State must prioritize hiring more professionals to help those with disabilities
Our state government is responsible for ensuring people with intellectual and developmental disabilities can access services they need to live safe, healthy and full lives in the community. But more than 15,000 people are stuck on the state’s wait list for services. And many who get taken off the list can’t find an agency with openings.
Why? The number one reason is lack of state funding for staff wages. Nonprofit service agencies can’t hire or retain nearly enough Direct Support Professionals (DSPs), the dedicated workers who make community services possible. Why would someone work as a DSP when they can make more money at a fast-food restaurant or shipping warehouse?
My family is one of the lucky ones. We found an agency that could support our son in a group home. David is 31 years old. He experienced a pre-birth brain injury that caused a number of significant disabilities. He is nonverbal, lacks fine motor skills and requires 24/7 supervision.
I’ve seen first-hand how insufficient staffing takes a toll. With only one DSP on staff most weekends, David and his three housemates cannot get out into the community to summer concerts, fall festivals and holiday parades. And the high turnover of DSPs causes them anxiety. I recently returned David to his home after an outing and he was afraid to go inside because a virtual stranger opened the door instead of a familiar DSP who understood his needs.
When lawmakers craft the state budget in coming weeks, they can finally make people with disabilities a priority. Along with thousands of Illinois families, I am pleading with them to increase DSP wages. DSPs deserve a living income, and people with disabilities deserve the critical services that DSPs provide so they can enjoy lives of dignity and purpose.
James B. Gould, Carpentersville
There’s gotta be a better way to select the leader of the free world
All things considered, this country is the wealthiest, best educated and most democratic on earth. And yet the three leading candidates to be our next leader are: 1) an 81-year-old who often stumbles over the lines of prepared speeches, 2) an almost 78-year-old who is currently facing 32 felony counts in federal court, and 3) a 70-year-old who has openly admitted to having a gaping hole in his brain.
Is that really the best and the brightest this great nation has to offer after months, if not years of intense scrutiny. What does it say about our education system or, better yet, our parenting skills? Surely, there has to be a better way of choosing finalists for the most demanding job in the entire world.
Maybe we should require Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people to meet on a remote island. There, one-by-one, they’d be voted off until only two remain. Those people would then go head-to-head with the “Jeopardy Master’s Championship” as well as the winner of the Scripps National Spelling Bee on every television channel.
At least then there’d be no need for recounts, no hanging chads and no chance for a replay of Jan. 6. Of course, if a 12-year-old nerd unexpectedly won, it would present a whole different set of problems.
Bob Ory, Elgin
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