Governor McDonnell Attempts to Ruin the Lives of Families Suffering Through Autism

The governor’s proposal to cut $63 million from in-home services for people on Medicaid waivers assumes that half of them won’t get any services at all. “The need is not going to be met,“ said Heidi Faustini at The ARC of Virginia.

So the after hating on Kaine for proposing respite cuts, the other shoe has dropped and come to find out that instead of finding other ways to cut the budget, Governor McDonnell is going to do it by cutting education and services to the disabled.  After finally getting services in place for Jimmy, the new governor, the pro-family, pro-life governor wants to purge 50% of those getting the EDCD waiver off the roles.  He also wants to get rid of the consumer directed hire and force everyone to go through agency hiring.  Which side of the cut Jimmy would be on of that dreaded 50%, I don't know, but I don't want to wait a year to find out.

It's crushing because Jimmy's life has improved with the help.  My husband and I have both been able to get surgeries that we needed because of the help in the home.  Jacob, who was crumbling without attentive parenting, has thrived these past few months and reclaimed something of a normal childhood of sports, school, and friends without Jimmy being the sole focus.  Our lives and our family had improved with the help.  The stat I like to remind people of is the divorce of 85% among families with autism.  These services preserve families and stability.  Again, that stability will serve to keep Jimmy in our community and our home much longer than if I was a single parent going this alone.  Now we don't know what the future holds.  We just know that the governor doesn't care about the needs of children of autism, the needs of families like ours, or the elderly or the disabled in general.

So now I live in a state that does not require health insurance to cover therapeutic interventions for my child, does not provide adequate funding to local school districts to provide a free and appropriate education for him, and now will not provide the community based attendant and respite assistance that, over the long term, will allow him to continue to live in our home and larger community.  (Trust me, handing a child with behaviors at 8 is very different than when he is 18.)  Pass the buck much, Virginia.  I pay health insurance, I pay taxes and today I feel like I am getting the finger from everyone.

I am fighting so Jimmy can have the best future possible and he can continue to live with me as long as I can physically do it.  Then maybe his brother will be in a position to take over.  It's better and cheaper than institutionalizing him.  Seems that the governor can't see the forest for the trees, because that is exactly the path he is setting kids like Jimmy on with this budget.  What he is proposing isn't just ill advised, it is monstrous.  

I hope to God that the General Assembly does better by us in their proposals and that their ideas are better than McDonnell's and can go forward.  They can't really be any worse at this point.