Disabled Say Enough Is Enough

There is very little difference between Brown's budget proposals and previous budgets, because Brown's budget is master-minded by Corporate America. There is no provision for closing corporate and commercial tax loopholes, no oil extraction tax and oil corporation, windfall-profits tax. Californians pay the highest price for gasoline in the nation. Brown's budget is the same, because again, it picks on the most vulnerable. Jerry appears to be working for Big Oil and not for the Californians who voted for him.

People in need are going to have to rely on voluntary help from their families/friends/church and not from taxes paid by their friends and neighbors. Government can't pickup all the bills and most working people are just plain tired of picking up the tab for everyone who has some need or just wants to lie on the couch all day and watch TV.

I'm gonna ignore the greedy ignorant reality of some and instead point out that disability can strike anyone at anytime. You can tell a lot about a society on how it treats its most vulnerable. I'd much rather help pay for disabled people, but my tax dollars are tied up fighting for rights in courts on a variety of other issues as well. if dale Francisco and his ilk figured out there were better things to do than deny people the right to marry, deny them access to medicine or a place to sit on State St., a lot of money could be saved right there.

There is no money. But there are plenty of charity orgs. Daniel Petry

Newsflash: Charities have been hit hard by the misguided greed focused NeoCon economy.

EZK: The days of government paying for everyone's pet projects are gone. If you like the charity then give them you own money or take on some extra work for just that cause. Make it happen on your own and let your neighbors make their own decisions on who and what to support.

I hope you're next reality check is homelessness and disability. Your whole attitude is both blatantly antiAmerican and I certainly hope you don't call yourself a spiritual person of any persuasion.

The sad part is that there really are people in need who should be helped but the government wastes it on pet projects.

Here's an idea: cut the 1.3 billion that's going to prop up Egypt and funnel it to those who can't help themselves.

Egypt...I wonder how many other goverments are being supported on our tax dollars.

If there is any population of people who does indeed need help from government funding it is people with disabilities. Suggesting that they should just go out and find help from family, charities and churches demonstrates a pretty significant level of ignorance about the situation the vast majority of these people are living in. There are areas where the developmental system in California can afford to be cut, but those areas are not to the service providers that handle the bulk of the direct support for these people. The community of people with disabilities is not entirely against doing their share as responsible Californians, but non-profit service providers can only handle so much. The state and its citizens should be looking at cutting regional centers (a cost of over $500 million per year that does little more than add an extra step in the funding chain) out of the bureaucratic cloud, reducing funding at the administrative level (DDS) and further reducing reliance on expensive developmental centers long before they hack away at the funding that directly effects these people who need it.

A responsible and educated Californian would consider the long term and human cost of defunding these services. In the 60s and 70s before and just after the Lanterman Act was passed and community independence became the emphasis for services, these people's lives were spend in much, much more expensive state hospitals, on the streets or in emergency rooms. Californians have a choice - we can choose an option to support people with developmental disabilities to live and contribute independently as valued members of society or we can choose to defund their services because we don't like "pet projects," but have an entire population of people propped up, not contributing, in overrun facilities that ultimately cost more. You tell me which is the better, more affordable, and more respectable option?