The following is an article on Supporters for Institutions. The funding
of
Institutions is a global problem in both North and South Countries. It
seems
that it's easier to get funds for disability services through
Institutions
as this provides the funders and politians which the bricks and motar on
which to stick the plaque of recognition.
Community services aren't as grand as buildings.
We need to ensure that we don't export these outmoded Institutions to
developing countries, so we must share our independent living models
with
our disabled brothers and sisters in these countries. We need to
increase
our influence on our politicians, bureaucrats and Non-government
organisations who provide funds to overseas disability projects and
services
that they fund local community services and not intitutional bricks and
mortar.
This is an ongoing battle in which we must all speak out against
Institutions in favour of local Community Services.
Frank HB
Australia
"PatrickWm. Connally" wrote:
> Dogmatic ravings: Blackmail by Institution Supporters-The Neo Stalinists
> are up to their tricks
>
> Please follow the logic of the neo Stalinists in their propaganda war to
> label people neo Reganites who support closing institutions for people
> with disabilities.
>
> The Neo Stalinists argument runs like this: There is the huge chunk of
> money that can be spent on institutions. If you are not for spending on
> institutions then you are for abandoning vulnerable people on the street
> just like Ronald Regan did when he was Governor. Regan's policy was to
> close institutions and not provide community services. He literally
> dumped people from the mental health institution out on the street.
> (Many were immediately institutionalized in the criminal justice system
> at increased cost to everyone.) Therefore if you want to close
> institutions you want to dump people on the street. Pro Institution
> people ask "Where are they suppose to go?" Never asked is where did
> people come from and how do we get them back.
>
> So these compassionate people are saying that the only thing money can
> be spent on is institutions. Billions of public dollars are available
> for institutions with their building and ongoing support, so much money
> that we could buy the institutionalized population a condo with a room
> for a live-in attendant, pay the live-in attendant and visiting nurses
> and leave more than $30+ a month in spending money the institutionalized
> disabled person receives from their monthly SSI check. (Most of the
> benefit check the institution keeps for board and care.)
>
> Academic studies and media exposé's from Willow Brook scandal of over
> twenty years ago until today have shown that people get better services,
> better protection, and a better quality of life with resources spent in
> the community. Yet the pro institution people tell us public money can
> only be spent on institutions?
>
> This is blackmail. The idea that you either go along with institutions
> for people with disabilities or you get nothing!
>
> Why are policy makes suddenly buying into "the state will take care of
> you." Especially after they saved us from "communist or socialized
> medicine." Us who receive the brunt of disability policy know the state
> can facilitate its "choice." What choice do people have when beds in a
> government institution need to be filled and justified. What choice is
> there when there is no money for attendant wages and benefits yet
> hundreds of millions for institutions?
>
> Do we make it easy to fill institutional beds or do we make it easy for
> people to stay in their homes with their families and communities. Do
> we tell our children, that at a point in the life cycle when you become
> too disabled, you will be uprooted and shut away. What do we tell them
> of life and their culture when we say, "A lot of those places are bad
> and I hated to do it but it was the only choice I had. It seemed like
> there were nice people there."
>
> Laguna Honda the public institution in San Francisco, California is
> tenure for a professional and managerial class along with job security
> for the maintenance staff and groundskeepers. It is a fundraiser and an
> artificial ghetto environment. It is an investment in a show piece and
> not dealing with the real issues of disability policy like
> transportation, housing, employment, adaptive equipment, and
> healthcare. The money spent on the bond would buy a whale of community
> services, but the Neo Stalinist have framed the issue as their way or no
> way.
>
> Policy makers can always get by with saying "look at Laguna Honda, see
> all the money we are spending." The community based hands on workers in
> California's Developmental Disabilities System have been hearing this
> for years and are paid poorly. Institutional workers in the system are
> paid better. What a great system for everyone if community programs
> were reimbursed comparable to institutions.
>
> I guess people think the poor house model of service delivery was a
> success in Victorian England.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|