TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Reprehensible Politicians Slam The Vulnerable

ADVERTISEMENT

By STEVE OTTO

The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 1, 2008

Of course it's hard to pinpoint all the blame because nobody is actually in charge. The governor has apparently decided he would rather kiss up out in Arizona and get on a presidential ticket than do anything for the people who voted him into office. The agency that is supposed to work with the developmentally disabled is incompetent and the Legislature is well - the Florida Legislature.

These are mean times and budgets are necessarily being slashed everywhere. You would like to think that somewhere in all of this men and women of reason recognize that there are those in our society - the most vulnerable - who need our support.

Last week, Tribune reporter Sherri Ackerman wrote about group homes for the disabled and agencies such as the Upper Pinellas Association for Retarded Citizens and the Hillsborough Achievement and Resource Center (HARC) taking multiple hits from the Legislature's budget cuts. These aren't just cuts that are going to trim a position or two. These are cuts that are going to affect people's lives, possibly putting people on the street who have nowhere else to go and no means to take care of themselves.

I called Jim Freyvogel, the executive director and president of MacDonald Training Center in Tampa. Freyvogel not only directs one of the largest and most effective programs in Florida, he has never been shy about speaking his mind.

The Word Is 'Reprehensible'

When he talks about the legislators and the state's Agency for Persons with Disabilities , he doesn't exactly mince words. "Reprehensible" was one he used a few times in the conversation.

"Although," he said, "I cannot completely blame legislators. The ADP has been run for years by political appointees who do not understand the complexities and the many factors that go into working with individuals with developmental disabilities.

"What happens is that the agency makes decisions based on their own needs and not the people they are supposed to serve. I find that reprehensible and ethically wrong."

MacDonald's probably won't take it as severely as those organizations that operate group homes, although it could be half a million dollars or about 5 percent of the budget in direct cuts.

"The ADP has not managed its budget for decades," says Freyvogel "and I lay the blame on the governor's appointees."

A Family Affair

"I make the analogy that when you are dealing with people with developmental disabilities, the state has to act the way we would act if it was somebody in our own family. You don't cut therapy out of your budget so you can keep your golf membership. But in essence that's what is happening inside Capital Circle in Tallahassee.

"You know, Florida was 46th in funding among the states for these people. I think we treat them like we treat our schools, where whenever anybody makes a comparison we have to say, 'Thank God for Mississippi.'"

I guess the bottom line is that things haven't changed in Tallahassee. You can see the same stories year after year of a state that pays lip service to the developmentally disabled, largely by building a bureaucracy that is failing a segment of our society that could bemore productive and less a burden.

Keyword: Otto Graphs, to read and comment on Steve Otto's blog.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT