Rape and Pillage by the State of Colorado

For years we have been hearing buzz words and phrases like "interaction with the community", "independence", etc. We have been led to believe that the great Powers That Be (in regards to care for the developmentally disabled), are striving to help our disabled family members become more independent and have more interaction with the community. We have been led to believe that they are doing this with every cent of taxpayer money they can squeeze out of the budget. We have heard over and over how independence is one of the main goals of care.

Well, the State of Colorado, led by Gov. Bill Ritter (I am going to dub him "ridder") is not only stopping the actual quality care that took YEARS to get into place, but the state of Colorado is making it IMPOSSIBLE for the developmentally disabled (DD) in this state to keep what little independence they have been able to achieve!!

Just last night at the meeting at Denver Options we heard the heartbreaking story of a parent talking about their son who has been able to live on his own now for years due to the excellent supports put in place with the help of Denver Options. The new caps on funding which the State of Colorado is inflicting on us, will now NOT allow their son to live independently any more. With only a few weeks' notice, these funding changes have begun as of JULY FIRST. No appeal.

Our son, Sean will NOT be able to go swimming 5 days a week because of the caps on funding. Think that's no big deal? If Sean doesn't swim, he doesn't sleep. He is a fit, 29-year-old guy. He needs a lot of exercise to work off his natural energy. He can't see to jog, and my knees wouldn't allow me to jog alongside him even if he wanted to.

Sean can destroy a living room in about 50 seconds when he really gets frustrated. The years it has taken to get adequate supports in place for him are obviously not interesting to the State of Colorado. Nor is it interesting to Colorado that our son could face life-threatening consequences of being frustrated, like head-banging and hitting his head over and over. Perhaps it's time to take Sean to the Governor's office or the Governor's Mansion and see how long he can take care of Sean without Sean tearing his office apart.

The State of Colorado is trying to blanket these draconian measures with a soothing song of "equality". Instead of continuingdoing what has been working for a darn lot of people in this state, the State of Colorado is totally dismantling the supports! Denver Options has repeatedly told the concerned officials at state level that they are throwing real people overboard. But the State of Colorado is NOT INTERESTED. It is NOT LISTENING. NO to independent living! NO to whatever interaction people have been able to do in the community because it is something that THAT PARTICULAR PERSON needed.

NOW people have to be warehoused together in groups to go out and do something. NOW, the care givers can't get paid anything useful unless they can put 5 or 6 people together in a group to do an activity. Well, people are DIFFERENT. They have DIFFERENT ABILITIES. They have DIFFERENT interests!!! Why should they be thrown together arbitrarily to take part in their daily lives, JUST BECAUSE THE STATE SAYS IT'S FOR "EQUALITY"?

I'd like to see the Governor and the legislature having to go out and do everything every day with a small group of people THEY DO NOT CHOOSE TO BE WITH. See how long they like that. See how long until they get frustrated because they can't go out and do what THEY would like to do.

BEWARE SOMEONE TELLING YOU THAT WHAT THEY ARE DOING IS FOR "EQUALITY". OBSERVE THEIR ACTIONS, AND BE DEAF TO THEIR WORDS. Because what's clear to me is that someone, somewhere is getting something BIG for all this. Someone is getting rich off the back of the developmentally disabled in this State of Colorado. I'm convinced there is GRAFT, there is MALFEASANCE and there is CORRUPTION linked to all this.

And we will FIND IT and EXPOSE IT.

50 (FIFTY) care givers have already QUIT because they cannot make a living wage from the scraps that the state of Colorado sees fit to throw them for all their care and hard work with the DD public. WHAT STATE GOVERNMENT COULD POSSIBLY IMPLEMENT SOMETHING THAT CAUSES CARE GIVERS TO QUIT?? The State of Colorado. The State of Corruption.

This is NOT going to go away. The State of Colorado has messed with the wrong people. We, who deal with the disabled every day of our lives, are WARRIORS on their behalf. I am a Warrior Mom and proud of it. We will get to the bottom of this and we will make it all WIDELY KNOWN.

OUTRAGED? Yes I am. I try my best every waking moment to be a good, and positive person. But this makes it extremely difficult to be so.

Sorry to be out of sorts. It's really not like me!