Dear Governor Brown,
As I write this, both the Assembly and the Senate Budget Subcommittees on Health and Human Services are preparing for hearings on proposed cuts to Developmental Services.
When I voted for you in 1978, I was working at Fairview State Hospital and was preparing young adults with severe developmental disabilities for de-institutionalization so they could live in their own community - a civil right they had following the passage of the Lanterman Act.
When I voted for you in 2010, I was preparing my own 22-year-old who has a severe developmental disability for adult life. Jeremy, who is impacted by autism and uses assistive technology to communicate, has been raised to believe that he has the right to a fully included and productive life in his home community. Unfortunately, he needs support in order to do so. He hopes in the future to be able to earn enough money to pay for his own supports, but right now, he needs help.
Jeremy graduated from Torrey Pines High School last June with a full academic diploma and inspired many people with his commencement speech . Now, he is having a very hard time handling the uncertainty of "adult services" since aging out of school district services. My son has been very well prepared by his school district and his family for transitioning to adult life, however, the systems in place are not prepared for the likes of him. As a nationally recognized author and expert on autism and transition to adulthood and adolescents, I am wondering if it is this difficult for my son to transition to adult life, what is it like for those who are not as fortunate as we are? What is the point of a Lanterman Act - which is civil rights legislation for those with developmental disabilities - if there are no monies to enact and protect these civil rights? Budget cuts enacted over the past few years have already eaten away at some of these rights.
But I think you should hear straight from Jeremy how all these cuts are impacting his hopes and dreams for the future - and he is just one of very many. Jeremy wrote the following article, which was published by the MiraCosta College student newspaper, the Chariot, on January 31, 2011. Jeremy is a staff writer on the Chariot and is writing a book to be published by Palgrave MacMillan in April 2012.
In his commencement speech last June, Jeremy wrote that "When Helen Keller grew up, she graduated from college, became an author, and an advocate for people with disabilities. I hope to do the same." Clearly, he is following in that path. Despite budget cuts, freedom of speech is still a right Jeremy has.
Respectfully,
Chantal Sicile-Kira
