Disability advocates say Texas state schools need to be closed

From the Corpus Christi Caller-Times in Texas:

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Advocates for people with disabilities say some area lawmakers’ proposed measures to address recent accusations of abuse at the Corpus Christi State School amount to a bandage over the problem.

They want to see the facility, and 12 others around the state, shut down.

Measures proposed by area lawmakers to increase security and oversight of the facilities wouldn’t be as effective as moving residents into community settings, said Andrew Imparato, president and chief executive officer of the American Association of People with Disabilities.

“If all they do is try to make the institutions work better, they’re missing the point,” he said, noting residents’ dignity will be sidestepped and the facilities still will be difficult to control.

Rallies have been planned to push for the facilities’ closures. One group was at the Capitol in Austin this week, while local organizations have planned a rally outside the Corpus Christi State School at 11 a.m. today. The advocates say a culture of “warehousing” residents in the Corpus Christi State School contributed to the recent fight club-style brawls among residents.

“It sends a message that it is OK to do almost anything to us, and that is the message that the Legislature and the policymakers need to reverse,” said Bob Kafka, an organizer with the Texas chapter of American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today.

Corpus Christi police have arrested four local state school workers in the staging of the fights. Six arrest warrants have been issued for current or former employees.

Police said Thursday they continue to investigate the fighting and more arrests are possible. The FBI announced an investigation last week into whether civil rights violations have occurred there.

Curtis Decker, executive director for the National Disability Rights Network, suggested lawmakers look at other states, such as Indiana or Illinois, for answers. Both are among at least 40 states that plan to close their state institutions and provide more funds for community care, according to a June University of Colorado — Denver School of Medicine report on services and funding for Illinois disability services.

Ten states, according to the report, don’t have state-operated facilities.

The report recommends Illinois officials reduce reliance on remaining state-operated institutional facilities and reallocate Medicaid funds for disability services to a community-based program.

More than 5,900 people with disabilities are on the Illinois waiting list for community services, the report states. In Texas, 40,000 people with disabilities were on a similar list as of November, said Diane Lowrance, executive director of Mental Health Mental Retardation Center of Nueces County.

And at least one lawmaker, State Rep. Patrick Rose, D-Dripping Springs, has taken steps in a direction of closing facilities. He filed legislation Feb. 23 that calls for a plan to consolidate and eventually close the facilities.

Many advocates said legislators seem hesitant about closing them because they don’t want to upset residents’ parents or take away jobs from communities.

That’s the case with the Corpus Christi State School, Kafka said.

“They won’t make the tough political choice that they need to move all the people out and stop talking about the building,” he said.

But area lawmakers who toured the facility Sunday said state schools provide care to individuals who might not find the same services elsewhere. State Rep. Solomon Ortiz Jr., D-Corpus Christi, said he has concerns with the consolidation legislation because it would require analyzing community care services’ adequacy and infrastructure.

“We can’t rush into any judgment without doing the proper research,” he said.

Ortiz added abuse also can occur in community settings. He and Rep. Abel Herrero, D-Robstown, are among legislators sponsoring a bill calling for added measures at state schools, which went before the Human Services Committee on March 12.

Herrero said state aging and disability officials should have known about the recent abuse accusations before they surfaced.

The addition of personnel and routine nightly checks at the Corpus Christi State School following the incident show that legislative leaders need to be proactive in protecting people with disabilities, he said.

“These are all measures that could have been implemented before now,” he said.