Missouri Centers for Independent Living President expresses concern over budget cuts to disability services. Advocates fear for the future.
Missouri Centers for Independent Living (MOCIL) are deeply disappointed by the steep cuts to programs serving people with disabilities passed by Missouri’s General Assembly today. We have never seen a budget process like this one. No public testimony was taken, and duly elected representatives and senators from both sides of the aisle were not allowed to offer amendments and openly express the needs of their constituents.
A small number of senators controlled the daily schedule. Very little new legislation will be passed, including a much-needed update to the Circuit Breaker Property Tax Relief bill that enjoyed bi-partisan support and would have improved the household budgets of many seniors and people with disabilities.
MOCIL provided services to more than 100,000 Missourians last year – through vital programs like assistive technology, employment assistance, and in-home health/ consumer-directed services. Help with bathing, cooking, housecleaning, and medications can protect health and prevent unnecessary and expensive hospitalizations and admittance to nursing homes.
Funding for Missouri Centers for Independent Living already lagged far behind national averages. With less state funding for Fiscal Year 2025, we may have to reduce staffing if we cannot locate other funding.
Those with disabilities should speak up as hardships are created by the budget cuts. Nearly one in three Missouri adults lives with a disability. We have not been speaking out in a loud, united way. This year’s budget process demonstrates why we must do so.
Deb Hobson, President
Missouri Centers for Independent Living (MOCIL)
(855) 945-7929, x 101
Jerry Ehrlich, CEO of Paraquad (St. Louis) which serves approximately 1300 individuals with disabilities on an annual basis, said:
“Plain and simple, these cuts are absolutely devastating to those we serve and to the thousands upon thousands of individuals with disabilities in the state of Missouri. Furthermore, it’s one thing to go through fair and normal processes and have to make budget cuts. It’s another thing to abridge and dismiss processes all together. That shows complete lack of empathy and lack of respect. Individuals with disabilities in the state of Missouri – and all Missourians – deserve much better.”
For More Information
Jeanette Mott Oxford
314-775-3261; joxford@paraquad.org
#disabilityrights #advocacy #budgetcuts
