Again, I want to thank you for sharing your unique prospective. I encourage you to also share your thoughts and concerns with your legislators. The General Assembly has the ultimate responsibility in the allocation of our state's resources. If you need contact information for your members, it is available from your county board of voter registration. As always, I appreciate hearing from you. Please do not hesitate to contact me at any time in the future.
Sincerely,
Sonny Perdue
All About Developmental Disabilities (AADD) is Atlanta's preeminent resource on developmental disabilities, providing support services to families for more than 55 years. We are often the one place where people with developmental disabilities can go to achieve personal empowerment, family stability and community participation. AADD provides family support; public policy and advocacy; and community engagement.
3 comments:
Developing our state's budget involves making difficult decisions as we must weigh and prioritize the many competing and important needs of the people of our state.
The above statement by Governor Perdue does not comfort me. People with disabilties should not be having to compete to have their basic needs met. We need to be a priority. Funding 150 people is a drop in the bucket when there are thousands needing services. I want to tell the governor that living on less than $1,000.00 a month is like living in the stone age. Legislators and decision makers need to walk in the shoes of the less fortunate for a few days, or better yet, ride in a wheelchair. Then their priorities might change.
how about some attention being given to the special-ed children in our public school systems where, our children our being physically, verbally, mentally, and emotionally assaulted by school personel? when are the PROFFESIONAL EDUCATORS gonna be held accountable for there negative, criminal, destructive behaviors???
sf.
Hmmmm--Dave. Looks like half the folks in GA got that same form letter from our esteemed Ruler. I did write to him, but it was not a really welcoming note.
I sent a much nicer one to Mark. With a little more encouragement, we could have gotten Mr. Taylor up to speed (he was showing very encouraging advances in understanding kids with handicaps), instead of wasting all that time on Perdue. I still see Perdue as an enormous adversary and can't honestly send him warm and fuzzy "be-my-governor" messages that would just be me, telling lies. There must be another and a better way.
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