Disability Community and Spending

In the espionage community, there’s a word for harmful, unintended consequences: blowback. For example, in 1980s, the United States armed Afghan warlords in their fight against the Soviet Union. Years later, those same warlords used American–made weaponry to fight US soldiers.

Today, the United States could experience blowback of a different kind. Across the country, federal, state and local governments are embroiled in bitter disputes to balance budgets. Right now, it seems all kinds of services are in danger of being eliminated. Even though coverage of the political battles has been thorough, the consequences these cuts will have on certain communities has been underreported.

Up until 1990, with the passage of the American with Disability Act, the disability community has been a marginalized group. Even though ADA prohibits discrimination against the 54 million Americans living with disabilities, many of the proposed cuts target government services for persons with disabilities. In Texas, lawmakers are considering 25 percent reductions to health and human service spending, which would greatly affect the disability community. Disability advocates in Minnesota fear cuts could limit the independence of persons with disabilities. And in Florida, lawmakers are considering cutting mental health services. All of these cuts would impact many people.

In the short–term, budgets would be balanced, but what blowback would these proposed cuts? Right now, the immediate concern is fiscal responsibility, but, if history’s any indication, we need to look to the future as well.