South Carolina's $21 Million Cut Affects Autism Services
Managing Editor's Note: Many of us are familiar with autism advocate Maurine Meleck. Her letter to the editor about the pending $3,000,000 in budget cuts for autism services in S. Carolina follows this brief intro to the news article in the Augusta Chronicle. Maurine, thank you for speaking out for our children. It's ironic that S. Carolina is considering slashing $21,000,000 for people with disabilities at a time when disabilities are at the forefront of political conversation. If anyone has more to share about these budget cuts in S. Carolina, please comment.
...Mr. Sanford's vetoes would return cash to agencies. That could bring pressure for him to veto items such as the $21.5 million cut from the state's Department of Disabilities and Special Needs, including $3.3 million for care of children with autism and $2.3 million to help families cope with spinal cord injuries.
Mr. Sawyer said it's too early to tell whether Mr. Sanford will consider singling out such programs.
A veto of cuts to lower-profile, but eyebrow-raising programs such as autism therapy assistance that seldom see funds slashed could be difficult for legislators to override.
Read the full article HERE. And below is Maurine's Letter to the Editor:
It is not surprising that autism services in South Carolina are being mentioned as the first to go in this economic crisis.
Any services for these children have been hard to come by from the beginning. Gov. Mark Sanford and his staff are discussing eliminating the expanded South Carolina program for 300 autistic children. In addition, Medicaid could also be cut.
What they don't realize is that cutting these programs that are helping so many children will only come back to slap all of us in the face later. When these tens of thousands of autistic children all over the country don't receive early intervention and they reach the age of 18, the taxpayers are going to be hit with monumental costs to help the state pay for their care. We are talking trillions of dollars.
What this all says to me is that services for autistic children are still considered an unnecessary evil in South Carolina and this country as a whole.
Maurine Meleck
North Augusta, S.C.
See the original piece in the Augusta Chronicle HERE.
Hooray for Maurine Meleck, who once again stood up for our kids. We've all seen the tremendous strides they make with early interventions, and not limited to physical therapy and special education services. Some people attempt to downplay the significance in order to save tax money. What a small-minded, pitiful mindset.
Posted by: nhokkanen | October 27, 2008 at 11:51 PM
Thanks for posting this, Kim, and thanks to all that wrote such kind comments.
We cannot let our defenses down and we must continue to demand all kinds of covered treatments for our childen. One does not know in advance which treaments will work for any given individual. Both my grandchildren benefitted greatly from ABA, speech, physical therapy and occupational therapy. Yes, bio-med for most is needed too, but let's work to make them all available and covered for our children.
Maurine Meleck
Posted by: Maurine Meleck | October 27, 2008 at 08:06 PM
I have only had the pleasure of meeting Maurine once and much to my surprise she had only one head and four limbs. I thought for sure there was actually an autism swat team named Maurine Meleck for certainly she is everywhere we need her in time of crisis. This along with considerable duties at home!
Kidding aside, this is a crisis and we must raise our voices to prevent an autism Willowbrook. Such hell holes exist in many other countries. Not here, too, please!
Posted by: Barbara Fischkin | October 27, 2008 at 07:21 PM
The autism community is everywhere and thank god for that! Thanks for being ever vigilant Maurine!
Posted by: NJGirl | October 27, 2008 at 01:47 PM
Thanks Maurine for your continual fight for Josh and all of our kids!
Early intervention usually means ABA/educational avenues. Most kids with an autism diagnosis do not do well educationally unless they are also doing biomed, some or all--diet,anti- bacterial, anti-viral, and chelation of heavy metals.
This is why we must educate our government leaders because our kids are so worth it.
Posted by: Teresa | October 27, 2008 at 11:32 AM
You are so right about them paying more later if they cut the early intervention services to these kids now!!! But, hey, maybe South Carolina is planning to get to the real root of the problem. Maybe South Carolina is going to be progressive and actually pull out of mandating all these "necessary" vaccines. Maybe South Carolina will come out with an un-biased study showing that un-vaccinated kids don't have all these problems. Maybe South Carolina will grow a brain.
Posted by: jennifer | October 27, 2008 at 09:52 AM
Looks like S. Carolina, one of the states that is considered firmly "safe" for the McCain campaign has not gotten the message that the autism and overall disability communities matter. And how about the families dealing with spinal cord injuries? Cutting their funding too. Imagine the expenses associated with spinal cord injury?
Kim
Posted by: Stagmom | October 27, 2008 at 08:45 AM