LJWorld.com / Advocates for disabled stage rally at Capitol

Archive for Tuesday, February 18, 2003

February 18, 2003

Topeka — About 100 people rallied Monday in the Capitol, urging lawmakers and Gov. Kathleen Sebelius to restore cuts made to programs that help disabled and poor Kansans.

"Kansas citizens' lives are being torn apart by these budget cuts," said Shannon Jones, executive director of the Statewide Independent Living Council for Kansas.

Numerous advocacy groups have joined forces to lobby for a tax increase to raise $101 million needed to restores cuts in next year's budget and move 2,500 people off waiting lists.

Jones said cuts to Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services, the state social service agency, had led to deaths because people had been unable to qualify for services, had to wait on long lists or had been put in nursing homes when they could have stayed at home to receive care.

Legislative leaders and SRS Secretary Janet Schalansky spoke to the group, saying they would do the best they could to finance programs for people with disabilities. But they said tight financial times were hindering their efforts.

Gina McDonald, president and chief executive officer of the Kansas Association of Centers for Independent Living, praised Sebelius for restoring some of the cuts.

"Governor Sebelius decided we are a priority and there was money someplace else to cut and not us," McDonald said.

A few advocates for Kansans with disabilities congregate on the first floor of the Statehouse in Topeka. About 100 people rallied Monday at the Statehouse, asking for $101 million to be added to the budget to ensure that many people with disabilities receive services.

But, she said, the Legislature needs to raise more revenue, saying that further cuts in services and waiting lists were "weapons of mass destruction."

Noting the current tensions with Iraq, McDonald said there was already a domestic war because of budget issues.

"There is a war that says people who are poor in this country are not important," McDonald said.

Bob Mikesic of Lawrence, who works as an advocate and coordinator of the Americans with Disability Act for Independence Inc., said, "It's really a hardship for people to be on a waiting list for a year or more before they receive essential services."