Disability Groups Denounce Budget Cuts at Town Hall Meeting

Groups lose millions in funding for training, transportation

by Joshua Garner, Staff Writer
Gazette.Net, Maryland Community Newspapers Online
December 10, 2009


Prince George's County residents and disability advocates are urging Maryland to put the brakes on budget cuts to programs and services for disabled individuals, saying the cuts are putting extreme hardships on individuals and families dependent on training, transportation and other services.

Nearly 300 residents packed into the Melwood campus, a training facility in Upper Marlboro for the disabled, for a town hall meeting Dec. 3 with representatives from the Maryland Developmental Disabilities Administration, a state agency that funds community services and support to people with developmental disabilities and their families.

The administration has seen its budget cut by $30 million during the last year as the state looks to alleviate a budget shortfall. The DDA helps fund family and respite organizations, employment programs and residential services, and assists adults with significant disabilities.

The meeting Dec. 3 was one of more than a dozen town hall meetings that had been scheduled across the state to address what advocates call a growing problem for individuals with disabilities as services such as transportation, employment, training and therapy have all had their funding scaled back or cut completely.

Residents pleaded with politicians and state officials that funding for the DDA is essential to their way of life. Others said the strain left by cuts in services is tearing their families apart and forcing them to make tough decisions relating to their care.

More than 19,000 state residents who have disabilities and are in need of services are on the Maryland Developmental Disabilities Community Services waiting list.

Prince George's County is second only to Montgomery County with the highest number of individuals on the waiting list, with 2,953 as of June, according to the DDA. The number represents a 134 percent increase from 2004.

Dorma Rodriguez of Bowie said cuts to the services she received meant she had to decide between speech therapy and physical therapy for her 8-year-old daughter, Gabby, who has cerebral palsy.

"I need to pay for my daughter's therapy," she said.

Other complained the waiting list, which also provides housing for the disabled, should be shortened to relieve pressure from the aging parents of older disabled individuals.

"This is a devastating cut; unfortunately, when the governor went in, he had to make cuts," said Del. Tawanna Gaines (D-Dist. 22) of Berwyn Heights. "Many of their people have been in their parents' homes all their lives."

Bill Ohge of Largo said that housing for the disabled should be better integrated with communities and not isolated.

"People should be living in the community with a house of their own," he said. "[Disabled] people need to be living in the community," he said.

Michael Chapman, executive director of the Developmental Disabilities Administration, urged residents to be patient, saying that economic pressures have caused constrictions in funding for the DDA. Chapman said it could be another seven to 10 years before the state is in a position to expand the administration's programs, and that things will get worse before they better.

"Next year's budget looks worse. There is not a day that goes by that we don't think about [those affected by the cuts]," he said. "We're trying to understand the needs of people in this state."

E-mail Joshua Garner at jgarner@gazette.net.

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