During the presidential campaign Barack Obama promised to promote jobs, independent living, and health care for people with disabilities. His stimulus package which is currently under review in the House of Representatives calls for 20 billion dollarsto address these critical needs. Perhaps the most heartening dimension of the proposed spending for pwds is the funding that is specified to move people from institutions to community living. As the old Sam Cook song says: “It’s been a long time coming…”
Here in Iowa we know that people are being held in hospitals who would prefer to live in their communities.Community is the signature of human identity and there’s a strong argument to be made that community is in the human genome. There’s an equally strong argument that American identity springs entirely from communitarian values. Restoring citizens with disabilities to our communities is really a matter of living up to our human heritage and our national ideals.
Let us hope for swift passage of this stimulus by both houses of Congress.
SK
Planet of the Blind 