(C) Daily Montanan This story was originally published by Daily Montanan and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Segregation is discrimination – Daily Montanan [1] ['More From Author', 'February', 'David Carlson'] Date: 2024-02-04 Segregation is discrimination. That is a simple statement. A largely uncontroversial statement that I think most people would agree with, at least on its face. However, when we look closer, it is evident that segregation persists for people with disabilities, especially people with mental illness, substance-use disorder, developmental disabilities, and people with significant physical support needs. The persistence of segregation suggests that either people do not really believe segregation is discrimination, or they are OK with discrimination. As an example, many people without disabilities think segregated institutional settings like nursing homes, psychiatric hospitals, institutions for mental disease, or intermediate care facilities for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities are adequate or even the best means to address the needs of people with disabilities, or they rationalize that at least for some people, they are necessary. People with disabilities, however, have fought long and hard to push back against this kind of segregation and call it out for what it is, discrimination. While policy makers, budget writers, and agency administrators must weigh the input of business owners and workers in the disability support industry, the people with disabilities who are the professed beneficiaries of this industry widely understand that no matter what chronic care supports someone may need, those services can be provided in a community setting better, more individualized, and cheaper than in an institutional setting. As a former direct-care provider myself, I am very supportive of properly paying the hard-working people who provide the important disability-related services our community needs. I also believe we need to design a system that provides people career pathways to advance and grow so we keep the best people and pay them enough to stay in the field long term. However, that doesn’t mean those jobs and the services that come with them need to be done in isolated, state-run institutions. In fact, troubled institutional settings may be one of the harder places to make these objectives a reality given the low morale inherent in working for a failing institution. Moreover, when community services are inadequately funded and the administration decides to invest in institutional settings instead, I am deeply concerned the administration is not taking the civil rights of people with disabilities seriously. Montanans with disabilities deserve the services they need to be healthy and safe. They do not deserve to have their rights violated by the state withholding those services in community settings and telling people with disabilities that the only place to get certain levels of care is in a segregated institution. Intensive services can be provided in smaller community-based settings, not in far-away institutions. That is where the state’s money should be invested. Luckily, antidiscrimination protections such as those found in the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and the Americans with Disabilities Act exist for the sole purpose of holding back powerful people from acting on their biased beliefs. I fully appreciate that a right on paper is meaningless. A right must be taken seriously by policy makers, budget writers, and agency administrators in order to affect their actions. We believe that the administration should divest from its segregated institutional settings and invest in a robust array of community-based services to meet the needs of people with all levels of need. Disability Rights Montana will continue to advocate for the rights of people with disabilities to access necessary services close to their family, friends, jobs and communities. [END] --- [1] Url: https://dailymontanan.com/2024/02/04/segregation-is-discrimination/ Published and (C) by Daily Montanan Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/montanan/