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Advocates: No more cuts
Disability Day at the Capitol attendees expect respect
by Mike Gude
A record number of people
attended Disability Day at the Capitol in St. Paul last month.
About three hundred and sixty people came for presentations at
the Minnesota History Center and/or visited their state legislators
at the State Capitol. They came from all parts of the state — from
Minneapolis to Moorhead, from Redwood Falls to Rochester, from
St. Cloud to St. Paul, from Mower County to the North Shore and
Iron Range. They were members, staff, and volunteer leaders from
The Arc of Minnesota and local chapters of The Arc; members and
staff from Advocating Change Together (ACT) and People First of
Minnesota; staff from United Cerebral Palsy, Brain Injury Association
of Minnesota, and PACER Center; and self-advocates and their staff
from providers around the state.
Spending their morning at the Minnesota History Center, participants
received a lot of information. After getting the bad news about another
difficult state budget situation that faces persons with disabilities
and their families, they heard about positive moves as well, including
the CAN DO Initiative at the Minnesota Department of Human Services.
This program is working to implement recommendations from various task
forces and committees to help people with disabilities increase their
community participation, gain more control over their living situation
and their supports, improve their health and safety, and increase their
chances for gainful employment. Participants also learned how to be
more effective public policy advocates and how to put together their
stories for state legislators.
Then came brief presentations
and fact sheets on a host of issues: increasing access to housing
in the community; reducing parental fees and the waiting list for
services; reducing the incidence of disability by reducing children’s
exposure to environmental toxins; increasing transportation access;
special education; getting ready to vote in the 2008 elections;
the Remembering with Dignity campaign to put names on grave markers
at state institutions instead of numbers; and reducing head injuries
through seat belt use. Thanks should be given to the following
presenters for educating participants on these issues: Steve Larson
(The Arc of Minnesota), Anne Henry (MN Disability Law Center),
Alex Bartolic (DHS), Rick Cardenas and Jim Fasset-Carmen (ACT),
Arc Greater Twin Cities advocates Beth Fondell, Barb Kleist, and
Scott Schifsky, self-advocates Mike Williams and Heidi Myhre, Erin
Zolotukin-Ridgway (parent), Kim Kang (PACER), and Jeff Nachbar
(Brain Injury Association of Minnesota).
Most of the participants
then marched up the street to the State Capitol steps to join with
other members of the Minnesota Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities
(MN CCD) to rally against proposed budget cuts. The main messages
at the rally — indeed the entire day — were, “Don’t
Balance the Budget on the Backs of People with Disabilities” and “Invest
in People with Disabilities: Create a Taxpayer.”
Then came the trips
to offices of state legislators. Coming from so many parts of the
state, participants were able to see a good sampling of government
officials — at least 36 state representatives and
25 senators. Those visits included talks with members of key committees
and with legislative leaders (or the legislators’ staff), including
Senate leaders Larry Pogemiller and David Senjem, Speaker of the
House Margaret Anderson Kelliher, and House Disability Caucus Chair
Shelley Madore.
Hunter Sargent, self-advocate and board member of The Arc Minnesota,
was one of the participants who visited with Melissa Parker, Assistant
to Speaker of the House Margaret
“[Disability advocates]
came from all parts of the state—from Minneapolis to
Moorhead, from Redwood Falls to Rochester, from St. Cloud
to St. Paul, from Mower County to the North Shore and Iron
Range.”
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Anderson Kelliher. “We
had a good meeting,” Sargent said. “We talked some about
employment and how the unemployment of people with disabilities is
so high. I also stressed how the waiver has really helped me live
independently — to
have staff who can help me with my grocery shopping, doctor appointments,
paying my bills, and balancing my checkbook.”
Lee Ann Erickson of
The Arc of Minnesota Southwest organized a delegation of 40 people
from Southwest Minnesota and reserved a room at the State Capitol
to meet with several legislators serving their area, including
Rep. Terry Morrell, Rep. Bob Gunther, and Rep. Rod Hamilton. “Weheard
encouraging words from some legislators who are supporting the COLA
increase,” Erickson said. (COLA stands
for Cost of Living Adjustment.)
Erickson also detailed
the story of two young ladies who stood up with their moms to speak
at this meeting. One from Martin County and the other from Jackson
County, the two self-advocates shared their frustration with the
lack of waiver funding that limits their services to only a few
hours a month and keeps them from moving away from home and becoming
more independent. Another self-advocate from Martin County worried
that the staff member whom he likes so well may choose to quit
working if the COLA is eliminated. He shared stories about funding
cutbacks reducing many of the activities that self-advocates can
get involved in. Erickson said self-advocates are told frequently, “There’s
no staff and no money for that.”
This full day ended
with another rally, this time in the Capitol Rotunda, to tape footage
for the video “Offense Taken” (being
produced by ACT). About 100 self-advocates and their
“Spending their morning
at the Minnesota History Center, participants received a
lot of information.”
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supporters gathered.
They brought pieces of paper with offensive words on them — “retarded,” “stupid,” and “idiot,” among
others — to a paper shredder. They then took great delight
in seeing those sheets destroyed, applauding with gusto whenever
a new word was put through the shredder.
All in all, it was a
day filled with positive energy and calls for different priorities — priorities
that keep the needs of people with disabilities in mind and treat
them with greater respect. It is now up to our elected officials
to take the participants’ advice
to make positive changes in government policy and end the cut-backs
to disability services now being threatened. ![]()
Mike Gude is Education
and Communications Associate at The Arc of Minnesota
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Debbi Harris, an Eagan parent
of a child with disabilities, speaking to the crowd. Photo by Jan
Pedersen and Scott
Schifsky, Arc Greater Twin Cities
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