Editorial: Help protect state’s most vulnerable
We’ve come a long way since Willowbrook, but threatened budget cuts by New York State and the federal government that would impact services to the developmentally disabled could undo the good work of decades that has enabled individuals who cannot live independently to live happily within the community rather than being warehoused in an impersonal institution.
For the sake of New York’s most vulnerable residents, we cannot allow those cuts to come to fruition. State and federal cuts to the Office for People with Developmental Disabilities (OPWDD) total $240 million – money that now goes to recreational programs, educational programs and staff.
If the cuts go through, said one agency head, they would mean an end to many activities that brighten life for the people entrusted to the agency’s care.