DISABILITY AND FREEDOM

Many disabled people manage to live independently. All of us who are disabled and independent work hard at setting up systems so that we can live by ourselves. Sometimes the systems are so good that others do not even notice the disability. For others, the systems are critical for living.

Too many disabled people are losing in home care. Without in home care they might be forced into a nursing home, which is WAY more expensive than in home care.

When my friend was dying, she wanted to be at home. Kaiser provided a nurse who came by three times a week. Without that nurse, she would have been in the hospital, because none of us could handle bathing her. A visiting nurse three times a week is WAY less expensive than a hospital.

There are a lot of people who can not get around without a wheelchair. If they have in home help, they can remain independent and live among the rest of us. Without the help, they lose independence and the taxpayers end up paying much more for nursing home care.

It seems like a easy choice, but the budget people make decisions without noticing the impact of one budget item on another budget item.

I have arthritis and am not very mobile. No one usually notices as I have very carefully set up my living so that I can do as much as possible. Now that I have to move, I will have to reset up every system from the grab bar in the bathroom to how to charge my wheelchair while it is in my car. For months, I will be in greater pain while I work at resetting up critical systems. And I can walk short distances.

If moving is very difficult for me, it is nothing like permanently losing the help you need to do daily living. So much damage will be done to the disabled by cutting the funding for home care.