Disability advocates lobby against budget cuts

By Jackson Cooper, Missouri News Network
JEFFERSON CITY — Disability rights advocates from across Missouri traveled to the Capitol on Wednesday for the 25th annual Disability Right Legislative Day.
The crowd numbered in the hundreds, composed largely of people with disabilities and their allies. They listened to speakers, including elected officials and fellow activists, before discussing issues with individual lawmakers.
The theme of the day was concern over proposed cuts in Gov. Mike Kehoe’s budget for the Department of Mental Health. The cuts would reduce $17.5 million in state support for the Self-Directed Supports program, or SDS, and $61.7 million in funding for day habilitation programs, according to previous Missourian reporting.
The Self-Directed Supports program provides funding for families and individuals to hire their own support staff, promoting autonomy while allowing individuals to receive daily care in their own homes. Day habilitation programs provide out-of-home activities for those with disabilities.
Lorie Perdieu is a self-advocate from Kansas City. She was born with a condition called arthrogryposis, which affects limb and joint development. She said her ability to live independently is directly tied to SDS funding.
“I have fought not to be in an institution since I was 17,” Perdieu said. “I’ve always said if I was going to be in an institution, I would own it and run it. Well, I’m not to that point yet.”
Kehoe’s proposed budget is currently in early-stage revisions. It’s undergoing scrutiny from the House Appropriations and Budget committees. Lawmakers can negotiate and potentially adjust provisions before the budget is signed by the governor.
Representatives promised to resolve cuts before the budget was voted out of their chamber.
“I’m in favor of full funding for all these services my city so needs,” Rep. Colin Wellenkamp, R-St. Charles, said. “I’m not gonna stop until we get these back.”
While Rep. Bridget Walsh Moore, D-St. Louis, is not on the House Budget Committee, she said her party’s minority ranking member in the committee, Rep. Betsy Fogle, D-Springfield, was working tirelessly to prevent the cuts from going through. The Senate’s budget chief, Sen. Rusty Black, R-Chillicothe, said in a statement Wednesday that he intended to work with his colleagues to restore the cuts once the budget passed the House.
One issue raised by Democratic representatives was mobility within the Capitol building .
Rep. Gregg Bush, D-Columbia, spoke to the crowd about one experience he had escorting the widow of former State Sen. Chuck Graham around the Capitol that highlighted accessibility issues in the building.
“We had to use three different elevators because their son also used a wheelchair as a mobility device,” Bush said.
Renovations to the century-old Capitol building have long been discussed, though a $4 million provision intended for the Capitol Commission to explore renovation projects was struck in late stages of budget negotiations last year.