NYS Set To Restore Support for People With Disabilities

This is an interesting and great development. NYS is supposedly set to vote next week (6-21-13) to restore $90 million that was cut from the state budget to support people with developmental disabilities. The original cut was the direct result of a funding mechanism that the state used for many years to inflate its reimbursement from the federal government. Gov. Cuomo however, tried to blame the cut on non-profit agency administrators. Well that blame game has gone under the bridge with all the water.

Here are a couple of things that I find interesting. Instead of emphasis on the restoration and what it means, the thread that runs through all the articles that I've seen, seems to be about how the Governor worked this solution through to a positive end result by involving and working with various stakeholders. Some would say that's just politics and you have to give the devil his due. I view it differently. There are lessons to be learned here.

First, everyone should be cautious about this 'negotiated settlement' there are details that aren't too clear and that require other dollars being made up through one of those neat new words - 'efficiencies'. We'll see what all of that means.

But there's another aspect to these political statements. They're just not true. Let's be clear. It wasn't the Governor and the large statewide agencies that made this restoration happen. Sure they all want to take credit. They should take credit for what they did - namely put families, people and organizations through a living hell over the past couple of months. The people who can proudly take credit for this restoration, for this change of thinking on the part of the Governor, are family members, individuals with developmental disabilities and leaders of local organizations who helped rally people around this issue, sometimes at great risk. These real advocates made elected and appointed officials accountable and did it very publicly. These individuals embarrassed those in authority, those governing and made them feel foolish in front of the public in general. Again, it's a real lesson in activism. There are things that are outrageous and wrong. There are things that politicians can't be trusted with. There are things that require some risk in speaking up. I personally salute all of these folks - people with disabilities, their family members and supporters. You did it well. You did it right. But now be cautious. This battle is far from over.