Missouri advocates for people with disabilities hope their state is the next one to make the transition from institutional housing to community-based support and services. In a guest commentary published last week by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Doug Riggs asked readers to contact their state legislators and express their support for bills currently under review in both the House and Senate that would require the Missouri Department of Mental Health to develop a strategy to accomplish this task.
The goal of the proposed legislation is to achieve the same kind of statewide mandate that was reached recently in several other states, including Virginia, which settled a $2.1 billion suit with the U.S. Justice Department back in January that will move more than 1,000 people with disabilities out of institutions and provide assistance to more than 4,200 families in form of Medicare waivers.
The Virginia suit and similar litigation in other states stems from the 1999 Supreme Court ruling that says in part, “confinement in an institution severely diminishes everyday life and activities” for people with disabilities. Riggs says that Missouri has moved more than half of its people living in institutional settings into their communities since that decision was rendered; and while he applauds that progress, he argues that the current system is still not capable of handling the needs of people with disabilities in an efficient manner:
There are more than 4,400 people in our state who are waiting for services. By transitioning to a more cost-effective service system, more individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities will receive the support they need. These services will empower individuals to live and work alongside everyone else. These services also will enable these citizens to become contributing members of their communities.
Riggs has the figures to support his assertions. Statistics from the Missouri Department of Mental Health indicate that the cost of supporting an individual with disabilities in a community-based setting is $211 per day, while the same services rendered in a state habilitation center can range between $353 and $578 per day. All told, the 2% of the Missouri population with disabilities living in these centers uses 15% of the department’s budget, a ratio that Riggs characterizes as unsustainable.
As a parent of a child with a disability, Riggs is fighting for the opportunity for his family to have a future together. He acknowledges that some people still see a need for the institutions, but if the article’s online comments are any indication, most Missourians are in support of the change. One poster identified as “Lisamliss,” who also has a child with a disability, wrote:
My biggest nightmare is that she would end up in an institution. I am confident that by the time she is an adult, all institutions will be closed and people with developmental disability will be living in the community where they belong! But we all need to work to make it happen.
Comments?
Image by Maryland GovPics, used under its Creative Commons license.