Institutionalized or not #PwDs all have LTSS needs worthy of HCBS social safety net funds

    This article  served to divide union direct service workers from people with ID/DD (formerly called 'mental retardation') served.
It was amplified on twitter (to get more clicks and impressions-numbers of readers) by linking to a local PA struggle to close the Polk Center and White Haven ID/DD institutions without a clear plan to provide equity for deinstitutionalized #PwDs and the direct service providers who do the work of providing the care.  



   The local op-ed writer is running for the 36th House District in Pennsylvania as the first openly-autistic state legislator.    Voters of all neurologies (autistic and neurotypical/non-autistic hope Jessica Benham is as supportive of deepening the inclusion of autistics who have fortunately been able to avoid institutions as well as ‘freeing our people’ (hat tip h/t ADAPT Americans Disabled for Attendant Programs Today or Accessible Public Transportation) from institutions.  Inclusion can be deepened by creating more supported and customized employment programs for autistics with less intense needs who don’t require institutional living.  Less intense needs autistics are still kept in degrees of poverty still living with families until parental death creates crises of urgently needed housing transitions to avoid another person experiencing homelessness.  


   The WaPo (Washington Post) and Pittsburgh Current op-ed columns erased the fiscal intersectionality of unionized direct service worker fears for their futures as lower-paid community based non union (thanks Harris v Quinn) workers with only annual help from state and local ARC chapters’ advocacy days that have now gone ‘national’ in scope   to raise DSP pay to avoid turnover that still is the norm.  The inclusive rhetoric to demand benefits that are hopefully more inclusive than the past history of ID/DD self-advocacy, that failed to deepen the fiscally marginalized social inclusion as well as ending service provision in institutional environments, will continue in 2020 with a jointly sponsored conference.

   The migration of the advocacy for higher DSP pay from state to federal levels shows how slow the pace of progressive change is by annual activists’ self-advocacy demands that are inadequately met.  Equity in systemic change is needed for ppl with ID/DD and the support workers.