From
The Providence Journal. In the picture, Nathan Madison, of United Cerebral Palsy, puts on a T-shirt after helping Bill St. Pierre with his at the June 2 rally at the State House to support funding for programs for the developmentally disabled.
PROVIDENCE –– An estimated 2,000 people rallied outside the State House June 2 afternoon to send a message — “No More Cuts” to programs and services for the developmentally disabled.
The protesters, wearing orange T-shirts that said “Keep the Promise” and “No More Cuts,” said they began a grass-roots effort after “an official with the House Finance Committee” said he would not rule out sweeping cuts to human-service programs for the elderly and disabled as the legislators grapple with the state’s budget deficit.
They referred to comments made last month by Rep. Steven M. Costantino, who is overseeing the budget battle as chairman of the House Finance Committee. Costantino yesterday referred questions to Rep. Thomas Slater, D-Providence, chairman of the committee’s Human Services Subcommittee.
“As far as I know, there have been no decisions on developmentally disabled [funding] and on elderly affairs,” said Slater. “There have been no decisions made at this time.”
Slater said of the demonstrators, “Either they’re misguided or premature or somebody heard something or told somebody else. They have not come to talk to me about it. They know I’m in charge of the DD budget and the elderly budget. They’ve got to realize how the system works.”
Rally organizers said they ran out of T-shirts after handing out 2,000 of them. Demonstrators, including dozens of people in wheelchairs, filled the stone plaza outside the main State House entrance.
The rally was preceded by a 72-hour vigil that began Sunday on the grounds of the former Ladd Center, the original “Rhode Island School for the Feeble-Minded,” which federal authorities closed 15 years ago after an investigation revealed deplorable conditions.
Tom Kane, president of the Community Provider Network of Rhode Island, said that while no one foresees a return to such institutionalization, “if there are cuts, people will be segregated in their homes.”
Kane, who is also president/CEO of CranstonArc, said, “All Rhode Islanders deserve to live with dignity and to be cared for by family and trained professionals. These funding cuts to services will cause irreparable damage to the individuals the developmental disabilities’ system is designed to protect — the most vulnerable of Rhode Islanders.”
Steve Reeder, associate director of Ocean State Community Resources Inc., of Rhode Island, stood in the crowd with client Mildred Hayes, who uses a wheelchair.
“We don’t want to see residents lose any services,” said Reeder. Budget cuts would threaten day programs that allow people “to be out in the community,” participating in programs such as music, art and pet therapy.
Reeder said Hayes “has the opportunity to go to a knitting group one night a week,” and has also had a volunteer job.
“The way these cuts are going — you’d have to look at [cutting] staff. In some cases they’re making nine or ten dollars an hour. What do you cut after that?”
From The Providence Journal. In the picture, Nathan Madison, of United Cerebral Palsy, puts on a T-shirt after helping Bill St. Pierre with his at the June 2 rally at the State House to support funding for programs for the developmentally disabled.