Congratulations, Wisconsin — another way in which you’re better than Illinois

Last updated on: May 5, 2014 at 8:53 am by Jane the Actuary

Congratulations, Wisconsin — another way in which you’re better than Illinois 2014-05-05T08:53:00-06:00 Jane the Actuary

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So there was an article in Sunday’s Chicago Tribune about the difficulties families of the disabled (specifically those with intellectual disabilities, a.k.a. mental retardation) have in finding housing for them — which was really nothing new. This particular article profiled a woman with Down Syndrome who had lived for many years at Misericordia, a large residential facility in Chicago, and was very settled and happy there, but, at the age of 65, he had recently broken a hip and needed more assistance than her spot there could provide. She spent quite some time in a nursing home as a result, until a spot recently opened up at a similar facility. But the Tribune regularly reports on the situation of families where aging parents have taken care of a intellectually disabled* child and now look in vain for a place for that child as they grow too old to continue the task.

(* Look, I know we’re supposed to say “intellectually disabled” instead of “retarded.” And I try to respect that. But “intellectually disabled” is awkward and cumbersome and doesn’t communicate meaning as well as “retarded” – and as soon as it does feel natural and meaningful to the majority of Americans, people will start slinging it as an insult instead of “retarded” and we’ll have to start all over again anyway. It’s like an old cartoon in which the cartoonist uses a befuddled grandpa to lampoon the changes in politically correct terminology, as the man is being educated by his grandchild on the fact that you don’t use the term “colored people” but rather “people of color” and can’t make sense of it. I suppose, in a way, though, “intellectual disability” is more accurate than “retarded” which, like “developmentally delayed” seems to be saying, taken literally, that someone is just slow in learning but will eventually arrive.)

Illinois is also a pretty lousy state when it comes to services for the disabled, and has a reputation for balancing its books by simply delaying payments to service providers by months or years. And here’s what you have to know about me: I think there’s a lot of room for disagreement on how much money the state should spend on social welfare benefits for the poor, and what the best way is of allocating those resources. But I think that the disabled should never get the short end of the stick.

So it’s no big surprise that there are waiting lists for spots at group homes/facilities for the disabled. The official statement from Misericordia says: “Providers … are reluctant to expand services given the lack of appropriate funding for programs” — that is, no one wants to build a new group home when reimbursement from the state is so uncertain even if its provision exists on paper.

But this is what I didn’t know: it doesn’t have to be this way. Wisconsin does not have a waiting list for residential placement for the disabled! Assuming Wisconsin manages this by adequately funding services rather than not providing such services at all, I say: hooray for Wisconsin!

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